Sermon 7-6-08

Jeremiah was the ‘Weeping Prophet”. He was persecuted for his beliefs and he was sick of it! So what did he do? He complained to the Lord just as we so often do. And God had some words for Jeremiah and for us; repent, quit for complaining, turn to God, trust in Him, and He will strengthen you, heal you and help you get through those difficult times.

Old Testament – Jeremiah 15:19-21 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them, I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you”, declares the LORD. “I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel.”

Our second reading from the Book of Acts is a very famous sermon that Paul preached in Athens. The people had set up idols, all these false gods, and because they wanted all their bases covered, they had even set up an idol to the “unknown god” just in case they missed one. Paul seized the opportunity and said to them, “Let me tell you about the Unknown God, the God you don’t know anything about.” He began to tell them about God, His plan for the world and about Jesus as Lord and Savior. One of Paul’s themes in this section we’re reading is that of repentance. God told Jeremiah to repent and here in Acts 17 God is talking about His plan for the world. His message is “Repent and turn to Me.”

Epistle – Acts 17:24-31 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, thought he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring’. Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone-an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

Right as the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He began preaching the Good News. His preaching consisted of the same thing John the Baptist said, which was the same thing that Paul said, which was the same thing God told Jeremiah… “Repent!”

Gospel – Matthew 4:12-17 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali- to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Sermon –

It’s the Fourth of July Holiday weekend and several questions come to mind. What does the Bible say about the United States of America? What are God’s plans for the United States? What does the future hold for our as a country? These are all good questions and Bible scholars are divided on the answers. Some say the Bible is silent regarding the United States as it is on many situations and about many countries. Others say that some of the portions of the visions in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation could refer to God’s plans for the United States. What we want to do this morning is not speculate, we want to see with certainty what God is doing and how He is working in the United States of America today.

To begin our discussion we want to look at why God created nations. God did create nations, they didn’t just pop up all by themselves; they’re not the creation of human beings. Colossians 1:16 talks about Jesus Christ ruling heaven and earth and says, “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities…” That would certainly take into consideration the United States of America! Who created the United States! God did! Who created China? God did! Who created Iraq with its rulers? God did! Who gives us our rulers and authorities in this country? God does! But why did God create these nations? Verse 16 goes on to say “…all things were created by him and for him.” God created the nations for Himself, for His purposes and He has definite purposes.

So then we have to ask, what are God’s purposes? Our second reading from Acts tells us God’s purposes. God, speaking through the Apostle Paul, gives a brief overview of history. Verse 26 reads, “From one man (Adam) God made every nation of man that they should inhabit the whole earth. He determined the times set for them, the exact places where they should live.” Talk about God’s control over the world! God created the nations and determined the exact places where people should live. A foot note here…if you remember the problem faced in the first part of Genesis- God had said “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth” and people weren’t doing it. Being of one language, they stayed together and even built the Tower of Babel (Chapter 11) which was a direct rebellion against God. So what did God do? He gave the people different languages to force them to spread out over the world. That’s how God dispersed people; it was all God’s decision. And verse 27 tells us God’s purpose in dispersing people, “God did this so that men would seek Him, perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us.” Then it goes on to say in verse 30 that “He commands all people everywhere to repent.” That’s it! God’s purpose in creating nations is that people would seek after Him, draw close to Him and repent, turn close to Him.

We have talked about repentance in the past. But maybe we can illustrate the concept a little better with this block of wood and a screw. Imagine that God is the block of wood. You and I are the screw. Your family is the screw. The community is the screw. This country is the screw. All the nations are the screw. As you turn the screw into the wood, it gets closer and closer and closer to the block. That’s what God wants to do with us; God wants us to get as close to Him as we can possibly be. Repentance simply means “to turn”, to turn away from things of this world and turn toward God, turn closer and closer and closer to God each day. If we say “Ok, I want that! I want to turn closer to God each day!” how do we do it? What is the tool we use to turn closer to God? Our Bibles, because its God’s Word to us and the Holy Spirit works through it. God’s Word gives us a relationship with God and draws us closer and closer to Him.

But for the rest of the world where people don’t care about the Bible, or where the Bible isn’t preached, or where people aren’t involved in Bible Studies, what is God going to use to turn people toward Him to get them to repent? He essentially needs a screwdriver! God needs a screwdriver to turn people toward Him so that they snug up to Him and get closer and closer and closer to Him. Let’s look at Biblical history to see what God uses as a screwdriver. Israel was in slavery in Egypt and God used those two nations as a screwdriver in an effort to turn people toward Him. What did the Israelites have to do to get released from slavery in Egypt? They had to turn to God. God used the Nation of Egypt to turn Israel toward Himself. God also wanted to save the Egyptians and used Israel to do that. Egypt had a many false gods. God sent the plagues to the Egyptians as a screwdriver to defeat all their false gods and point to Himself as the real God. All those plagues were there to turn the Egyptians toward God. And as you can read in Exodus, after the plagues the Egyptians knew God was God!

