The Unmentionable Sin
1 Samuel 8:1-22
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of the greatest yet least spoken about sin, is addressed in 1 Samuel 8. The people reject the LORD their God in favor of a government like the nations. There are many people in the world that desire to live in a democracy or Republic like the United States. There are likewise people groups that do not desire such a government.
But before I get to the unmentionable sin, I want to ask how often you pray for our countries enemies? The North Korean leader has been out of the public eye for some unknown reason. Do we pray for the leaders of ISIS to be able to live a long life and receive the First Article gifts of God? Likewise, whether we like the politics of Russia or China, shouldn't we pray for them to have success in their endeavors?
Jesus tells us, "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." Christ died for all sins. He died for everyone, no matter their country, or politics, or even religion, Christ paid the price for their sins. Thus, even the enemies of this great nation deserve our prayers, and the call to faith in Jesus Christ.
Our lack of praying for our enemies is not the unmentionable sin. This just moves us one step closer. At our pastors conference during the service I heard an odd line that kept me thinking about something. When the pastors asked the congregation to rise for various parts of the service, he said, "we ask those who are able to rise for" then which ever part of the service it was. But at the Football game, or maybe a different sporting event, at the beginning of the event, they announce something like, "rise and pay proper respect to the flag by placing your right hand over your heart and men please remove your headgear," as someone plays or sings the national anthem. Hopefully you know the connection between how you pay proper respect to the flag of our country and proper respect to the Word of God, or even God himself.
But this still is not the unmentionable sin. The unmentionable sin is how all of you worship your Country more than you worship God. I should say government but most of you would take offense because you may not like the current president, or have not in the past. But in either case you do enjoy focusing on political issues and problems. You think that if you could just make a few changes in the political structure, budget, or laws of this country we would have paradise on earth.
God warned the people that it does not matter who you elect, or your laws, or even the financial structure, you want a government or King like the nations. The king will take your sons and appoint them for war. He will take a tenth of your grain and your stuff. He will even take your servants for his own. He will possess all you have and use it for his own pleasure. And when it comes time for you to cry out about your King, the LORD will not answer. You want to complain to God about our government, go right ahead because he isn’t going to listen.
You might think we have the greatest nation on earth. And it might be true. But as long as we are ruled and governed apart from God, we have still rejected God. We put our trust in the United States Military to provide safety and security around the world. Even in places where other authorities are providing a sense of security. We put our trust in the government programs to feed the poor, and help in times of disaster. We turn to the our politicians to help safe guard us from future distress.
Is it nice to know that the government provides services like unemployment or disaster relief? Yes, but should I put my trust in a system developed and created by Man? No, I should put my trust in a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to send his son to die in my place and for my sins.
Even when Samuel is distressed God tells him, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected ME from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.”
Christ is our King. He is the one who rules over our lives. God is the one who places those who are in authority over us. He is likewise the one who has placed all the leaders around the world in their positions of authority. Therefore, we should pray for all those appointed, or anointed by God to be leaders around the world.
Some of these leaders may be ruthless and terrible in our eyes. But God has placed them there. It is not our place as Christians to question this. Even if Christians are being killed for their faith, Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow him. Every Christian is called to a life of suffering on account of our faith. If that means at the hands of the government, then so be it. If it means at the hands of a terrorist group, then so be it.
We are called to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. He was lead before the religious authorities and appointed to die. He was lead before the political authorities and judged to be crucified. Why should we think that we should be any different?
The greatest unmentionable sin in the United States, is the false worship of our country over the LORD our God, who has sacrificed Christ Jesus for your sins. He has claimed you to be his people. But we have turned the blessing of having human authorities to protect, serve, and defend us, into our own false gods.
I want to make it clear, God has established authorities to govern and rule over us and it is our duty to serve them and obey them. But this is just one of many gifts given to us by God, not to replace or stand in opposition to God. So we should give thanks to God for placing us under the Authority of our leaders and that those leaders would be blessed by God to do his will. We ourselves should be willing to suffer all and love our neighbors and our enemies more than ourselves.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment