Why NOT Celebrate Memorial Day?

Memorial Day is a special day in which many Americans remember men and women who gave their lives and shed their blood for our freedom and for the freedom of other nations threatened by tyrannical powers.  Yet there is an increasing number of Americans who are being educated and indoctrinated with the notion that the birth and existence of the United States of America as a sovereign nation cannot be morally justified.  Does the United States of America have a right to exist; and, are its fallen dead really heroes?

According to those who question the moral legitimacy of the United States, we ought to question the morality of the British-French-Spanish-Portuguese colonialism in North America and other continents beginning in the 16^th century.  Colonialism, they argue, resulted in the eviction of native tribes from their homes in North America, Africa, Australia, and other continents.  In the 18^th century, were the American patriots morally justified in defying British rule to establish the United States through the American Revolution?  How about the blood spilt by both the North and the South, by Republicans and Democrats alike, to determine whether to abolish or defend slavery, respectively?

 

All of this makes for provocative discussion.  So, why not go further back in history, before the beginning of colonialism?  Here, we may want to question the morality of the tribal cultures that waged war against each other and dispersed from the Middle East (the Tower of Babel? Genesis 11: 1-9) into Africa, East Asia, and North and South America to establish and defend their territories.  And, as we question the morality of human behavior in early human history, maybe we should ask about the origin of moral standards in the first place. If humans simply evolved from a line of the more rational and intelligent primates, then who is to say that there are any right or wrong standards for moral behavior?

What we may have to admit is that making moral judgments about human history is impossible unless we consider the records of “His story?”  The Story of God’s creation and dealings with humankind as recorded in His special revelation, the Bible?  In “His story,” we read that our ancestors’ first injustice wasn’t colonialism, or oppression of ethnic minorities, or war, or the industrial revolution and the use of fossil fuels.  Instead, it was the moral choice to disregard the lavish provisions and moral principles provided by a loving Creator God as explained in Genesis 3.  This is the account of the first sin (rebellion against God) in the Garden of Eden. 

But, God did not give up on fallen mankind in spite of our miserably poor stewardship of His abundant provisions for life on Earth.  Instead, God unfolded His master plan in which Jesus Christ, His Son, would come from Heaven to purchase us back from the slavery of sin so that we, by faith in His righteousness, might share in His Eternal Life. 

The cost of God’s purchase of our eternal souls from eternal damnation was very great.  The psalmist (Psalm 49: 7-9) explains that it is impossible for humans to save themselves from the curse of sin and death:

No man can by any means redeem his brother
            Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
            And he should cease trying forever—
 That he should live on eternally,
            That he should not undergo decay.

The costly price paid by Jesus Christ for our redemption from sin was His own life and His shed blood.  Before Jesus died for all mankind, He was subjected to the greatest injustice endured by any human being or tribe.  His most innocent and pure life was taken by force from another garden (not Eden, but Gethsemane) where He had been praying.  Jesus was then subjected to inhumane accusation and abuse in an illegitimate trial-by-night.  There, He was condemned to a cruel death and crucified on a Roman cross.  But, on the third day, Jesus arose as Victor over sin and death so that, by faith, we too might share in His Eternal Life.

So, as we consider whether or not to be grateful for those who have given their lives for our freedom, it is certainly right to realize that America was brought into existence through much suffering and struggle. And this struggle was indeed among fallen men and women who each believed their cause was the right one—even if their only cause in some cases was selfish material gain.  But, many Americans sacrificed because they believed that the Judeo-Christian moral code offers the only basis for establishing human rights and moral responsibility.  On this moral foundation from God, America is justified in establishing through our Constitution that all humans are endowed with inalienable rights from heaven, including the opportunity for a meaningful life, liberty, and the right to pursue happiness.


True human liberty is ultimately from God through the death and resurrection of Christ and can only be realized by faith in God and in “His story”--in His Word.  But, on this Memorial Day, many who doubt the legitimacy of America and its rightful existence do so because they also deny the rightful lordship of Christ in their lives.  Rather than accept the fact that it was our sin and injustice deep in our depraved hearts that contributed to the inhumane and ugly death of the most Innocent Man, Jesus, on the cross, we seek to justify ourselves by our own good works.  Rather than admit that without Christ’s forgiveness, we deserve condemnation, instead we are quick to criticize our Founding Fathers and all who have loved and died to protect America and other nations against evil actors on the world stage.  Rather than accept the finished work of Christ for our justification, we seek to justify ourselves by identifying with well meaning causes such as seeking justice for minorities or saving planet Earth from climate change.

