MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(Revised: 2015)
ILL. In 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army attacked Jerusalem. The invaders took the King prisoner, plundered the temple, & carried off 10,000 captives to spend the rest of their lives in a foreign land along with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego who had been taken in an earlier invasion.
Three months later, following a 600 mile journey past the Arabian Desert, the Jewish captives entered Babylon, the largest & most magnificent city in the ancient world.
Its walls were so thick that 4 chariots could race side by side around its top. 365 guard towers & a moat fed by the River Euphrates made the city seemingly impregnable.
Entering through the Ishtar Gate, the Jewish captives were led down Processional Street, flanked by light blue ceramic brick walls displaying 120 large white enameled lions with manes of yellow & red.
That street led to Nebuchadnezzar's palace & the Temple of Marduk, which stood taller than the pyramids, on what some scholars believe was the ancient site of the Tower of Babel.
Babylon was a cultural & architectural wonder. But in the 6th Century B.C., it was no place for a devout Jew. It was foreign, idolatrous, & the capitol of the pagan empire which had plundered Jerusalem & taken them captive.
A. I wonder how we would feel if we were standing in the shoes of those exiles, those ancient Jews? What do you think God would have told us to do, if we had been His people taken by force to live in a pagan society?
Well, those Jews had false prophets who told them what to do, who wrongly assured them that they would soon be going home. So some of the exiles tried to withdraw from society, avoiding contact with the pagan Babylonians around them.
But that wasn't what God wanted them to do, & through the Prophet Jeremiah, God gave these instructions to His people, as recorded in Jeremiah 29:5 7.
God told them, "Build houses & settle down; plant gardens & eat what they produce. Marry & have sons & daughters; find wives for your sons & give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons & daughters.
“Increase in numbers there, do not decrease. Also, seek the peace & prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."
Did you hear that? God was telling them to care about Babylon, to pray for, get involved in, & seek to influence the nation in which they now lived, even though they were unwilling captives having to live in a very pagan society.
B. Now, how does God's command to them apply to us?
Like the Jews in Babylon, we Christians have been told to be salt & light in our nation, too. But unlike them, we have a far greater opportunity to influence & set the moral direction of our nation & its government.
No Jew ever had the opportunity to vote on Nebuchadnezzar. No 1st Century Christian ever cast a primary ballot to select his party's nominee for Caesar.
As citizens, we choose the national & local legislators who make our laws. We select the presidents, governors, & mayors who administer those laws. We set the course of our judicial system by electing judges or those who appoint them.
Look around the world & you will see that no other group of Christians has the opportunity to influence their country as much as we here in the United States.
Yet too often we Christians are truly a "silent majority." Oh yes, we complain about what some of our politicians are doing, & about decisions that are being made by the courts.
But when it comes time to cast our votes some don't even bother to learn very much about the candidates - about the core values & beliefs of those who'll be making decisions that will affect our lives & the lives of our children after us.
Sometimes we complain about those who don't bother to vote. But I'm convinced that voting blindly, selfishly, ignorantly can be just as bad.
C. Now, why have I mentioned all this? It is because I'm convinced that God hasn't changed His expectations. He still expects His people to concern themselves with the affairs of the society in which they live.
It is as much a part of our stewardship to Him as is the management of our time, our talents, or our money.
It's not difficult to figure out whether God has anything to say about abortion, pornography, homosexual "marriage," paying people who won't work, & an educational system that supplies condoms to children but won't allow a Bible in school, or a prayer on the football field.
D. Yet, those are only a few of the current issues that determine the moral fiber & climate of our nation, & there are voices loudly proclaiming that Judeo Christian values & ethics have no place in shaping the decisions of our nation & its leaders.
But that is a far cry from what the founding fathers of our nation believed.
ILL. In his historic Farewell Address, Pres. George Washington said, "There are two indispensable supports for political prosperity in America Religion & Morality. Do not allow anyone to be called an American patriot if they ever try to separate religion & morality from politics."
Those are pretty strong words, aren't they? And they don't sound anything like what we're hearing today from some of our political leaders.
ILL. Pres. Thomas Jefferson said, "The reason that Christianity is the best friend to government is because Christianity is the only religion in the world that deals with the heart."
As a matter of fact, many of the founding fathers had similar things to say.
Pres. John Adams wrote, "There is no one in the world big enough to make you do what is right. Our constitution was made only for a moral & a religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."
PROP. I'm convinced that he is right, & that is the reason we find ourselves in the crisis of national leadership we are in today. What we are experiencing now is not what our forefathers passed on to us.
I. I'M PROUD OF THE HERITAGE THEY PASSED ON TO US
You see, I'm proud of the heritage they passed on to us.
