It may surprise you that government is part of the way the gospel goes forth in our lives. However, it shouldn’t because, once more, human government is a divinely ordained authority. Here we see that we pray for human government so that we can live out the gospel. You may be saying, But Christianity has survived under duress. Christianity can go forth under Communism, Totalitarianism, and even under hostile Atheism. But I want to ask you a question: Would you rather raise your children and teach them the Bible here at First Presbyterian Church and in your home and in this community? Or with the shades drawn, fearful that someone will see you?
Beloved, our nation and our leaders need prayer. James Merritt, a Southern Baptist pastor from Atlanta, recently asked his congregation to consider what it would be like to president:
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“You are Commander in Chief of the greatest military force in the world. You preside over the world’s strongest economic entity whose budget exceeds $1.5 trillion. You are the head of a government that spends $3.25 million every minute, $195 million every hour, $4.6 billion every day non-stop. You are the leader of the entire free world. You are on the front page of every major newspaper practically every day. Your every sentence can be publicized and will be analyzed for years to come. You are one of only forty-two people in history to be the President of the United States.
“Sounds great doesn’t it? But also imagine that you preside over a country where: There are one million teenage pregnancies annually. Sixty-eight percent of black children and twenty-two percent of white children are born out of wedlock. Half of all high school seniors report they have used illicit drugs. A nation where a murder takes place every twenty-three minutes, a rape every six minutes, a robbery every fifty-eight seconds, a burglary every eight seconds. One hundred thousand of America’s children are in prison, four out of ten live in broken homes, seven to fourteen million of these children will become alcoholics, eighty-five out of every one thousand have received or will receive psychiatric help. The leading cause of death of young people is now suicide. Juvenile delinquency is increasing seven times faster than the population. Pornography is now a $6 billion business. Herpes and AIDS have now infected 20.5 million people.”
There is one thing I know: I would have to have prayer. We need to pray for the president and other elected leaders of our nation. We are commanded to do so; and whoever wins these elections, they will be prayed for from this pulpit. One reason for doing so is to honor the office that God has given. Another reason is found in 1 Timothy 2:1-4: to create an environment where the gospel can be lived out.
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