Who Do You Trust? - 2009-11-01

“Who Do You Trust?” November 01, 2009 Mark 12:28-34

Ruth 1:1-18

Psalm 146

With all of the television ads and sales flyers that we get in the mail every day, especially just before an election, it is difficult to decide who is right. Advertisements arguing both sides may appear on your television screen one right after another. Folks who seem to be honest and trustworthy endorse each position and so we repeatedly ask ourselves, “Who do you trust?” It is a common question. An Internet search turns up over a billion results (1,070,000,000 actually). There are songs by that title by everyone from the Smothers Brothers (1968) to Muddy Waters (1992) and everybody in between. Johnny Carson along with his pal Ed McMahon hosted a game show called “Who do you trust?” from 1957-1963 when they left to take over the Tonight Show from Jack Paar. References to the question “Who do you trust” are easy to find because it is such a common question. “Who do you trust?” is something that we ask ourselves every day about the people we meet, the television we watch, our spouses, our kids, politicians, our church, our friends and a thousand others. In order to help us to answer this question, we can learn from the Bible (assuming of course that you trust the Bible). The passage of time hasn’t made us that different from the people of the Bible. They asked the same sorts of questions and how they answered can lead us toward a better understanding of ourselves and help us to make better choices in the future. (Ruth 1:1-18 ) 1

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3

Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6

When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people." 11

But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!" 14

At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. 1

15

"Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."

16

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Without husbands or father-in-law to protect them, Orpah and Ruth had to decide who they trusted. Naomi thought they would be better off returning to their families so that they might get married again and Orpah reluctantly agreed. Ruth, on the other hand, could not be persuaded to trust her own family. Something that she had seen in her husband’s family was real. Something about the love shown to her by her motherin-law or the faith that they had in their God had spoken to her in the very depths of her being. Ruth chose to trust Naomi and the God of Israel for her future, even though logically neither she nor Naomi could see how they had any future at all. In Psalm 146 we hear these words. 1

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

2

I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.

4

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

6

the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

7

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,

8

the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.

9

The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

2

10

The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

Listen to this part again: 3

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.

4

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.

5

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

As we prepare to go to the polls, we are once again reminded that no government official at any level is going to save us. No human being can ever stay at the top of the heap forever and sooner or later every single one will pass from this earth. When we choose whom we will trust, we must recognize that when we trust in humans and in human power and in human governments, we squander our trust. The only person who never fails, who is always reliable and who will never die is God himself. Jesus speaks to this in Mark 12:28-34. 28

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 'There is no commandment greater than these." 30

32

"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. If we love God with all our heart, with all our understanding (mind) and with all our strength, I cannot imagine that we could do anything other than to trust God completely. Ultimately, I don’t know if there is a completely reliable method of choosing between human beings in order to determine which ones are the most trustworthy. I would like to say that those who walk more closely with God would be a good choice, but there are people who can put on a good show and who can lie so believably that we are completely fooled. As adults, we do the best we can based on the experiences that we have accumulated over a lifetime of trial and error. There are those unusual folks who have become masters at reading body language or who are simply gifted at being able to perceive things that most of us miss, but at the end of the day most of us just do the best we can. The good news is that we always know that we do not, and cannot, rely upon human beings for the most important things in our lives. We do not, and cannot, rely upon human beings for the most enduring 3

things in our lives. For those things that are most important and most enduring, we turn to the one who created heaven and earth, the one who can always be relied upon and who will remain reliable long after we are all gone and well into eternity and beyond. In the words of King David, “O house of Israel, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield.” (Psalm 115:9) Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. (John 14:1) And in 1 Peter 2:4-6 we hear these words: 4

As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." We trust in Jesus Christ for our future, even when we cannot see the future at all.

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You have been reading a message presented at Johnsville Grace and Steam Corners United Methodist Churches on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor of the Johnsville Parish. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Johnsville Grace UMC or Steam Corners UMC at P.O. Box 205, Shauck, Ohio 43349. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at [email protected]. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.pdfcoke.com/Pastor John Partridge All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.