Today is Memorial Day.  Let’s humbly remember our fallen, dead heroes who gave the ultimate price for our freedom.  Let’s also remember the death and resurrection of the most Innocent Man in all of history, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who suffered the greatest injustice of all for us so that we might understand our place in human history—in “His story.”

Persevering Prayer Points Us Closer to God

Jesus said, If you abide in Me (believe in Me and humbly yield to my purposes in your life), and My words abide in you (to guide how you think and pray), ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you (John 15: 7).

To me, this is an amazing promise from Jesus to His disciples (obedient, though imperfect Christ-followers).  This means He has entrusted spiritual and material resources to His sincere followers just as a master of an estate would entrust the affairs of the estate to his servants.  In turn, the requests made to the master by His loyal servants (or stewards) would only be in accordance with the interests of the master and His purposes. With this humble understanding, the stewards will also anticipate the master's responses to their requests and respond accordingly.

God’s plan is that every person would serve Him as a steward loyally serves his master.  When we respond by faith as repentant sinners to God’s plan of salvation through Christ (John 1: 12-14) we become His “adopted children (Romans 8: 15).”  So, when we pray, God wants us to ask as children who know and understand their “Daddy’s” wishes.  We bring our requests in a way consistent with what “Daddy” believes is best for us (Romans 8: 15).   Also, as both faithful stewards and as children of a loving Father, we ought to recognize and understand His answers to our prayers even if the answer is “wait” or “no.”

When our Master and Heavenly Father answers our prayers, we ought to be quick to thank Him and give glory to Him.  Like me, you may have experienced answers to prayer that have come, seemingly in spite of all odds.  But what about those prayers we have lifted to our Heavenly Father and continue to lift year after year without receiving an apparent answer?

This morning, I believe God provided me with a new insight; namely, that He is still my Master and loving Heavenly Father, even when He appears not to be answering me.  I had just finished expressed several of my “perennial prayer requests” to Him; requests that I’ve expressed many times according to God’s instructions on prayer:  (a) I asked in faith (James 1: 5-6; 4: 2), (b) in a way consistent with what I believe would be His purposes for the people and situations involved (John 14: 14), and (c) with a pure heart  and motives (Psalm 66: 18; James 4: 7-10).  Then, as if in an inaudible reply, God answered me something like this,

“Am I any less your Master and Loving Father if it appears to you that I am not answering? Though the way seems long and though My answer seems absent from the horizon, I am Almighty God.  In fact, if you will hold onto Me by faith, I will show you more of my sovereign purposes for you and for those persons and situations that concern you—and concern Me.  If you doubt, realize that is not a sin.  But instead, please cast your doubt and cares upon me because I care ever so much for you.  When you want to pray to Me in words but have only groans, let my Spirit carry your groanings to my throne (Romans 8: 26).  For there at my right hand, My Only Son, Jesus also prays for you (Romans 8: 34).  And I will hear Him!   After all, He is the One who offered to Me His loud groanings and tears while He suffered for you during His days on Earth (Hebrews 5: 7).  His suffering on the cross while being mocked by people and by the spiritual forces of darkness was a hellish and eternal suffering.  My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me, He said (Matthew 27: 46).  But His faith held strong, and now that you have died with Him and have been baptized into His death and raised to new life in Him, you too have the faith to wait upon Me (Romans 6: 3-4).  Your faith in Me and my Word will help you to keep looking up to Me while you wait.  Then, you will say as did My Son Jesus, ‘Not my will, but Your will be done (Luke 22: 42).’

Although I thank God for ‘speaking’ to me this morning in my time of prayer and through His Word, I am sure you would agree that we all still have many questions and struggles regarding our prayer life.  Kelly Kapic has written a book, Embodied Hope: A Theological Meditation on Pain and Suffering (InterVarsity Press, 2017).  I am encouraged by Kapic’s insights on how to pray in the face of seemingly inalterable situations like chronic illness or relational challenges.

In a brief excerpt from the book posted in the WORLD Saturday Series, Kapic cautions us against succumbing to “Enlightenment thinking” in our prayers—i.e  believing we can “understand transcendental realities in contemporary terms and sensible formulas.”  Instead, he points us to the psalms “which are full of struggle, [but] do not point us to answers and formulas…The psalms orient us to God. Our hope is in him who made and redeemed heaven and earth, not in our own intellectual acuity.”  Kapic instructs us to direct our prayers to God as did the psalmists and Job through their prayers of lamentation.  He writes,

In the third chapter of Job, for example, the sufferer responds to his situation with heartfelt lament. And his lament is not in isolation but in the context of his closest relationships, namely, with his wife and friends. In their presence he turns this lament toward God in a way that shows his ultimate trust in his Creator-Redeemer. The other laments we read in the Scriptures present this same combination of detailed realism regarding discomfort, pain, and complex fears, and the conviction that God is present, powerful, wise, and good… They see God not as removed from the earthly details of their lives but intimately and interestedly involved in them.

