Monday, July 2, 2018

June 30-July 2, 2018 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-6a (EHV) “ON BEING A BLESSING TO OUR NATION”


THE NATION

June 30-July 2, 2018

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-6a (EHV)



“ON BEING A BLESSING TO OUR NATION”

1.     Be here now.

2.     Pray, pray, pray!



1 Timothy 2:1-6a (EHV) “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.”



          “You know what you should do is…. Hey, I’ve got a great idea, why don’t you...” Do you have somebody like that in your life? Someone who has all kinds of fixes and improvements and ideas about what you should do? Actually we can all kind of be that way. When there are problems or issues a natural way of thinking seems to be to focus on what others need to be doing. That’s an easy trap to fall into with our nation. We do have issues. The hot button ones now are immigration and international economics and tariffs. The festering ones are a two party political systems where each side seems to be more interested in getting each other than getting things done. Emotional political issues as well as personal failings by too many elected leaders have put obstacles in the way of our ability to respect as God commands. You know what they need to do is…Oops. See how easy that is? God’s word today shows us a better way. A God pleasing way. It doesn’t have to do with them. It’s about us. By God’s grace we are able to be a great blessing to our nation. So let’s talk about us.

          First, brothers and sisters, we need to understand that Christians living in nations where the government does not always work right, where leaders are immoral and lead the country into immorality, where Biblical Christianity is not always appreciated is nothing new. When Paul wrote this first letter to Timothy, Timothy was in city of Ephesus under the control of the Roman government. Talk about shady politics, graft, corruption, sleaze, immorality, that’s Rome. And the emperor at the time was a man named Nero, the one who would usher in some of the most brutal persecutions of Christians. Certainly this could have been a time for handwringing and complaining, calls to be subversive or urging Timothy and the congregation at Ephesus to flee. But Paul didn’t. He encouraged them where they were at.

          Be here now. That’s a phrase that has popped up in our society, in business and home. With our smartphones giving us access to so much info at our fingertips there can be a tendency to consult it during meetings, family meals, sermons. Be here now means to pay attention where you are at. Mindfulness some call it. Don’t think about what you have to do or what is going to happen later. Be aware of what is going on around you right now. Be here now is way for us Christians to be a blessing to our nation. In that context it would mean we don’t look back with longing for the good old days, which by the way had their own set of problems.  It would mean not worrying about the future but focusing on being a blessing now. And brothers and sisters do you realize what a blessing you are to our nation just by being you, by being what God made you in Jesus? As we heard last week we are new creations in Christ. We have the Holy Spirit living in us, shaping and forming us to be more and more like Christ. The nation is blessed as we grow in faith and live our faith. And did you hear what Jesus called you? Salt of the earth and the light of the world. “You are,” He said. By your very nature you attract people to Jesus, you light the way to heaven. And like salt you are a preservative for the nation. Let’s go back to our first reading. Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked, so wicked, God knew the best thing for the rest of the people in the world was for Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed. And then we got to listen in on Abraham’s prayer that led us to see that the mercy of God is such that for the sake of just 10 believers, 10 righteous people, God would have spared the wicked in those cities. If only there had been 10. But there wasn’t. There are more than 1o here! Be here now. You are a blessing to your nation by being a believer by raising your children to know Jesus, by influencing your family and friends to stay true to the one true God.

          And now that I mentioned Abraham it reminds me of another way we can be great blessings. Pray. Pray. Pray. For others. Like Abraham prayed for the wicked people. Like the Apostle Paul urged. “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those who are in authority.” Paul urges us to use four different aspects of prayer. Petition, that is asking for something. Prayer has the idea of reverent and humble asking. Intercession is a pleading on someone else’s behalf. And thanksgivings are just what they sound like, thanking God. But did you notice here that Paul isn’t  instructing us on what to pray for but whom to pray for. All people. Then specifically those in authority. Let’s return to be a blessing for our nation. If you are like me you have a visceral initial gut reaction that is negative towards our fellow citizens who are misbehaving, defying God or in some other way making a mess or things. Think of the carjackers and baby murdering abortionists. Think of how you feel when yet another government leader has their moral failings exposed. You know what should happen to them…“First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. for kings and all those who are in authority.” No matter what our political views, no matter what our opinion is about your federal state or local government officials we can be a blessing to our nation by praying for them and all the people in our country.

          And why would we do that? “In order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.”  Brothers and sisters, praying instead of complaining, praying instead of bashing, praying for instead of cursing out is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior. We could stop there but we have more reasons. It helps us live a quiet and peaceful life with godliness and dignity. That failure of a politician could very well be in God’s plans to be a swing vote in legislation that will be a blessing. That thug might end up donating organs that will save lives of someone you know. And do we need more motivation? “God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” Let’s remember what’s really important, the salvation of souls. There will be no perfect nation on earth. There will be no end of sin and struggle here. But there will be an end. And whether that end is the end of earthly life here or the end of the world the eternal future of every person rests on Jesus. Only Jesus is the way to heaven. He gave His life as a ransom for all, not only for all those people in our country that irritate us and make us mad, not only for the dirty politicians, but even for people like us, who know what is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior and still would rather complain and think evil than pray, pray, pray.

          Many years ago, President Kennedy made this plea to the citizens of our country. “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.” I’m not sure what inspired him or his speechwriter but I do hear refrains of what is good and pleasing to God our Savior as we focus not on what they or others should do but what we can do. May I suggest a change to a popular phrase? How about, “God bless America—through me!” Amen.

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