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January 24, 2021 The Power in Weakness part II

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Psalm 146

In these days of political change and a global health crisis, what we need is a dose of realism. A focus on what is eternal and what is temporal.

God does not need a Republican government or a Democrat government to bring about His purposes. The kingdoms of this world are in place for the purposes of God.

Chuck Colson said it best, “The kingdom of God will not arrive on Air Force One, no matter who is occupying it.” 

In seasons of national change, we must take a step back and realize that we, as followers of Jesus, are part of a different kingdom, we are part of a far greater and eternal kingdom. That is where our allegiance and our faith must lie (Revelation 5:9-10).  

The author of Psalm 146 lived in a time of national change and upheaval. While we don’t know the exact time and authorship of this Psalm, some early Greek manuscripts refer to this Psalm as being of Haggai and Zechariah. Which may refer to this Psalm being penned around the time of Nehemiah when Jerusalem was being rebuilt and the remnant was returning from exile. It was a time of refocusing the nation and worshipping the one true God.

The Psalm begins and ends with the phrase, “praise the Lord”, the Hebrew word, “Hallelujah.” The Psalmist goes on in verse 2, “I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” This worshipper was not a Sunday morning believer, he was committing every moment of every day to the worship and praise of God. So captivated by the throne of God that nothing else mattered.

It then seems that the Psalm takes an abrupt turn, obviously referring to something that was happening in the political arena at the time. “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.” (Psalm 146:3-4)

People put their trust in many different things, the stock market, the military, their family, and the most prominent form of trust is placed in leaders. And sometimes we make the mistake of not remembering that these are also broken and weak people who need a savior just as we do.

A healthy exercise is to take a step back and really think about where and in whom you are placing your trust. The frailty of humanity will always let you down.

The Psalmist goes back to praising God and says, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5).

Putting your trust in God is not simply a good thing to do. It has eternal rewards, and lifelong blessing. The real test was in our personal responses to the inauguration on Wednesday this past week; if you were despondent and fearful for the future, or if you were elated and excited for the future, your hope might be in the wrong person.

The Psalmist says that the one we put our trust in is the uncreated Creator and sustainer of all things. The one we put our trust in, is the one who gives President Biden breath.

God is not simply the creator who set things in motion, He is the sustainer as verse 6 says, “…who keeps faith forever”. Our God is eternally faithful and cares for His creation. You will never find a follower of Jesus who has found God to be unreliable (Psalm 37:25).

The next three verses, the Psalmist lists eight oppressed and suffering people groupings, people that the world often overlooks, but God sees and cares for.

  • The Lord executes justice for the oppressed.
  • The Lord feeds the hungry.
  • The Lord sets the prisoner free, (Possibly referring to the Exodus).
  • The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. (Possibly referring to God opening the spiritual eyes of the people to see the truth).  
  • The Lord raises up those who are bowed down, those who are weighed down by the cares and the worries of the world.
  • The Lord watches over the sojourner or the foreigner.
  • The Lord cares for the orphan and the widow.

Only God can bring lasting relief to all these categories. Our God is the Lord who cares for the weak and the helpless.

The Apostle Paul knew this, writing in 1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

As we come to the end of the Psalm, it seems that the writer takes an abrupt turn, “but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin” Psalm 146:9b.

God is a god of justice. He defends the weak and He always brings the wicked to justice. God is consistent. It might not be in the timing we like, just like the relief for the downtrodden. But be sure, God will always bring justice. And that is a sobering thought.

God is not to be mocked, He is to be worshipped as the Psalm closes with a final Hallelujah in verse 10, echoing Psalm 46:6-7. What a declaration of the majesty of God!

For the Christian in America our role has not changed. The calling on your life does not change with the political winds of the nation. The mission of the church has not changed in the last month, it remains the same.

Do you trust in the faithfulness of God today? Or are you guilty of putting too much trust in man?

Joe Biden is our president, and Jesus is our King. 

There is only one King who will reign forever and only one King who will make perfect decisions and rulings. There is only one king who has the power to transform the world.

Are you trusting that King today?

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Sermon, Sunday October 25 2020 Faith and the Elections.