How About You?
May God help us to keep asking, seeking, and knocking (Matthew 7: 7).  And, in the process of praying and abiding in Him and His Word, may we recognize that our Loving Heavenly Father will always answer in either a “yes” or a “please wait” or a “no.”  How will God answer us?  And, more importantly, will we recognize the answer when it comes?  Will we use this time of delay and waiting to draw closer to God.  Will we offer our lamentations in fellowship with spiritual accountability partners who share our burdens (Galatians 6: 2)?  Will we ask God for eyes to see Him even more glorious and lifted up as the awesome God He is? 

Thank you for reading and reflecting with me on what it is to persevere in prayer and to keep trusting and pursuing the God who answers prayer.  Please feel free to “Comment” (below) from your own experience, or send me questions you have about prayer.  In conclusion, take time to pray and meditate over the following adorations of God, one from the psalms and the other from the Apostle Paul:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD gives grace and glory;
No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
                                                                                       -- Psalm 84: 11

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!  For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR?  Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.  -- Romans 11: 33-36

Stewardship: Aligning Work with God’s Providence

In spite of the reported gains in economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), and employment numbers, many Americans will agree that we are failing in the following related areas:  

•  education
•  vocational counseling
•  job training and retraining
•  worker wages and satisfaction
•  upward mobility opportunities 

None of these have kept pace with increases in GDP during the past half-century.  The result, according to Oren Cass, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, has been
•  worker dissatisfaction,
•  disruption of families
•  instability in whole communities
•  a surge in drug addiction
•  lowered life expectancy.

In spite of the immensity of this complex set of challenges facing our divided culture, there is reason for hope.  Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, points out that people on all sides of the issue want a better quality of life for all Americans.  All that is needed, he adds, is for people of diverse opinions to sit down together and discuss the best ways to accomplish the goal. 

"How can we lift up the world, starting with...the margins...?"

Brooks has just released a movie documentary entitled The Pursuit in which he visits a community in Appalachia and a homeless shelter in New York; then, interviews people as far away as the streets of Barcelona and Mumbai.  His question--“How can we lift up the world, starting with those at the margins of society?” The film promo adds, “Along the way, [Brooks] discovers the secrets not only to material progress for the least fortunate, but also true and lasting happiness for all.”

Work and Workers Misunderstood:  When some experts think of “lifting up the world,” they think in terms of better and affordable education as a solution.  But Oren Cass disagrees.  In his recent book, The Once and Future Worker (Encounter Books, 2018) Cass writes: “Despite the nation doubling per-pupil spending and attempting countless educational reforms, test scores look no better than they did forty years ago.  Most Americans still do not achieve even a community college degree.”  To add injury to these disappointing statistics, consider that the federal student loan program has driven up the cost of a college education and created a new class of young American debtors.  In the words of Mike Rowe, “We are lending money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist.”

In recent years, a number of scholars and leaders have begun to focus attention away from “wealth redistribution and welfare” and instead, toward improving the “welfare of workers” and their “work ethic.”  According to Cass, we need to shift our priority from researching, wooing, and satisfying the consumer to the priority of encouraging the worker.  In Cass’s words,

“We got exactly what we thought we wanted:  strong overall economic growth and a large GDP (gross domestic product), rising material living standards, a generous safety net, rapid improvements in environmental quality, extraordinary affordable flat-screen televisions and landscaping services.  Yet we gave up something we took for granted:  a labor market in which the nation’s diverse array of families and communities could support themselves.  …What we have been left with is a society teetering atop eroded foundations, lacking structural integrity, and heading toward collapse."

Work and Workers Matter:   According to Cass, “work matters” and fulfilling work promotes strong families and communities.  In The Once and Future Worker, Cass offers his “Working Hypothesis;” namely, “that a labor market in which workers can support strong families and communities is the central determinant of long-term prosperity and should be the central focus of public policy.”

Regarding “strong families,” Cass cites well documented statistics that children of two-parent families have “better physical and mental health, less substance abuse, and better educational outcomes.”  Furthermore, he notes that “…family characteristics within a community also influence each other”—in negative ways as communities deteriorate; but in positive ways as “dense networks of relationships” are established.  “The safety net offered by friends, family, and church will always be more responsive and tailored than a government bureaucracy—and is likely to come with some much-needed moral judgment or a swift kick in the pants.”

