“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” Psalm 145:18
April 23, 2007 was exactly one week after the now infamous massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech. I turned on the news that morning, as is my habit, to listen to what’s going on around the world while I prepare for my day.
At 9:45 AM eastern time, 7:45 AM mountain time where I live, a vigil began on that campus, attended by students, teachers, staff, family, friends, all pausing to pay homage to those who died.
A bell was rung once for each of the murder victims, tolling slowly. I didn’t time the tones but it seemed like there was approximately a minute between each one. Aside from that mournful bell the site was silent. White balloons, also one for each victim, were released into the sky to coincide with the ringing of the bell.
After the first few minutes the news program shrunk the campus scene to the corner of the screen and went on with the news, but in honor of the ceremony taking place there they let the camera run on it as they talked of other things.
So the bell continued to toll. One ring. And the newscaster spoke of another school that had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax.
Another ring. A news announcer gave the Dow Jones report for the day. Another ring, as they talked about someone being arrested for something.
I had stopped listening and begun focusing on something else. But in the background, until I finally got around to turning off the television, there was the slow but steady tone of that bell. One ring for each victim of a terrible, senseless rampage conducted by a deranged and hopeless man.
They had announced that these folks were holding a “Moment of Silence” for their friends and loved ones, although due to the nature of the incident they did not know what the actual time duration of that “Moment of Silence” would be.
Now I know that calling for a moment of silence in a public gathering to honor someone recently deceased is not a new thing. I have no idea when it may have first been adopted in history, nor where. I only know that I myself have been in gatherings in past years where a moment of silence was called for, and with everyone else in the place I bowed my head and waited for the person who had the floor to break the silence and continue on with the proceedings.
Well, now I am a preacher of the good news of Jesus Christ. During the years that I have been in this role our nation has experienced events so dramatic and shocking, that just the mention of the location in which they took place evokes vivid memories and mental images of disaster.
Waco, Texas. Columbine High School. Oklahoma City. The World Trade Center (or the ‘Twin Towers’). And now, Virginia Tech.
The administrators of that school determinedly and very appropriately declared that they would not let this terrible incident define Virginia Tech.
It is good that they will put plans into motion to set things back on an even keel there; but it’s going to be a while.
Between the dates of these crimes I’ve mentioned there were others. Other school shootings, other murders, other tragedies. We all know how that works. The body counts were lower so they did not get as much attention.
And I am very tempted to take a slight, very slight turn from the topic today and ask why then there is not the same media attention for the hundreds of thousands of babies murdered in the womb in our nation every year, and why we aren’t holding vigils for them with “Moments of Silence” to punctuate the horror of the slaughter. But I need to stay on track because if I go that way I would never get to my point here.
Following each of the aforementioned incidents, as the people closest to them grieved in shock and the rest of us shook our heads and asked each other what in the world is going on here, “Moments of Silence” were called for.
Now listen to me. I am not in any way diminishing the tragedy that has come to so many thousands of lives as a result of these crimes. I am not mocking them in their grief and I would not ridicule them for mourning in the way that is an expression of their hearts.
I approach this issue today, not to criticize those who are grieving for the method they choose to honor their dead. I approach this issue in order to bring to light the truth, that there is someone who is beyond the silence. There is someone who wants to hear their sorrows and who wants to be heard in turn.
WHY THE ‘MOMENT OF SILENCE’ HAS BECOME THE NATIONAL WORSHIP SERVICE
There was a time, not so long ago and yet, it seems, in another life, that no matter the public gathering, whether a graveside service, a graduation ceremony or a baseball game, someone would stand up before the people and say, ‘let us pray’, and every head would be bowed and every eye closed while that person led in a prayer to the God of the Bible.
Imagine getting away with making that suggestion in most places in our nation today.
In our courts, on the campuses of our schools, from kindergarten to our institutions of higher learning, in our houses of politics and yes, even in many of our churches, worship of the One true God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has been replaced by the worship of invisible idols named “Tolerance” and “Political Correctness”.
It has become taboo to speak publicly of sin and man’s need for salvation, to mention God in more than just general terms - after all, if we don’t get too specific then the word god can invoke many things in many different minds - or to talk of faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to Heaven.
Even though the Bible clearly records the very words of God as commanding that men have “No other Gods before Me”, and even though Jesus Himself said “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father. I and the Father are one”, yet people seem eager to adopt the silly notion that all religions are ok and within the ones where a ‘heaven’ is anticipated they will all get there in their own way.
This kind of thinking is pathetic nonsense. A cursory examination of statements of beliefs of the major world religions reveal glaring contrasts between them, and they simply cannot all be right.
