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Don’t Give Up

A Sunday School teacher was getting discouraged. She went to her pastor and asked to be relieved of her class. “I’m not doing any good,” she said. She told her pastor that she was not seeing any spiritual response in the lives of the young people in her class.

This was during the second world war. Not long after that, she received a letter from a soldier in the U.S. army. He was writing to thank her for being his Sunday School teacher. “Because of you,” he wrote, “I am a Christian. This fact gives me hope and courage in this war. Your life has been a blessing to me.” After she read that letter, she went back to her pastor and asked to be reassigned to her ministry of teaching young people the Bible.

We do not always recognize the good that we are doing as we serve the Lord. He is the one who is keeping the records in heaven. Sometimes he lets us see what our works for him are accomplishing.

If we are tempted to become discouraged and to give up, it is a good idea to remember the promise in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Most people know who it was who invented the lightbulb. He was Thomas Alva Edison, a self-taught grade school dropout whose inventions revolutionized the American economy. But before he became famous as an inventor and entrepreneur, he had failed many times in business. His laboratory burned down. He was faced with bankruptcy. His wife died at a young age. But Edison did not give up.

He is known for his optimism and persistence. Over a period of sixty years he applied for 1,093 U.S. patents. He is probably America’s most famous inventor. His creations were the result of repeated experiments that led to new ways of looking at problems. Sometimes they led to new inventions and sometimes they did not. For every one of his successes, there were far more failures. When he was asked about this, he replied, “I have not failed ten thousand times. I have successfully found ten thousand ways that will not work.”

Edison’s example is a good reminder that as we serve the Lord, faithfulness is the secret to usefulness. It is always too soon to quit. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Your labor for the Lord is not in vain.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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The Gift of Time

For many years it was my practice to meet with men for training in Christian discipleship. Once after an early morning meeting one of the men lingered to talk. Over a last cup of coffee he looked across the table and asked, “Why do you take time for this?” He was a successful businessman. I tried to answer in terms he would understand.

“People are God’s priority,” I said. “I am interested in developing men who will be men of influence for God. I am willing to take time to meet with faithful men who will use their influence to help others know and follow Jesus Christ.”

As I answered I had in mind Paul’s words to his young disciple Timothy: “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).

The apostle was challenging his younger protege to take the spiritual teachings and practices he had learned from him, and re-invest them in others, who could, in turn, pass them on to still others.

I told that businessman that God wanted to use him as a leader in his family, in the church, and in the community. I saw in him the ability to influence others and I hoped he would use those leadership gifts for Christ. He had proven to be a faithful man. He had accepted my invitation to meet for Bible study, to keep a daily appointment with God in the scripture and prayer, to memorize Bible verses, and to learn to be an effective witness. “If I find a man like that,” I said, “it is worth the investment of time for me to meet with him and to encourage him.”

We give our time to what is important to us. If our marriages are important to us, we will give the gift of time to our spouses, pursuing loving relationships and serving them. If our children are important to us, we will not be absent from their lives as they are growing up. If our churches are important to us, we will love the people of the church enough to share life with them, to worship and study with them, and to pray with them.

If Christian discipleship is important to us, then we will want to be faithful disciples of Jesus. And we will want to follow his command to make disciples for him. I have never doubted this investment of time is worthwhile.

It is strategically important. If the future health and strength of the church is important, then it is a good idea to take the time to develop the church’s future leaders. I have found that younger men respond well to this challenge. Their habits of life are still being formed. They want to be good leaders.

This was the method of Jesus. He spent three years with his disciples, teaching them, modeling before them, empowering them, and sending them out to minister in his name. Yes, Jesus preached to large crowds. We know he was concerned about the masses of people. But he spent most of his time developing the few, the seventy, the twelve, and his inner circle, Peter, James, and John.

Time is a precious commodity that we give to what is important to us. Investing time in a small group of fellow believers who are potential leaders is a good way to accomplish God’s priorities. The payoff is spiritual reproduction.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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If God Is Good . . . Why?