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1 Samuel 8

Over the last few decades there has been a lot of discussion about the separation of the church and the state. While I don’t believe a pastor should direct the congregation to vote for a specific candidate, I also don’t think that the church should stand idly by and allow corruption and immorality to govern our nation.

DR. Adrian Rogers once said, “the church and state should remain separate institutionally, but the church should be the conscience of the state. “

The church is supposed to be the moral compass of the nation, unfortunately the church has largely compromised with culture to gain acceptance and numbers. As a result, the church has lost the authority to be the voice of morality. Churches and Christians see themselves as poor victims, a weak and victimized minority. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world…” As Christians and as the church, we are Christs ambassadors and when we sit idly by, Satan will continue to destroy this nation.

“Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.” (Alexander Tytler 1747 to 1813)

In 1 Samuel 8 the nation of Israel was going through a leadership transition. The great prophet Samuel was old and the people began asking for a King. Under Samuel’s leadership, the nation had expanded, their enemies had been subdued and the nation’s surrounding Israel were at peace. But the people were not satisfied, they wanted a king and God gave them what they desired.

Israel saw the nations around them and asked for a king to be like those nations (1 Samuel 8:5). The people were crying out for a savior, they thought that Samuel would give them a King and he would solve all their problems. On the surface to ask for a king seemed like a reasonable request, it seemed like Israel was coming of age as a nation and needed to fit the mold of a successful nation. But this request upset Samuel because he realized that the nation had rejected God as their King and were looking for an earthly leader (verse 7).

Israel was once again turning their back on God. God’s chosen people, the people of the promise to Abraham, the same people of the covenant that God made with Moses on Mt Sinai, they wanted to settle for an earthly king to rule over them.

Sadly, in America today we are not much different, we look to a president or the leaders in Washington to solve our problems, instead of turning to the only one who can solve the problems of this nation and the world – Jesus Christ.

Israel had forgotten who they were, they had lost their moral compass. In response God tells Samuel to warn the nation that a king will require from them a heavy burden of taxes, their sons and daughters will be required to serve in his army and in his courts. The burden on the people will be heavy, but yet they demanded a king. God gave the children of Israel what they wanted, God in his great mercy and sovereignty gives nations what they ask for because ultimately God uses the leaders of nations for his purposes.

God chose Saul, a Benjamite, to be the first King of Israel. We read in chapter 9 and 10 of 1 Samuel, how God chose Saul, who seemed to have amazing leadership skills and potential to be a powerful King. Unfortunately, Saul became a bad king and just as God had said he would, the nation became his slaves. Bad leaders enslave their people, and that is what Saul did.

We need to prayerfully consider the choice of the election ballot, as a nation God will give us the president we ask for. As believers we have a divine voting guide, it is the Word of God. Don’t be misled for one minute into thinking that the Word of God does not apply to your choice on Tuesday November 3, it has everything to do with it (see Psalm 119:105 and Proverbs 29:2).

Our nation is facing some incredible challenges. As Christians, who are we looking to? If we place our hope in the next president, whomever that may be, we will be disappointed. The day after the election, God will still be on the throne, ruling and managing the worlds affairs. God has never needed a king or a president, he raises them up and he puts them down for his purposes.

There are so many issues that we can identify in the world that need fixing, there is no human leader who can possibly solve all of the nation’s problems. Our only hope is in Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.

There is nothing wrong with being involved in politics or voicing our frustrations with the leaders of our country, but we must view everything from an eternal perspective. As followers of Jesus Christ this world is not our home, we must put our trust in Jesus Christ and in no one else.

Do you have an eternal perspective?

Some Christian’s are more afraid of their political party losing the election than they are afraid of their friends and loved ones spending eternity in hell.

Sometimes we get so anxious about the temporal kingdoms here on earth that we forget about God’s eternal Kingdom (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Join with me in praying with repentance for God to heal our nation.

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God and the Election part 1 – November 7, 2016

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1 Samuel 8

The day before the elections and people have made the choice to skip voting altogether, because they don’t agree with the principles of any of the candidates. It seems in this nation that many people take for granted the privilege to choose and they don’t even bother to exercise that right. Sadly, history shows us that if you don’t exercise your rights, you are likely to lose them.

