Written Sermon 7/3/2022

Proverbs 14:34   Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin brings shame to a people. (EHV)

Want to do Something for your Country?

1. Recognize the problem

2. Remember the solution

Name someone who helped make our country what it is.

George Washington Thomas Jefferson Alexander Graham Bell

Thomas Paine Alexander Hamilton Thomas Edison

John Henry Benjamin Franklin Abraham Lincoln

Henry Ford Franklin Roosevelt Martin Luther King

Ronald Reagan Albert Einstein Walt Disney

Rosa Parks The Wright Brothers Neil Armstrong

Did any of you list your parents, or even yourself?  Probably not.  After all, our names are not mentioned in any American History Books in our schools.  We did not make the top 25 famous Americans determined by a national poll published in some magazine or on the internet.

But doesn’t God want his children to be a blessing to the country in which they sojourn here on earth?  Doesn’t God even promise to bless a community, city, and even a nation because of the believers in it?

Take for example the account of Joseph and how the Lord bless Potiphar’s home, later where Joseph was imprisoned, or even Egypt itself all because of the faithful service of Jacob’s son who remained faithful to the Lord and serve him by serving others.

Or think about earlier in Genesis with the account of Sodom and Gomorrah and how the Lord would not send destruction on those cities for the sake of only 10 believers.

Certainly, there are many other examples as well.  It is clear that Christians make a tremendous difference in the country in which they live.  Although God certainly can and has used unbelieving countries to chastise his own people as evidenced throughout the pages of Scripture, He has also determined to bless nations because of his believers.

He tells his children to let our light shine so that others can see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven.  So, on this Sunday, 2022, the day before the celebration or our nation’s Independence Day, lets heed the words of King Solomon recorded in Proverbs 14;34.   Righteousness lifts up a nation, but sin brings shame to a people. So do you want to do something for your country?  Then recognize the problem in America.

Something is wrong in America the beautiful.  You know it.  You see it.  You hear about it.  Thinking citizens can’t help feeling and wondering where it all will end.  Look at the crime and the divorce rates.  Kids are being abused more than ever.  The elderly are being disrespected and neglected.  Marriage is being redefined. Drunkenness, drug addiction, suicide, self-mutilation, pornography, and other sins are on the increase.  Tax cheating, public lying, and blaming others are our national pastimes so it seems.  Living together out of wedlock, affairs, and babies born to single moms continue to rise.  There is something rotten, not in Denmark, but America.

What can we glean from these front-page stories and the statistics?  America is more and more turning it’s back on what made it great.  There is growing disregard for authority of any kind, including the highest authority of God and his Word.  There is disregard for marriage, human life inside and outside the womb, our own and our neighbor’s welfare – the very fabric of life and society.

We live in a “ME” society – a self-centered syndrome that measures everything by what does it mean for me or gives me or pleases me.  America, for the most part, has lost its way.  It has denied its Creator and Redeemer.  It has, as Solomon puts it, become a disgrace and shame to the people because of SIN.  When we do things our way and not God’s way, it can only bring shame– individually and nationally.  

God was not bluffing or exaggerating when he used Solomon to give the timeless advice that sin brings shame to a people.   That means our sin as individuals and our sins as a nation.  Sin is rebellion against God.  Sin closes the ears of the Lord.  Isaiah writes in chapter 59, Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt.  Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 

Sin can only bring shame. It produces disgrace.  It was true from the moment sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience to this very day.  When a nation forsakes God and forgets, ignores, or declares God and his ways, finally it can expect only disgrace, decrease, and destruction – utter shame.

Many of us remember JFK’s speech, “Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can do for your country.” Want to do something for your country?  Let’s begin by recognizing the real problem in America – sin!  Instead of ignoring it, denying it, or trying to explain it away, confess it.  Begin with your own sin.  Consider how you have missed God’s mark.  Take the plank out of your own eye before trying to remove the speck in your neighbor’s eye.  Instead of contributing to the problem in America, let’s be part of the solution.

As believers we hold in our hands the only solution for America.  Only God’s Word with its central, compelling message of God’s righteousness can exalt a nation.  Laws do not change hearts.  Congress can make all the laws they want to have Americans do the “right” thing, but it doesn’t make anyone Christian.  Prohibition did not make America godlier.  It actually produced more drunks and crime than ever before.  

Only the great news of Jesus Christ and his perfect righteousness can change hearts.  Yes, we need God’s law to show our sins.  We need God’s law to restrain us from sin because of fear of punishment.  And yes, we need God’s law as His redeemed children to know how we might please him and be a blessing to others. But is only Christ’s love for us that only motivates us to do it.  His love, and his love alone, compels us to live our lives to his glory.

It’s only by recognizing Jesus’ payment for sin that we can truly serve the Lord without fear.  God has pardoned us completely and empowered us for lives of service to him, our neighbors, and our nation.  Redeemed by Jesus’ blood, covered by his robe of righteousness, heirs of God’s eternal kingdom, we willingly and joyfully walk in his ways.  

This is what we have to share with our country.  As Solomon says so well, Righteousness lifts up a nation.  This is what America needs.  Even if our leaders don’t lead by example.  Even if our fellow Americans deny it.  God has decreed it.  He, and he alone raises nations and destroys nations.  

Never underestimate your role in society.  It begins in your heart.  It overflows into your home.  From there it flows throughout your neighborhood, in your city, state, and nation.  Want to do something for your country?  Then grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior.  Confess your sins.  Trust in Jesus as your Savior.  Live a life worthy of a child of God.  Pray for your neighbors and your leaders.  Let your light shine before others.  In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Do you want to do something for your country?    Recognize the problem of sin and confess it.  Then remember the solution of forgiveness, peace, joy, and eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  Don’t be part of the problem in our nation, be part of the solution.  AMEN.

Gloria Dei

Pastor Dennis Himm