43 Sermon Illustrations on Citizenship

Evangelical author Tom Sine called for a radical "third-wave Christian citizenship" to correct flaws of both the right and left at a Baptist ethics conference. Sine, author of "Cease Fire: Searching for Sanity in America's Culture Wars," spoke at a "Leadership Through the Culture Wars" conference sponsored by the Baptist Center for Ethics.

Sine said churches in America are being torn apart by polarization between liberals and conservatives. "Many people, mainline Protestants, Catholics and Evangelicals, are looking for a new place to stand," Sine said. "They are not happy with the polarities of the right and left." Sine offered "not a middle position between right and left" but "a radical biblical alternative" to both positions.

"My contention is neither side takes Scripture seriously," Sine said. The Religious Right takes the Bible "literally," Sine said, but doesn't bring it to bear on public policy issues such as poverty and injustice. Churches on the left, meanwhile, have their identity tied up in being "social progressives," even if it means ignoring moral teachings of Scripture, he said. "Many of our understandings of discipleship, missions and social responsibility simply don't square with the Bible," he said.

Sine contended that the greatest threat to Christianity is not "secular humanism," as Francis Schaeffer argued, but an "enlightened secularism" that defines "a better future largely in economic terms." The "real secularism" threatening American Christians consists of "materialism, individualism and consumerism," Sine said.

"We really have not done the work we need to do to set our folks free," Sine said. He cited "the outrageous busy-ness" that results in people being preoccupied with activities at the expense of time for Bible study and devotion. "The enemy is not the liberal on one end or the Religious Right on the other," Sine said. "Pogo said it best, 'We have seen the enemy and he is us.'"

Sine called for a "third-wave Christian citizenship" to transcend debate between the left and right. "We're using a two-legged milk stool," Sine said, by emphasizing a faith that focuses on "getting our hearts right with God" and "getting our moral lives cleaned up. God wants to define our cultural values, too," he said.

Sine suggested that individuals and families write "mission statements" that "challenge people to whole-life discipleship and whole-life stewardship." He also challenged tithing as a standard for stewardship, citing a growing consensus among biblical scholars that "there's no basis in the New Testament

for 10 percent stewardship." He suggested "calling our people not out of guilt but out of opportunity." Sine called for a "reorganization of how we use our time and money" that includes spending less on one's self and more on others. "I'm convinced we could help a new generation create a way of life that is more festive and celebrative, where they put first things first, where Jesus' vocation is our vocation," he said.

Sine said Americans often compartmentalize religion by thinking about their faith only a few hours a week and not allowing it to make a difference in their daily lives. "I don't think the first call of the gospel is to proclamation," Sine said. "I believe in evangelism, ... (but) I think the first call of the gospel is incarnation." American Christians need "to flesh out something that has the character" of the Kingdom of God, Sine said. "We desperately need to rediscover the meaning of community. We are going to need some new metaphors," he said. "The church we need for the new millennium is not a building we go to once a week."

Sine suggested beginning "cooperative communities" as an alternative to

suburban living. A starter home in Seattle, he said, costs an average of

$150,000. Financed over 30 years, the accumulated cost is $500,000, he

observed. By contrast, homes can be built in a "six-plex" with common

activity areas for about $60,000, financed over five years. Eventually, a husband and wife living there could afford to cut back to 20 hours of work per week, freeing up more time to spend with children and for ministry. "We're going to have to think that radically," he said.

"The single-family detached lifestyle is the most expensive way to live," Sine said. "If we don't create a community where people start to care for one another, we don't have a future." "We need to be the part of the community that stands against the status quo," Sine said. "We need to be a subversive community."

Sine said Christians "need to be leaven in society," but should not equate patriotism with doing the will of God. "We need to realize we are called to work beyond making America great. The Bible makes clear that God's agenda is a transnational agenda. My first allegiance is not only to God, but to the international community of God. It's not the United States of America," he said. "The kind of 'America-first' thing doesn't work for me."

