Proverbs 14:34 - Homiletics

National righteousness

I. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REQUIRED IN A NATION . Morality has not yet been sufficiently applied to politics. It is forgotten that the ten commandments relate to communities as well as to individuals, because they are based on the eternal and all-embracing principles of righteousness. Men have yet to learn that that which is wrong in the individual is wrong in the society. Nations make war on one another for reasons which would never justify individual men in fighting a duel. Yet if it is wrong for a man to steal a field, it must be wrong for a nation to steal a province; and if an individual man may not cut his neighbour's throat out of revenge without being punished as a criminal, there is nothing to justify a whole community in shooting down thousands of people for no better motive. If selfishness even is sinful in one man, selfishness cannot be virtuous in thirty millions of people. The reign of righteousness must govern public and national movements if the will of God is to be respected.

II. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS A BLESSING TO A NATION . To the cynical politician such "counsels of perfection" as command conscience in government, and especially in international action, appear to be simply quixotic. He holds the application of it to be wholly impracticable; he imagines that it must involve nothing but national ruin. Hence, it is maintained, there is no right but might, because there is no international tribunal and no general authority over the nations. The two points must be kept distinct—the internal life of the nation and its foreign policy.

1 . Internal life. There are national sins in the sense of sins committed by a great part of a nation—sins that shamefully characterize it. Thus drunkenness is to a large extent an English national sin. The oppression of one class by another, a general prevalence of business dishonesty, a frivolous pleasure-seeking fashion, all affect the nation's life when they are largely extended among any people. These things eat out the very heart of a nation. For a nation's sin the punishment is on earth, because the nation goes on while individuals die, and so there is time for the deadly fruit of sin to ripen. So was it with Israel, Babylon, Rome, etc.

2 . Foreign policy. Wars of aggression may aggrandize the victorious people for a time. But they rouse the hatred of their victims. A high-handed. policy thus multiplies a nation's enemies. It is dangerous to be an outlaw among the nations. Above all, there is a just Ruler, who will put down the tyrant and punish the guilty nation.

III. RIGHTEOUSNESS MAY BE OBTAINED IN A NATION BY FOLLOWING THE RULE OF CHRIST . It is difficult to make an unchristian nation behave in a Christian manner. The sermon on the mount was addressed to disciples of Christ ( Matthew 5:1 ). National righteousness will follow national submission to the will of Christ. The reason why the nations snarl at one another like wild beasts is just that the inhabitants of the nations do not yet follow Christ. He came to set up the kingdom of heaven on earth, and when this kingdom is established in the hearts of the citizens, the nations, which are but the aggregates of citizens, will learn to follow righteousness.