Does America Still Trust in God?
(All my sermons use illustrations from sermoncentral.com and use the NIV unless otherwise noted)
(This sermon was inspired partly by the lyrics from Diamond Rio’s song “In God We Still Trust”)
In the world of country music, there is a group called Diamond Rio that wrote a performs a song entitled, “In God We Still Trust.” This song is NOT played on local radio stations simply because it has been deemed to be politically incorrect, and the media is afraid they might offend some people. I personally do not care if it offends anyone because it speaks the TRUTH very clearly. This morning I would like to start this sermon by reading to you some of the lyrics of that song:
You place your hand on His bible, when you swear to tell the truth.
His name is on our greatest monuments an' all our money too.
An' when we pledge allegiance, there's no doubt where we stand:
There's no separation, we're one nation under HIM.
In God, We Still Trust, Here in America,
He's the one we turn to every time the going gets rough.
He is the source of all our strength, The one who watches over us.
Here in America, in God, we still trust.
Now there are those among us, Who wanna push HIM out.
And erase HIS name from everything, This country's all about.
From the schoolhouse to the courthouse, They're silencing HIS word,
An' now it's time for all believers, To make our voices heard.
In God, We Still Trust, here in America,
PRAYER
My question this morning is simply this: Does America Truly Still Trust in God? It is easy to give this question lip service and say, “Of course we do,” or say something like, “Well I trust in God but I can’t speak for the rest of the country.” BUT, the truth is that although we as Christians should be setting the example of our TRUST in our God, many of us fall short when it comes to setting a good example.
The scripture gives us numerous examples of people trusting God in situations where anyone of us would have had doubt, Abraham being told to sacrifice his son, Moses crossing the Red Sea, Gideon downsizing his army, David fighting the Giant Philistine. There are also many commands in the scripture that tell us that we should TRUST God. If you have your Bible turn with me to Proverbs 3:5, here is wisdom from King Solomon. God’s infinite wisdom, and a verse many of us have heard many times before. I think it is one of those verse we love to hear and read, BUT, it is a command that is much harder to carry out completely.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
To TRUST in God with ALL our heart is something much easier discussed then carried out. It means to confide completely in God’s Will our life, to rise above all our worries and fears and doubts and do as we KNOW God would have us do. I can tell you, I have faced this dilemma many times in the years I have been an ordained minister. Actually, today is the anniversary of my 11th year as an ordained minister. I was ordained on July 4th, 1999 in Paonia, Colorado. Since that time we have served in 4 churches, most who had small budgets, and small housing, and big problems. I had doubts, I was scared, and yet each time we rose above the doubt and worries, GOD BLESSED US. We have been blessed by God through His children simply because we did not lean on our own understanding of the situation but instead TRUSTED that God had a plan. HE MADE IT WORK! Our limited understanding of the obstacles we see, and our inability to let go sometimes keeps us from receiving the blessings God wants to bestow upon us.
A fella was walking along the edge of the Grand Canyon all by himself one afternoon, when he lost his footing and slipped over the side. He was lucky enough to grab hold of a root that was protruding from the dirt and he held on with all his might as the drop was extremely high. He called to the heavens, “Is their anyone up there?” But no one answered. He called and called again, “Is there anyone up there?” Finally after hours of holding on he heard a booming voice from the heavens call back to him. “I am here what is the problem?” The man yelled back, “God, I have fallen and I am hanging on for my life, please rescue me.” God answered the man, “Ok, my son, just let go.” The man thought for quite some time and then he looked up to heaven and asked, “Is there anyone else up there?”
Trusting in God with all our heart simply means just letting go, it means we will be happy with God’s direction for our lives, wherever that might take us. We will be committed to His will and we will accept the direction He provides, without doubt, without fear, and without worrying.
Psalm 37:3-6 says this: 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Once again a command to TRUST in God, do good, but here the scripture is a little more clear about what God expects from us as we display our trust in Him. I think verse 4 of this scripture is something every American and surely every Christian should memorize and understand. The command is to ‘delight” yourself in the Lord - To be happy with God, to understand and faithfully believe that He truly has our best interests at heart. Much like we tell our children, “This is what best for you.” God is saying to us the same thing. God is our Father in heaven and He wants what is best for us. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has plans to prosper, not plans that will harm us, plans to have hope and a future.
When the tragedy of 9-11 occurred to the great country so many American citizens asked, “Where was God in all of this?” God has plans for His children to prosper not to harm them, He has not gone anywhere, He is right where he has always been. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. BUT, our nation has begun to turn away from God by showing a lack of trust in the one thing that makes our country greater than any other, IT WAS FOUNDED ON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES!
Does America Still trust in God? Do you trust in God with all your heart, even when things don’t really seem to make sense to you? Lean not on your own understanding, BUT, with ALL your heart Trust in God.
So many of us truly think to ourselves, “I do trust God” and we really do, but only with our mind, OUR ACTIONS may not show the kind of trust that Jesus is asking for. You and I have seen the things that God can do first hand, many of us here this morning have witnessed His healing hand. Many of us have seen first hand how our God can provide a way when there seems to be no way. We have seen God meet our needs in time of trouble and trial. We have seen how His word has convicted even the strongest personalities and made these people Christian servants. AND STILL, we doubt.
A huge crowd was watching the famous tightrope walker, Blondin, cross Niagara falls one day in 1860. He crossed it numerous times - a 1,000 foot trip, 160 feet above raging waters that would surely sweep him to his death. He not only walked across it; he pushed a wheelbarrow across it. One little boy just stared in amazement. So after completing a crossing Blondin looked at that little boy and he said, “Do you believe I could take a person across in a wheelbarrow without falling?” The boy replied, “Yes Sir, I really do.” So Blondin said, “Well then, get in son.”
