Thanksgiving Eve
That Thanksgivings Be Made for Kings Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. Tonight’s Epistle calls to all Christians, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercession and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Dear Christian friends: If I had to make a bet that would almost certainly pay out for me, I would bet that you feel discontented with the government. It is possible that you think the government does not do enough for you, but more likely that you resent what the government does for people who are not you, using your money in order to do it. Our government is not always noble, despite its preoccupations with looking that way. Abortion and same-sex marriage show that the government can make lawlessness appear to be lawful, in some twisted sense of the term. Congress so continually needs to push up the debt ceiling that we should not feel surprised if our descendants grow up speaking Chinese. All three branches of our government seem to have lost respect for the balance of power they were once created to uphold. None of this seems praiseworthy, but praise for the government is a lost art, anyway. It is more fashionable to badmouth the government. Everyone thinks he can do a better job than the person elected to do the job. Everything wrong in our nation is the fault of whatever political party I do not support. No one ever boasts about voting for the person who got elected. We will only boast—and advertise it with bumper stickers—when we did NOT vote for so-and-so. “Don’t blame me!” It is also a cultural expectation that we each pay absolutely as little tax as possible. We probably should not say we are overtaxed, considering the way the other nations of the world do things. Taxation, like the church offering, simply interferes with our entertainment budget. In the United States, a dismal attitude toward government compares to a spoiled child’s attitude toward his parents. Luther might have had it right: “We want to be nothing but wicked scoundrels,” he said, “and nevertheless receive nothing but good from God” (AE 46, 118). The Scriptures teach us to believe that a large portion of the good we receive from God comes through the government that God has given. Daily bread includes all that we need to support this body and life. Our government routinely ensures that we keep far more than we actually need. Perhaps this indicates goodness of our government, that we all own stuff simply for the sake of owning it and with no intention actually to use it. Tonight’s Epistle offers an alternative to our stinginess and our complaints. I urge that supplications, prayers, intercession and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. We should not become confused by these Words, or by the fact that our government has been established by God (Romans 13). The government does NOT need our blind cooperation any more than it needs our contempt. Like all our neighbors, the government needs · our open confession of the Christian faith. I am not saying that we should have a Christian government. I am saying that we should have Christian voices speaking to and within our government. We should be speaking sanity to our increasingly insane culture. Without the Christian faith, there is little or no defense against abortion, homosexuality, and other abhorrent things. Without the Christian faith, we have nothing of value to give our children, except for consumer goods, which both moth and rust will inevitably destroy. Without the Christian faith, we have nothing but darkness in our land; WITH the Christian faith confessed openly and freely, the Light of Christ shall continue to shine in the darkness—and the darkness shall not overcome it (John 1:5). · NOT our violent rebellion, but our pious insubordination in the face evil and our clear, unmistakable defiance when the government opens the door for us to do those things that God forbids. Historians have noted that more than one Christian in Germany looked the other way while Hitler did unspeakable things in the name of the state. Those Christians later felt the weight and terror of regret. How will things be for us when the cup of lawlessness finally spills over and we choose to swim in the mess? · us to look a little further than our own fence lines, so to speak. We Christians have been given the forgiveness of sins, the hope of eternal life and the certainty of the resurrection. We are the last people who need to worry what shall happen—ever. “Take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife. Though these all be gone, our victory has been won!” (LSB 656.3). Stated another way, the certainty of your resurrection from the dead through Christ Jesus makes it possible for you and for me to be better and nobler citizens than anyone else in the world! · all that money we pay each tax year. It is not necessary for us to offer everything we own, above and beyond what we are required to pay, but it is not necessary to grumble, either. Each time you read your pay stub, each time you send your quarterly, each time you hike up to the Morgan County courthouse, try thanking God instead of cursing your neighbor. Sing a hymn of praise to the Lord Most High! After all, you actually own something that is worthy of taxation! · our prayers; our supplications; our intercessions. Thus the Word of God: I urge that supplications, prayers, intercession and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Why does our government need prayer and intercession from us? Because we Christians have been given the single greatest power in the universe—and we have been given this power both for our own sake and for the sake of our neighbor. I am speaking about the power of the Divine Word, as it is written concerning all the baptized of Christ, “*The Word is near to you*, [it is] *in your mouth and* [it is] *in your heart*” (Romans 10:8). · You are not merely a bucket or a tin can. Stated another way, you have not been given God’s all-powerful Word merely for the sake of others. God’s Word has been given to you FOR YOU. Among all your possessions, there is nothing more valuable than this Word. By the Word, your sins are washed away from your conscience and mind. By the Word, your failing body looks forward to a far better day. By the Word, the Lord your God miraculously keeps you firm in the one true faith to life everlasting—even when everything around you crumbles. · This same Word charts the course of human history. We know this because it has been written concerning our God, “*He upholds the universe by the Word of His power*” Hebrews 1:3). Again, “*I sustain with a Word the one who is weary*” (Isaiah 50:4). Yet again, “*The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; the Lord utters His voice, and the earth melts*” (Psalm 46:6). This history-shaping, government-sustaining, earth-shattering Word is the very same Word that has been placed “*in your mouth and in your heart*” (Romans 10:8). God Himself has placed His Word within you, so that you may have power to do for your government what no unbeliever in our nation will ever do: that supplications, prayers, intercession and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. The pay-off for your prayer and supplication is not merely eternal. The pay-off is here and now, been made possible by the government. Despite its continual waste of money and life; despite any skullduggery and abuses of power; despite even its growing hatred toward our Christian faith, we still have this: The Lord our God continues to use our government as an umbrella and shield for us, that we Christians may in this moment “*live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way*.” For this we pray our heartfelt thanks.
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