Tag Archives: Cellar Dwelling Christians

The Blessings of Liberty, July 1, 2012, Rev. Randolph Kesler

Posted on by
Reply

7-1-12

Rev. Randolph Kesler

THE PASTORAL PRAYER

Prayer for the Nation         

O God of all truth, we approach You this day for our beloved nation. Gratefully we acknowledge that you have led us and blessed us all these many years from our founding, through our floundering and to our freedom.  Keep, I pray, your hand of providence and your heart of purpose upon us.  Help us always to stand for justice and agape in your world as we seek to represent your grace and will.  Bring defeat, I pray, to all who oppose the freedom and liberty that you have taught us to love and move them, by your hand, to a deeper understanding of their place in your world. Bring them to the light of your salvation according to your omnipotent will.

Enable the leaders of this nation who love liberty and respect God given authority to unmask the impure motives of those who would prostitute the great principles on which this nation was founded. Convict of sin those who practice licentiousness in the name of liberty, who seek confirmation under the cloak of position and power for their abandonment of conscience.

Empower us, as children in Christ, to confront evil in our commitment to grace. Help us to deal kindly and charitably with all who profess their love for you and help us to deal courageously and confrontationally with systemic evil and personal corruption in those who refuse to see your light and come to your truth.

Bless this nation – not because we are a New Israel- but because our founders faithfully founded us upon the principles and purposes of Judeo-Christian revelation in your Word. Enable us to witness in this world to your goodness which you have placed within us and, if we refuse to do so, give us honesty not to be surprised when our nation succumbs to deceit and treachery.

O God of truth, free us from weakness in the face of lawlessness no matter how innocent and sweet it appears to be. Keep your church free and strong and holy.  Make us the mirror image of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.  Amen.

The Blessings of Liberty

1 Peter 2. 13-17

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

 Today our congregation likes to celebrate the joy of American independence. I have no hesitancy about such a celebration because I am firmly convinced that you and I are quite capable of loving our country and worshiping our Lord at the same time.

 I am also certain that there is no one in this fellowship who would not say if pressed into a hard situation that if a choice had to be made between being faithful to our Lord or being obedient to an oppressive American government- “I will put being a follower of Christ ahead of being an American citizen.”

I pray such a choice never comes to us but I would not be surprised if one day it happens.

Do not read that as the statement of a reactionary but the affirmation of a committed Christian and a disappointed patriot.  I believe in the best America has to offer, but I also know that the United States , as a human form of government, is subject to failure and falling and that God is forever.

You and I worship the One who is King of kings and Lord of lords, the One who raises one  nation to take down another nation – the One before whom one day all the powers and nations of this earth will one day bow in.

America has been oppressed now for many years by processes that I believe are weakening our fabric and testing our resolve.  Without delineating specifics, these processes fall under one general category – and that is lawlessness mediated by the breakdown in authority. We see this in a general disrespect for law. And a general disrespect for law or authority cannot help but lead to a breakdown in ethics.

You may remember the popular comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes which invited us to share the misadventures of a boy and his stuffed tiger.  One day on a walk in the woods, six-year-old boy Calvin announces to Hobbes the stuffed tiger that he has decided he doesn’t believe in ethics anymore, because, as far as he’s concerned, “The ends justify the means.” “Get what you can while the getting is good,” Calvin reasons, “Might makes right.”

At this, Hobbes, the stuffed tiger, promptly pushes his human friend into a mud hole. “Why’d you do that?” Calvin objects. “You were in my way,” Hobbes replies, “and now you’re not. The ends justify the means.”

 Sitting in the mud, Calvin seems to reach a brief moment of enlightenment, until he uncovers a way to reconcile the conflict with self-interest: “I didn’t mean for everyone, you dolt. Just me.”

An attitude of “I’ll do what I want and hope I don’t   get caught”  or “I’ll do what I want and you can’t stop me,” or I’ll do what I want and what business is it of yours, anyway” permeates the culture.

And, without exception, the general culture of a group is but the composite mirror of the individuals within it.  The attitude of lawlessness always ends in the abuse of human beings whether it occurs in the culture or in the church.

