The Sword of America

 

May 31, 2022

“How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire? Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all humanity! What person can live and never see death? Can that person deliver their soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. Where, O Lord, is Your loving devotion of old, which You faithfully swore to David? Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people,” Psalm 89:46-50

“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword,”

 Matthew 26:52

In recent days our nation - yes, even the world - has once again been horrified at events which could have been, indeed should have been prevented. The sleepy town of Uvalde - just west of San Antonio and East of the Mexico border - experienced a crippling, dreadful and terrifying truth in our culture…life is not valued.

Many on one side of the conventional wisdom will argue it’s about the mental instability of the perpetrator. On the opposite end are those who think the weapon is to blame. Stuck in the middle? The families whose dreams of the future have been shot and killed.

The problem, if you will, is not solvable via legislation, imprisonment, rehabilitation or medication. We will not find the answer in any human wisdom or power.

Why? Because the foundational issue is not guns, ammo, mental health, background checks, etc. The foundational issue is this: we simply do not value life.

For instance - consider this: those who believe gun control will curb or completely stop the hideous murders of our children simultaneously believe a female adult should have the right to murder their own child while it innocently resides within the “safe” walls of the womb. Likewise, those who advocate for the rights of innocent unborn children who cannot defend themselves often simultaneously argue that we do not have a gun problem in our country. Both of these ideologies are flawed and fatal…to our children.

And what about children? God’s word says that “Children are a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is a reward,” Psalm 127:3. In the beginning of Moses’ account of the history of humankind we read in Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The Psalmist even considers the wonders of God’s greatest creation: Psalm 139:13-16 - “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

Understanding the value of human life, Jesus himself said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,” John 10:10.

But above all, perhaps, are the words of Yahweh himself: Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.”

Putin does not value the Ukrainians. Israel does not value the Palestinians. Kim Jong-un does not value his own people of North Korea. Oil companies do not value those who use their products. Walmart does not value its employees. Pastors do not value the church and the church does not value her pastors.

We do not value those who serve us our food at the local restaurant. We do not value the world God has entrusted to us. We do not value anything - not even other people…and especially children.

And that leads to their murder. Guns or no guns - we do not value life and our children. Therefore, our heritage - our reward - has reaped what we have sown.

So, is there an answer? Well, other than valuing life (which must be imperative and at the forefront) we must do what Ethan the Ezrahite did. In his only recorded Psalm, we read his words where he bears the reproach of the people around him. In other words, he takes responsibility for the sin of others.

For us this means that we quit blaming animate and inanimate objects for the failures of our society. Instead, we look deep within and like Ethan and David of old, we proclaim: “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge,” Psalm 51:3-4.

To put it in an understandable way, consider the following story: Prussian king Frederick the Great was once touring a Berlin prison. As he walked past the long rows of cells the prisoners would ultimately fall on their knees before him to proclaim their innocence. All, except for one man, who remained silent.

Frederick called to him, "Why are you here?" "Armed robbery, Your Majesty," was the reply.

"And are you guilty?" "Yes indeed, Your Majesty, I deserve my punishment."

Frederick then summoned the jailer and ordered him, "Release this guilty wretch at once. I will not have him kept in this prison where he will corrupt all the fine innocent people who occupy it."

We don’t know about you but we sense it is time to confess our sins and bear the reproach of a nation that does not value life. It may be the only thing which saves our children.

We've Got a Confession to Make

09-01-2021

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

- James 5:16

If we say we have no sin, we decieve ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us. - I John 1:8-10

I (Steve) have a confession to make. I committed murder. It happened in the middle of the night. I even heard the victim trying to get away. The victim was not innocent by any stretch of the imagination. It had stolen our food - even the dogs were missing a few nuggets. It had even pooped in our house. Missy and I had finally had enough - we decided to put the proverbial nail in the perp’s coffin.

Now, trapping and killing a mouse (you weren’t thinking human were you?!) may not seem like actual murder to you. Yet, part of me felt a little pity for the poor fellow. Diseases and droppings aside, the mouse was just trying to find a little grub - on the house so to speak.  I ended up digging a small grave and burying it. (Don’t judge me)...

It reminds me of a text we received this week which asked the question: “Is it wrong or a sin to wish the bad person in a movie to get killed?” 

Some might have laughed at the question and said, “It’s just a movie! Nobody really died!” Maybe you were even thinking - “It’s stupid mouse! Kill it and move on!” However, may we suggest the question posed is a very deep and theological one?

How often have you actually wished someone to be dead? Come on - be honest. Pedophiles, terrorists, lobbyists, lawyers, rapists, serial killers, politicians, military dictators, abortionists...are probably just a few of the types of individuals that we have thought, “The world would be alot better without that person.”

To us, the question about whether or not it’s ok to wish a fake person to die reveals a much deeper truth. It reveals a person who knows how evil we can actually be ourselves AND it displays a growing heart that is tender to the Spirit of God.

Jesus himself actually brought this type of issue up when he declared, “Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while you yourself don’t see the beam in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye,” Luke 6:41&42.   

Christians really don’t talk about confession of sin anymore. If we do, it’s simply  a general acknowledgement - “Forgive me of my sins, God” - rather than getting down in the dirt and muck and asking God to reveal where we have “fallen short of his glory.” We are quite adept at pointing out sin in others. Ourselves? Not so much.

The term sin in the New Testament means to “miss the mark.” God commands us to be holy as he is holy yet in the flesh we are so very weak - we miss the mark alot! In I John, referenced earlier, we find that John states: “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: ‘God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.’ So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth,” 1 John. 1:5-6 (NLT). Sin is spiritual darkness. Holiness is light. Confession of sin brings light into darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. 

Dr. John Oswalt, preeminent scholar of the Old Testament and biblical holiness in general, suggests there are three lies we all need to know about sin:

Lie # 1: Since you have been a good person from the time you were born you do not need forgiveness or for Christ to come into your life (1 John 1:10).

Lie # 2: You can be in a relationship with God who is light and go on sinning, which is darkness (1 John 1:6).

Lie # 3: You can come to the place where you cannot sin (1 John 1:8).

In response to Lie #3 Dr. Oswalt writes the following: “Clearly, John is trying to convince us, his readers, that a Christian cannot sin (1 John 3:9). We cannot bring the light into our lives and then expect a little darkness to coexist with it. Can you imagine a lighted room where there is a blob of darkness floating around?! But “cannot” is not talking about impossibility. It is talking about permission or expectation. Christian, you cannot expect to sin any more than I can expect to commit adultery against my wife. I cannot! Ah, but we never come to the place where sin is not a possibility. If we allow ourselves to drift away from the light, darkness is inevitable. We, like the moon, do not produce the light, we reflect it. So, stay in the light!”

So, does a Christian need to sin? Absolutely not. Can they sin? Absolutely. But the Good News brought to us through Jesus Christ is that if we sin (and we will) we can just as easily confess and repent to God that we have broken his law and immediately the light will come back into our lives and we will shine “like a city on a hill.”

We’ve got a confession to make. How about you?

Steve and Missy