It has quickly become a tradition for me to preach the July 4th weekend worship services at our church. This is the weekend Brent and his family usually go on vacation & I am always happy to fill the pulpit on Sunday mornings, but the July 4th weekend is always a tough sermon for me to preach. I've often heard the "America is going to Hell in a hand-basket" July 4th sermons, or the "Part of being a good Christian is being a Patriotic American" sermon- neither of which do I think are all that beneficial to the Kingdom. So what do you say on the 4th of July?
This year I decided to preach on the UNALIENABLE RIGHTS quote from The Declaration of Independence and look at what scripture has to say about the ideas of EQUALITY, LIFE, LIBERTY & THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Believe it or not in a sermon preached in a small town Baptist church I talked about racism, abortion, death penalty, war, the treatment of the homeless, Barack Obama, George W Bush, socialism, gay marriage, and divorce... and not one stone was thrown at me. In fact, it is a huge blessing to be at a church that is so gracious & is willing to hear from God concerning controversial issues.
For those of my friends and family wanting to keep up with my ministry and what not, I have attached a link to listen to or download to the audio from this weekend's worship service as well as a manuscript of what I preached (below).
----------------------------------
A week ago today myself and 13 High Students and 3 other adults flew home from Germany. We boarded a plane at 9:00 AM German time and were anxious to get home to America. We joked on the plane about all the things we were looking forward to about home- our own beds, water with ice cubes in it, we looked forward to home cooked meals, and air conditioning and all the little pleasures of home. And so last Sunday when we got off the plane in Newark, NJ to go through customs and saw the RED, WHITE, and BLUE of the Huge American flag hanging in the airport- there was a collective sigh of “Ahhhh, we are home.” Nothing makes you appreciate the United States more, like being out of the country for 10 days. So I say to you this morning- Happy Fourth of July Weekend, God Bless America and all those great things.
It is good to be home, its good to worship with you this morning and it is good to be here on a weekend where across the United States we will celebrate all the things that are great about America.
Last Sunday, not only did we go through customs in Newark, NJ but we enjoyed a nice 5 hour layover in the Newark airport as we waited on our plane to bring us back to DFW. So in those five hours I walked around the airport and looked around the shops just to stretch my legs and in one of the many newsstands I ran across this month’s issue of TIME Magazine. If you haven’t seen it yet- the cover looks like this... and the feature article talks about the relevancy of the constitution in our culture- the article starts by saying “Here are a few things the founding fathers did not know about: World War II. DNA. Sexting. Airplanes. The atom. Television. Medicare. Collateralized debt obligations. Miniskirts. The internal combustion engine. Computers. Antibiotics... and Lady Gaga.”
Then the article goes on to talk about the intentions of our founding fathers to set a blueprint, an outline for the foundations on which our government, on which America should be formed and maintained. We have long since treated the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights as foundational ideas for our country- but in recent years and in the political scene of today there are those that would say the constitution, the declaration of independence, those documents are outdated and no longer applicable- so some have raised the question- DOES THIS STILL MATTER?
There are those among us that wish we’d move away from this document written almost a quarter millennium ago, and there are others of us who want to hold firmly to this foundation and would say to think DISTINCTIVELY AMERICAN is to be concerned with these ideals set forth in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. But, we could all point to certain politicians who would quote the lines from the declaration of independence or the constitution that they like, yet ignore others and live as though the document is irrelevant for their everyday lives.
This week as I thought about this article and this issue surrounding our country and thought about how we as Christians in America should think about these issues, I started to wonder- are we more concerned with whether this still matters or whether THIS still matters?... (SHOW BIBLE SHREDDED) How often have we heard the argument, well this book just isn’t relevant anymore? or DOES THIS BOOK EVEN MATTER? Even if we wouldn’t make those statements out loud, how often have we quoted the parts of the Bible that we like and the parts that reaffirm how WE want to live our lives, yet ignored others? How often have we shredded the Bible to mean little more than just nice stories, but have rarely allow it lay the foundation for our lives? When it comes to issues about government and politics and country- do we allow the Bible to dictate our worldview or own opinion of how the world should work?
As an American, and as a Christian do we think distinctively American or do we think distinctively Christian? Are we as Christians more concerned about the political and economic status of a country or are we more concerned with the things God cares about? This morning I’d like to challenge us to THINK DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN about our country & this weekend as we celebrate and as we say God Bless America that we would do so not just as Americans.. but as Christians.