Churches are regularly presented with requests to pray for individuals who face life-threatening circumstances. Church people are usually faithful to pray for their friends who are suffering. They hear about lingering sicknesses, major surgeries, injuries caused by accidents and other tragedies.

Sometimes folks are tempted to ask the question “why?” Why is this happening? Not every Christian asks that question the same way or with the same urgency. But I suspect there are times when all believers ponder the question of undeserved suffering.

The question is often framed this way: if God is good, and if he is all-powerful, why does he allow suffering and evil to continue? Admittedly, it takes faith to affirm the goodness and power of God when we are confronted with the enormity of evil and human suffering. It does no good to deny the reality of evil. And we know that it is un-Christian to deny the goodness and power of God. Is there an answer to this conundrum?

Thomas Oden has offered some constructive thoughts about this vexing issue. I have found them helpful to my own understanding. The following propositions are adapted from his writings.

  1. God does not directly will human suffering. He does not cause it. He himself is good. But we live in a world that has been corrupted and polluted by sin, and sin has consequences.
  2. This is not to say that every instance of suffering is a direct consequence of a victim’s personal sin. In fact, Jesus explicitly refuted this idea when he said of the man born blind that neither his nor his parent’s sins had caused his blindness (John 9:1-3).
  3. God suffers with his people. He feels our suffering. He entered our world of pain in the person of Jesus Christ who was “despised and rejected by mankind, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
  4. God gave human beings the gift of freedom of choice. They have consciousness, intelligence, conscience, and will. In doing this God was willing to risk the possibility that human beings would abuse their freedom and choose to disobey him. If God had taken away the power of choice, he would have removed human intelligence and moral accountability.
  5. God in his wisdom decided to create a universe in which evil and suffering were a possibility. Had he not done that, there would be no possibility of freedom.
  6. God’s power can draw good out of evil. Adam fell, but that occasioned the greater redemption through Christ. Many biblical examples show how God brought good out of evil (the sufferings of Job, the Babylonian captivity, Paul’s thorn in the flesh). This does not mean that suffering is good in itself. It means that God is able to use it to accomplish his good purpose (Romans 8:28). Oden wrote, “God judged it better to bring good out of evil than not to permit evil to exist.”
  7. Sometimes suffering occurs because we are connected to the rest of humanity. No one is an island. Paul repeated the maxim that “no one lives to himself.” Therefore, what happened to Adam (sin and death) happened to me. What happens to society happens to me,  Some sufferings are the result of social evils (crime, war, terrorism) or human mistakes (faulty construction, drunken drivers) or natural disasters (earthquakes, storms, contagious diseases).
  8. We grow through trials and suffering, even though we do not like it. Every athlete knows there is no growth and development without pain. Again, God does not cause our suffering, but he may use it for our sanctification. This does not diminish the pain, but it may help us see God’s good purpose in it.
  9. Evil does not limit God’s power. It will not win. Beyond human history, God will renew creation, judge evil and set right what has been ruined by sin.

As I think about these affirmations, I wonder if, instead of asking “why?” I should be asking “how?” How may I respond to my difficulties with faith and courage? How may I see God’s good purpose in my suffering? How may I use these troubles to grow more like Jesus Christ?

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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When Showing Up Is Enough

In this world we are not immune from suffering and tragedy. Jesus said as much when he called attention to the untimely deaths of thirteen people who were crushed when a tower fell on them. He implied that such events are not unexpected (Luke 13:4). The victims of this calamity were examples of what it means to live in a dangerous world.

On countless occasions I have been asked to be with people who were suffering or grieving. I have seen families huddled together in hospital emergency rooms praying for a loved one to survive an automobile crash. I have wept with parents whose children have died. I have tried to find words to help a little girl understand why her daddy will never come home again. I have sat with a young wife whose husband had committed suicide in their living room.

What does one say?

Perhaps a better question is what should one not say? Once I was asked to visit friends who were mourning the tragic death of a family member. Another pastor was present. He began to recite Bible verses about God’s comfort in sorrow, about heaven, about how God has a purpose in everything. He forged ahead, seemingly oblivious to their anguish. It was as if he was processing his own sorrow at their expense.