On May 14 of this year(2012)  we celebrated the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States.  And the Magna Carta was signed on June 15, 1215, 797 years ago this year. Both of these are hailed as  ultimately  significant in the political history of the world because they established the power of the people to limit the reach and influence of the government which ruled them.

All government, including the best government, seems to have an insatiable appetite for devouring more and more of the people’s power.  It is their nature in a fallen world.

The adoption of these two documents also advanced a healthy respect for the rule of law.  America has always prided herself on being a nation based on the rule of law.  That is precisely what separated her from most of the other nations on the face of the earth. And the Preamble to the Constitution states concisely the reasons for the institution of American government by constitution.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,[promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The Declaration of Independence written twelve years earlier had firmly documented the spiritual and moral basis of the formation of a new government in severing the umbilical cord from Mother Britain.

 It was the right of a free people when oppressed by over bearing government to take redress- to seek relief and not only was it the right of a free people, it was their responsibility to do so for coming generations.   They knew the cost, they counted the cost, and they paid the cost. Therefore, Americans of every generation have been asked to pay a similar cost in a variety of ways.

We should pause to consider – what makes a people free?

What makes a people free is the realization and the exercise of that power which they assume to be theirs because they are possessed by an innate dignity and inherent value as human beings made in the Image of God.

Something inside tells us we have worth.

As Christians, we believe that when God created the world and humankind, particularly, that God did so at great sacrifice to Himself.   God exists in absolute freedom to be and do whatever he chooses; therefore, when He created He gave up – sacrificed part of his being and nature and essence – to give us limited freedom.

Since we are created in his Image, we share his power.

Therefore, power- the ability to self rule- is not something which Americans derive from government.  Power is what Americans give to government. Now that is a reversal of most of the governmental entities which have ruled since the beginning of time.

“Americans changed this approach with three words:  We the People.

“We the people” tell the government what to do; it doesn’t tell us.  “We the People” are the driver;  the government is the car.  And we decide where it should go, and by what route to take, and how fast.

Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are.  Our Constitution is a document in which “We the People” tell government what it is allowed to do.  “We the People” are free.” (Ronald Reagan, 1989)

So in the American frame of liberty, power from God flows to the people and from the people to the government.

Is there a Scriptural mandate for this doctrine?  Of course.

According to Scripture it is the responsibility of government to bring order to society and the tool by which that order is implemented is dominion.  It is the dominion given by God to Adam and Eve in Genesis “over the fish of the sea and birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Gen. 1. 26b)

Such power properly administered is called dominion; but improperly implemented is called dominance.

Proper dominion is the use of power  for the good of all concerned- agape.   According to the Preamble to our Constitution, proper dominion brings about justice in the society.

 The benefits of justice are threefold:  domestic tranquility, common defense and general welfare.

 The first benefit of justice is domestic tranquility, which is peace and order among all parties through the fair and equal application of the law for the benefit of all people.

            The second benefit of justice provides for the common defense. Society cannot long endure unless people can defend themselves from a national point of view. So we need a defense.

            The third benefit of justice is general welfare which means to me that the populace is given the opportunity to work and earn for themselves without bias and prejudice in employment and burdensome taxation from the government.  People can certainly spend their own money more wisely than government.

 Such justice insures the blessings of liberty for coming generations.  No government should over extend its contract with its people.  Yet it is the nature of all government to over extend its will and power.

George Washington reminded us, “A government is like a fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master.”

And if you can’t remember that quote, maybe you can remember the biting tribute Groucho Marx paid to the toadies of governmental power- the politicians-those who turn dominion into dominance.

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

All of these blessings of liberty are secured by faithful adherence to the rule of law.

Rule of law is what separates American government from dictatorships, oligarchies, totalitarian control or anarchy.

Our text points us in much the same directions as does the preamble to the Constitution.  Is that not odd? I wonder which one came first.  (The Biblical text by about 1800 years)

And what does the Scripture tell us regarding good citizenship? It tells us the blessings of liberty are exhibited in the exercise of freedom in a responsible way.

  1. Christian liberty does not emphasize rights as much as responsibility.
  2. Christian liberty is modified by Christian agape which is Biblical and Constitutional Justice described in the Preamble.
  3. Christian liberty respects every person.
  4. Christian liberty loves the church, the family of the faithful of God.
  5. Christian liberty respects God and honors government.

