Are you sure?

God bless America.

We've all said it. We've all sung it. It's just part of being a citizen of this country, and it's a big part of our culture and history. If you're like me, you grew up saying the Pledge of Allegiance in school, and really early on, you learned the daunting strains and complicated lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner." I was raised a patriot, and I'm a nine-year US Army veteran. I love living in this country, and I feel very fortunate to have been born here.

So, asking God to bless America seems perfectly natural. But is that what we're asking for, or are we actually assuming we're already blessed? Are we really just saying, "God, keep blessing America?"

And if not - if we're actually asking for a fresh blessing for our nation - have you ever wondered what that would mean for America? Are we sure that's even what we want?

What if the things we think are great about America are not the kind of things God blesses? Read Matthew 5:1-12. If that's what God blesses, do we really want God to bless America? Or would we rather have it just like it is? Would a nation that fits into the beatitudes be a nation we would fight for?

Think about it...

Pastor Ed

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Series Title: BLESSED
Message Title: broken
Date: 5/15/16
Main Passages: Matthew 5:1-3
Some questions for reflection or group study (or please comment on them, below):

• Do we think God loves America more than other countries? Why or why not?

• Are we called to rugged, American individualism and self-reliance, or to something else? 

• How would a nation that fit into the beatitudes even work in today's world?

The Long Game

In our culture, we want things now. We don’t like to wait. We will actually pay five to ten times as much to get it tomorrow rather than waiting seven to ten working days for standard delivery. Today’s kids probably do not even know what an encyclopedia is - not when you can google everything in the world and have an answer in thirty seconds. When we are done shopping at the big box store, we spend three minutes scanning all the open lanes to see which has the fewest customers with the fewest purchases, just so we can save three minutes in the check-out line. We hate waiting.

We even like our evangelism microwave-style. We want three points and a prayer - or a clever diagram we can draw on a napkin - but, even as impatient and time-crunched as today’s culture is, the canned, elevator-speech methods of yesteryear, while perhaps appealing to the evangelist, are becoming less and less effective. To today’s listener, questions like, “If you were to get hit by a car today, where do you think you’d spend eternity?” only bring to mind the telemarketer. And I don’t know about you, but I hate being hung up on, and I would rather not be on anyone’s “Do Not Call” list.

So, what is the answer?

Relationship.

But why is that? On the surface, it seems counter-intuitive. It seems like the less time people have, the more brevity they would appreciate. But here is what I think is happening. Our frenetic pace and information overload has pushed people toward two extremes - gullibility or skepticism. But I see this as an opportunity, because, now, the only style of evangelism that really works is the style Jesus taught.

What can move the gullible away from the conman? Relationship. What can move the skeptic away from suspicion? Relationship. The old saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” has never been more applicable than it is today. 

Perhaps now more than ever before, clever methods and persuasive words are failing to bring people into a real, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, because people are either drawn to the flashy and shallow or they are rejecting the whole thing outright. The only way to overcome this is to do what Jesus did. 

We need to eat with people. We need to build margin into our schedules so we can respond to needs. We need to be intentional about relationships, not so we can evangelize them, but because trust takes time and trust displaces both gullibility and skepticism. In order to truly follow Jesus’ command to “love our neighbors as ourselves,” we need to follow Jesus' example and commit to the long game. Because, when we build relationship for its own sake, we do not have to be clever or persuasive. We can leave that to Jesus.