Here’s another excerpt from my sermon this past Sunday regarding the election. For those of you who are not from our area, we live in coal country, an industry that is down due to government policies. That will help you make sense of this a little better.
Here’s another good thing. We talked about this some Wednesday night. We have such an opportunity to point people to Christ right now. We need to remember that how we face this trial is being observed by non Christians around us … does being a Christian make a real difference in our joy or does it not? Millions of people woke up on Wednesday morning devastated. Perhaps it is because they are just politicos bent on seeing their party win. Perhaps it is because the policies of this President will really cost them their job (or already has) and they are uncertain about how they will pay their bills. Perhaps it is because they fear religious freedoms beginning to be stripped away, that as the country grows more secular, persecution of Christians will become a distinct reality – this has already happened in other places. How will we as the people of God react? Will we show them that our hope is in heaven (not a country), in a savior (not a politician), in a King (not a president), in the gospel (not a policy or political platform)? If our joy can’t transcend such things, what message are we preaching? Think of this verse written to Christians who were being persecuted far more than us.
Heb 12:28-29 [28] “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, …
Beloved, we are receiving a kingdom right now! If Jesus is your Savior, if you have been forgiven of your sins, if his blood and righteousness cover all your transgressions, if his Spirit lives within you giving you strength and comforting you and enabling you to do his will and keeping you from dangerous, soul-killing, life-destroying sin, if his Word is sweet to you, if you regularly receive the cup and bread by faith, if you have a church family who loves you and supports you and helps you and serves you, if you have all his promise that he will never leave you nor forsake you, that he will return and take you to be with him forever to receive an inheritance that is right now being kept for you … then you are receiving a kingdom right now that is unshakeable (no election can touch it) and you will enter one day into the fullness of this kingdom … why can’t we rejoice?!
Beloved, all too often this comes down to a question of identity. We’ve asked the question, “Who is this?” But I am asking you the question, “Who are you?” And if you answer that question primarily by saying, “I am an American,” if my identity is ‘I am an American, I am apple pie, I am baseball and hot dogs and church bells and hard work’ … the traditional Americana experience (and I like all of that) … but if that is my identity, then when those things get taken away or they disappear, you lose your joy, you lose yourself, you lose your life, and you think, “I am nothing.” No my friend; you are a child of God, you are receiving a kingdom, you are forgiven, you are justified, you are adopted, you are his new creation, you are his bride, you are his beloved, you will be glorious; listen to the ways God speaks about you and he does so because he sees you not merely as you are in this miry, fallen world, but as you will be in your glorious self in all of eternity.” This is the kind of perspective we need.
The apostle Peter spoke of those who even though they were being afflicted were filled with inexpressible joy. Why? Because, he said, they were enjoying the salvation of their souls! And despite all the doom we are forecasting or even experiencing, will it be worse than what the early church experienced? So, if the kingdom of God could thrill their souls in the midst of severe persecution, if all that they had in Christ Jesus could give them joy inexpressible in their suffering, why can’t it thrill ours? It can’t if our hope is in the shakeable kingdoms of men. Peter wrote these same words to those same persecuted people:
1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
If we act like all others then we should not be surprised that others do not ask us about the hope we have within us; after all, it looks like we are hoping in the same things they are hoping in.
Beloved, we have an amazing opportunity here. We can be generous to others who have little, even if we have less than we used to. Why? Because we have a deeper and abiding possession in Christ and in eternity. We can be happy when others are not. Why? Because the joy of the Lord is our strength (not money or championships or the praise of others or financial security or …). We can respond to those we feel are a threat to us with respect and love, pray for them, do good to them just as 1 Peter 2 and Matt 5 tell us. Why? Because we have been loved by one we hated and persecuted and murdered, who did good to us and prayed for us. We can honor a man who we may feel dishonorable and we can pray for him. Why? Because we believe that God has established him as the leader and we will trust him and obey his command for us to do so. We can render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s. Why? Because we are receiving a kingdom and it is not the kingdom of America, but the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, and it is unshakeable. Beloved, the sun will rise tomorrow because Jesus, the Son has risen, and he will return one day to take us to our real country.
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