I could not help but think of a phrase from Ecclesiastes, “There is a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes  3:7). This was a time to allow a family to mourn, and to mourn with them. But this well-intentioned brother went on spouting one religious platitude after another. It seemed that their grief was compounded, not relieved, by his incessant words.

No doubt I have done the same thing, forgetting that “the quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools” (Ecclesiastes 9:17). I am sure there have been occasions when I was the “fool who multiplies words” (Ecclesiastes 10:14).

Job had lost everything, his children, his wealth, his health. His story is the classic biblical example of the problem of suffering. He had three friends who came to see him. They got it right — until they didn’t. They tried to comfort Job by sitting with him for seven days without saying much of anything. But when they opened their mouths, they ruined everything.

Joseph Bayly wrote about a better way to help those touched by tragedy. He described his personal grief in the book A View from a Hearse. He had lost three sons who died at different times under tragic circumstances. He related an incident that illustrates what I am trying to say. There are times when a ministry of presence is what is needed when tragedy strikes.

Bayly wrote, “I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God’s dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly. He said things I knew were true.

“I was unmoved, except to wish he would go away. He finally did.

“Another came and sat beside me. He didn’t talk. He didn’t ask leading questions. He just sat beside me for an hour and more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left.

“I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go.”

The words of one of my seminary professors have stayed with me. I have remembered them in countless pastoral situations. The words are, “Be there.” Sometimes all that is required when a friend is hurting is that we show up.

Over the years people have told me things like, “I have never forgotten how you came to see me when my baby died.” Or “You showed up at the hospital when I had my heart attack.” People do not often remember what we say, but they remember that we cared enough to come. The Holy Spirit works powerfully even when there are no words.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Making Friends with Money

Jesus said quite a lot about money. As he taught his disciples, he said that it is possible to use money to lay up treasure in heaven, to care for one’s parents on earth, to help the needy, and to be generous in supporting God’s work. He also said that we are not to be so obsessed with accumulating wealth that we constantly worry about it. Money has its dangers.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “Every one of the Ten Commandments can be broken because of money. Because of a desire for money, people have denied God, blasphemed his name, stolen, lied, murdered, committed adultery, and so on. A lust for material things makes people wander from the faith, and this leads to shipwreck. They look for pleasure but they find pain and sorrows.”

Jesus told a story about money that has intrigued Bible students because of its irony and humor (Luke 16:1-13). I think it appealed to the tax collectors and “sinners” who had gathered to hear him teach (Luke 15:1). It concerned a dishonest business manager who had mishandled his master’s finances and was called to account for it.

The manager was about to be fired for mismanagement. Was he guilty of pilfering his master’s money? Was he an embezzler? All we know is that he was about to lose his job. In Jesus’ story, the man quickly contacted his master’s debtors and offered them generous terms to settle their accounts immediately. By doing this he hoped they would help him when he was out on the street.

There is a surprise in the story. “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly” (Luke 16:8). In other words, the boss was glad to get these accounts settled and the debts off the books. It may have been that the amounts the manager had forgiven were illegal interest payments that he himself had been charging without his master’s knowledge. If that is the case, the amount forgiven was not the boss’s loss anyway and we can understand how he would be pleased with the outcome.

What was our Lord’s point in this unusual story? He was certainly not commending dishonesty. He wanted his disciples to remember several things. First, he wanted them to be wise in the use of wealth. The people of this world are often more astute in “dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light” (Luke 16:8). By saying this our Lord observed that the people of the world sometimes show more interest in temporal affairs than God’s people do in matters affecting eternity.

Second, life will end for all of us someday. We will be called to account for our management (stewardship) of earthly wealth. Our Lord wants us to know that what we do with wealth and material possessions here will have a bearing on our happiness in the next life.

Also, Jesus was teaching that it is possible for us to use money to make “friends” for God who will welcome us when we enter eternity (Luke 16:9). This makes me think of the people from different countries who will meet us in heaven and say “thank you” for our giving to support world missions (2 Corinthians 9:12).

Another point Jesus was making is that of trustworthiness instead of dishonesty. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” (Luke 16:10). Jesus is talking about being entrusted with the management of “someone else’s property” (Luke 16:12). As a matter of fact everything we have really belongs to God, and we are managing it for him.

