Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church     
 
Pastor Tim Janiszewski - "When People Are Cruel"

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Messages of Grace

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This Sunday
August 14, 2016



Sermon Title:
"Persevering through Troubling Times"



Scripture:
Psalm 129  
Picture
August 11, 2016
 
Dear MLEPC Members and Friends:
 
I have long noticed how often people place greater value on their pets than on other human beings. Especially dogs--which so often are affectionate, loyal, devoted, faithful, and dependable. There's a reason that they are known as "man's best friend" (apologies to any who are overly sensitive about inclusive language). Many people are far less affectionate, loyal, devoted, faithful and dependable than their dogs. In fact, people can be heartless, mean-spirited, and even cruel. They manipulate. They cheat. They lie. As the writer of Psalm 129 puts it, "they are like a plowman who plow long furrows down our backs," leaving wounds and scars. Just click on cable or direct TV and you'll quickly see show after show that not only portrays these troubling attributes; many shows even seem to glory in them. It is troubling, and in this respect, we live in troubled times. And I never have seen our dogs, Mollie and Connie, act in these ways. No wonder some people want dogs instead of children.
 
Well, if we are not yet ready to throw in the towel on human beings for dogs, how do we respond when people are cruel and cruel people create troubling times? To begin, we must choose not to throw in the towel on human beings for dogs. For when we do, we actually are throwing in the towel on ourselves. Last time I checked, we all are human beings. Difficult as human beings can be, we must come to grips with the reality that we ourselves are these human beings who can be difficult. So let us ask ourselves if we are growing to be more affectionate, loyal, devoted, faithful, and dependable, or if we are playing to our personal vices and baser motives, whatever they may be.
 
Once we decide not to throw in the towel concerning ourselves along with the rest of humanity, to whom do we turn? Well, I cannot resist the silly old adage that G-0-d
is d-0-g spelled backwards. Instead of turning to our dog, we turn to our God. Man's (and woman's) best friend isn't his dog; rather, it is his God. It is our Father and His Son who send us the Holy Spirit. For this God is the One who can help us when people are cruel and times are troubling. In Him are found the resources we need concerning ourselves as well as for "all those other people."
 
We find three of these God-given resources in Psalm 129. In verse 4, we read "The Lord is righteous; He has cut the cords of the wicked." We begin by believing in the power of God to prevail against wickedness because God is good. He has demonstrated this prevailing power preeminently at the cross, where Jesus Christ cut the cords of both death and the cruelty that led to death. We continue by calling out to God to provide strength so that cruel people do not prevail over us as we find in verse 2b. Though the psalm writer has been afflicted and abused since his youth, by leaning into the grace of God, he still stands. Finally in verses 5-8, he forthrightly calls on God to act with righteousness, justice, and judgment on these cruel people. Perhaps we read these verses and ask, "Is this alright to do? Aren't we to bless those who curse us?" In this case, the psalm writer clearly believes it is okay. And in many other instances in the Bible, it appears to be approved. But this one can be tricky. Sometimes it is approved and at other times avoided. More on this challenging point in our sermon this Sunday.
 
During these so-called Dog Days of summer, let us turn to God with the challenging and even cruel people who sometimes populate our lives. Let us humbly turn to God in the areas where we ourselves can be challenging and even cruel. By His power, let us persevere through the troubling times that come when people can be cruel.
 
Pastor Tim

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