Father of Heaven, universe, and beyond, Lord we humbly thank you for all we are and all we have and serve you thankfully as you have given us the ability to do so. Lord please teach us to walk in your ways as we seek to serve the greater community in your name, and forgive us our shortcomings as we seek to do better in you each day. In your heavenly name, Amen!
MessageGod, Family, Country: We Faithfully Serve!
There is nothing like this time of the year. November is a time when we vote, remember our Veterans, and come to our Lord in deep Thanksgiving. This week we in this room will observe two of those activities officially and all three as a way of life in our God!:
This week America will be going to the Polling Booths and performing the same duty we in this land have been accomplishing now since before the 1776 revolution that eventually made us a Republic 233 years ago. Our fellow citizens will choose who they will wish to represent them in national, state, and local governance, along with deciding which propositions to endorse or reject. All of this made possible by the tireless and endless service of our County’s Veterans dating from the very beginning of our nation’s existence.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have been thinking about this incredible heritage that you and I have inherited from our parents and grandparents before them, and wanted to talk a little bit about our responsibilities first as Christians, and then citizens of a blessed land. By the way, our responsibilities are ever changing, and always essential to the upkeep of our society.
What today’s message will not be about is who you should vote for, or whose ideas are right politically. As your Pastor, my job is to equip you to think with God for yourselves and not to be spoon fed how you should act upon the basics in life. And so today before I even get started with the message, I need to stress that all of you are charged with;
- Working on your relationship with the Lord
- Working on your prayer life
- Prayerfully studying scripture
- Serving Him, by serving others
- God, Family, Country
- Being a good citizen and member of society
- Living up to self-governance
- Educating yourselves through a variety of thought
- Thinking for yourself with the Lord’s help
- By applying all the above
What is so special about today’s message is that it could have been given to a Church of Baptist Americans 150 years ago and it would have still rung true to the listeners. In fact, I could say today’s message would ring familiar to Christians and people of faith across our society’s history, in all sorts of flavors and Faith walks.
That’s because our founding was immersed in the ideals of self-governance. In other words, people doing the right thing, even when no one is or was watching. Meaning, even if no one knows or not, I am willing to stand in line to vote, to attend a PTA, City Council, or a Zoning meeting. Not that it’s a blast, but because that’s how the sausage is made in a Democratic Republic like ours.
That even though at times in our Country’s history although the political and even legal landscape was and is a ruckus, we have tried to give grace and good will to each other. Being able to agree to disagree without being disagreeable is the key to the success of our Democratic ideals. And let’s face it, that’s a hard task at times, to be the happy warrior, and not giving up on caring. When you are in the heat of battle, or you feel like you are not being listened to, and you sincerely believe that you are on the side of right. Regardless of the dispute.
All of this makes Paul’s instruction the young church in Rome even more important to take to heart. Here again is today’s Call to Worship for your consideration. Reading again Romans: 13:1-7;
1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
I think I know what some of you might be thinking right about now; What about unjust actions and unlawful things that happen in our society, sometimes by the very ones we are paying to enforce the rule of law? That’s when being the good citizen comes into play even more, by being involved, getting educated, and paying attention to what is going on all around you. Again, I am not telling you what side of the issues or who to vote for, you are smart enough to decide those things with God on your own.
And I know that some times its overwhelming when you step back and contemplate all that is going on in our society at large. It reminds me of a prayer of David’s in the Psalms when he felt firsthand the breathtaking events that were going on in his little world. Reading from Psalm 17:1-9;
1 Hear me, Lord, my plea is just;
listen to my cry.
Hear my prayer—
it does not rise from deceitful lips.
2 Let my vindication come from you;
may your eyes see what is right.
3 Though you probe my heart,
though you examine me at night and test me,
you will find that I have planned no evil;
my mouth has not transgressed.
4 Though people tried to bribe me,
I have kept myself from the ways of the violent
through what your lips have commanded.
*Let me interrupt David just to say; Who here has not felt politicians trying to bribe our votes from the right and left side of any issue. That’s why educating yourself on all of the issues, and applying a mind that is immersed in scripture, and matured by His Holy Spirit is essential to your way ahead as a good citizen of any society that you are a part of. Continuing now at verse 5;
5 My steps have held to your paths;
my feet have not stumbled.
6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
7 Show me the wonders of your great love,
you who save by your right hand
those who take refuge in you from their foes.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
from my mortal enemies who surround me.
Sometimes by the way,… when David in the Psalms or we in our prayers speak of or think of our enemies, I think it important to look in the mirror. So many times, in my disputes with others or the issues of the day, I have been my own worst enemy, due to ignorance, not paying attention to what was going on around me due to apathy, or because my blood was up and I could not process the information of the moment properly.
When we are able to cut through all of the angst of the moment and think clearly, rooted in a strong assurance that our Lord is guiding our way, and we are not just rushing through the issues at hand but actually devoting ourselves to working through our challenges and prepared to listen to God, others we trust, and even those whom we disagree with… We are in a better position to make decisions that are reasoned, informed, and faith-based. Then we will be in a position to proclaim as Job did as seek to understand why his life was apparently taking a turn for the worse. Reading from Job 29:23-27;
23 “Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
25 I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet inmy flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes -I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
Apparently, to say the least. Job went through heartache loosing almost everything but his soul. He still had a heart for the Lord and was willing to listen. Eventually Job was even able to understand who God is and what he was not, in the scheme of things. What is so fascinating about this one-of-a-kind case of Job’s testing and endurance, is that even in the midst of all of his adversity, Job was still loved by God, as you and I are. We must never loose sight of that important fact.
We know that there will be times of testing, angst, and challenge, especially in our society. Political or otherwise, and a person can’t live in the midst of other people without those issues of difference. Just look at any Church Congregation, not to mention a town, state, or country, and you have differences of opinion and sometimes out right deep divisions. Paul an astute student of the human condition instructed the church in Thessalonica that there would even be really dark times for people to live through. Reading from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, 13-17;
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
*Please let me interrupt Paul to say; If we know our scripture and are in a relationship in and with our Lord, it will be much harder for impostors to deceive you and me! God will never tell you to go directly against His own word, because He is a God of clarity and not bedlam, brining order out of anarchy and the void. Paul continues his sound instruction at verse 13;
13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Paul is instructing us to hold firm in our faithwalk, thanking the Lord that He gave us each other to hold on to when things get hard (and they will), because the Lord has plans for all of us. My thought is that we should persevere joyfully in the knowledge that our Lord who created all of this will not subject us to things beyond our capacity to learn from, endure, and then overcome (like Job), with and in Him who is King of all, our Lord. Reminding me of today’s Message Reading from Luke 20:17-26;
17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
*Interrupting briefly to say; We have a habit of rejecting God when He doesn’t fit our idea of how the world should work in our lives. Continuing now at verse 19;
19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.
To sum up, my thought (your job is to think for yourself with the Lord as your anchor), we can be good citizens and members of our communities by praying for our society, and then working by getting involved, to make our communities better and more God like through our examples in life (like voting and serving). Easier said than done, but that is why He gave you a whole life time to work at it, and placed you in the here and now!
My hope and prayer for all of you this week is that you will have a chance to pray for your fellow citizens as they vote. That they will hear what God is telling them, not what you are telling them, becuase if we all listen to Him, we will be better off in the long run! And that all of us will commit to bringing light into a world struggling and groping for truth.
Amen!
Benediction; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17;
16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.