Finally, Jesus is reminding us that we cannot be fully devoted to the acquisition of money and possessions and fully devoted to God at the same time (Luke 16:13). Unlike the dishonest manager in the story, faithful disciples of Jesus do not want to set their full attention on accumulating wealth. Instead, they will learn to use wealth to invest in eternity and make friends for God.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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What We Owe the Government

I believe that the United States of America has been uniquely blessed by God. Some people refer to this as “American exceptionalism.” For 250 years we have enjoyed the blessings of liberty. If this is true, then this must mean that “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48). 

The late pastor Ed Dobson wrote, “Christians have a God-ordained responsibility to government.” What is being asked of us? What, in Jesus’ words, is being demanded? If we expect the government to promote the general welfare, and to maintain an ordered society, then what is our response as Christian citizens? The Bible gives us specific guidance.

We should speak. The church exists to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to make the argument for God’s standards of morality. The church should never abandon its mission of communicating the gospel to become a political institution. Christians should never think that governmental power ought to be used to impose Christian law on society. Our role is persuasion, not coercion. Our job is to make the Christian moral vision attractive and to demonstrate how it is best for society.

We should pray. “I urge, then, first of all, that prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-2). It is my regular practice to pray for our president and his family that they will be kept safe from harm. I pray that God will give him good advisors and that he will listen to the wisdom of their counsel. I pray that the president may come to the knowledge of the truth that is in Jesus.

We should submit.  The apostle Paul wrote, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established” (Romans 13:1). It is the institution of government that has been established by God, and in submitting to the authority of government, we are submitting to his will. Submitting and showing respect to government leaders is sometimes difficult, especially when they are anti-Christian in their attitudes and actions.

We should get involved. Vote according to the guidance of your conscience and scripture. Participate in community projects and actions that promote what is good for society. Give money to support those causes. Exercise your freedom to help address the needs of the community.

We should pay taxes. We receive many benefits from government. We have a responsibility to support the government by paying our taxes. Some men came to Jesus and asked, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (Matthew22:17). The question was intended to trick Jesus. If he favored paying taxes to Caesar, some could accuse him of religious compromise. If he did not, some could accuse him of treason. Jesus answered, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” Christians recognize that we owe allegiance to God’s kingdom first, and second to our earthly nation.

What about civil disobedience? Are Christians ever justified in disobeying the laws of the land? The Bible tells us of the Hebrew midwives who disobeyed the Pharaoh’s order to kill every male child at birth (Exodus 1:17, 20). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego disobeyed the king of Babylon’s command to worship his idol of gold (Daniel 3:16-18). The early apostles refused to obey the Jewish leaders who told them to stop preaching in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). From these cases, we conclude that there are rare occasions when it may be necessary to disobey a human law if obeying means we would disobey God. “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

What is the church’s duty to society, and to the government? To be the church of Jesus Christ. To boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. To recognize that the transformation of society will not come through political power. It will come through the power of the gospel, one person at a time. It will come through the influence of people of goodwill who will love and serve their neighbors, as our Savior said to do.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

 

 

 

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Faith and Public Policy

Journalist Cal Thomas, writing about political power, said, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. People may have wealth, position, and fame, but unless they have power, many of them believe their lives are incomplete. Power can not only seduce, but also affect judgment. It can be more addictive than any drug, because it deceives the one who ‘takes’ it. Power can be used to rationalize the most outrageous behavior because the power abuser sincerely believes his ends are justified and so any means of achieving them are legitimate.”

He was writing this as a warning to Christian people about the dangers of relying on political power to accomplish moral goals. He cited the words of the late chaplain of the Senate, Richard C. Halverson, who spoke of the “powerlessness of political power” in that it lacks the ability to change hearts.

Having noted that warning, I have to ask, “What, then, is the role of the church and individual Christians, in influencing public policy?” Are we to keep silent in the face of the nation’s moral decline and leave the political process to those who are hostile to moral absolutes?

