God Is On The Throne

A. Brooks Hayes was a Congressman from Arkansas in the 1940s and 50s.

1. One day he sought the advice of a clergyman who suggested that he go out in the rain and lift his head toward heaven.

2. The clergyman said, “It will bring a revelation to you.”

3. The next day Congressman Hayes reported to the clergyman: “I followed your advice and no revelation came. The water poured down my neck and I felt like a fool.”

4. “Well,” said the clergyman, “isn’t that quite a revelation for the first try?”

B. Brothers and sisters, if any one of us takes time to lift our head toward heaven, a most basic and important revelation should come to us and it is this: in the presence of an all-knowing and all-powerful God all of us should feel like a fool.

1. God is sovereign (which means that He is in charge) and we are not.

2. God is on the throne and we are not.

3. God always knows what is best and we do not.

4. And God can accomplish His purposes in ways beyond our understanding.

C. This is true about all matters facing us in our lives, but it is especially true in matters of politics and elections.

1. As you are all too aware, we are one month away from electing a new president.

2. Over the course of the past 20 years, when presidential elections were taking place in our country, I have devoted a sermon to addressing a Christian perspective on things.

3. It is so important for Christians to not get swept up into worldly thinking, and lose our spiritual perspective and spiritual mission.

4. Here are a few of the sermon titles from my past sermons at the time of an election:

a. Christians, Countries and Kingdom.

b. I Am Proud To Be A Citizen Of…

c. Set Your Minds On Things Above.

3. I have titled today’s sermon: God Is On The Throne.

a. From that title, I assume you can guess what my main point will be today.

D. If you know me and are familiar with my ministry and my preaching, then you know that I try to keep politics out of my ministry and out of our church family.

1. As a church, we strive to be a non-political church and want only to be truly a “church of Christ.”

2. In keeping with that goal, we have followed the example of Jesus and Who consistently steered clear of all partisan politics.

3. Jesus taught us to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Mt 22:21).

4. Following Jesus’ example, both Peter and Paul tell us to pay our taxes, pray for our leaders, and pay proper respect to their position of authority, no matter who they are (Rom. 13:1-7, 1 Tim. 2:1-2, 1 Pt. 2:13-17).

5. As citizens of the United States of America, we should be thankful that we are free to participate in the democratic process and openly register our displeasure when we personally disagree with the policies of our leaders.

a. We can write letters to the editor, send messages to congress, and support those candidates whose views reflect our own – what a gift this is!

6. But as Christians, however, we must not carry our political disagreements over into church activities.

a. When Jesus stood before the representative of Roman power in Judea, Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (Jn. 18:36).

b. To use the church of Jesus Christ in service to partisan political positions would be a disservice to the spiritual nature of the Lord’s kingdom.

7. For that reason, we always encourage two things:

a. First, we encourage everyone to refrain from discussing political issues during church gatherings such as worship, Bible classes, or other times of fellowship.

b. Second, we encourage everyone respect your brother's and sister’s liberty of personal opinion in matters not related to faith (like Paul discusses in Romans 14).

1. We can only experience the unity that Jesus desires for His church if we choose to set aside personal opinions and focus on what unites us: our common faith in Christ and our participation in His kingdom.

E. Now, let’s spend the rest of this sermon reinforcing our biblical understanding of how Christians, whose most valuable and most important citizenship is in heaven, are supposed to live in an earthly kingdom in whatever time and place they find themselves living.

1. Let’s spend a few minutes with Peter’s instructions in 1 Peter 2:13-17.

2. Peter wrote: 13 Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority 14 or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. 15 For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but as God’s slaves. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor.