0114 Defending Freedom
Title: Defending Freedom
Text:
File Categories: Religious Liberty, Veterans, War
Central Thrust: Honor veterans
Ill: I Peter 2:9-17
Hym: 606 Once to Every Man and Nation
223 Jesus Is Coming Again
America the Beautiful
645 God of Our Fathers
104 My Shepherd Will Supply My Need
85 Eternal Father, Strong to Save
648 I Vow to Thee, My Country
Theological Concern: Freedom
Point of Immediacy: Veterans’ Tribute or Patriotic meeting
Probs in Comm:
Sermon in a Sentence: Freedom
Attribute of God: Grants Free Will to Us
Preached: 020615 UCC Campmeeting, Walla Walla
021109 Kirkland SDA church, Veteran’s Day Sabbath
Historical quotes from Smith, Michael W., The Price of Freedom (2002). Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Defending Freedom
I. What an honor to be here with a group like this!
A. Ambivalence too—between military life and Adventist practices.
1. If I weren’t a chaplain, I wouldn’t be in the military.
2. Combatancy.
3. Sabbath.
B. Less apparent during the draft.
C. Support those whose opinions differ from mine.
II. Why a patriotic program in a church on Sabbath?
A. Not because real Christians are Americans.
B. Not because all Americans are Christians.
1. Stunning unity in the aftermath of the September attacks.
a. Americans pride themselves in being individuals. They are diverse, even fragmented at times.
b. Americans and other freedom lovers around the world united in a way that surprised even some of us.
1) 37 chaplains at Pentagon within hours
2) Man standing guard for his brother.
3) Muslim reading at Annex ceremony.
C. Not because a connection exists between God and patriotism.
1. God’s people are international. They are not confined by national boundaries.
a. God has followers on both sides of many conflicts.
b. e.g. WA conference man in Nazi Army during WWII.
2. Christians have always delicately walked along the line between national loyalty and loyalty to God.
1) Jesus said (Mt 22:21)
"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
2) Peter said (1Ptr 2)
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
3. While we may be sentimentally attached to our own country, as Christians our loyalty is principled rather than blindly nationalistic.
a. Concur on fundamental issues.
b. Don’t presume America or Americans are always right or that those nations on the other side are always wrong.
III. Connections do exist between the principles on which this nation and other democracies are founded and the way God treats human beings.
A. (Luke 4, NIV)
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." {[19] Isaiah 61:1,2} 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
B. (Galatians 5:1, NIV)
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
C. (Eph 3)
12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
D. (2Cor 3)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
E. (Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863)
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
F. (Abraham Lincoln in a speech given in Edwardsville, IL, 1858)
Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is the preservation of the spirit which prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.”
G. God honors individual conscience and even individual preference.
1. God coerces no one, even toward that which brings good.
2. For example, toward the end of the New Testament, as John the Revelator is describing the beginning of eternity in the City of God, he does not say that everyone must conform and go there.
3. Instead, this becomes God’s wonderful invitation, to which we may voluntarily respond.
(Rv 22:)
12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. 20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus is with God's people. Amen.
H. God coerces no one.
1. Died to preserve our freedom to rebel!
2. God cherishes the sacrifices of those who wish to be free.
3. e.g. Mrs. Ivanov and copying the Bible in communist Russia.
I. [Christian nation quotes.]
1. (Patrick Henry)
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not be religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ, for this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”
2. (George W. Bush at the National Cathedral on Sep 14, 2001)
“America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked us because we are freedom’s home and defender, and the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time.”
IV. This program is not about America. It is rather a program concerning what America is about.
A. The question is not whether God is on our side, but whether we’re on His.
B. Democracies aren’t perfect, but they do tolerate a respect for individual conscience that other governments do not.
V. Many service members reluctant.
A. Profound dilemmas face them—combatancy, Sabbath.
B. War is not neat and clean and the damage not confined to those who are evil.
C. Service members are often reluctant heroes, making the best decisions they can under very difficult circumstances.
D. That is true as well for supporters of those in uniform. C.f. Ole’s honoring of categories.
VI. How can we honor those who served and serve?
A. We can respect others for acting on the basis of conscience and conviction, even if we disagree with their choices.
B. We can stand strong to defend God’s gift of freedom of conscience.
(Thomas Paine)
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”
(John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural address, 20 Jan 1961)
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
C. We can honor those who, from a variety of countries and in a variety of settings, sacrificed much for others.
(Thomas Paine, written during one of the American Revolution’s gloomiest hours)
“There are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated . . . “
D. We can rally to Moses’ farewell speech to his people (Dt 31:6):
6 "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He [is] the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
1. We can recommit ourselves to stand for the principles of freedom.
2. We can defend the right of every community to have a voice in its government.
3. We can resist the imposition of restrictive religious requirements.
E. Finally, we can rise to the challenge of (President Andrew Jackson in his farewell address 4 Mar 1837)
“Providence has showered on this favored land blessing without number, and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom, to preserve it for the benefit of the human race. May He who holds in His hands the destinies of nations make you worthy of the favors he has bestowed and enable you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time the great charge he has committed to your keeping.”