We hold these truths… A remembrance of our nation´s Birth 227 years ago.

We hold these truths…

A remembrance of our nation´s Birth 227 years ago

Remembering the history of our nation shows God´s hand, purpose and blessing

• Moses (multiple times)• Joshua 24:2-15• Daniel 9:5-19• Nehemiah God 9:6-38• Stephen Acts 7:2—47• Paul Acts 13:15 to 26 • Peter Acts 2:13-36

What nation is there so great, which has a God so near to them…? (Deu 4:7)

The Declaration of Independence

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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

The Pulpit Instructed Young America

Value and Perils of Historical Interpretation

PROVIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE• Aims to glorify God• Edifying, honoring, pursues

the “noble strand”• Marked by humility• Tentative in its conclusions• Inspires to good works• Honors our adversaries• Realist as to our failures• Points to higher principles

TENDENTIOUS, REVISIONIST• Aims to glorify or defile men• Debunks heroes, critical• Focuses typically on factoids• Arrogant, defiant, absolute• Provocative, fear mongering• Inspires anger or apathy• Demonizes our adversaries• Highlights human failure• Cynical of higher good

Beware of Pagan Patriotism• National Vanity • National Cupidity (greed)• Empty of principle: Sentiment without Sacrifice• Fickle, frothy, self-interested• Can lead to – Chauvinism (unreasoning partisanship)– Jingoism (excessive patriotism)– Xenophobia (fear of foreigners)

• Attributes God´s blessings to our own doing• Hoards the blessing to ourselves and wants to

keep others out

Virtue of “Christian Patriotism”• “Patria”, the fatherland, the land of our fathers.• Patriotism is “love of neighbor” extended to the national

family and to our common “patrimony.”• Family and Nation arise out of a common bond: a shared

heritage, religion, culture and ethnicity.• God commands us to love, cherish and prefer our own

family and nation, giving affection, protection, provision.• NOT to the detriment of others - to the edification of all. • Patriots love liberty, they honor, understand and uphold

other patriots, regardless of nation. • He who loves God must love his own nation: its dignity,

calling, history, symbols and authorities

As the Church goes, so goes the Nation• Christians were anywhere from “influential to dominant”

in the colonial and formative era• In the 1800´s it seems that denominational, partisan and

regional interests took over• By the 1920´s most seminaries went liberal, the Social

Gospel and “civil religion” predominated• The fundamentalist and pentecostal church divorced the

world while the liberal one married it• The academy, the media, the marketplace and the public

square were almost without a Gospel witness• The 1970´s Charismatic renewal awakened some in every

denomination but the prosperity lulled us with comfort • The political activism of the culture wars replaced our

Gospel witness, distracting many of us to the materialism, hedonism and me-ism that was slowly overtaking us

We are writing with our lives the role of the Church in our time

Under persecutionthe Gospel witness usually THRIVES

Sometimes God permits his people to be anihilated or carried into exile(Ancient Israel, 7 churches of Asia)

We have been “bought with a price”, our lives are not our OWN!

Nations are God´s Idea

God is a God of nations, not just individuals

• Go and make disciples “of all the NATIONS”– panta etne oikomene

• Of one blood he made every NATION• Why do the NATIONS rage?• Happy is the NATION whose God is the Lord• He displaced seven NATIONS from the land• We and our whole NATION have sinned• Of every kindred, tribe, tongue and NATION

Nations are God´s instruments to carry out His purposes

• To provide a framework of peace, justice, liberty, security and prosperity (The rule of law - Covenant)

• To provide an identity based on common ancestry and culture, shared history, ideals, heroes

• To bring chastisement to a wayward people (ourselves or other nations) by the use of the sword through war and oppression.

Acts 17

26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on

all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him

and find him.

Civil Government is God´s Idea

The Kingdom is a Government

Romans 13:1-7

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and

those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will

incur judgment.

3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have

no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will

receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do

wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant

of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's

wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this

you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God,

attending to this very thing.

Church and State: an Age-Old Rivalry(both are sources of power)

• Their “marriage” is as bad as their “divorce.” • Marriage produces either a State Church or a

Religious State• Divorce produces a Secularist State and an

escapist Church• Each should guard its own mission faithfully.• They must collaborate to better accomplish it,

each upholding the authority of the other.• When one tries to use, manipulate or control

the other, the result is invariably destructive

Three God-ordained institutions, each sovereign in its own sphere, with its own authorities and rules, given by God so they can

collaborate to achieve His purposes

What do we owe our civil government and its magistrates?

• 1. Submission (obedience to the laws)• 2. Honor• 3. Intercesssion• 4. Support, encouragement, accountability• 5. Informed vote• 6- Service, civic or military• 7. Loyalty

The call to serve and to lead (govern)

• Our nation needs new leaders, for the nation that we are becoming.

• A couple of us are now in servant-leadership roles.• We have many others, especially among our young,

that should prepare for significant roles of service, in public service, business, education, the social sector.

• Will they prove ready to make the sacrifices that leadership requires?

• Will the rest of us do our part supporting them, encouraging, serving, sacrificing alongside them?