In the Right House, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Psalm 111

111:1  Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
111:2  Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
111:3  Full of honor and majesty is His work, and His righteousness endures forever.
111:4  He has gained renown by His wonderful deeds; the Lord is gracious and merciful.
111:5  He provides food for those who fear Him; He is ever mindful of His covenant.
111:6  He has shown his people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
111:7  The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy.
111:8  They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
111:9  He sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name.
111:10  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.

       At the beginning of WWII, a young boy on a farm in Oklahoma was drafted into the Army.  He was to meet the train in the small town of Walnut on a certain date and travel to Oklahoma City for processing.  But the bus he was to catch on the highway to Walnut got there the night before, so he needed a place to stay and his family had no money for hotels.  The boy called his uncle who lived in Walnut to see if he could stay overnight at his house.  The uncle said of course he could, but the uncle would be out of town that night.

       "You come stay at my house," the uncle said, "at 19 Orange St., and I'll meet you there in the morning and take you to the train.  Don't worry about a thing, I'll have a nice hot meal waiting for you and a comfortable bed.  Walnut's a small town, so nobody ever locks their doors, you just go right in and make yourself to home.  I'll leave the porch light on."

       So the boy packed a small overnight case, said goodbye to his family, and caught the bus out on the highway going to Walnut.  It was dark by the time he arrived, so he asked directions and walked over to Orange Street where he found house number 19.  But the porch was dark, as was the house.  Inside, the place was a shambles.  There was no food on the table or in the refrigerator.  The whole place smelled of dirt and mold.  There was no bed in the bedroom, only a broken-down couch in the living room.  And there he spent the night, hungry, tossing and turning in the cold trying to stay warm.

       The beeping horn of his uncle's car woke him in the morning.  He struggled to the door where he found his uncle parked across the street and several houses down.

       "What are you doing over there?" his uncle asked the bedraggled boy.  "Nobody lives over at 16.  The boy looked at the address.  In the morning light he could see a nail had come loose and the number six had dropped around to look like a nine.  Across the street where his uncle was parked, was the real 19, where a hot meal and a warm bed had been waiting for him.

       So often, when people complain to me that "the church" or "pastors" are not doing enough to keep America from going down the ethical and moral drain, not speaking out enough about bad politics and cultic idols and foreign religions, I want to tell them they only believe that because they are in the wrong house.

A recent article, "The Silence of the Pulpits," has been gaining some attention, a piece written by Bill Warner.  It is a well written, but wrong essay, blaming the silence of the church for what is wrong with America.  

Bill Warner is the Director, Center for the Study of Political Islam.  Perhaps it's like the old story about how to carpenters everything looks like a hammer.  Bill Warner's assertion is that it is the fault of Christian Pastors that Islam is growing rampantly across America. He is busily pointing fingers, looking for scapegoats, and warns, "We cannot defeat political Islam until we get Christian boots on the ground.  Do the math. The pulpits must become a source of courage and knowledge and stand up for Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and all others who suffer under Islam’s persecution today and for the last 1400 years."

I do agree with Warner when he points out that "facts are the new hate speech."  Calling sin a sin has never been popular with those involved.  But America is not waiting for Christian pastors to lead the charge against Islam.  Christian pastors are low hanging fruit, and urging them to do more while ignoring the damage done by our elected and appointed politicians, and by the individual uninformed citizen, amounts to grumbling, not doing.

Nor have the Christian church or Christian pastors been silent about the issues of lapsed ethics, morals, and the war against Christ in America.  If anyone accesses any of my 12 Christian Facebook pages they will see no less than Billy Graham has spoken out on this subject.  I am constantly posting news of pastors speaking out about the ethical and moral lapses by politicians and organizations that require us to ask, why are we in this hand basket and where are we going?

There are many people whom I tend to regard as "tip your hat to God Christians" who know little of scripture and have only a Sunday passing acquaintance with the Almighty God, who want to equate America today with the dying Roman empire or with the ancient city of Ninevah whom God threatened to destroy for their rampant evil and giving over to the pleasures of the flesh.  But for Rome, when the Vandals and pagans attacked the gates, it was the insidious evil inside Rome and its war against the Christ that had already destroyed them.  As for Ninevah, God had mercy and sent a recalcitrant prophet -- Jonah didn't want Him to save Ninevah -- to bring that city to its knees, and the people repented.  It lasted another 200 years, finally being destroyed 600 years before the time of Christ.  Today the ruins sit on the east bank of the Tigris River, across from the modern city of Mosul in Iraq.

I once had the grand experience of telling a boardroom full of Army engineers that they paid me a great deal of money for me to share my 50 years of PR expertise with them, they might want to listen to what I was telling them.  They were furious with me, to the point some of them walked out.  They were even more furious later when the issue they were handling badly blew up in their faces, angering an entire town, its mayor and a powerful U.S. Congressman on the Congressional Finance Committee.  It then took months to fix the situation, and the next assignment for the Army Lieutenant Colonel in charge was the Sinai Desert.  I had nothing to do with that.  But he resigned his commission rather than go.

Why do I tell that story?  Because I believe that like most people here, we've all "been there", having spoken up about the clear truth of the matter, and been ignored by those who could have made a difference.  It's frustrating, but as God tells us in Ezekiel 33:8-9, we His children have limited responsibility for others; "When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.  Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul."   