Going forward in Biblical history, the Israelites had drifted from God; they turned from God as we so often do, so God sent a screwdriver to get them to repent. God sent the Assyrians. The Assyrians came in and tormented the Israelites and some of the Israelites repented. Then God used the Babylonians to come in and clobber the Assyrians so that the Babylonians would turn to God. And as you read in the Book of Daniel, it was incredible, some of the Babylonians actually did turn to God and acknowledged Him as the True God. God used nation against nation to turn people to Him. And then He raised up Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus was not a Believer, yet God used Him up in an effort to turn the Persians toward God, to turn the Babylonians toward God, and to keep the Israelites turned toward Him. So that’s what God does, He uses various nations as screwdrivers to turn people toward Him.

And God uses peace and prosperity to turn people toward Him; He did that with Cyrus in Isaiah Chapter 45. Again, Cyrus was not a follower of God; he could not have cared less about God. But God’s goal is to turn people toward Himself. God said to Cyrus, “I will take hold of your hand, I will make you great, I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places.” God is going to bless Cyrus and the Persians tremendously “so that you will know that I am the LORD” (verse 3). And verse 4 says. “I summon you (the Persians) by name and bestow on you a title of honor though you do not acknowledge me.” This is an important lesson – God sometimes uses the ungodly to turn people toward Him. Even though the Persians didn’t acknowledge the true God, He was going to bless them so that they would acknowledge Him. And in verse 5 God says, “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God”, and then to the Persians He said, “I will strengthen you though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity, I create disaster; I, the Lord do all these things.”

The last thing God uses as a screwdriver to turn people to Him are the difficulties of life. God said in Isaiah 45:7 “I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” When God’s people were not returning to Him, when they turned stubborn, when they drifted off, Amos 4:6 says some very interesting things about how God uses a screwdriver. God said, “I gave you empty stomachs in every city, and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me. I also withheld rain from you. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you did not return to me. I sent plagues among you, yet you have not returned to me.”

So where are we at so far? God’s plan for the United States – as for all nations – whether it’s China, Iraq, Germany, you name it – is to turn people toward Him so that they get closer and closer and closer all the time, so that people snug close to Him. He uses other nations to do it, He uses difficulties in life to do it and He uses peace and prosperity to do it. He’s given us peace and prosperity in the United States for more than two hundred years, this time of peace and religious freedom so that people will turn to Him. You can go into any church any week and draw close to God; you have the freedom to do that. So many people in the world don’t have that freedom.

Turn every day and get closer and closer and closer to God and spread the word to others. Lead others to turn and get closer and closer and closer to God; that will solve the problems in this country. As people turn closer and closer to God, God promises His blessings as we read in the Jeremiah passage this morning. Here in this country, we still have prosperity; we still have freedom of religion. Now is the time to take advantage to turn yourself as close to God as you can and lead your friends as close to God as you can. Pray for them, bring them God’s Word, and turn them close to Him.

What is God using in this country as a screwdriver? What are the issues facing this country? Value of life, immigration, poverty and justice, racial reconciliation, religious liberties, rebuilding the family, the environment, global warming, the cost of health care, high energy costs, war, the economy, unemployment, and the list goes on and on. When we look at all of those things from a Biblical perspective we can see that they are a screwdriver to turn us closer and closer and closer to God, to get to repent. A screwdriver in the hands of a maniac can become a pretty fierce weapon, but in the hands of a good person, a screwdriver is a very useful tool. All the issues in this country that we’ve talked about are in God’s hands. And all those issues, since God rules, are a screwdriver in His hands. We have to realize that all those issues are not in the hands of some maniac, but are in the hands of our God, who loved you enough to give His life on the Cross and pay for your sins and reconcile you to Himself. That gives us hope and that gives us peace.

So, the next time you fill the car with gas remember that these high fuel prices are not in the hands of the oil companies or the countries we buy oil from, those prices are in the hands of a God who cared enough to die for you; those prices are a screwdriver to turn you and me and this country closer and closer to Him. When you look at the unemployment numbers, remember that unemployment is a screwdriver in the hands of God who cared enough to die for you, to turn you and others closer and closer and closer to Him. The environment and worries about global warming are simply a screwdriver in the hands of a God who cared enough to die for you and who wants you turned and snugged up and closer and closer and closer to Him. The elections and all the worries about the candidates is a screwdriver in the hands of God to turn us closer and closer and closer to Him.

God’s plans for the United States of America are the same plans He has for every other nation in the Bible; repent, turn to Him, hear His word, receive His sacraments and day by day turn closer and closer to Him. That’s God’s plan for the United States of America. He will use other nations to do it, He will use times of prosperity to do it and He will use difficulties to do it. And the peace we have in it all comes from knowing that the screwdriver, those issues, are in the hands of a God who cared enough to die for you. And that gives us peace. And we can use the Bible’s recipe for peace. Remember the three steps from Philippians Chapter 4 we talked about last week: RPT - Rejoice, Pray, give Thanks and RPT, repeat, as often as you need to. Rejoice, pray, give thanks ALWAYS! God’s peace will fill your days ALL WAYS! And repeat it as often as you need it! Rejoice in who God is. Pray, give your concerns to Him. Give thanks. And God’s promise from Philippians Chapter 4 is that peace will fill your days, an inner peace that’s there even in the midst of God turning the screws so that people will turn to Him. It’s a peace that will not leave. Rejoice, pray, give thanks always. God’s peace will fill your days all ways. Rejoice, pray, give thanks always. God’s peace will fill your days all ways.

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