Over the last few decades there has been a lot of discussion about the separation of the church and the state. While a don’t believe a pastor should direct the congregation to vote for a specific candidate, I also don’t think that the church should stand idly by and allow corruption and immorality to govern our nation.

DR. Adrian Rogers once said, “the church and state should remain separate institutionally, but the church should be the conscience of the state. “

The church is supposed to be the moral compass of the nation, unfortunately the church has spent so much time arguing amongst themselves and debating between denominations, that we have abdicated our voice of morality. Churches and Christians see themselves as poor victims a weak and victimized minority. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world…” As Christians and as a church, we are Christs ambassadors and when we sit idly by, Satan will continue to destroy this nation.

I came across an interesting quote this week attributed to the 19th century prime minister of England, Benjamin Disraeli.

“Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.”

In 1 Samuel 8 the nation of Israel was going through a leadership transition. The great prophet Samuel was getting old and the people began asking for a King. Under Samuel’s leadership, the nation had expanded, their enemies had been subdued and the nation’s surrounding Israel were at peace. But the people were not satisfied, they wanted a king and God gave them what they desired.

The nation of Israel began looking around to the nations around them and asked for a king to be like the other nations (See 1 Samuel 8:5). The people were crying out for a savior, they thought that Samuel would give them a King and he would solve all their problems. On the surface, to ask for a king seemed like a reasonable request, it seemed like Israel was coming of age as a nation and needed to fit the mold of a successful nation. But this request upset Samuel because he realized that the nation had rejected God as their King and were looking for an earthly leader (verse 7).

The problem was not that they wanted a King, the problem was that they were turning their back on God. This nation of God’s chosen people, the people of the promise to Abraham, the same people of the covenant that God made with Moses on Mt Sinai, they wanted to settle for an earthly king to rule over them.

Sadly, in America today we are not much different, we look to a president or the leaders in Washington to solve our problems, instead of turning to the only one who can solve the problems of this nation and the world – Jesus Christ.

Israel had forgotten who they were, they had lost their moral compass. In response God tells Samuel to warn the nation that a king will require from them a heavy burden of taxes, their sons and daughters will be required to serve in his army and in his courts. The burden on the people will be heavy, but yet, they demanded a king. God gave the children of Israel what they wanted, God in his great mercy and wisdom gives nations what they ask for because ultimately God uses the leaders of nations for his purposes.

Even though the people came to Samuel and demanded a King, God chose Saul the son of Kish a Benjamite to be the first King of Israel. We read in chapter 9 and 10 of 1 Samuel, how God chose Saul, who seemed to have amazing leadership skills and potential to be a powerful King. Unfortunately, Saul became a bad king and just as God had said, the nation became his slaves. Bad leaders enslave their people, and that is what Saul did.

We need to prayerfully consider the choice of the election ballot, because as a nation God will give us the president we ask for. As believers we have a divine voting guide, it is the Word of God. Don’t be misled for one minute into thinking that the Word of God does not apply to your choice on Tuesday November 8, it has everything to do with it (see Psalm 119:105 and Proverbs 29:2).

The next president of the United States faces some incredible problems, foreign and domestic terrorism will always be a concern, our economy and national debt is spiraling out of control, the polarization of the nation between liberals and conservatives has reached a boiling point and the next president will have the opportunity to determine the judges on the Supreme court for many years to come.

But as Christians, who are we looking to? If we are placing our hope in the next president, whomever that may be, we will be disappointed. This coming Wednesday God will still be on the throne, he will still be ruling and managing the worlds affairs. God has never needed a king or a president, he raises them up and he puts them down for his purposes.

There are so many issues that we can identify in the world that need fixing, there is no human leader who can possibly solve even some of the nation’s problems Our only hope is in Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.

There is nothing wrong with being involved in politics or voicing our frustrations with the leaders of our country, but we must view everything from an eternal perspective. As followers of Jesus Christ, this world is not our home, and we must put our trust in Jesus Christ and in no one else. We don’t need a king to be our savior we have Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we get so anxious about the temporal kingdoms here on earth that we forget about God’s eternal Kingdom. (see 1 Peter 2:9-10)