Are we Christians the only ones aware there are Christian pastors being held in prisons in China, Iran and Pakistan under death sentences for preaching Christ? That there are dead pastors and slaughtered churches in India and Africa?  That even though the IRS has not yet been successful in using  the Pres. Lyndon Baines Johnson sponsored law to yank 501.3C tax-free status from churches where Pastors talk politics from the pulpit, they have taken churches to court and attempted it.  So far, they have not been successful.  But the threat remains.  The question is this, why are Christians the only ones who speak out about these things?  As 17th Century English poet John Donne wrote, "Ask not for the whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

And while I will quickly agree with others that we have an overabundance of liberally-trained "meek and mild-mannered Christian clergy" who shoot from the hip at our own walking wounded, the church in America also has a stiff backbone of clergy -- I know many of them, former U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy, personally -- who speak out regularly and do what they can to raise the awareness that it is necessary we keep the evil politicians and idol-worshipers from controlling America and ripping away our God-given rights. 

Perhaps you've heard of the Black Robe Regiment which goes back to Revolutionary Days; activist ministers of Christ who during the war for independence took the forefront in leading that fight against tyranny.  The Christian ministers who make up today's Black Robe Regiment are still active today.  And while we would hope pressure would be brought to bear to move the political candidates away from supporting the same-sex agendas and "feel good" approaches to religious and cultic enslavement, of even more importance to all of us as men of God, and which we would hope would be important to others, would be represented in the reality that the people of God are rising to the purposes of God's Kingdom.  Across this nation prayer groups are increasing, and we need to continue creating an atmosphere for miracles.  A miracle, through concentrated prayer of God's people, may be the only thing left to us.  

The God for whom time does not exist, who moves mountains, parts seas, heals the living and resurrects the dead surely will have no trouble handling empty suit politicians and those who support them, but will empower His people to crush and set aside Islam and other false religions just as they did Baal in ancient times.  We should all ask Him to do exactly that.  The intent of 2nd Chronicles 7:14 is still alive and well; "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  

Let us look again at today's scripture, Psalm 111.

"Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.  Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.  Full of honor and majesty is His work, and His righteousness endures forever.  He has gained renown by His wonderful deeds; the Lord is gracious and merciful.  He provides food for those who fear Him; He is ever mindful of His covenant.  He has shown His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.  The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy.  They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.  He sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever.  Holy and awesome is His name."

Now, I submit to you that if that is not your experience with the Almighty God, friend, you are in the wrong house!  You better take a good look at the address of where you've been staying, because if your god is not full of honor and majesty, if the righteousness does not last forever, if your god is not faithful and just and trustworthy, I don't care how awesome you think he is -- you're in the wrong house!

I've saved the last verse, verse 10 of Psalm 111 for the last point.  Verse 10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever."

I have seen, and you probably know of some, churches where all they preach is the love of God.  Love everyone regardless of how they sin against Him.  But you see, that ignores the intent of John 14:15, where Jesus tells us that if we love Him we will do the things He says.  And let's get down to it, Jesus says some things that are painful.  There are at least four books I know of written about the hard sayings of Jesus, but I think about the best is by F. F. Bruce, published in 1983.  Our God is love, but He is so much more.

In Matthew 10:34, Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."  He goes on in Matthew 10 to talk about how divisive the gospel is, but adding near the end of the chapter, in verse 39, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."  For those who believe in Jesus Christ, this world, indeed, is not our home.  There is more, much more, and much better, to come.

If Satan isn't worried about you, if you are not carrying your cross despite the hardships, if God is not sharing with you sustenance and care and joy, friend, you're in the wrong house.

But let's be clear, nowhere in holy scripture does it tell you to lead an armed insurrection and lynch evil politicians, to turn the government upside down and establish a holy kingdom in America.  God has given His people very clear guidance and if you are not privy to that, you might want to start reading at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.

Those demanding that Christian pastors and their churches man the ramparts and lead the revolution against bad politicians and bad government are in the wrong house.  They are also under the wrong leadership.  Almighty God is still in charge, His strategic plans are underway and unfolding.

I respectfully suggest to those who are genuinely concerned about the future of this nation, that instead of pointing fingers and looking for scapegoats they join Christian Pastors and their churches in praying for this nation.  If not, then if we intend to be Ninevah, we better start looking for a Jonah and his whale.  Otherwise, we all perish.

Another Psalm, 107, states in the first two verses, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."

If that isn't you, if you can't "say so," then you are definitely in the wrong house.  Come join the children of the Almighty God, believe in Jesus Christ.  He has a plan for your life, at the right address.  Amen.

August 19, 2012

Invocation:  Lord Jesus, life of God hidden deep within, give us today Your gift of life and nourish it until it is full-born in us.  Through the power that is Yours alone.  Amen.

Read: Psalm 145

Daily Scripture Readings
Monday        Matthew 8:1-4
Tuesday       Matthew 8:5-13
Wednesday   Matthew 8:14-17
Thursday      Matthew 9:18-26
Friday           Matthew 9:27-34
Saturday       Mark 10: 46-52
Sunday         2nd Samuel 18:24-33; Ephesians 5:15-20; Psalm 102:1-12;

                    John 6:51-58 

Reflection: (silent and written)

Prayers for the church, for others, for yourself.

Hymn: "How Like a Gentle Spirit"

Benediction: And now, Lord Jesus, illumination of the mystery of God's unending love for me, give me the grace to shine today as one of Your lesser lights, illuminating the way for others to come closer to You.  Amen