There are too many important issues troubling our nation for concerned citizens to remain on the sidelines. Here are just a few: euthanasia, pornography, abortion, war, terrorism, poverty, homelessness, the impact of social media, homosexuality, gender confusion, the national debt, drug abuse, mass shootings, racism, immigration, inflation, etc.

The fact is, somebody’s moral values will shape public policy. All governments pass laws against murder, theft, sexual abuse, and public endangerment. In doing so they legislate morality. If the role of government is to regulate society so that people don’t hurt each other, then the Bible was right all along, the government is supposed to punish evil and protect its citizens (Romans 13:1-7).

Our Founding Fathers were not all Christian believers, and they did not always agree. But they were unified in the conviction that our nation was to be founded on a base of moral values. The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers were the result of applying a Judeo-Christian worldview to their conception of government. President John Adams said that the American experiment required that citizens be of strong moral and religious character. Otherwise, democracy is “insufficient” and cannot hold together.

Therefore, those who are hostile to religion or to moral absolutes are just wrong when they try to hinder people of faith from expressing their views in the public arena. Religion has always shaped the values and politics of our nation. I have read that 84 percent of Americans say that religion is very important in their lives. If they are excluded from participation in shaping the laws of our nation, then it is left to a small minority to do so. That is un-American.

Secular materialists seem to want to impose their minority agenda on the rest of us. They seem to approach every issue with an anti-religious bias. There is no fixed morality or transcendent truth. Right and wrong are sociologically determined and proclaimed by pollsters.

The response of Christians is not, as Cal Thomas pointed out, to try to manipulate the electoral process to gain raw political power. Our response is not to impose particular religious beliefs on the general public. It is not to try to apply a religious test to candidates running for office to determine whether they believe in God. It is not to declare that America is a Christian nation and should be governed by Christian laws. Cal Thomas said, “The marriage of religion and politics almost always compromises the gospel.”

The church is nowhere told to control the culture. We are told to influence the culture as “the salt of the earth and the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-16). Instead of trying to control society through political power from the top down, the Christian ideal  is to be who we are, the living church of the living Lord Jesus Christ. We must boldly preach the gospel and boldly proclaim our moral values. Then, in the words of Cal Thomas, the flow of values will “bubble up” from people of faith living out their faith.

The answer is spiritual power not political power. We can keep adding laws but legislation cannot change people’s hearts or redeem them from sin. Cal Thomas wrote, “The ultimate hope for society is not in politics, it is in the church and individual Christians.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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“God Bless America”

Irving Berlin wrote a popular song that has become a national treasure, “God Bless America.” Berlin, a Jewish immigrant to the United States, was said to be “consumed by patriotism.” He loved America and said, “I owe all my success to my adopted country.” His song was first sung publicly by Kate Smith who introduced it on her radio show in 1938.

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the song became a prayer sung by congressmen on the steps of the Capitol building, by baseball fans at Yankee Stadium, and even by worshippers in churches across America. In that time of national mourning, the thoughts of the people turned to God, as they sang “God Bless America” as a  prayer for protection and healing.

While we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, we might well sing the song again. It goes without saying that America needs God. Americans need God. But God is not an American, and America is not God. America’s purposes are not necessarily God’s purposes. If patriotism (love of country) devolves into nationalism (“my country right or wrong”), then it becomes idolatry.

Every state constitution in the U.S. recognizes God in some way. But the God they mention is not defined. Religious freedom and diversity are assumed. Christianity is the majority religion in the United States, but it has never been the only religion, or the national religion.

James Madison wrote in 1776 that “all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion,” but he didn’t specify which religion. In fact, long before 1776, there were Jewish communities in several of the cities of the American colonies.

President John Tyler wrote, “The Mohammedan, if he were to come among us, would have the same privilege guaranteed to him by the Constitution to worship according to the Koran and the East Indian  might erect a shrine to Brahma if it so pleased him. Such is the spirit of toleration inculcated by our political institutions.”

President George Washington said, “The bosom of America is open to receive . . . the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions, whom we shall welcome to a full participation of all our rights and privileges. . . . They may be Mohametans, or Jews, or Christians of any sect, or they may be atheists.”

