As the Presidential campaigns churn on there is a great deal of attention focused upon every detail by the media. Who said what to whom, when and how. Americans are stirred up to believe that it is a huge deal who gets into the oval office. Yet when you look back on the past 27 years of the occupants of that office, it really hasn’t meant a molehill of difference in what has happened in our land which party held that office.
There is a uniform track moving us toward greater and greater tyranny from Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama. The Democrats have held it for only 3 more years than the Republicans, and the results are uniform: bigger federal government, higher taxes, ever increasing regulations with a corresponding loss of freedom, useless, needless and unconstitutional wars, and rapid expansion of every form of tyranny. Great promises are always made in the campaigns, yet whoever wins the race give us the very same thing, more tyrannical unconstitutional government – in other words lawless rulers running roughshod over the God given rights of the citizens in this land that was once blessed by God.
Perhaps you’ve seen the Peanuts cartoon where Lucy holds the football for Charlie Brown. He runs toward her to kick the football, and at the last second, as he has wound up for the kick, she pulls the football away and Charlie Brown lands flat on his back. Then Lucy promises she wont do that again, so Charlie Brown, trusting her once again runs toward that football, but Lucy lied and she pulls it away at the last second, and there is Charlie Brown flat on his back. After several go rounds, we wonder why doesn’t Charlie Brown get the message. Lucy lied to him every single time; she will always pull the ball away and he will always wind up flat on his back.
I think Charlie Brown is a picture of the American voters. For the past 27 years we have had every variety of promises possible that a new President would reform Washington D.C., yet they yanked the ball away as soon as they occupied the Oval Office. When will we learn?
I believe we can make the most progress to restore our land at the local level, and most importantly we need to find rest in Our Lord in the midst of all the turmoil. I am not advocating disconnecting from what is happening politically in our land, but rather an approach that is rooted in a profound settled Rest in our Lord. This morning we are beginning new series titled Celebrating our Lord taken from Exodus 23. We will examine the commands of our Lord on how we are to worship our Lord in the celebrations He instructed Israel to conduct.
The Celebrations of the Lord are for Worshipping Him – Exodus 23:10-13 “And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed. And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.”
The blessings of productive work – when we examine the Fourth Commandment, we often slide right over the first part. “Six days thou shalt do thy work…And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:”
Work is not a curse when it is done in service to Christ – 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Our Work is to be done to the Glory of God. If all that we do is to glorify Him, whether eating or drinking, then working also is to be done to the glory of God.
Think about the following three men who worked on a large building project. One was asked, “What are you doing?” “I’m mixing mortar,” he said. The second man said, “I’m helping put up this great stone wall.” When the third man was asked, he replied, “I’m building a cathedral to the glory of God.” Which man are you. How do you view your work ethic.
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