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So what is the Lord saying to you from Matthew’s text, as you sit in the pew, but shortly will leave for the mission fields?  First and foremost, He reminds us that He is God, and He has a kingdom.  It is a Kingdom of Grace.  It will stand as

governments have fallen, as governments continue to fall, as governments will topple in the future.

 

It stands  for us–imperfect, sinful citizens of God’s Kingdom of Grace.  It stands  when we make good and bad decisions about giving to God what is God’s.  It stands when our sin is as scarlet, to make us white as snow.

 

The words of Christ today also call us into mission.  We are to go out into the public square and witness the God’s truth... the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ... the truth concerning God’s moral will which is that standard for all human life, not just

Christians.

 

Rightly dividing church and state does not mean separating God from the public.  In fact, the complete opposite is true.  The wall which Jefferson erected was to prevent the government from telling us that we cannot freely exercise our faith in the public square and the public classroom. 

 

Our government has become confused on that issue today, but may the Holy Spirit clear our minds so that we will dare to be bold-- so that we give unto God what is God’s!    God sends us out into the his world– the planetary public square– to

proclaim His truth.  Truth of salvation!  Truth concerning His moral standard! 

 

The issues are important because God wills salvation for all people.  If the Christian messages about sin and Savior are locked by the government into church buildings, there will be no way for the lost to go, but to destruction.  We know that each of us are corrupted and bent and doomed.  Yet God loves us and freely forgives us in the work of Jesus—to which we add nothing nor do we take anything away.  But

knowledge of God’s saving grace may be taken away from others when religious speech is stifled within the public square.  May we care so greatly for those whom Jesus died for, that we become informed, find our voice, and then vote our

conscience.  Amen.

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