The Presidents Club – LBJ’s Legacy

Here’s how I used a particular story from The Presidents’ Club in today’s sermon on Genesis 3:

President Lyndon Baines Johnson was an outgoing person, and he really enjoyed it when people needed his friendship and influence.  But he had a very tumultuous presidency.  The country, as many of you who lived then remember, was in a great state of upheaval during his administration.  The Vietnam War was incredibly controversial, yet LBJ struggled to find the right way to end the conflict.  Richard Nixon made many shrewd political moves leading up to the 1968 presidential election, and Johnson’s own party began to turn away from him, until Johnson finally withdrew from the race in embarrassment, even though he was eligible for another term.

Once Johnson had left the presidency, he set about shaping and even reforming his legacy.  In Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy’s book The Presidents Club, his obsession about this is described.  Johnson cared a great deal about his own name.  He put all his energy into his presidential library.  He would go to the parking lot of the historical site of his birth and count the states represented by the cars’ license plates, to see how far people had come from.  He wanted to know how many postcards people bought there, hoping that they would outnumber postcards bought at other similar locations.  He even went so far as to get the announcer at the University of Texas football stadium to tell people as they went to the bathroom at halftime that there were extra restrooms nearby at LBJ’s presidential library!

This is a sad thing, isn’t it?  A man who reached the pinnacle of world power and held the office that so many aspire to was brought to this point of caring that much about what people thought of him, struggling with pride to the point of counting and comparing postcard sales.  But the book makes clear that just about every president deals with this same tormenting concern – “How will people perceive me?”  And the reality is, this concern is not foreign to ANY of us.  Pride eats at us.  It is at the root of every sin.  Its temptation worked for Satan against Eve, and it continues to work today.  Watch out for pride.  Humble yourself before the Lord, and submit to His will.  Look for instances of your own pride, and KILL them by giving them up to the Lord and submitting to Him.  God’s Word says that He “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  It tells us: “Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”

 

This illustration would work well with texts dealing with pride, like: Genesis 3, 2 Samuel 24, 2 Chronicles 26, 2 Chronicles 32, Proverbs 3:34, Proverbs 16:18, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, and 1 John 2:16

It would also work with Scriptural texts about pleasing God rather than men, like: Matthew 10:28, Acts 5:29, Galatians 1:10, and Ephesians 6:6

The Presidents’ Club – Bay of Pigs

Still reading The Presidents’ Club.  Here’s another illustration from it: John F. Kennedy inherited a really tough situation when he came into office.  Eisenhower had started plans to undermine Castro through military training for Cubans living in Guatemala.  However, the planning and preparation began to move beyond Eisenhower’s original ideas, and American involvement became deeper and more advanced.  In the transition period between presidents, the planning picked up momentum and took on a life of its own.

Kennedy came in and didn’t want to cast aside the brilliant general’s plans, but he modified the plan enough (removing air strikes, for example) that it was definitely doomed to failure – as history proved.  Along the way, he was given a LOT of bad advice by his top advisors.  However, when the Bay of Pigs Invasion turned into a tragic fiasco, Kennedy stepped up and took full responsibility.  He refused to blame Eisenhower or his advisors; he openly admitted that as president he had made the call and that he would take the blame.  Significantly, this seems to have benefited Kennedy in two ways: 1) his popularity just TWO weeks after the Bay of Pigs debacle was shown by a Gallup poll to be 83 PERCENT (p. 143 of the book), and 2) it seems (in my opinion) to have set Kennedy up for his success during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  I think manning up in the Bay of Pigs failure personally and internally prepared Kennedy to face down Khrushchev, and it might have helped Khrushchev take Kennedy seriously when he did so.

I think this is a good potential illustration for passages that deal with honest confession of sin, openly dealing with mistakes or sins you have committed, and being a responsible steward of what we’ve been entrusted with.  Some passages: Genesis 3 (as a contrast to the blame game played by Adam and Eve), Psalm 32, Psalm 51, Matthew 18, and Matthew 25:14-30 (Parable of the Talents).

IMB Commission Stories: Harper Family

Yesterday I received a publication in my mailbox called “Commission Stories,” from the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Here is a PDF of the document.  Pages 18-20 tell the story of the Harper family (name changed), who went to a very dangerous place in Southeast Asia to share the gospel.  There are actually two amazing stories about them in the publication – the first about their gospel witness in the face of government opposition (and the local believers who partnered with them, risking and giving their lives for the gospel), and the second about Mary Harper’s return to the US in the face of a diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease – which ultimately took her life.