Yet for the sake of keeping the peace and avoiding any confrontation and the horrific thought of offending anyone’s sensitivities with the truth, they will stand shoulder to shoulder, as they did in the front of the sanctuary of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. on September 14th, 2001, and all have a Moment of Silence together.
I thank God, and I say that in the sincere and literal sense rather than as an empty expression of relief, that Franklin Graham was in place on the front steps of that Cathedral before hand, to tell a reporter and therefore millions of people all over the world, a clear and unabashed accounting of the need for repentance and the truth of the Gospel of Christ. But once the service started, truth was left out in the street.
The implication of the moment of silence is that everyone who wants to may take that time to pray to whatever god they choose to acknowledge.
So in reality, a Christian minister, supposedly called by God to preach the never-changing message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is in silent agreement with men standing next to him who are praying to their demon gods and worshiping idols.
Just the fact that no one is making any noise does not invalidate that truth.
If Elijah had subscribed to the kind of thinking that brings about this sort of empty-headed non-offensive demonstration of false piety, the story coming down from Mount Carmel would have been very different indeed.
Instead of running to avoid the wrath of Jezebel he would have gone down to sit at her table with the other false priests that companioned with her there.
My section title asked why the moment of silence has become the national worship service. Here is the answer. It is because in it no one has to take a stand for truth! No one has to express a conviction. No one has to confess what they know deep down; that they are a sinner deserving of death. No one has to say that there is one true God, Creator and Owner of all things who sent His only Son into the world to shed His blood and die to pay for the sin of mankind, and He demands repentance, He demands worship, He demands obedience, He demands recognition as the Holy Lord of all, above whom and next to whom no other god may rise!
The unspoken and unconfessed purpose and popularity of the ‘Moment of Silence’, make no mistake about it, is for no other reason than to avoid having to face the fact that men need God, that God has made Himself known, and that He is near to all who call upon Him in truth.
WHY TRUE CHRISTIANS SHOULD NEVER PARTICIPATE IN A ‘MOMENT OF SILENCE’ WORSHIP SERVICE
Why do I assert that the true Christian should never participate in a moment of silence?
Well, the brief answer is that silence is denial.
Here is where someone says (if they haven’t been thinking it already) that I’m carrying things way too far, and that if a Christian finds himself or herself in a situation with a group of people from various faiths and walks of life that it is only polite to join with them in this neutral way of showing respect, and that it would be harsh and rude to do otherwise.
That would be true, if you are not a Christian. Because if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, and you do not have the Holy Spirit and you know nothing of the Bible, then by all means, since you have nothing of value to add to the day, you should keep your mouth shut and bow your head with the rest. Because in your case there is nothing you have to offer except a silent show of respect for the loss and grief of those around you.
But the true believer in Christ, as I just defined, has a two-point duty. First to God, and secondly to men. It is this:
1. The Christian has a duty to declare God and the good news of Christ.
Jesus said:
"Every man who publicly acknowledges me I shall acknowledge in the presence of my Father in Heaven, but the man who disowns me before men I shall disown before my Father in Heaven. Matt 10:32-33 J.B. Phillips translation
Paul, to pastor Timothy:
“I rely on this saying: If we died with him we shall also live with him: if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him. If we deny him he will also deny us: yet if we are faithless he always remains faithful. He cannot deny his own nature.” 2 Tim 2:11-13 J.B. Phillips translation
Back around the time of 9/11 and the previously mentioned gathering at the National Cathedral, in a phone conversation with another pastor I expressed some of these same thoughts that have finally brought me to write this sermon. I wasn’t harsh in what I said, and I did not say it in anger or with a tone of ridicule or malice. But my fellow pastor was all over me!
He wanted me to understand that there is a time to keep quiet so that everyone involved can be at peace with one another and upsetting the moment by a declaration of God and the necessity of coming to Him in the obedience of faith in Christ is for another day.
People, silence is denial. Silence is denial!
Whatever is going on around us at any moment in time, when an opportunity presents itself for declaring the one true God, sin hasn’t taken a holiday. Death is not on vacation and the grave is what silence is all about!
Jesus was standing outside the tomb of a dear friend, with that man’s own friends and family standing all around, when He declared, “I am the resurrection and the life”. What better time to introduce the person wondering why and what has happened, to Resurrection Himself?
2. We have a duty as Christians, to the people around us, not to remain silent, but to advocate truth in the moment.
But, you say, this is not the time. This is a time of mourning and not a time for preaching.
Don’t kid yourself! If not then, WHEN? This is just the time when people are wondering.
They are frightened, they are confused, they are wondering where their loved ones are now. They saw the body! He wasn’t there! She wasn’t there! Where did they go?
