Sermon Tone Analysis

Most people who were adults in the 60's can tell you where they were when they heard the news of the assination of president John F. Kennedy and most people can tell you where they were on 9/11 when the twin tower and pentagon buildings were hit.

Tuesday night will no doubt be one of those memorable nights when history was made in this country.

When a young African American stormed on the scene with all kinds of charisma, rugged athletic good looks and a strong lawyer trained intellect and won a bitterly contested, hard fought politcal campaign to become the first black president of the United States.

Clearly the political scene in the United States of America is anything but United.

Our country is dividied politically, racially, economically, culturally and religiously and for at least 40% of the American people the memory of this historic night will not be good and positive and for some it will be bitter.

I would have been true had John McCain won.

There was little division among African Americans voters as over 94% of all blacks voted for Barrack Obama and were in a state of euphoria over his victory.

Exit polls showed that just over 90% of all African American protestants voted for president elect Obama.

Though I love my African American brothers and sisters and really wish that I could share in their joy over the election results, I can not put aside all that I have come to believe and cherish through my Biblical world view to share that euphoria.

With that said we all face a very troubling time in our beloved country and as Christians we must decide how our Lord Jesus Christ would have us respond to our newly elected officials, especially the president of the United States Barrack Hussein Obama.

Someone has well said that they had good news and bad new for our new president.

The good news is Mr. Obama ---You are now the president of the United States.

The band news is Mr. Obama --- You are now the president of the United States.

Yes, he is the president of the United States and he must now deal with one of the most difficult times in the history of this great country and he must do it in light of a divided congress, a divided people, a host of campaign promises made to a host of different people groups, and a national and world situation that is perilous at best.

Can you begin to imagine what it would be like to deal with

1.

The global economic crisis

2. New economies in China, India, and other developing nations

3. A resurgent and more autocratic Russia

4. The rise of radical Islam

5. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which have occupied America longer than World War II

6. Nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea

7.

An unstable Middle East as Israel deals with two rival Palestinian parties;

8.

Western culture which is trapped in moral relativism

9. Fifty Million Aborted babies

10.

Massive budget deficits

11.

Millions of illegal aliens now finding it difficult to find work

12. Men wanting to marry men and women women with all rights of married couples

13.

A failing school system

14.

Everyone clamoring for health care but not wanting to pay for it.

15.

Our major auto makers facing bankruptcy

16.

A bail out package that seems to reward financial mismanagement on all fronts.

17.

The Constant reminders by tree hugging liberals that global warming threatens our very existence.

18. Billions of dollars being sent to the middle east for oil when experts say we have more than they do but enviornmentalists have for years blocked the production of our own supplies.

Yes we have a new president and what are we to do about it.

I want us to read 1Timothy 1:1-4 and see what the apostle Paul has to say when his beloved Timothy faced a similar situation.

I implore you to keep in mind that no matter how you feel about who is in office our welfare depends on how, these men and women now in our government offices do over the next four years.

In recent years I have found myself in unusual places during presidential elections.

When George W. Bush and Al Gore essentially tied on the night of the 2000 election, I was on a mission trip in Cuba.

It was surreal to watch our democratic process unfold in a nation which has not seen democracy in so many decades

Last night I watched the election returns in Atlanta.

The historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in this city held a prayer vigil and worship service; their pastor's eloquent and moving prayer for our new president was carried by local news networks.

It was a powerful experience to be in a city which was so crucial to the civil rights movement, watching America elect our first black president

President-elect Barack Obama is a remarkable study in contrasts.

The son of a white woman and a black man he barely knew, raised by grandparents in a place distant from the rest of America, a brilliant student and professor who gave up a lucrative legal career to organize impoverished communities, he was the longest of long shots just four years ago.

Then an electrifying speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention vaulted him to the national stage; a resounding victory in his Senate race was followed by a presidential campaign which political commentators are calling "near perfect."

Now he confronts the gravest challenges America has faced since FDR was elected in 1932.

Many of them were surveyed in last week's /Living Current/:

·         The global economic crisis

·         New economies in China, India, and other developing nations

·         A resurgent and more autocratic Russia

·         The rise of radical Islam

·         Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which have occupied America longer than World War II

·         Nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea

·         An unstable Middle East as Israel deals with two rival Palestinian parties;

·         A Western culture which is trapped in moral relativism

 

I saw a political cartoon before the election in which a commentator says to the new president: "There is good and bad news today.

The good news is that you've been elected president."

The candidate smiles and asks, "And what is the bad news?"

The commentator: "You've been elected president."

How can Christians best help our new president and serve our nation?

Paul's letter to Timothy gives us the guidance we need:

 

/I urge, then, first of all, that requests, 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.

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:1-4)./

Let's walk briefly through Paul's admonition, applying it to the challenges our country faces and the president we have just elected.

*Support our leaders*

 

Our first responsibility is clear and non-negotiable: Believers must pray for Mr. Obama and our other leaders, consistently and fervently.

"I urge then, first of all," Paul begins (verse 1a).

"Urge" translates /parakalo, /the strongest Greek word for a personal request.

It is sometimes translated "beseech" or "beg" (cf.

Romans 12:1).

"First of all" is a Greek phrase which refers to primacy of importance, not chronology or time.

Put together, Paul used the most urgent expression to emphasize what follows.

How are we to pray for our new president and other leaders?

Paul wanted "requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone" (v.

1b).

Each of these four words sheds a little different light on the responsibility of intercession.

"Requests" translates /deaseis/, "petitions."

The verb form originally meant "to chance upon," then "to have an audience with a king," "to have the good fortune to be admitted to an audience, so as to present a petition."

The word was used for a petition to a superior, and for any request made to a king.

"Prayers" translates /proseukas/, the typical Greek word for general prayer to God.  "Intercession" is a request from an inferior to a superior.

"Thanksgiving" is to be made with our request, expressing gratitude for all God has done for us and all that he will do in answer to our prayers.

In the same way, Paul taught the Philippians: "Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6).

Having explained the /practice /of prayer, the Apostle next specified the /object/ of such ministry.

We are to pray "for everyone—for kings and all those in authority" (vs.

1c-2a).

"Everyone" means just that—each leader in need of our intercession.

"Kings and all those in authority" broadens the reach of such ministry in a direction few would have predicted from Paul.

By the writing of 1 Timothy he had already survived numerous assassination attempts on the part of religious authorities; he had been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, imprisoned for two years in Caesarea, and imprisoned in Rome as well.

In a few years he would be arrested and beheaded by the Empire.

Nonetheless, he wanted Timothy and his congregation to pray for those who had persecuted him and would persecute them as well.

His position of spiritual support for secular authorities in Ephesus was consistent with his injunction to the Christians in the capital city of the Empire as well:

 

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?

Then do what is right and he will commend you.

For he is God's servant to do you good.

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing.

He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.