With Malice Toward None (1 Timothy 2:1-8)
Gary McManus, 11/08/2020Part of the Thanksgiving series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
November 8, 2020 1 Timothy 2:1-8
Today’s sermon was conceived BEFORE
Tuesday, election day. The words leading up
to the election were not kind words or
encouraging words.
Your Pastor believes Pastors must be politically neutral.
Pastor observes that we in America have taken something as wonderful and beautiful as free elections, and made them something ugly.
The Pastor can’t ask everyone to pray together for the betterment of the country and the future together—
some don’t know what prayer is.
Some don’t know the God who listens to, hears praye
r and responds to prayers. Some people don’t know that
the King of the Universe is not surprised or upset by the
election result delays but God knows that we are anxious.
Pastor wants all to remember that with regard to the election, “We Decided”
No matter who has won the elections—we decided,
we Americans, all of us.
Voters: people you love and people you don’t
—although as a Christian, you are working on loving all.
Professor Kate Sweeny studies
how humans deal with uncertainty
as they await the outcomes of events
they deem important.
The answer is this—we get anxious.
Part of our problem is that we are human.
On Pastor’s way to the sermon. . .
Thinking about America the Beautiful. . .
Proverbs 24:14: Know also that wisdom is like honey
for you:If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.
King Solomon prayed. (See especially 1 Kings 8:59)
Elder’s favorite verse:
2 Chronicles 7:14 (alternate versions)
“If my people, who are called by my name, will
humble themselves, pray, search for me, and turn
from their evil ways, then I will hear their prayer
from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their country.
So, let’s get started with today’s message. . .
Halloween candy!
In all the fears that Pastor has heard from
both parties in this election, Pastor has not heard of
a split in the Union of the United States of America.
“Be angry, but sin not.” (Ephesians 4:26)
And it IS okay to cry: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35)
Anyone dealt with the tears of a divided nation?
Yes. President Abraham Lincoln.
President Lincoln decided that the time was right
—in the middle of the Civil War,
to call for a national day of Thanksgiving.
Lincoln saw those states and those Americans as
IN REBELLION but they were STILL AMERICANS.
1860 Presidential Election: four parties, four candidates.
Lincoln was re-elected in 1864. With half a million dead Americans having killed each other.
Lincoln declared
"With malice toward none; . . . with charity for all;
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with the world."
Amen.
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