February 2, 2022
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Okay, let's get the controversial part out of the way first. I'm a New York Yankees baseball fan. All right, "Boo!" Okay, good, got that out of the way. Now, I remember a very heated time when the Toronto Blue Jays came to town to play the Yankees. Some years ago actually.
They were the first team to ever take the championship in Canada - the Blue Jays. I once attended the game between those two teams, and the rivalry at that point was intense. It went too far at this particular game. See, because we now have baseball teams in Canada and the U.S., there are two national anthems. And someone from the Metropolitan Opera got up and began to sing O Canada, the Canadian national anthem.
Well, the people in the bleachers - you know, the notoriously polite New York fans - started to "boo" during the Canadian national anthem. That's classy! I thought, "Oh, gee! Here goes the New York fans!" But suddenly, and I'm proud of this part. Suddenly there was this wave of cheering and applause that broke out, and it just continued as the Canadian anthem continued. And pretty soon the good guys that were cheering were making so much noise it drowned out the booing of the bad guys. Yeah!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Silence of the Good Guys."
Our word for today from the Word of God is not about baseball. It comes from Psalm 107:1-2 where God says, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this; those He redeemed from the hand of the foe." Or as the King James Version says, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Well, here's the call to God's people to make some noise.
Guys in the bleachers sure make their negative noises in our world, don't they? You know, whether you're at work, or at school, on line, social media. People are unashamed to talk about sin; about the stuff that breaks God's heart. They talk about the stuff they've done that we know sends people to hell ultimately.
They'll talk about the raunchy things that went on at that party, the sexual escapades, the dirty joke, dirty movies. Now, if you're judged by only what's talked about most, well you'd conclude that virtually everyone thinks sin is cool; that what God calls abnormal is really normal. That no one cares about what's pure. No one cares about what's right. No one cares about God. But they're not speaking for you are they? No they're like those bleacher "boo" birds. They didn't express how most of us felt, but they were the only ones making any noise. So it sounded for a while like that was how everyone felt.
Then someone decided to speak up for the other side, and they found a lot of other people felt the same way. Now, your corner of the world needs a leader like that; a leader who will speak up for what's right. And that needs to be you. Maybe you've just been sitting by silently; maybe you even wince inside as the people on the road to death are bragging, and entertaining, and mocking, and promoting their darkness. And everyone around you says, "Well, I guess this is the only way there is."
It isn't and you know it isn't! Isn't it time you spoke up? Not in a harsh negative judgmental way. No, that won't help. Not attacking. Not putting down the promoters of the wrong. Those guys in the stands didn't boo the people who were doing the booing. They just started to make some positive noise to drown them out.
It's time you came in talking about your weekend that had no regrets, why you're keeping sex special, why you're proud to be a virgin. You need to talk about some heroes who are standing up for what's right. You've got to talk about how you believe that marriage is forever, about how Jesus is answering your loneliness, your guilt, your pain. People have no idea what Jesus is like, or they have the wrong idea. And you know why? Because of the silence of the good guys.
Why don't you say, "Lord, help me to never again be ashamed of You; not when You loved me enough to die publicly for me." I'll tell you, I'm tired of the noise from the bleachers of sin, aren't you? Because of Jesus, we have so much more to make noise about. Let's start to hear some positive noise from your section. If you'll start the cheering for what's right, I'll bet you'll find some other people will start cheering with you.