Christian
Politics –
Part 13: Conclusion
Pastor
Bruce A. Shields
House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
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SERMON INTRODUCTION
Over the last few weeks,
we have discussed the following issues and shown where the bible stands.
Ø Jesus, if a U.S. Citizen, would vote in
elections to fulfill citizenship duties
Ø What about the matters of life and death?
o
Healthcare
o
Suicide & Euthanasia
o
Abortion & Stem Cells
Ø Crime and punishment
Ø War, defense, and national security
Ø Guns and matters of defense
Ø Immigration and matters of national security
Ø Marriage
Ø Education
Ø Economy
Ø Green Values
Today we will be looking at the conclusion to the latest sermon series,
Christian Politics.
SCRIPTURE READING
James 1:22-25
I.
Do not just
listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
a. Do not lie to yourself
i.
Can you lie to
yourself?
ii.
1 John
2:4 “Whoever says, “I know
him.” But does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that
person.”
iii.
1 John
1:8 “If we claim to be without
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
iv.
1
Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 6:3
v.
Galatians
6:7 “Do not be deceived: God
cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows”
vi.
2
Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves,
to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize
this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you fail to
meet the test!”
vii.
Proverbs
4:23 “Above all else, guard your
heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
b. Hearing the Word
i.
Don’t just hear (or
read) the Word of God.
ii.
If this is all you do
in life, you are lying to yourself! Because you are no closer to God than if
you never heard. Hearing is just part of the relationship with Christ Jesus.
iii.
2 Timothy
3:1-7 “But mark this: There will be terrible
times in the last days.
2 People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not
lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of
pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its
power. Have
nothing to do with such people.
6 They are the kind who worm
their way into homes and gain
control over gullible women,
who are
loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires,
7 always learning but never
able to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
iv.
Hearing, and hearing,
and reading, and listening, and talking, and talking, but never coming to a
knowledge of the truth…Why?
c. Doing the Word
i.
Because they never
became “doers” of the Word, and thus, deceived themselves into thinking hearing
was enough.
ILLUSTRATION:
I
have a car that is making funny noises. I know something is wrong with it and
it needs repair. So, I search the internet, read the manual, look at different
websites for opinions. I talk to my friends who know about cars, I call the
repair shop and talked to the master mechanic about the issue. I learn and
memorize everything there is to learn about the issue with my car.
I
go out to my car and drive it, without doing a single thing about what I
learned, and it makes the noise still.
So,
I go back to the books, watch some car shows, etc…
Always
learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth I continue to learn.
Unless
I “DO” what I hear, it is of no value to me.
There
are those in the Christian community who believe, just because they go to every
church service, join every bible study, watch every Christian TV program,
listen to Christian radio, talk about what they hear and read day and night
with others, they are OK with the Lord.
Scripture
says otherwise. Even the devil can quote scripture.
Doing
it is where the Word comes to life! Do not merely listen and deceive
yourselves, be DOERS of that Word!
II.
Do not
look at yourself in the mirror then forget what you look like as soon as you
walk away
a. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do
what it says
i.
Notice, Paul says
hearing (or reading) the Word is like looking at yourself in the mirror
1. II Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourself!
ii.
Reading or hearing the
Word causes us to “look at yourselves” or examine ourselves, as if looking in a
mirror.
b. Looking at yourself in the mirror
i.
Hearing or reading the
Word
c. Walking away and forgetting what you look like
i.
But
if we “forget” what we looked like when examining ourselves as soon as we
depart from the mirror (the Word)
ii.
To what value was the
examination? None!
III.
Look
intently into the perfect law
a. Intently looking into the perfect law
i.
Intently means to examine
the perfect law of God carefully, closely, attentively
ii.
The Word (the perfect
law) is perfect for a reason
iii.
This is why we can
“do” what the Word teaches with full confidence, even when we lack full
understanding.
iv.
Voting our faith,
measuring all things against the perfect law is like a builder who uses the
plumb bob to build a wall and see if it is straight.
v.
Amos
7:7–8 says, “This is what he
showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,
with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’
‘A plumb line,’ I replied. Then the Lord said, ‘Look, I am setting a plumb line
among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.’” When God said He was
setting a plumb line among His people, He was declaring an end to their
attempts to justify their crooked ways. The Lord was setting the standard. God
does not negotiate His laws. He does not change with the whims of culture (Numbers 23:19). God’s moral law is the plumb line against which
we determine right and wrong (John
17:17). Just as a carpenter’s
plumb line is not subject to the opinions or the frustration of the worker, so
God’s moral standards are not subject to the opinions of man. Wise people are
those who line up their lives according to God’s plumb line rather than trying
to move it to satisfy their own agendas.
b. Not forgetting what you heard, but doing it
i.