The Declaration of Independence in one of its most famous lines says “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
This sounds like a distinctively Christian statement- Thomas Jefferson speaks of Creator, a God, who created us equal and who gave us these certain UNALIENABLE RIGHTS- Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness but the idea of UNALIENABLE RIGHTS- this idea of rights that we have that can’t be given or taken away- its just the way we were created to be, God-given rights-- though this idea is paired up with a statement about the Creator- is not necessarily a Biblical idea, its an American idea, a lot more influenced by the Enlightenment period than from scripture. And as Americans and as Christians we may be strong advocates for equality, for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the political sphere, but we should also keep in mind that these same “RIGHTS” are not necessarily guaranteed in the SPIRITUAL SPHERE.
If we are to think distinctively CHRISTIAN then we must recognize that God’s revelation in scripture, the Bible, is the ultimate authority, not the Declaration of Independence. And so if we are to THINK on these ideas that Thomas Jefferson set forth as Unalienable rights from our creator this morning- I’d suggest we’d do so by looking at what Scripture has to say about these ideals. Equality, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
- Equality
When it comes to equality- how are we as Christians to think on these issues? Is this a distinctively American or distinctively Christian ideal? This seems like a pretty basic question, but if we were to be honest, AMERICANS as well as AMERICAN CHRISTIANS have not always held to the ideal of EQUALITY well. There have been obvious moments in our country’s history where we have not treated everyone equally- whether on racial or ethnic lines or gender lines.
But EQUALITY is something God really cares about. The Declaration of Independence gets it right when it says “that all men are created equal”... Acts 17:26 says “From one man HE created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.”
God created all people and all nations- later in the chapter Paul will say- and “He is not far from any of us.” God loves all people and all nations and all races and disregards any other distinction we may make among them- God loves them.
In Galatians 3:28 the Bible says- “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God doesn’t just care about you and me, God cares about all people, all nations, all ethnicities. We’ll look at this passage here in a second, but the Bible says that God created man in His image- male and female- he created them- that means that every person on this planet are image-bearers of the most high God. That has huge implications on how we are called to treat others.
We have come a long way in our country from unapologetic inequality among races to where we are today but we still have a long way to go & to be honest the church should be leading this movement, because God has called us to equality. In a community of racial diversity like ours the church should be a place where we communicate a message of equality- I love you because God loves you and one day we will all stand before the throne of God in heaven & I don’t really want that to be awkward because I didn’t treat you well on Earth...
And if we take it a step further- in an increasingly shrinking world with the communication and technology increasing at the rate it is- not only must we think about equality in a domestic sense but an international one- God loves all people and all nations equally & we should do the same.
All men were created equal and any distinction we make among ourselves is unbiblical, unChristian, and unAmerican.
- Life
Thomas Jefferson continues his famous statement “ that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and the first among these is life”
Again this is an obvious place where Thomas Jefferson’s unalienable rights line up with scripture. Its not just an American ideal to consider LIFE important but is a Christian ideal. Genesis 1:27 says “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” God is the author of life, the creator, the sustainer- God cares about us therefore- not only did He create us but he created us in His image. But the Bible doesn’t just speak of a God who created and then stepped back and is no longer involved.. The deist view of God would say there is a creator but that creator was no longer involved in the process- like a watchmaker- he created and then just set it in motion but He is not longer intimately involved in everyday things.
But Psalm 8:5-7 would say “What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!” That doesn’t sound like a disinterested God- but a God who cares about you and thinks about you and loves you.
And the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!” That doesn’t sound like a disinterested God- but a God who cares about you and thinks about you and loves you.
When I was in Germany I talked to a girl who had some real deep doubts about the existence of God, she thought maybe there was a creator but if there was a God, he certainly didn’t care about her. Her father two weeks before had told her that she was the biggest mistake of his life, her mom had attempted suicide in the past and she couldn’t imagine there was a God. We sat at a table last Friday night and talked through some questions but at the end of our conversation, I told her I’m not going to force you to believe in the God that i believe in, but you need to know that the God the Bible talks about is of a loving Father- who loves you, who created you, who gave you life, and who deeply wants a relationship with you, God loves, God loves you, God loves you... and she started crying and said that is the first time anyone has ever told me that. God cares about that girl, because God cares about life. God values life.
