Jonathan Newlon
Uniontown Church of Christ
25 June 2020
Reacting to our Modern Crisis: Hearts Without God
Introduction
When you turn on the news right now, what do you see? The major story blowing up all over the nation deals with racism, hate, corruption, violence, and protests. We see emotions running wild on both sides of the issue at hand. It’s easy for us as Americans to be caught up in all the emotion and to pick sides. However, as Christians, we must react differently. We have a higher authority to which we must answer, and that must be our default.
This morning I want to talk about the issues going on in our nation. I want to talk about exactly what it is we are seeing in our country. We will discuss exactly why it’s happening. We can narrow it all down to one core issue. Finally, we will discuss how we, as Christians, must react. Let’s get into it.
I. What are we seeing?
Right now, we are seeing our great country in a total state of unrest. It’s almost as if two sides are forming and conflicting in every state, county, and city in the nation. We see two extremes and sometimes it’s hard to take a step back from emotion and try to figure out exactly what’s going on. We see news coverage from both the left and the right in America, each side putting their own twist on the events in our nation. The truth can be very hard to decipher, and thus, many are left confused as to exactly what is happening and what the truth is.
On one hand, we do see a legitimate concern. There has been an undeniable history in this country of people of color being oppressed. We, as a nation, have come a long way in treating people equally regardless of the color of their skin. That being said, we would be fooling ourselves to pretend as if racism doesn’t still rear its ugly head. What happened to George Floyd is a travesty and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Most police officers are good people and wonderful officers. No one should be afraid when having interactions with the police, but unfortunately, some still are. What happened to George Floyd just feeds the fire of fear.
While there is legitimate concern from many about racism in our country, we can also see that it is being taken advantage of. There are many who are taking advantage of the cause of racism and using it as an excuse to loot and riot. They commit unlawful acts by breaking into buildings and stealing. They cause chaos by burning whole sections of cities to the ground. They commit violent acts against innocent police officers and other innocent civilians.
I saw a news story of an innocent black man who lives in a major city. He saved his money all his life because he had a dream of opening his own store. A few short months ago, he finally realized his dream. He had saved enough money through years of hard work and finally opened his own store as he always wanted to do. This past month in a riot, his store was broken into, looted, and burned to the ground. The man lost everything he had worked for. The rioters weren’t targeting racists. They weren’t targeting systematic corruption. They only wanted to steal and cause chaos because it benefited them personally. Their selfishness and greed caused this innocent man everything he had worked for.
Because of actions like this, unfortunately we also see extreme reactions on the other side of the issue. Many folks simply look at the actions of the rioters and looters and completely condemn the whole movement. They ignore the legitimate concerns of racism and corruption and throw the peaceful protestors in the same boat as the rioters and looters. This is wrong as well. We can’t pretend an issue doesn’t exist because of a few bad apples in the bunch. People on both sides of this issue are failing to listen to reason and logic, and instead are only acting based on emotion. When that happens, it’s no wonder that such conflict occurs and such animosity exists in America today.
II. Why is this happening?
The big question to ask right now is this: Why is all of this happening? Why are we seeing racism in our country like in the case of the officer killing George Floyd? Why are we seeing people rioting and causing chaos? Why are we in conflict with each other in a country that is supposed to stand for equality for every man? The answer is not what most people think.
You see, to answer any problem like this we have to find the core issue. Right now, we are only seeing side effects of the core issue. The core issue isn’t racism. The core issue isn’t systematic corruption. The core issue isn’t people taking advantage of the situation to satisfy their own greed. The core issue isn’t rioting and looting. Let’s look to the book of Romans chapter 1 to find the core issue at hand.
(Read Romans 1:18-32)
We can see clearly that the core issue at hand isn’t racism, corruption, people taking advantage, rioting, or looting. The core issue at hand is hearts without God. For years as a nation, we have been systematically shutting God out of our country. We’ve removed scripture from public places. We’ve taken the Word of God out of schools. We focus so much on how special and important we are as individuals but fail to give glory and credit to our creator. We have shut God out of our nation, and consequently, he has given us up to our sins.
We see over and over again in our passage from Romans 1 that there is consequence to our actions. Let me give you examples from our passage. The first instance comes from verse 21. Notice that the people took the action of refusing to honor God or give thanks to Him for His blessings upon them. As a consequence, it says, “they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” We see the same thing happening in verses 24 and 25. Paul says they “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” What was the consequence for this action? “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves.”
We see it going even further starting in verse 28. It says that they didn’t see fit to acknowledge God. What did He do? It says, “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”
Make no mistake, our actions have consequences. Because of that Officer’s godless racism and hate, he killed George Floyd. Because of the rioter’s godless selfishness, they burn, loot, and pillage. Because of our nations history of shutting God out of our country and out of our lives, we are reaping the consequences and falling into turmoil. God is giving people up to the consequences of their sins because they have shut him out of their lives. What we see happening to the people in the book of Romans is happening right in front of our eyes in modern day America.
Instead of worshipping God, our nation worships celebrities, athletes, money, and fame. Instead of putting our faith in God who never let’s us down, we put it in people who will always let us down. We don’t make God our master in our country, we make money our master. We trust in politicians to tell us what to think and what is right rather than relying on the teachings of Jesus Christ. When a country turns so far away from God, we can only expect that God will give us up to our sin.
III. How should we as Christians react?
It’s easy to try to take sides in this conflict, but how should we as Christians really react? We should react with love. Love should be our great motivator in all things that we do. In Matthew 22 the question is asked of Jesus about what the greatest commandment is. He states, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets.”
When we love God, we want to serve God. Our love of God makes us want to follow His commands and live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him. When we love our neighbors, we want to serve our neighbors. We want to introduce them to our Almighty Creator who loves us even when we don’t deserve it. Love causes us to act in a way opposite of what we are seeing today. Look at 1 Corinthians 13 where it says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
When we react with love, there is no room for racism. There is no room for corruption. There is no room for selfishness and greed. There is no room for violence. When we react with love, we see patience, truth, endurance, belief, and hope.
We must also react by staying grounded in God’s word. It can be so easy in a situation like this to be overcome with emotion and react out of that, but we cannot afford to. We must stay grounded in the word of God. If we don’t, we will perish. In Psalm 1, we see the difference between a man grounded in God’s word and one who isn’t.
It says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
Next, we must be willing to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. How are they supposed to be saved if they hear not the Gospel? If we truly love our neighbors, we will be willing to introduce them to the Lord Jesus Christ who can wash away the multitude of their sins as He has done ours. Notice that John 3:16 doesn’t say that Jesus died for one group or another, but rather, for all mankind. There isn’t anyone who can be saved and changed by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have to love each other enough to want to share the truth of Jesus with them.
Conclusion
In closing, we have to remember that the core issue is spiritual. Satan is working in the world and he is working hard in our country right now. He seeks to turn men against God and against each other and is being very successful at it. The core issue is hearts without God. The only way that we can overcome this as a nation is through revival. Revival has to start with us. We must reintroduce God back to our neighbors. We must reintroduce God back to America. Hate won’t fix this issue. Protests won’t fix this issue. Riots won’t fix this issue. Politicians won’t fix this issue. Only God can fix this issue.