We shall not long be able to “secure the blessings of liberty” for coming generations if we do not adhere to honesty and truth in the recording of the history of this nation.  We have suffered for the past 40 years from the excesses and prejudices of revisionist historians who neither seek source material nor commit themselves to the frugal interpretation of historical fact and reality;

 Or knowing the facts, purposely twist them to fit their world view.

 They would have us believe, and some of us would readily accept, that the founders of this nation were at most deists and at least, secularists who neither affirmed our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit as Christian God  and who also lived as non- Christians.

That the facts don’t support them is inconsequential.

Rev. Henry Muhlenberg, pastor of the Lutheran Church near Valley Forge in the horrendous winter of 1777 noted concerning George Washington. “I heard a fine example today, namely that his Excellency General Washington rode around among his army yesterday and admonished each and every one to fear God, to put away wickedness…and to practice Christian virtues. From all appearances, this gentleman does not belong to the so called world of society, for he respects God’s Word, believes in the atonement through Christ, and bears himself in humility and gentleness.” (1)

And secondly, (there are voluminous examples of Washington’s Christian faith) Washington’s concluding paragraph in his circular letter sent to the governors of the thirteen colonies in June, 1783:

 “Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field.

            And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific (soothing) temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of the blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.

            Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Does that sound like a secularist to you?

May God preserve and defend the United States of America and long may He use her as an instrument for peace and harmony to accomplish His will  in His  world.

  1. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, The Notebook of a Colonial Clergyman, 1975, p. 195. Tappert and Doberstern
  2. June 8, 1783, concluding paragraph of Washington’s farewell circular letter sent to the governor’s of the thirteen colonies. Recorded at Pohick Church where GW was a vestryman from 1762-84 and in St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC.

How can you not believe? – Mark 16. 14

Posted on by
Reply

4-29-12

Rev. Randolph Kesler

Tomb Bound, Cellar Dwelling Christians

Mark 16. 14

“Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after He had risen.”

The Risen One has appeared now to Mary Magdalene and the two on the road to Emmaus who have reported to the Eleven that Jesus has risen from the dead and that they have seen him.

Yet the apostles choose not to believe. They are hard hearted.

Whoever is the author of the long ending of St. Mark’s gospel (16. 9-20), he or she certainly has an affinity for Mark’s theology.  All the way through the gospels Mark shows the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples as obtuse and stubborn, downright dense and, yet, these are the ones who will become the apostles sent out to gospelize the world.  Mark tells us they are lacking faith and exhibiting a stubborn refusal to believe – (hardness of heart in the Greek) that Jesus has risen from the dead.

The Eleven have remained in seclusion, nursing their wounds; they will not believe; they refuse to believe. This refusal to believe identifies them with two other groups in Jesus’ ministry who are obtuse, stubborn and unwilling to believe this good news. That is the position of the Pharisees who watch the love of God expressed in His Son by healing and exorcism, for proclaiming the truth of God’s love for the world; they looked at Jesus and called him a devil, the chief of devils because all they saw in the goodness of God in Jesus was he didn’t heal on the right day or He wasn’t properly ordained to do what He did.

 And, he classifies them with the Nazarenes of his home town who would not believe that He had the power to heal or teach because he was, after all, no one special.  He grew up among them. They discounted Jesus and when we discount Jesus or others, they are powerless to make any positive difference in our lives as far as we are concerned.

 Some of us live in worlds where we make it impossible for others to please us because they don’t do things our way.  That is hardness of heart and refusal to believe. That is where the Eleven are now living. They are tomb bound, cellar dwelling disciples.  They believe some but they don’t believe enough; they don’t believe what they must. They don’t believe in miracles and they certainly don’t believe that God has the power to bring about the greatest of miracles- resurrection of a dead man.

Jesus told the Twelve before his arrest and execution that he would be arrested, tortured and killed but on the third day He would rise from the dead.  The Twelve are the only ones with whom He shared this information. He did not tell the larger band of followers, not Mary Magdalene and not the two on the road to Emmaus. So the Twelve are more accountable for not believing than are the other  followers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tomb bound, cellar dwelling folks are hard hearted and unwilling to believe.  That is, they are closed off to two things in this world:  to the work of God and to new possibilities.