Often when we talk about valuing LIFE politically people boil it down to just Abortion issues- and although valuing life does seem to have some practical implications on how we are to think about abortion- God calls us to value ALL life. I don’t want to get super political this morning- but when it comes to valuing life- this should pervade all areas life- abortion issues, death penalty issues, war, the treatment of the poor, the homeless and the addicts, the treatment of the elderly, end of life issues but also just how you treat people, how you parent your kids, how you show other people that their life is valuable. I’m not telling you how to decide on these issues or how to vote on these issues- I’m asking you to think distinctively Christian about them.
For us this morning its not a political issue- its a worldview issue. And, we may differ in opinion on some of these things and thats okay, but as Christians we should value life, not because Thomas Jefferson said it was an unalienable right but because God cares about life and if we love God then we care about the things God cares about.
- Liberty
Jefferson continues his famous writing with another unalienable right- LIBERTY. Liberty was like the BUZZ-word of the American revolution. The entire war was fought on the premise of freedom from Great Britain. Patrick Henry famously exclaimed “Give me LIBERTY, or Give me Death.” The whole world was inspired by the American Revolution and desire for liberty- in fact the French were so inspired they made a statue as a gift to the Americans and named it Lady Liberty. And America has continued to fight for freedom, protect freedom and be an example to the world for the benefits of political freedom. There have even been those who have called our soldiers FREEDOM FIGHTERS. Its a political right that we enjoy.
But is LIBERTY, in and of itself a Christian ideal or a distinctively American one? The Bible does talk about Freedom quite a bit. Galatians 5:1 says “It was for freedom that Christ set us free...” Freedom- its on the very pages of scripture- it must be a Christian ideal- but if you notice when the Bible talks about freedom it is not speaking of a political freedom or governmental freedom- it is talking about a completely different type of freedom. In America we speak of freedom of speech- I can say whatever I want to. We speak of freedom of religion- I can worship however I want. We talk about freedom to vote- I get to choose who governs me and who I pledge my allegiance to. But this isn’t the way the Bible talks about freedom. These may be nice political rights we enjoy in America but they are not distinctively Christian ideals.
If you have your Bibles turn with me to Romans 6:15-22. Paul loves this idea of freedom and on several occasions will talk about the freedom & liberty we have but check out the way he talks about it in Romans 6-- “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
jump down to verse 20
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. 21 And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. 22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.”
Liberty, Freedom- but a completely different type of freedom than Thomas Jefferson had in mind. Jefferson may say that it is an unalienable right that we have political freedom, but no where in the New Testament or the Old do we see political freedom as something God is all that concerned about. But he is concerned about FREEDOM- the God of the universe looks down on the world He created, the world he created out of love and cared for and saw that we were marred by sin, that we were messed up, & that we were in bondage to SIN and He said this isn’t good and so He sent His son Jesus to bear our punishment for sin and in doing so He freed us from sin- He allowed us a way out- a relationship with God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that would finally give us FREEDOM & LIBERTY from this sin-filled life. We are now free, but... free to serve God.
This idea that freedom means “I can do whatever I want with my life” is a childish thought- its like a little kid disobeying his parents and then saying “Well its a free country, I can do whatever I want.” Thats not true. Christ set us free so that we were free to serve God. This completely different type of FREEDOM than the American idea of freedom.
And when it comes to government and politics- Jesus never once preached on the right to vote, Paul never wrote about the freedom of speech. In fact their ministries operated under evil evil Roman Empires- one of the emperors during Paul’s time was a guy named Nero- who for entertainment would gather up Christians and force them to fight lions to the death. He would tie Christians to poles and burn them alive to light the path to his castle. Do you think Paul wanted freedom from that tyranny? Absolutely- but not once did he use the pages of scripture to talk about the need for political freedom. In fact when scripture does talk about government it says some pretty surprising things.
1 Peter 2:11-17 would say this “For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. 15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.”
Whew- there is a lot in that passage. We are free but free to serve God and guess what-- part of serving God is honoring the human authority that God has place over your life. Part of fearing God, is respecting the King. Now we don’t have a king, but we do have a president. And regardless of your political leanings- the Bible would say in Romans 13 that “all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” Its not our job to know why God places certain people in power or to know His purposes but its our job to respect the authority God has placed over us- it is God’s will that we would do so. So whether the president is Barack Obama or George W Bush or someone else, or if one dark day we no longer enjoy the political freedom we have now to help choose our president- our role as a Christian is to “Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.” The Christian idea of freedom is not nearly as concerned with your political and governmental opinions as it is with your spiritual state- that you have to choice to be free from sin and free to serve God- thats a distinctively Christian view of freedom.