When my girls were very young, I would put them on the kitchen counters and tell them to leap to their Daddy, and each one of them would jump without hesitation, this is the kind of trust our God wants from us. This is what God is saying, “You have seen what I can do, now TRUST me.” I ask you to flip over to the gospel of John chapter 14. I want you to hear what Jesus is saying to us all, now at the end of chapter 13 Peter was telling Jesus how he wanted to follow Jesus wherever He might go, Peter even says he would lay down his life for Christ. But, Jesus tells Peter, (in a word) that when push comes to shove, Peter will disown Jesus 3 times, and then:
John 14:1-8 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
First, let me repeat that last verse, Lord, SHOW US the Father and that will be enough for us.” We are a people that want PROOF, and the truth is each time God does prove His love for us, we forget and want to see it again. Jesus is telling us that we should not worry, we should be troubled, we should instead TRUST in Him and the Father. Perhaps verse 5 and 6 are some of the most basic and important verse of scripture in the Bible, Thomas asks, “How can we know the way, and Jesus answers, BECAUSE I AM THE WAY! If we TRUST Jesus, by uniting our lives with His we will be on our WAY and we will see the TRUTH of God’s promise to have eternal LIFE. Jesus is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE. But in order to be united with Christ we must really know him. John 14:7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. The key to being on our way with Christ and learning to TRUST God with all our hearts is REALLY KNOWING Jesus.
When Jesus faced the Pharisees, his enemies, they asked many questions of Him and replied the same to them as He did here in chapter 14. In John 8:19 John 8:19-20 Then they asked him, "Where is your father?" "You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied. "If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
Just as many Americans have asked, “Where is God?” And many more have even tried to push God out of our country, Jesus says, “You do not know me or my Father” If they did they would not want to push God out, and they would not allow others to do either.
The key to successfully keeping God in our country is for our country to TRUST in God, as it says on our money, “In God we TRUST.” In order for our country to TRUST in God, we Christians must be living examples of what TRUSTING God look like. In order for us to be that example, we must REALLY KNOW Him. And here is where the real problem lies. The word KNEW is speaking of an intimate relationship, it is speaking of the type of relationship many of us have with our spouse. When, Becca and I were first dating, we could not stand to be away from each other for a moment. Now we have been married for quite sometime and we still feel that way. There is a desire on both our parts to be together as much as possible. One of the reasons I stopped driving a truck was because we could not stand to be away from each other for weeks at a time.
When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I could not be without Him for a moment. Jesus is saying to you and I that He desires to be with us all the time and He wants us to have the same desire. One might ask, “How can I know Jesus that well?” The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is the WORD, we have the Word with us, BUT how much time do we REALLY spend reading and studying it? Is our relationship with Jesus like our relationship with our spouse, or our best friend where we want to know everything about them, what they are doing, where they have been, how they feel about things? We can not have a relationship that is exciting in the beginning and then dies off, a marriage like that ends in divorce, a relationship like that with Jesus will end with far greater circumstances. We must learn to love God with all our hearts and TRUST Him completely.
As I wrap up this message this morning listen to this great little passage from Tim Hansel’s book “Holy Sweat” it is entitled “The Road of Life”
AT FIRST, I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. He was out there sort of like a President. But later on when I met Christ, it seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride, but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal.
I don’t know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since. When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring, but predictable . . . it was the shortest distance between two points. But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places at breakneck speeds, it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, He said “Pedal.”
I worried and I was anxious and asked, “Where are you taking me?” He laughed and didn’t answer, and I started to learn to TRUST.
I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure. And when I’d say, “I’m scared,” He’d lean back and touch my hand.
He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me gifts to take on my journey, my Lord’s and mine.
And we were off again. He said, “Give the gifts away; they’re extra baggage, too much weight.” So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving, I received, and still our burden was light.
I did not trust Him at first, in control of my life. I thought he’s wreck it; but He knows bike secrets, knws how to make it bend to take sharp corners, knows how to jump to clear high rocks, knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.
AND I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I am beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with delightful and constant companion, Jesus Christ.
And when I am just sure I can’t do anymore, He just smiles and says, “Pedal!”
Folks, it is time for America to start trusting God again and that can only happen if we who call ourselves children of God start showing the example of trust by knowing our Jesus in a more intimate relationship.
Sure as the lyrics say, there are those that want to push him out, BUT we must STAND UP and be heard.
If America is to trust God, we as Christians must stand up, be good examples of trust and faith, and not allow the few that want to push God out of our country to succeed.
Folks, as prepare to give an invitation this morning, I invite you to take a moment and truly ask yourself, where do you stand with God? Are you being an effective witness? Are there things you can do to show the world how UNITED Christians are under God? Can you be a better example of trust in God?
Perhaps you are here this morning and you have heard of Jesus, and you have heard of God, but this is the first time you are really hearing the Good news, that although we ALL are sinners and we ALL fall short of the glory of God, and although the cost of that sin in our lives is death in a place called hell, the GOOD NEWS is that Jesus paid that price for us all. The Bible says we must hear the message before we can believe, and once we hear it, we must then believe it with all our heart, (not just the mind) if you are this morning and you have heard and you believe, the next step is to confess with your mouth, to come forward this morning and make a public confession, that you, (just as all of us) are a sinner in need of a Savior and that Savior is Jesus Christ, God’s Son who died for us all. Then the Bible tells us in Acts 2, when the people were cut to the heart and asked “what must we do” Peter replied, “REPENT & BE BAPTIZED” for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Are you here this morning and you need to walk this path, receive this free gift? Are you here this morning and you have been less than what God wants you to be? If there is something heavy on your heart and you need to come forward this morning won’t you come as we sing this invitation song?
INVITATION