A. When I was growing up WW 2 was going on & we were a patriotic nation. Our flag was an object of respect. Her colors flew in the breeze during daylight hours, & we reverently took her down at night & gently folded & put her away.
We would never have thought of throwing her on the ground or walking on her or burning her, because we were patriotic people.
In a window of almost every home was a banner indicating that from that home someone had gone to fight for our country. Stars on that banner indicated how many from that home had gone. If they were still alive, the stars were red. If they had died, the stars were gold. We were a patriotic nation.
We collected rubber & scrap metal & tin cans for the war effort. Many things were rationed. We didn't get all the food we wanted, or all the gasoline or tires that we wanted for our automobiles. And I remember standing in line to get meat & using ration stamps.
We were a patriotic people, & we unashamedly displayed our patriotism!
B. We were also a principled nation. Things were much different back then. You could walk the streets without fear of being mugged or raped. We never locked our houses or our cars.
And if you caught a disease that could infect someone else the doctor would put a sign on your door saying, "This house is quarantined." We didn't consider that an invasion of our privacy. We just felt that was a way to help our neighbors, to keep them from getting sick, too.
We were a people with principles. You could go to the movies & not have to worry about being embarrassed, because it was a different world back then.
C. I suppose we were also somewhat primitive. At least compared to today. We didn't have air conditioning or dishwashers or microwave ovens. We didn't have TV sets which may explain a lot of things.
We didn't have automatic washers & dryers for our clothes. In fact, an important consideration when you bought a house were the clothes lines. You always looked to see if there were enough to handle your laundry, for that was important.
We used the clothes lines for a variety of things. We put wet clothing out on them. We could fasten the dog's leash to them when he needed exercise.
And every summer, if you were fortunate enough to have a rug on your floor, you carried out the rug & put it on the clothes line. Then you beat it to get rid of the dirt that had been tracked in during the winter months.
Maybe that is the reason we weren't so stressed out. We got rid of our stress by beating on that rug.
We didn't have turn signals on cars. Remember? When you took your driver's test you had to know all the hand signals. Can you imagine hand turn signals on the expressways today? There were so many things we didn't have.
SUM. It's good, I think, every once in a while to look back. I'm so thankful for my heritage. I wish sometimes that today's teenagers could have a world like the one in which I grew up. I wish somehow we could get back to the simple life that we enjoyed when we were young.
II. I LOOK FORWARD WITH ANTICIPATION & APPREHENSION
Finally, I look forward with anticipation & apprehension to the future.
A. We sing of America, the "land of the free & the home of the brave."
ILL. In the 1800's, a French historian came to our land to seek the secret of our greatness. He lived & traveled in our country for a while, then wrote:
"America is great because America is good. When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
I'm convinced that's what made America great in the past. Because she was made up of good people God's people. And the Scriptures teach us that God's people can make a difference in the world.
ILL. Remember the story of Sodom & Gomorrah? God said to Abraham, "I'm going to destroy those cities." Abraham pleaded with God, & finally asked Him, "If there are ten righteous people, ten good people, will you spare the land?"
And God said, "Yes." If there had been even ten good people in the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah God was willing to spare the land.
SUM. You see, good people can make a difference.
ILL. Back when we went into Desert Storm, our nation made extensive prepara-tions for casualties. The predictions were that we would have thousands of them. We flew in doctors & nurses & all kinds of medical supplies & body bags to prepare for the people who were sure to be wounded or killed.
But when cease fire was declared, there were less than 200 casualties. You want to know why? Was it just because Gen. Schwarzkoff & Collin Powell were great military leaders? Maybe, but I don't think that was the complete answer.
You see, during those months God's people went to church as they had not gone to church in years. Many churches had record breaking attendances. There weren't enough places to park. In some churches people couldn't even find enough places to sit.
There was a deep concern that maybe our whole world was going to fall apart. And we recognized that we needed to get back to God.
Now listen once again to this promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14. God says, "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves & pray & seek my face & turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & will heal their land."
B. We have no right to be proud. We must always remember that it is only by the grace of God that we are who we are. Everything we enjoy today has been given to us by someone else.
CONCL. We have such a rich heritage. We have so much that we can look back upon. But there is also much in the future that we can look forward to.
You see, here is the promise: if God's people, maybe 10 or 100 or 1,000, - if we will humble ourselves & pray & seek His face - then God says, "I'll hear, I'll forgive, & I'll heal your land."
And if we'll take Him seriously He'll still honor His promises. Our cities, our states, our country could once again become a beacon for God.
We could be a launching pad for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It begins with you. It begins with me.
INVITATION
