Idea: When the prosperous no longer recognize the source of their prosperity, they become ungrateful. And their ingratitude eventually evolves into greed.
By eliminating God from our national conversation, we eliminate our ability to publically recognize the source of our prosperity. This arrogance will ultimately eat away at our national conscience; our national sense of OUGHT and OUGHT NOT.
Why? Because when we eliminate God from the national conversation, we lose our conscience as a nation. Every man will do what is RIGHT in his own eyes.
No God. No gratitude. No accountability. No moral consensus regarding right and wrong. Law replaces our national conscience.
Introduction:
* The past three series have been addressed to us as citizens trying to cope with current reality. So, we talked about worry, money, and uncertainty. For the next two weeks, I'm putting on my prophet's hat.
* With everything going on in our nation, I imagine you have had a few conversations with the television. Perhaps with the President, a talk show host, a congressman/woman, Bill O'Reilly, or Anderson Cooper.
* And I would imagine you've joined in a few conversations around lunch/cubes/airplanes.
* It is difficult not to have an opinion, even if you don't have answers. We all have a good bit of emotion, even if we don't have much information.
* So, if you were marching outside the Capitol today, what would your sign say?
Turn to the person next to you and tell 'em.
* Several of the issues we face as a nation intersect with biblical principles.
* In times like these, pastors should become prophets and stand outside the doors of power and shout out truth, whether or not anyone chooses to listen.
The current debate continues to be framed as rich vs. not so rich, capitalism vs. socialism, big government vs. big business, and Republican vs. Democrat.
But there is another contrast that would better frame our current national debate--one that if taken seriously would take us back to our roots as a nation and would help to restore our national conscience.
Before I tell you what that is, I want to spend our time today talking about our consciences.
I. Conscience is that internal part of us that informs our oughts and ought nots.
A. Conscience is an internal moral code.
B. When you violate it, you feel guilty.
1. At which point you ignore your guilt and keep going. Or you attempt to undo or redo what you've done.
2. When a person continually violates his conscience, it loses its volume, its punch.
C. Families and communities share a collective conscience. "There are things we just don't do here. Don't seem right. Don't know why? Just don't."
[You've been in homes where family members talk in ways that are offensive to you, but not to them.]
D. Insight: In a relationship of shared conscience, you don't have to have many rules/laws. There is a consensus around right and wrong.
1. In a healthy marriage, how many rules?
In a healthy home, how many rules?
2. Healthy cultures are ruled by conscience, not law. Work. Team. Marriage.
If you have to tell employees not to take office products home . . .
3. As the collective conscience diminishes, laws must be inserted to control behavior.
Like families, communities, and teams . . .
E. Nations share a collective conscience as well.
1. Not everyone in the nation. [Youth group. Guy from France stripping down and changing in public.]
2. Examples:
* The anti-slavery movement in England and the U.S. was fueled by an appeal to national conscience.
* The Civil Rights movement was an appeal to a national conscience.
* The laws governing abortion are an appeal to a national conscience. [It doesn't seem right that an eight-month-old, pre-born baby should be killed and extracted. Or 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 is okay?]
* Child pornography laws. We don't allow men to marry 11-year-olds or have three wives.
* Legalize certain drugs?
The resistance to gay marriage is largely fueled by conscience. Just doesn't seem like it ought to be.
F. A conscience has to be informed.
1. We are born with some sense of right and wrong. But then we are taught the difference as well.
Romans 2
14Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
2. We are taught not to cheat, steal, or lie.
3. We were taught not to litter (American)!
4. We are taught things related to morality.
5. The earlier we are taught, the more deeply held these beliefs are and our consciences are shaped.
Question: What informed our national conscience? Other countries don't seem to be bothered by things that bother us. [We don't stone single women for pregnancy. We don't shun the poor because we think they are paying for something in a previous life. We think that is cruel. Some countries think that is right.]
How was our national conscience informed?
II. Our national conscience was shaped by a sense of personal accountability to God--the Old Testament/New Testament God.
The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence says:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This idea was appealed to throughout the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement.
Along with that came the idea that we were accountable to God.
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln:
. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom . . . [Under authority. Accountable to.]
The Pledge of Allegiance: In the 1950s, lifted from Lincoln's address and added to the Pledge--One nation, under God . . .
National Motto: Something else happened in the 50s as well. We were in the Cold War with Soviet Russia. Communism was associated with atheism.
In 1956, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution to replace the existing motto with "In God We Trust." President Eisenhower signed the resolution into law on July 30,1956. The change was partly motivated by a desire to differ with communism, which promotes atheism.
Coinage: In 1964, "In God We Trust" was printed on coins.
Another way of saying "In God We Trust" is: We trust God. So, if you work for an American-owned company, go to work tomorrow and announce, "We trust God!"
Now if you work for Home Depot, it is okay to say, "You can do it, we can help!" If you work for Chick-fil-A, it's okay to say, "Eat more chicken!" UGA: "Go Dawgs!" But, when's the last time you heard an American President say, "We trust in God"? Shouldn't the House and Senate begin each session declaring, "We trust in God"?
We trust in American ingenuity and the fundamentals of our economy. Happy Holidays everyone. Easter sale.
III. Accountability to God and God talk has fallen out of favor.
A. Every inauguration a group sues to keep the new President from saying, "So help me God."
B. The application of separation of church and state gets stranger.
C. Full circle: The value we place on the individual and individual rights is a reflection of the value our founders believed the Creator placed on the individual. Now we use those same rights to distance ourselves from God.
By eliminating God from our national conversation, we eliminate our ability to publically recognize the source of our prosperity. This is an arrogance that will continue to eat away at our national conscience; our national sense of OUGHT and OUGHT NOT.
Why? Because when we eliminate God from the national conversation, we lose our conscience as a nation. Every man will do what is RIGHT in his own eyes. Law will continue to replace conscience.
So while we line up behind conservative vs. liberal/progressive, Republican vs. Democrat, big government vs. small government, rich vs. poor.
There are two other lines forming.
* Those who recognize God as the ultimate source of our provision and those who do not.
* Those who are not ashamed to say, "In God we trust" and those who say, "In government and American ingenuity we trust. In 'we,' we trust."
And we certainly don't want to offend non-believers. We would rather offend God.
It's grateful and accountable vs. ungrateful and unaccountable.
That's where I want to land today.
Conclusion
Homework:
1. See if you can find a written or spoken record of a U.S. President praying.
2. Listen for examples of our national leaders evoking God's help in our current crisis or giving him credit for anything good.
