Sermonettes For Nation Sunday

Weekend of July 5, 1998

Saint Mark's, Watertown

Pastor Karl Walther

Sermonette #1 -- What's Wrong With Our Country?

Dear fellow Christians:

This weekend we celebrate the two hundred twenty-second anniversary of the founding of our nation. That makes it a very appropriate time to stop and take stock of the state of the union. And I'd like to begin with the question, "What's wrong with our country?"

What's wrong with our country? Well, many people might be inclined to answer, "Nothing! Everything is going fine in our country!" And outwardly, it might appear to be going that way. We live in wealthy times. Unemployment is low. The stock market is high. Inflation is low. Consumer confidence is high.

So, is there anything wrong with our country? The sober answer is, "Yes, there's lots wrong with our country." What about credit card debt that, I've read, stands at some six thousand dollars for every man, woman, and child in the United States? What about the fact that most kids born today will grow up fatherless for a part of their first eighteen years? What about thirty-five million babies slaughtered in the wombs of their mothers-- still murdered at the rate of over a million a year? Or what about the fear of violent crime that fills your heart and mine?

What's wrong with our country? Let me suggest to you three basic things....

• First of all, the wickedness of our people-- that's what's wrong with our country! Americans want something as their own; by way of a lack of funds, God says "no"; and they buy it anyway. American men want sexual gratification upon demand; American women fail to see that as so serious a sin; and children grow up fatherless. Americans want to control their own lives and do their own thing; a baby comes along; and they flush it out of their bodies. But Proverbs thirteen, six, warns: Wickedness overthrows the sinner.

• What's wrong with our country? Well, besides the wickedness of our people, how about the weakness of our churches? Americans want something that's not theirs to have, and so-called Christian pastors proclaim, "God says, 'Name it-- and claim it!'" Americans involve themselves in sex outside of marriage, and so-called Christian pastors say nothing -- or they say, "Well, that's the society in which we live, and God understands." Americans commit abortions, and so-called Christian pastors say nothing-- or they say, "Well, it's a woman's body, and she's got to be able to decide what to do with it."

And that's the least of it.... We've got so-called Christian pastors who never declare the sinfulness and damnability of their people. We've got so-called Christian pastors who never emphasize in their messages Jesus Christ, the Savior from sin. We've got so-called Christian pastors who are concerned with their popularity among their people, rather than proclaiming the message of God who bought them with his own blood. But Jeremiah five, thirteen, warns: These prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.

• What's wrong with our country? Well, besides the wickedness of our people and the weakness of our churches, how about the gutlessness of our government? Our government has come a long way from the principle that: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. Our government has come a long way from the principle that: If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. Our government has come a long way from the principle that: If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

And in case you're wondering where those principles come from, they are straight from the Old Testament. Now, the Lord makes it clear that in the New Testament we are not bound to these. Nevertheless, I've got to ask, "Who are we to think we can take God's own principles -- by which he governed his people -- and improve so greatly upon them?" Isn't it true, instead, as Proverbs twenty-eight, twenty-eight, says: When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding?

So: what's wrong with our country? The wickedness of our people! The weakness of our churches! The gutlessness of our government! And-- and: you and I!!! Yeah, you and I are wrong with this country! Your sinful nature and mine -- my covetousness, my lusts, my viciousness, my wickedness, my weakness, my gutlessness (and yours)-- that's what's wrong with this country! And we deserve our problems. We deserve eternal problems. We deserve the punishment of hell-fire. As Psalm five, four and five, testifies: You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.

That's God's Word. To it we must say, "Amen."

Sermonette #2 -- What's Right With Our Country?

So, there's lots wrong with our country. Our people are wicked. Our churches are weak. Our government is gutless. And you and I are sinful.

So, is there any hope for us? Well, the answer is "yes!" And in presenting that hope, I'd like to tell you, "What's right with our country."

What's right with our country? Let me suggest to you three basic things....