Readers who hold to a biblical worldview can detect in Cass’s “Working Hypothesis” a call to return to a moral and spiritual foundation for family and community.   Marvin Olasky, in a recent WORLD Magazine review of Cass’s book, points to the Dominion and Stewardship Mandate revealed by God in Genesis 1 and 2.  Olasky writes, “God could have given Adam a perpetual vacation.  Instead, he put him to physical and intellectual work right away, caring for the garden and naming animals.”  He adds, “… [evidence shows] us how living without work does not make us happy and does not glorify God.  The Sabbath commandment is six-sevenths a work commandment.  This is important to remember at a time when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, one of the world’s richest persons, is among those calling for a universal basic income (UBI), even for people who don’t work.”

To summarize, it is clear that our culture faces a growing crisis that stems from the gradual abandonment and misunderstanding of the interests of workers and the qualities that support worker satisfaction as well as family and community stability.  Instead of valuing quality products through encouraging good workers and workmanship, our emphasis has shifted to increasing GDP and consumption.  Instead of promoting the biblical ethic which promises God’s blessing on quality work that reflects His glory and serves others, workers are supposed to work for the sake of a larger GDP which supposedly guarantees satisfaction through a larger piece of the “economic pie.”  Thankfully, as I have noted, there is an increasing call to revalue good work and a healthy “work ethic.”  The call comes from both secular experts and theologians.

A Theology of Work:  Those readers seeking to delve deeper into the Judeo-Christian “theology of work” will find Pastor Timothy Keller’s book, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work, an excellent and practical source.   The theology of work is based on the biblical teaching that the design of work rests on our right relationship with God.  According to Genesis 1-2, God created the material universe, found satisfaction in His work (Genesis 1: 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), and rested from His work (Genesis 2: 2-3).  Then amazingly, God appointed mankind to exercise dominion over the rest of His creation as stewards whom He commissioned to work in harmony with Him.   How exactly does a worker apply biblical stewardship in the practical “day-to-day?”

According to Keller, when we make God our foundation, He “keeps all other factors—work, friendships and family, leisure and pleasure—from becoming so important to [us] that they become addicting and distorted.”  Without a larger, God-centered purpose in life, our work can become an idol.  When idolatry invades our lives, according to Dorothy Sayers (author of Creed or Chaos? as cited by Keller) we become vulnerable to the sin of sloth (or acedia), “the sin of the empty soul.”  Sloth opens the door of our lives to allow other deadly sins to enter—covetousness, envy, gluttony, wrath, and lust.  

In contrast, when our work mirrors God’s creative work, “we create culture that conforms to His will and vision for human beings…”  God is not only our Creator but also the Keeper of His creation through what we call His providence.  That is, according to Keller, “God does not simply create;  He also loves, cares for, and nurtures His creation…

 But how does His keeping providential care reach us?  [According to] Martin Luther, God’s loving care comes to us largely through the labor of others.  Work is a major instrument of God’s providence; it is how He sustains the human world.”

But isn’t God’s providence also evident in ways beyond the work of Christ-followers?  Keller explains that by common grace, people who are not Christ-followers contribute much to the human workplace.  However, the steward of God’s provision has a spiritually empowered commission to do his or her work distinctively for the glory of God.  Work that glorifies God reveals itself as an extension of God’s providential work—i.e. it is done in a way worthy of God's approval and for the good of our neighbor.  Indeed, a the worker who seeks to perform his or her work in alignment with God’s providence is practicing stewardship in its most basic form—work as an act of worshiping God.

The manifestation of God’s glory through our stewardship of work will take on different forms according to the nature of the work to which God has called us.  God’s calling, or “vocation” (from Latin, vocare = calling) is not just for pastors or priests, but for the farmer, mechanic, engineer, musician, doctor, homemaker, educator, etc.  You will find great insight into your particular calling from the way Keller and his co-writer of Every Good Endeavor, Katherine Leary Alsdorf, thoughtfully apply their theology of work to various vocations in clear and practical ways. 

Under Pastor Keller’s leadership and the direction of Katherine Leary Alsdorf, Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City established the Center for Faith and Work.  The aim of  the CFW is to understand the intersection of Christian faith and work, and then to work out the applications of this integration for the renewal of communities within New York City.  Its mission is to equip Christ-followers in their personal vocations to integrate their faith and their work as members of their residential and professional communities.  This effort is especially timely as New York City and many American cities and communities try to accommodate the arrival of immigrants, many of whom have a willingness to work but who need acculturation based upon the transforming message of the Gospel.

Your Comments are always welcomed.  I know that many of you prefer to read, reflect, and then move on without comment.  However, I value your ideas because they often help me see issues from another perspective.  Meanwhile, may you be encouraged in the work to which God calls you to do—and I hope you can worship God in your work.