Unlike Mary Magdalene and the Emmaus pair the Eleven did not seek Jesus either by going to the tomb first or by talking about the weekend events starting on Friday. They were simply satisfied with mourning and weeping (v. 10) Tomb bound folks don’t look for Jesus; they are too self-consumed.

Not only do they not seek but they do not accept the testimony of those who do, they suffer from hardness of heart which is the Biblical expression for their thinking, their desires, their understanding, their decision making.  Hardness of heart becomes the core of the life of the tomb bound.

What constitutes believing that Jesus is risen from the dead?

When we belong to the Lord as do these Eleven disciples, He will not leave us in our tombs.

The road to believing – that is,  knowing the Risen Christ in your heart- (1)is to accept that God is good and in Him is no evil at all.   The Eleven saw only the evil that had invaded their world, the defeat of death.

We accept that (2)God’s word is true. This the two on the road to Emmaus learned- learn and trust the Word of God.

 We accept that what God promises, He does.  God is the God of Amen.

 Every time we pray we speak a word of Hebrew.  AMEN.

“Amen” is the Hebrew word for “truth” which means steadfastness, trustworthiness, dependability.

Do you think you can depend on God that whatever He tells us and promises us is true?

  Is God worthy of your trust?

Each of us must answer this for ourselves.

As for me, I  deposit God’s promises in word and deed in my faith  bank account.

When your husband or wife or child or parent or brother or sister tells you they love you, you believe it.  You believe it not because they necessarily demonstrated it five minutes before they told you.  You believe it because you have a history – a personal relationship with them – a succession of honored commitments to them and from them.

That is believing.  It is accepting a word or promise because you accept that the One who is saying it or promising it is trustworthy and that He will not lie to you or deceive you. Belief is not intellectual assent but it is   the overwhelming conviction that God has come to you in Jesus Christ.

What do you do in all this?

You do nothing.  You trust God to give you belief – trust.

Has He not been working all things well for you all the days of your life?

He chose you to be his own.  He created you at just the right time and gave you the breath of life. He called you into life.  He has been preparing every situation and circumstance in His universe since before the creation of the world so that they will serve His purpose in helping you believe.

He has enlightened your mind to understand the things of God.  He has taken away your refusal to believe. He renews your will and He has determined you to do good. Yet He does all this by your permission as you have become willing for Him to do this. (John 6. 35f) (Westminster Confession of Faith)

This is what our Lord has done for you – how can you not believe His presence and power in your life?

Why does God do this?

               Because God loves you.

GOD LIVES UNDER THE BED

I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that’s what I heard him say one night. He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, ‘Are you there, God?’ he said. ‘Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed….’

I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin’s unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.

He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he’s 6-foot-2).  There are few ways in which he is an adult.  He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed  (that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas) and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.

Someone – some Mary Magdalene or two on the road to Emmaus – someone told Kevin this and he accepted it.  That is believing. It is truth to him.

I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?

Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, returns to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.

The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.  He does not seem dissatisfied.

He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.

He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day’s laundry chores..And Saturdays – oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That’s the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside. ‘That one’s goin’ to Chi-car-go! ‘ Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.

His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.
And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.

He doesn’t know what it means to be discontent.

His life is simple..

He will never know the entanglements of wealth, of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.

His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.

He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax.
He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.

He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue. Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.

Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to the Lord, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God – to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an ‘educated’ person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.

In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my beliefs, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith. It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.

It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap.. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances – they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God’s care.

Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God. And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I’ll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.

Kevin won’t be surprised at all.

Kevin   accepted  what someone told him about God.

He believed what they said.

Kevin believes – Kevin trusts. Kevin does not live in the darkness of the tomb, but in the light of trust.

We must make choices in Christian living- either believe Jesus is alive or remain tomb bound, cellar dwelling beings just scraping by in the arena of eternal life or really beginning to live in Christ as Christ is in you.

 Do you believe or don’t you believe?

Believing is only the door by which you become aware that the Risen Christ has entered your life and, delivering you from hardness of heart, brought you life.

There is nothing for you to do but accept and affirm.

BELIEVE.