• First of all, there's a group of people in our nation who have confessed their covetousness and thefts. They've confessed their lusts and adulteries. They've confessed their viciousness and murders. They also confess that a Father, full of mercy, punished their damnable sinfulness upon his Son-- a God-man so full of love that mortals cannot fathom him. It's the resurrection of that Son of God, guaranteeing their own eternal resurrection to a better kingdom, that the Holy Spirit regularly communicates to them in his Word. And the inexpressible power of God's love for them enables those people now to overcome theft and adultery and murder.

Those people are you people, the Christians-- those who confess that: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. You are the ones who are filled with the Scripture-expressed fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You Christians are what's right with America.

• What's right with our country? Well, besides you Christian people, there are some really decent institutions in our land. These are places where men every week remind their people to "confess our sins to God our Father". These are places where men weekly announce with joy that "God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." These are places where men wash away people's sin in the waters of baptism-- and feed people's souls with the body and blood of the Lord. These are places where there are men who would do anything, in keeping with Christ, to get people reading and studying their Bibles.

Those institutions, of course, are the real genuine Christian churches. They're like the couple of churches that the Lord commended at the beginning of the book of Revelation. To them he said-- to us he says: I know where you live-- where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. ...I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. ...See, I have placed before you and open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ...Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. We Christian churches are what's right with America.

• What's right with our country? Well, besides you Christian people, and besides us Christian churches, we can thank God for our government, too. Now, it's not so much for our government's social-type programs-- whether you're for them or against them, and it's not so much for our government's defense against enemies abroad or criminals at home-- whatever you think about that; no, what we've got to thank God for in regard to our government is freedom. I don't think I'm stretching it when I flat out declare that it's freedom that makes America's system of government great.

Friends, never stop thanking God that our government recognizes your freedom of religion. That makes you all the more free to believe the gospel message of holiness obtained through Christ. Never stop thanking God that our government recognizes your freedom of speech. That makes you all the more free to speak up about sins forgiven through the blood of Christ. Never stop thanking God that our government recognizes your freedom of assembly. That makes you all the more free to gather to celebrate the resurrection of Christ publicly every week. And never stop thanking God that our government recognizes your freedom of the press. That makes you all the more free to support our publication of the proclamation of Christ, the Lord and Savior of all.

Not only so, but the freedoms your government recognizes reminds you of the greatest freedom you've got. John chapter eight has Jesus saying: If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ...And if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed-- free from sin, free for heaven.

That's God's Word. To it we happily say, "Amen."

Sermonette #3 -- What's Our Real Country?

So, there are some things wrong with our country: the wickedness of its people, the weakness of its churches, the gutlessness of its government. Thank God, there are also some things right with our country: Christians, genuinely Christian churches, and the freedoms that our government recognizes.

So, which things will win out? Will we, in the future, see our nation disintegrate into further wickedness, weakness, and gutlessness? Or will we, in the future, see Christians, Christian churches, and freedom gain the victory?

Honestly, I've got to answer, "I don't know." On the one hand, I believe Luke one, thirty-seven, which says: Nothing is impossible with God. On the other hand, I am very concerned with Genesis eight, twenty-one, which says: Every inclination of a person's heart is evil from childhood. And so, I recognize that in this sinful world every kingdom will sometime collapse.

Isn't it a comfort, then, to know -- fellow Christians -- that we hold a dual citizenship? Isn't it a comfort to know that we are not only citizens of the United States, but also citizens of the kingdom of God? It's the way Paul put it: Our citizenship is in heaven; and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, there's coming a day when covetousness and credit card debt will be kept far from us. There's coming a day when lust and adultery will be left far behind. There's coming a day when viciousness and violence will vanish. On that day, when Christ returns, he will give to our own bodies ... holiness, to our own lives ... perfect love, to our own experience ... the ultimate in heavenly wealth.

And that Jesus stands in contrast to any other leader. You can trust him-- implicitly and explicitly, presently and eternally.

That's God's promise. To it we happily say, "Amen."