People need answers, friends, and believe me when I tell you, the proponents of deception and empty religions are ready and willing to take them aside and fill their minds with all kinds of ridiculous nonsense from the pit of Hell.
I’m not preaching my opinion here. I’m not just telling you what I think and expecting you to get on board. We as Christ-followers have a Biblical mandate to be heralds of the gospel in kindness and gentleness, and we must not send out any lesser message, even by our silence.
WHY WE MUST BREAK THE SILENCE, CALLING UPON HIM IN TRUTH
Let me list some reasons for you, why it is way past time for the true church in America and in our world to break the silence and encourage people to call upon God, as the psalmist said, in truth.
The Godless are getting bolder. Those without God are growing bolder and brasher and louder and nastier in their denial of God and their scoffing at the church.
The end is very near. As my wife has put it, the snowball is rolling downhill and it is gaining speed as it goes. People are dying in massive numbers from disasters both man-made and what we call ‘natural’.
Next on the list; a whole generation of people is climbing to power in our nation, who have not a clue about God or Jesus Christ, and they’ve grown up being told that they are the product of time and chance and chemistry and all that really matters is what they can get and keep in this life, and the decisions they make and the actions they take are going to be based on that same hopeless foundation.
Next, the idea of freedom of speech, which has been taken to such absurd degrees that a young girl can wear a shirt in a supermarket with a very offensive vulgarity printed in six inch letters on the back, and a man can stand in line at the bank spitting obscenities into his cell phone and no one says a thing. On the other hand if someone speaks publicly against homosexuality or abortion he may find himself being asked to apologize on CNN.
People’s thinking is getting more and more silly and ridiculous, folks, and the power of sin in the lives of men is increasing so that the things we’re hearing on the news from day to day are growing in leaps and bounds in their absurdity.
Next, the church in our society is a sham. Again, don’t kid yourself into believing otherwise. The church as a whole, which was once the center of the community and centrally significant in all that happened there, has been relegated to an out-of-the-way corner to the degree that in many communities municipal publications that announce recreational activities and shopping opportunities and schools and theatres and restaurants don’t even list the churches!
In an address at a pastor’s conference on preaching held in Chicago a few years ago, Pastor Alistair Begg made reference to a work of A.W. Tozer. I don’t have the reference for that, but he quoted Tozer as saying that the 20th century church was the best disguised group of pilgrims in history. This was said in reference to the degree to which the church has allowed worldliness to seep into its functions and the lives of Christians. Begg went on to say:
“The church, especially in the realm of evangelicalism, has over history bounced between two extremes. On the one hand isolationism, which makes us very sure of what we have to say but there’s no one to talk to, on the other an absorption by the culture, which gives us someone to talk to but leaves us with nothing to say.” - Alistair Begg “Gideon: Seeing God’s Strength”
Now, in these last days, perhaps as never before, although it has always been an imperative for the church of Jesus Christ in the world, there must be a massive movement back to the preaching of the essentials; the basics of the faith. It must be done without embarrassment, it must be done with clarity, and it must be done in such a way that the message goes outside the walls of the church to people who are trying not to hear. If we don’t get this right, people, by the time Christ comes in the air to call us up the church buildings in our nation will be being used as warehouses or day care centers, because our current course is taking us down a sure path of total insignificance.
The true church of Jesus Christ cannot afford a moment of silence.
Time is so, short. Jesus is going to call us away to meet Him in the sky and the voice of the church will be silenced while the world gets shaken to pieces.
Christians must break the silence. We must not be afraid to offend the Muslim, or the Hindu, or the Homosexual, or any other race or religious group or political group of people, because they have to be told that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can come to God the Father except through Him.
That is precisely what they are telling us we cannot say, and it is precisely what they need to hear and we need to tell them
All those people standing around with heads bowed and eyes closed, participating in a ‘Moment of Silence’ worship service with empty thoughts and full of useless speculations, are in need of a Savior whether they realize it or not.
Are you a Christian? Are you a true believer in Jesus? Are you a Christ-follower? There is no call in scripture for you to be silent and keep your peace in the midst of those without hope and without God in the world.
But there is this promise, along with others…
“The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” Psalm 145:18
You have the truth.
The next time you find yourself in a place with a group of strangers and a Moment of Silence is called for, why don’t you look around and identify someone who seems to be in especially deep grief, put a gentle hand on their arm, and whisper, “Excuse me. I wonder if you’d give me a few minutes of your time, because there is something I have to tell you that I think would be a tremendous help to you at this time in your life.”
Break the silence. Introduce them to Resurrection and Life.
