Sunday 11/11/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC
Sermon: “They kneel before the
King”
(Qualities
of a Good Leader Series: Part 5 of 5)
Scripture Lesson: Psalm 127
Gospel Lesson: Mark 12:38-44
Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and
savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and I
am happy to be worshiping with you here this morning!
This morning I am finishing my sermon series on the qualities of good
leadership. As this presidential election season has just ended, I think that
good leadership is something that many of us are continuing to think about
right now.
In the first week of this series, I
talked about leaders who are “humble before there people.” Jesus was humble,
calls us to be humble, and there are several scripture references to being
humble. In the second week of this series, I preached that good leaders are
“amongst the people.” Perhaps it is our recent hurricane that brought this to
the forefront for us, but we have seen good leaders in the past two weeks
amongst and serving their people. Two weeks ago, I talked about how
biblical leaders must “sacrifice for the greater good.” By giving of ourselves
for others, we are living sacrificially. Last week I talked about the
importance of leaders “Who love their country.” I asked the question of how can
someone be a good leader of their people without loving their country?
This morning, I want to talk about
my final characteristic of good leadership, which is a leader that “kneels
before the king.” By this, I mean leaders that kneel before almighty God, as
their ultimate leader. As the presidential election was wrapping up this week,
I heard a couple of interesting questions on the radio. The first one I heard
was, does a government need God to be successful? The second question was what
does a government without God look like? These were those types of questions
for me, “that stopped me in my tracks,” and made me think. So with this said
then, what does a government look like that is following God? What does a
government look like that is not following God?
For me, I think of the Book of
Judges in the Old Testament when I think about these questions. In Judges 17:6
it says, “In those days there was no king
in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” What this
verse of scripture means is that “Rather than follow the law of God, their
King, they became a law unto themselves.” As the election was concluding
this week, I wondered in mind, “Are we as a country following God, or are we
doing what is right in our own eyes?” I mean it is easy to say we follow God,
but are we? Are our leaders really following God? Or are we doing what is right
in our own eyes? Consider this for a minute, do you know that no United States
President has ever been elected without proclaiming to be a Christian, or
without proclaiming to have faith in God? In fact, no serious presidential
candidate in this country could ever dream of getting their political party’s
nomination, if they did not believe in and proclaim faith God. Yet many of us
might say, “well I don’t think that candidate, or that president really
believed, or was really a Christian.” Imagine if our leaders no longer trusted
in the Lord, but rather “did what was right in their own eyes?” What happens to
a society that no longer looks to God, and no longer seeks the Lord in their
overall decision making?
1 Corinthians 1:25-26 says, “For the foolishness of God is
wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's
strength. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not
many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many
were of noble birth.” Sometimes, I wonder as a country “Just who do we think we
are?” Sometimes I think we are not a prodigal child, but a prodigal nation. How
bad must it get before we see our need to trust and follow God? Do we really
think we can do better than God? Jeremiah 17:5 says: "Cursed is
the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose
heart turns away from the LORD.”
When viewing countries like North
Korea, Iran, and the former Soviet Union, is it evident what happens when we
fully put our trust in ourselves, and not God? I think that when we lose sight
of God, our willingness to do good and be just is diminished greatly. We then
become a society of un-sacrificing pleasure seekers, who do whatever benefits
them. We ship jobs overseas, and doing anything at all to make money. We care
about no one, but ourselves. Yet despite some of this un-Godliness in our
country, we see countless men and women on the ground down where Hurricane
Sandy is. They are working hard to rebuild the broken dreams of our brothers
and sisters. To accomplish this, people like our UMCOR workers are not looking
to themselves, they are looking to God.
Let’s look at the scripture reading
from this morning. The first verse of Psalm 127 says, “Unless the Lord builds
the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.” Who do we put our trust in? Do we kneel before
the King? The first president of our republic President George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern a nation
without God and the Bible." President Abraham Lincoln said,
"I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth
and be an atheist, But I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens
and say there is no God." President Dwight Eisenhower said,
"Without God there could be no American form of government nor an American
way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first the most basic
expression of Americanism."
So every president has proclaimed,
in their spoken words at least, their faith in God. In the gospel reading this
morning though, Jesus said to beware of the scribes who have fake faith, and
pretend to have faith to gain favor, wealth, and prestige. Jesus said, that men
like this, “devour widow’s houses and for the sake of appearance say long
prayers. They will receive greater condemnation.” Jesus then goes to speak of
the humble act of the poor widow woman who gave her last two copper coins. She
did this not for recognition, not for favor, but because she kneeled before the
king.
President Woodrow Wilson said,
“There are a good many problems before the American people today, and before me
as president, but I expect to the find the solution to those problems just in
the proportion that I am faithful in the study of the Word of God.” In 1980
Presidential Ronald Reagan, “The time has come to turn to God and reassert our
trust in Him for the healing of America…our country is need of and ready for
ready for a spiritual renewal.” Jesus wants leaders in this country, and all
countries that kneel before Him.
I would like close today with a
story. This story is called “Satan’s garage sale.” Here is how it goes “Once
upon a time, Satan was having a garage sale. There, standing in little groups
were all of his bright, shiny trinkets. Here were tools that make it easy to
tear others down to use them as stepping stones. And over there were some
lenses for magnifying one’s own importance, which, if you looked through them
the other way, you could also use to belittle others, or even one’s self.
Against the wall was the usual assortment of gardening implements guaranteed to
help your pride grow by leaps and bounds: the rake of scorn, the shovel of
jealousy for digging a pit for your neighbor, the tools of gossip and
backbiting, of selfishness and apathy. All of these were pleasing to the eye
and came complete with fabulous promises and guarantees of prosperity. Prices,
of course, were steep; but not to worry! Free credit was extended to one and
all. “Take it home, use it, and you won’t have to pay until later!” old Satan
cried, as he hawked his wares.
The visitor, as he browsed, noticed
two well worn, non-descript tools standing in one corner. Not being nearly as
tempting as the other items, he found it curious that these two tools had price
tags higher than any other. When he asked why, Satan just laughed and said,
“Well, that’s because I use them so much. If they weren’t so plain looking, people
might see them for what they were.” Satan pointed to the two tools, saying,
“You see, that one’s Doubt and that one’s Discouragement — and those will work
when nothing else will.”
Of all of the qualities of
leadership, we should seek leaders that kneel before the king of kings, and
lord of lords. That king and that Lord is Jesus Christ. This week let us throw
one of our shoes under our beds every night before we go to sleep at night, so
that we must force ourselves to start each day on our knees. For God wants
leaders, “who kneel before the king.” Praise God and Amen.
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