Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
November 24, 1985
A Land That Honors God
Deuteronomy 8:6-18, NIV
My father's favorite past-time is genealogy. That's where you try to find out who your ancestors were. After filling one room with family records and genealogy books he got a computer to sort it all out.
His idea of a vacation is to spend two weeks in a genealogy museum. After years of research and investment he has traced the Howicks back to a log cabin near Allentown, Pennsylvania, during the American Revolution. Beyond that, he has run into nothing but dead ends.
When a Holwick gets married we have a mission to trace the genealogy of our spouses. Celeste hates genealogy. Just the mention of it makes her eyes glass over. But since she is a devoted daughter-in-law she gave in. During our vacation in Massachusetts we spent one afternoon in a stuffy genealogical library which we had to pay two dollars apiece to get in but it was worth it.
A few hours latter we had traced Celeste beyond the Revolution, all the way back to the Mayflower. As a matter of fact, out of one hundred and two pilgrims that landed in America, thirteen of them are ancestors of Celeste. And she doesn't give a hoot. But these few pilgrims have had a tremendous impact on America. They were actually a small church that decided they would be better off in the New World.
In 1620 they landed in Massachusetts and built a village called Plymouth which has been reconstructed. As you walk through it, all your romantic images from grade school history fall flat. The houses were woven together like baskets and slapped with mud. The floors are made of packed dirt, and pigs and chickens wander in and out as they please. Even the people were very grubby since they didn't believe in baths and many of them couldn't afford shoes. It was a very dreary existence.
During the first winter forty-eight of them died. The only thought that kept them going was the belief God had led them here. The next year things went better. Local Indians showed them how to grow food and in 1621 Plymouth celebrated the harvest by having a feast of thanksgiving to God.
It's their religious commitment that really makes the Puritans stand out. Anyone who studies them is struck by the parallels they draw to the Old Testament. Just as the Jews had an exodus to escape from the idolatry of Egypt, the Puritans were having an exodus from the apostasy of England. God led the Jews to the good land of Israel and now he was leading the Puritans to the good land of America.
Every blessing described in Deuteronomy 8 was discovered by them in the New World. And the pilgrims did not forget the crucial element in this chapter - the blessings come from God. And it is linked to obedience.
Since the time of the Puritans thousands of other groups have come to this country. One common thread has been their belief that God has a special purpose for America. There are a couple of ways to look at this. Some people think God loves America and America can do no wrong. Those who put America in those Old Testament passages often have this view. God chose Israel to be special because he wanted to, period. It had nothing to do with moral superiority or even religious commitment. If it did they would have lost it.
Israel was chosen, or elect, merely because God was gracious to them. Maybe America has been chosen, too. But being chosen and being blessed are two different animals. After God chose Israel, he continually punished them because they weren't obeying him. Blessing always depends on obedience. Deuteronomy 8 is very clear: The land is a good land. It produces abundant blessings. But if while they are bloated on the produce of the land, they forget God, verse 19 warns:
"If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed."
Being chosen does not guarantee blessing.
The whole idea of America being a chosen nation is phony to begin with. Only Israel has been chosen by God. No other nation can claim it, not even America. And we should not blindly apply Israel's biblical promises to ourselves. But there are passages that apply directly to us. Turn in your Bibles to Daniel 4:25-27. The prophet Daniel is dealing with a pagan king here. It was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Daniel tells him he will suffer until. (two-thirds of the way through the verse):
"...until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes."
Verse 27 is even more important:
"Therefore, O king, be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue."
America is one of the kingdoms of men. We do not have a special relationship with God like Israel but he is still very concerned about us. We can even experience the blessings in Deuteronomy 8, if we keep in mind Daniel 4.
On the basis of these two passages I think God expects four things of America or any other nation. First, we must acknowledge God. Puritans did this while still on the Mayflower.
Every political system on earth justifies itself and the way it does things by pointing to a Higher Power. If that higher power isn't God, then it is usually some human philosophy that is made into a god. Communism, fascism and Nazism are all political ideas that have been made into religion, with horrendous results.
Many Americans have the idea that acknowledging God as a nation would be a violation of the separation of church and state. That's why Madeline Murray O'Hara has tried to take "In God We Trust" off the dollar bill. I support the separation of church and state. It's a good idea, if properly understood. It should mean that the government can't push the church around and the church can't impose itself on government. It does not mean religious people are forbidden to have input in national affairs.
For America to acknowledge God is for us to remember that we answer to a higher authority. We have absolutes to base our laws and policies on. Not everyone has to be a Christian nor do we have to enforce belief in God. But a belief in God should be the consensus of the nation or we'll end up making something else into God.
A second principle is that our belief in a higher power must be translated into justice. You don't get any credit if you know what is right but fail to do it. Nations need to remember this, too.
Around the world America is known for her pride in her moral standards. We have a very refined sense of right and wrong. This was brought out very clearly by Watergate. Foreigners could not comprehend how we would kick out a president because of his dirty tricks in an election. Dirty tricks are common practice anywhere else.
Americans set very high standards of righteousness. But sometimes, and with increasing frequency, we resort to convenience instead of justice. The pardon of Richard Nixon is a case in point. It probably made good political sense to do it but it was a travesty of justice. For two reasons: Nixon did not get a chance to establish his innocence and clear his name. And the prosecutor did not get a chance to prove Nixon was guilty.
The great moral issues of our time (like abortion) are being swept under the rug. It seems we are losing our desire for justice.
A third principle is the need for compassion and fairness. Daniel commanded Nebuchadnezzar to show mercy to the poor. Throughout the Bible, God shows his concern for the outcasts of society, the poor and defenseless. Government should also have this concern. There is more than one way to do this, however. The Puritans found that the wealthy members were too proud to do hard labor and as a result the whole community was starving. They instituted a compassionate solution; those who wouldn't work wouldn't eat.
Fourth and finally, God will send prosperity when these conditions are met. America has certainly experienced prosperity. Every family has an ancestor who arrived with a few coins in their pocket and made a new life for themselves. Our prosperity also goes beyond material wealth. We have freedom to grow and develop our potential. But this prosperity and freedom is not a divine right. It can be lost.
We have wonderful things here in America but what we have can be lost. A certain way to lose it is to forget who gave it to us. Deuteronomy 8:17 warns about this kind of pride:
"You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.'"
We must thank God for blessings. We must run the nation according to his principles. Hopefully we will appreciate what we have before we lose it.
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Sermon typed by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church on April 14, 2005.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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