So what do we mean when we sing “God Bless America?” As a Christian man I sing about God with the understanding that he is the God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Lord of heaven and earth, the creator of the universe.

I also must recognize that others may be singing that same song with a different understanding. The free exercise of religion guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution means that I must respect their right to believe, or not to believe, as I do. In the words of Richard Lamb, “Christians don’t have a monopoly on religious expression just because Christianity has consistently been the majority religion in this country.”

Historian Jon Meacham wrote, “The Founders linked the cause of liberty to the idea of God while avoiding sectarian religious imagery or associations.” This means, of course, that neither the Christian nor the atheist has the right to use government power to impose their beliefs upon the other. This is why we do not have a religious test for candidates for public office in this country.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of our nation’s founding, 250 years ago. When I sing “God Bless America” with full-throated enthusiasm, it is with the belief that God has blessed America. We have enjoyed abundant natural resources, a high standard of living, free enterprise, innovation and invention in industry, protection by two oceans, friendly relations with our closest neighbors, effective distribution of goods, a government of laws derived from God’s moral law, freedom of assembly, speech, the press, and freedom to express our faith.

In a pluralistic society we who are Christians should use our freedom of religion and freedom of speech to try to influence those who do not see things the way we do. We ought to rely on the power of loving persuasion, not on political power or legislation to advance the cause of Christ, This is how to promote Christian moral values, to work for a just society, to participate in political life, and to evangelize.

Tomorrow is a day to say “thank you” to God for the freedom to do these things and to sing and pray for his continued blessing and protection for our nation.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

 

 

 

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America, America!

An English teacher named Katherine Lee Bates was travelling in the American west in 1893. She was impressed by the beauty and grandeur of the mountains of Colorado. She was moved to write the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful,” as a statement of belief in God and a prayer for our nation. The refrain, “America, America, God shed his grace on thee,” has become  a familiar example of “civil religion.”

There are many such examples. Presidents, throughout our nation’s history, have invoked the blessing of God on America. When Ronald Reagan was nominated at the Republican convention in 1980, he closed his acceptance speech by asking the convention center crowd to begin the presidential election campaign right then, with a moment of silent prayer. Then he solemnly intoned, “God bless America.” Many were deeply moved. Some in the national media mocked him for this simple expression of faith.

Later, when as president, he survived an assassination attempt, he declared, “Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and I will try to serve him every way I can.” In a speech to a gathering of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983, he said, “Freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted.”

Reagan’s words are examples of the kinds of statements many American leaders have made in political campaigns, in times of national crisis, and in expressing their personal beliefs in interviews.  Words like these acknowledge that the majority of Americans are comfortable with public expressions of belief in God. This “civil religion” recognizes the freedom of all Americans to express their beliefs according to the dictates of their own consciences.

Baptist theologian Richard Land wrote, “Civil religion cannot replace personal faith, but it can be society’s way of acknowledging the central role religion has played in American life and protecting a place for faith in the public square. It should in no way be considered a substitute for deep faith convictions. . . . It is merely society’s way of accommodating religion in general without favoring a particular faith over other faiths. Civil religion can also provide a shared space in which people of varying religious traditions can bring their faith convictions to public debate in a pluralistic society.”

In 1798 John Adams said we need a citizenry with strong religious and moral character in order to sustain America. Our government, he said, is “insufficient” for any other. This is not the same thing as saying that America is, or ever was, “a Christian nation.” But it is a powerful admission that America needs a citizenry whose values are shaped by religious convictions. Our founding fathers were brilliant men of deep conviction, courage, and commitment. But they were not all “born again” Christians. They did, however, admit the nation’s need for the protection and guidance of divine Providence.

Throughout its history our nation has believed that God has a special purpose in mind for America. The Declaration of Independence refers to God as our Creator and He holds nations and individuals accountable to his judgments. The freedoms, rights, and responsibilities we have as Americans are gifts from our Creator. Because of this, it has been rightly said that the founding of America was “a faith-based initiative.”

These thoughts are on my mind as our nation’s 250th birthday approaches. I am praying for this nation, as I am sure my readers are praying, that God will guide us and that he will heal our land.