Now am I saying that the political freedom we enjoy in America is a bad thing? No. Our freedom is a beautiful thing- and as an American we are thankful for those who realized it was worth fighting for. Freedom is why we celebrate the 4th of July. What I am saying is that political freedom shouldn’t be our highest priority, but the freedom God gives should be our ultimate concern. So for those of us spending more time worrying about the government and the economy and how am I going to vote in 2012 than we are concerned about the spiritual freedom that God offers to us and those around us, we are living in sin. “Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.”
- Pursuit of Happiness
The last unalienable right that Jefferson lists is the Pursuit of Happiness. British Philosopher John Locke said that man’s rights included “LIFE, LIBERTY & PROPERTY.” The French three are “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” The Australians list “life, liberty and prosperity” as their three unalienable rights. This idea of the Pursuit of Happiness is distinctively American. But is it distinctively Christian. Again Jefferson lists it as an unalienable right, a God-given right, but is it?
There is a sense in which God calls us to pursue an ultimate happiness. In Philippians 3:14 Paul would say it this way “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Paul says yeah, it is good for us to pursue ultimate happiness in eternity with God, but as for an earthly happiness- the Bible doesn’t seem to suggest that we as Christians are guaranteed a right to much of it. In fact it might even speak more in the other direction.
Acts 14:22 says “we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” And Romans 8:17 says “And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
The Bible doesn’t guarantee earthly happiness, it guarantees suffering. If anyone ever told you that being a Christian was easy- then they lied to you. Jesus hung on a cross & all of his followers were put to death for their beliefs. Show me one character from the Bible who upon receiving Christ were just showered with wealth, health and prosperity? When the rich young ruler comes to Jesus does Jesus say- oh yeah you have the right to pursue happiness- so just keep all your wealth, don’t worry about the poor- you earned? No he said give it away. Why because Jesus was a socialist?? NO because Jesus wasn’t concerned with a pursuit of happiness, he was concerned with a pursuit of godliness... and often your own happiness gets in the way of your godliness.
It is very AMERICAN to Pursue Happiness- its what the American Dream is based on- that as an American I have the right to do what I want, be who I want to be, buy what I want, have what I want- because this is what is going to make me happy. And so for many the pursuit of happiness means the pursuit of wealth and status. For others in American THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS has been a battle cry in lawsuits and courtrooms over divorce and over the issue of Gay Marriage- “its an unalienable right for me to pursue happiness and if this is what makes me happy than it is unAmerican to deny my happiness.” But here’s the deal- To say that God approves of whatever makes me happy, that God just wants me to be happy is complete foolishness.
Well I’m just no longer happy in my marriage and God wants me to be happy right? So its okay for me to leave my husband. I know God wants me to tithe but my family really wants this new boat for the lake- and I mean God wants me to be happy and this will make my family happy. Man thats a dangerous way of thinking.
To think distinctively American is to PURSUE HAPPINESS, but to think DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN is to PURSUE GODLINESS.
CONCLUSION
My prayer for this morning is that we would think distinctively Christian. And this weekend as we celebrate the Fourth of July- as celebrate all the things that are good and right about America, I pray that we would do so THANKING GOD for the blessings of freedom, thanking God for the political rights we have, thanking God for his hand in the establishment of our country, thanking God for the blessings that we have as Americans, but I pray we would do so as more than just Americans, thats we would do so as Christians.
Does the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights still matter- yeah they do- its the foundation for our country and I believe God played a big part in establishing this country the way that He did. But even these documents are temporary- in considering eternity- Jesus says Heaven and Earth will pass away but my will never pass away. More than anything THIS (BIBLE) still matters. We are to live in the world but not of the world, and our mindset should be an eternally significant one.
We should fight for equality in all aspects of our life because God cares about all people.
We should care about life issues, because God values life and we should value the things God cares about.
We should live in freedom from sin, serve God and honor the authority He has placed over us.
And we should pursue godliness.
Not because the declaration of independence says these things but because the God of the universe says these things.