Those who do not
forget what they heard or read, but DO IT, they will be blessed
c. THEY will be blessed in what they do
i.
Blessed in “what they
do”
ii.
What are they doing?
The Word
iii.
That is what is
blessed, not, “I’m a Christian so everything “I DO” will be blessed.”
1.
Not everything we do
as followers is blessed
2.
Especially if we make
choices outside God’s Will for us
iv.
However, ANYTIME we DO
the Word of God IT WILL BE BLESSED!
So,
in the last 12 weeks we looked at what the Bible says about the “issues” we are
told are important in this election. Seeing what scripture says, how would the
Lord want us to vote?
Does
voting matter? Yes, Jesus would vote if He
were a U.S. citizen
About healthcare? 1) God’s healthcare in prayer/healing should be
first, 2) God’s miraculous provision through creation (medicine/doctors) should
be second, and 3) Government, doctors, insurance companies have NO BUSINESS having
control over your life/death/treatments allowed.
Suicide/Euthanasia – Again, government, doctors, insurance companies
have NO BUSINESS having control over your life/death/treatments allowed.
Abortion
/ Stem cell research – The bible makes clear;
abortion is murder and shedding of innocent blood. Stem cell research which
does not include aborted babies is acceptable.
Crime and
punishment – Scripture states
punishments must fit the crime, including death penalties for certain crimes,
but the punishment MUST be fair and just, equal to the crime.
War and
national security – War should ONLY be in
defense. We are allowed to defend ourselves, our land and our property. Defenses
to prevent war at all costs would include border walls, which is the same as locking
your doors at night or having an alarm system, while maintaining a viable and
legal way for anyone, of any color, nation, to come into this country and
become a U.S. citizen.
The
Obama administration DID build the cages on 2014 and put in place the Zero-tolerance
acts. It is true, since the Obama administration in 2014, children HAVE been
separated from adults and the U.S. searches for their parents, even now.
HOWEVER, those children who were separated were mostly brought illegally into
this country by non-relatives (child sex traffickers, more than likely), and
the reason they have not been reunited with their parents is because no one
knows where these children were kidnapped from.
The
best defense against cages, and these kidnapped children getting lost in our
system is to better defend our borders from illegal entries. (over 500+ kids
with no parents at the border right now) There is a perfectly legal way to
enter this country, and the legal process would prevent these child traffickers
from trying to bring in children to sell to the sex-trade industry.
What
does this mean? We are responsible for the church, the world is going to do
what it will. If asked to vote for what God says is sin to be legal, we vote
no. If it passes and sin becomes legal, we don’t picket, attack, fight, push,
etc…we are commanded not to stand in the way a sinner takes.
If
people want to marry a barbie doll, car or lamp post, so be it. That is between
them and God. But if asked if we “agree”, we stand by the Word of God.
Education – Yes for anything that expands and allows
non-government or forced schooling of any kind. If people choose to allow their
kids to go to public school, fine. But Jesus would never vote for anything that
limits a parent’s ability to homeschool instead.
The
economy – is important, and how the
government is spending our tax dollar is important as well. What we vote to
allow our government to do is a reflection of our faith. Always vote your faith,
what the Word says.
Green
values – to an extent we are
stewards and responsible for the planet and its condition. However, there is
only so much we can do because scripture tells us the world is decaying, and
falling apart, and it will continue to get bad regardless of our best efforts.
However, that does not remove the responsibility we have to keep the earth in
as good condition as possible.
It’s
like a kid saying, why do I have to take a shower, I’m just going to get dirty
again.
CONCLUSION – How would Jesus vote on these issues?
Bottom line, if we are a follower of Christ (a doer of the Word), we will
NOT vote for our wallet, our emotions, our feelings, what we like or don’t
like, but what the Word of God says is right and wrong.
Followers and doers of the Word will set aside everything they feel and
think to be obedient to the Word of God.
Adam was given the Word of God “Do not eat of this tree”, however, he
allowed his feelings and emotions to dictate his choice, and with every choice
comes a consequence.
The manner of the consequence is determined by the quality of your
choice.
Choose wisely!
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