When Katherine Lee Bates wrote, “America, America, God shed his grace on thee,” she was framing a prayer. When we sing it, we are praying for our nation.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Come to the Feast!

This was God’s invitation to the people of Israel. When he gave them instructions as to how they were to live in fellowship with him in the Promised Land, he established festivals for them to observe throughout the year. These were important dates on their calendars for remembering, worshiping, and thanking God.

Leviticus 23 tells us there were seven feasts. These were holy events involving pilgrimages, sacrificial offerings, special sabbaths, and sacred assemblies. There were specific instructions as to how they were to be observed.

I have been writing about these Feasts of the Lord in this space for the last seven weeks. Why would these matters of ancient Hebrew history be of interest to us today? I believe it is because  these Feasts of the Lord are keys to our understanding of God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. They symbolize Jesus and apply to God’s program for the church. We who believe in him are also invited to come to the feast.

Romans 15:4 says that “Everything that was written in the past (the Old Testament) was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.” I suspect that when our Lord Jesus explained to his disciples “what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27), he may have alluded to Leviticus 23.

The first of the feasts is Passover. It commemorated the Israelites’ national deliverance from slavery in Egypt. They were redeemed by the blood of sacrificial lambs. Passover testifies to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ as the ultimate Lamb of God, who shed his blood to redeem us (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). We must believe in him as savior to be able to enjoy redemption from sin and fellowship with God.

Beginning the next day after Passover, and continuing for a week, the Jews celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They ceremoniously removed all leaven (yeast) from their dwellings and feasted together as families. In the Bible, yeast is a picture of sin. Once a person has received Jesus Christ as savior, he or she should endeavor to resist sin and remove it from their lives (2 Corinthians 7:1).

After the week of unleavened bread, came the Feast of Firstfruits. It was always on the first day of the week, following the sabbath. The people were to bring to the priest a first sample of the spring harvest as a sacrifice to God. In the New Testament, Firstfruits pictures the resurrection of Jesus Christ and of all who believe in him (1 Corinthians 15:23). It is worth noting that the first day of the week, for Christians, is resurrection day.

Fifty days later came the Feast of Weeks (seven weeks), also called Pentecost, meaning “fifty.” The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, in accordance with the promise of Jesus (Acts 2:1-21). The church was born when the Holy Spirit came.

The Feast of Trumpets speaks of the Lord’s gathering his people together. Trumpets were blown to announce the moving of the camp of Israel, to declare war, or to assemble the people for a special occasion. This may illustrate the gathering together of God’s church when the trumpet sounds to raise the dead and living believers are “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, came next. It was a solemn day of fasting, stillness, sacrifice, mourning, and confession of sins. Devout Jews consider this day to be the holiest day of the year. Kippur means “covering.” It signified that the sins of the people were covered and forgiven by a merciful God. There will come a day when national Israel will repent. The features of the Day of Atonement are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 2:2).

The seventh feast is the Feast of Tabernacles, It was observed in the fall of the year in connection with the preceding two feasts. It followed the Day of Atonement with a week-long remembrance of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, the forty years in the wilderness. During the week of this festival, Hebrew families camped in temporary shelters called sukkot. It was to be a joyful celebration of God’s past faithful provision, and anticipation of the future earthly kingdom of Messiah (Ezekiel 37:26-28).

These feasts tell us that God is interested in how we live our lives. The people of Israel were to keep the Lord first in all aspects of their days, months, and years. He had given them their seasonal rains and harvests, and they remembered to thank him. Our lives, likewise, should be regulated by his word.

These seven feasts are pointers to our Savior, Jesus Christ. They are pictures of the blessings of his great salvation. They tell us that fellowship with God is possible through him.

The first four feasts, in the spring of the year, picture Jesus’ first coming, his death and resurrection and the descent of the Spirit. The last three feasts, in the fall of the year, picture our Lord’s second coming. So we live in grateful remembrance of what God has done for us in the past. We also live in joyful anticipation of the fulfillment of his promises of a glorious future with him.

Pastor Randy Faulkner