After Mary passed, her husband John spoke Job’s words: “Blessed be the Name of the Lord.  Though He slay me, I will trust in Him” (Job 1:21, 13:15).  You should read the two short articles.  They are great examples of faith in the Lord in the face of persecution, suffering, and death.  Not only that, John is a self-professed “hillbilly,” who speaks with amazement of how the Lord used even him.

These powerful stories could be shared together or separately – depending on the nature of your biblical text, how much time you have, and the main point(s) you are making.

Some passage ideas for the first article, which focuses on their witness in a hostile place: Jeremiah 38, Daniel 3, Matthew 16:24-28, Matthew 24:9-14, Mark 8:31-38, Mark 13:9-13, Luke 14:25-35, Luke 21:10-19, John 15:18-25, Acts 4, Acts 5, Acts 7, Acts 9, Acts 12, Acts 14, Acts 16, Acts 19, Acts 28, Philippians 1:12-20, Philippians 1:27-29, Hebrews 12:1-13, Revelation 2, and Revelation 6:9-11.

The second article, which focuses on trusting the Lord in the midst of suffering and death: Job 1, Job 2, Job 13, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 12, Philippians 1:21, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and James 1:2-4.

Finally, John’s statements about the Lord using him in spite of him being a self-professed “hillbilly” could help illustrate passages that talk about God using us in spite of ourselves: Exodus 3 and Exodus 4 (the call of Moses), Judges 6 (the call of Gideon), 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, 1 Corinthians 15:9-11, and 1 Timothy 1:12-17.

The Presidents’ Club – Healing Amidst Tragedy

Still reading The Presidents’ Club.  The book talks a lot about the power of current and former presidents working together, but it also describes disunity and vitriol that has occurred between these men over the years.  One example of this took place between Truman and Eisenhower, despite the fact that they had been friends who greatly respected one another while Truman was Eisenhower’s commander-in-chief.

Truman was a Democrat, Eisenhower a Republican.  Eisenhower was immensely popular because of his heroic record during WWII.  Truman decided not to run again in 1952 and had supported Eisenhower’s candidacy before Ike’s party affiliation became public.  Even after this information was out, Truman was friendly to Ike while remaining loyal to his own party.  But several misunderstandings along the campaign trail combined with the divisive influence of Senator Joe McCarthy, with the result that the men had become bitter enemies by the time Ike’s inauguration rolled around.  The interactions between the two administrations on that day were some of the coldest and most awkward of any Inauguration Day before or since.

The bitter, very public relations between the two men continued all throughout Eisenhower’s eight-year presidency and into the Kennedy administration.  That is, until November 22, 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated.  Tragedy changed everything, and the grievances of the past seemed to pale in comparison with the events of that day.  On the day of Kennedy’s funeral, Ike overheard that Truman, for some reason, did not have a vehicle to transport him to the service.  He quickly reached out to Truman and offered for the two men and their wives to ride together – an invitation Truman accepted.  At the end of that very long, very difficult day, the Eisenhower’s were dropping off the Truman’s and were about to drive back to their farm in Gettysburg, when Truman turned back to the car and said to the Eisenhower’s, “How about coming in for a drink?”  They accepted, and with these two small actions in the wake of a national tragedy, a great presidential healing took place.  The two families spent the afternoon together, eating, drinking coffee, and genuinely enjoying one another’s company.  The bitterness never returned.

 

I’ve given a lot of detail here, but that’s probably because it was a story I was unfamiliar with and really loved learning.  I’m guessing most of your sermon audience would feel the same way.  This could be used to illustrate Habakkuk 3:17-19, Romans 5:3-5, Romans 8:18, Romans 8:28, Ephesians 3:13, 2 Timothy 1:8, James 1:2-4, and 1 Peter 2:19, along with other passages that speak of God growing us and bringing about good in the midst of evil.  I think the story could also illustrate passages that talk about Christians comforting those who are hurting and doing ministry in the midst of crisis, because it demonstrates the human tendency to be open to true change when given a new perspective through tragedy and suffering.  In the midst of suffering, we have opportunities to show Christ’s love.  Example passages of this: Job 1, Job 2, Job 3, Psalm 23:4, Ecclesiastes 4:1, Isaiah 61:1-3, Matthew 25:31-46, Romans 12:15, 2 Corinthians 1, and 2 Corinthians 7.  This story could probably also be used for some passages that deal with bitterness, forgiveness, and reconciliation, too – like Matthew 18:15-20 and Hebrews 12:15.