Celebrating Liberty 2015

“God bless America, America bless God”

This week we celebrate the anniversary of the independence of the United States as a sovereign nation. We rightfully sing and celebrate the freedom we enjoy. We fire bright colors into the dark night sky and shudder at the pronouncing “boom” of each firework as they resound our liberty for all who hear. But perhaps this year those colors were not as bright, the sound of liberty not as clear since we become a nation described in Isaiah 5:20, as one “who calls evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”

We are a nation founded with men who revered God and knew that His divine hand guided us. George Washington in his inaugural speech set the standard by which all following generations should be measured, including our own. Concerning the law of our land, he stated:

“I behold the surest pledges that the foundations of our National policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; … there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that which exists in the economy and course of nature, an inseparable union between virtue and happiness.”

Should he, the inaugural government, or any subsequent government leave this foundation, Washington warned of its consequences:

“The favoring smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.”

This call was to those who served in the capacity of leadership and to the citizens at large. We are after all a nation “by the people and of the people.” It is the responsibility of each individual politician and citizen to seek God’s sovereign leadership. Perhaps Washington was thinking of the LORD’s own charge in Deuteronomy 30 when the Israelites were about to establish their new nation. The LORD said:

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.”

Four eight years Washington worked hand and hand with many great men to produce a government and nation who would, like Israel to the ancient world, be a beacon of light reflecting the blessings and wonder of our great God! With the establishment of policies and procedures, Washington developed a formula for success that has lasted over two centuries. In his farewell speech of 1796, our first President left with the same dedication to personal spiritual virtue and morality which inspired him to begin his service in 1789. He charges us all with these words:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would a man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness… And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

To what religious principle is Washington urging us towards? Perhaps it is the principles of Christian living outlined by Paul to the Romans. In the chapter 12, verses 9 thru 12 Paul challenges the Romans to:

“Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”

In fulfillment of Paul’s challenge, and being a man of prayer, Washington, after his inaugural speech, led the first congress to St. Paul’s Chapel where he petitioned our Heavenly Father with these pleas:

“That Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and peaceful temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Washington’s prayer echoes the requirements of the LORD in Micah 6: “to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” And if we fail to do this collectively as a nation or individually as citizens? There is a promise for judgement by God, but mercifully he states that he is willing to forgive if “my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.” 

(2 Chronicles 7)

  

Like Israel, we have been called to freedom. Our freedom lies in Jesus and “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Galatians 5:1) And if Christ has set us free, then we are “free indeed”. (John 8:36) This freedom is individualistic and collective. We are set free as individuals as we accept Christ and follow him as LORD and savior. And this freedom is collective because we are not just single parts, but components of a whole. So when we see current times produce “evil as good and darkness as light”, it is our individual and collective duty to “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” 

(Romans 12:21)

This good which Paul writes about cannot be restricted by any government or nation. It is a good which flows from the author and creator of all nations. Paul describes this good being lived out as the fruit of a spirit led life. It is a life filled with:

“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5)

Of all these traits, the greatest of them is love (1 Corinthians 13). So as we celebrate the independence of this great nation, let us do so with the knowledge that its freedom is established and sustained on the individual freedom of men and women who are independent of the chains of sin by the love of God who “gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

True love saves. It rescues. It does not sit idly by while others march forward to destruction. True love died for you and I while we were still sinners. So we should let our light of freedom shine so that others may see it and bring glory to God (Matthew 5). Perhaps you see the future as cloudy and the light of freedom dimming, then I conclude with these words from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

“Be still, sad heart and cease repining; behind the clouds the sun is still shining!”

That sun is the SON, and he sits on the eternal throne of his Father. That truth will never change. So go out this week and always, remembering to live in freedom is to live in virtue, and against that – no man can legislate.

“God Bless America, and America, Please Bless God!”