Christians need to avoid the polarities of right and left in public life and "work in a spirit of reconciliation," Sine said. He also said Christians "should not be afraid" of losing in the political sphere because "our trust isn't in a free market or left-wing politics; our trust is in God."

Sine urged Baptists to re-educate people in their churches who have been co-opted by the Religious Right. "Everybody assumes the Religious Right and Christian Coalition speak for all of us," he said, but polls say most born-again Christians disagree with those groups on many issues. "We have lost our voice," Sine said. "The Religious Right has educated our people."

Evangelicals need to "take back education" of their own constituencies, Sine said. "Our people have been educated to the politically correct views of the Religious Right. We have done a lousy job of educating our constituency. We have let others do it for us."

By adopting "a new biblical vision that simply transcends those of the right and the left and the American dream," Sine said, "I think the people of God could be the people who help birth a new dream not only for America's future but for the future of a world as we enter the new millennium."

Politics and religion do mix, but the question is what is the best formula.

When even the textbooks refer to the Christian Right’s style of politics as “angry,” it is clear that the movement has an image problem. That revealing word choice, which occurs twice in Robert Booth Fowler and Allen D. Hertzke’s impressive survey text, “Religion and Politics in America,” speaks volumes about the popular perception of Christian Right politics as sub-Christian in spirit. It also reminds us that, while performing commendably on specific issues and in practical politics, the Christian Right is not positioned to address the problems of increasing polarization and civic disintegration in modern America.

Fowler and Hertzke’s solid text can be used as a measuring stick to examine how religion and politics get along in contemporary America. It has a few disappointing omissions: its content is almost strictly limited to national rather than state or local politics, and it concentrates solely on how religion affects politics, never (except for one brief reference to James Davison Hunter’s theory on the coming liberalization of evangelicalism) on how political involvement affects religious practice. But, on the whole, this book is a reliable benchmark of where the action is — and where it isn’t. Thus it is striking that Fowler and Hertzke need 40 pages to describe religious politics and the courts, while they have nothing to say about the role of religious believers as reconcilers in the political realm.

Some of the discussions in the book suggest the reasons why believers spend so much time in court and so little time in peacemaking. Fowler and Hertzke stress that many of the key religion-and-politics battles are not resolved in Congress or in state legislatures, but argued forcibly before the judicial branch. The authors’ superb summary of church-and-state cases in the Supreme Court over the last 60 years lays bare the Court’s judicial hairsplitting and strained logic, which inevitably leads to further legal and political haggling. Furthermore, they note that, despite the strength of the Christian Right and the continuing statistical preeminence of Christianity, the defining characteristic of American culture today is a “moral pluralism” in which no single religious group can exert dominant power.

The impact even of strongly committed Christians in politics is muted by the diversity of their views, with figures like Sen. Mark Hatfield, Rep. Tony Hall (both politically moderate evangelicals), and African-American congressman and clergyman Floyd Flake counterbalancing more conservative impulses.

Fowler and Hertzke keep the book consistently balanced and dispassionate (which is why the aforementioned references to fundamentalist “anger” stick out so sharply) and leave the moralizing to others. Yet their survey of the landscape induces a sense of pessimism. Amidst the current polarization of American public discourse, the most important political battle facing us today may not be between Left and Right, but over whether we will be able to maintain the terms of engagement without which we can no longer have a productive debate at all. Christians should be ideally suited to serve not just as combatants in the culture wars but as bridgebuilders; yet Fowler and Hertzke find no one positioned to play this role. Thus arises the unspoken yet pervasive pessimism, not just about the prospects for effective religious-based politics but also about the possibility of getting activists with such a wide range of views — most of them claiming to be acting as Christians — to talk with each other, let alone work together.

Such a pessimism would not be cured by Conor Cruise O’Brien’s “On the Eve of the Millennium,” an irreverent set of five essays by an Irish writer with considerable diplomatic experience. O’Brien is intentionally provocative, and so to appreciate him one must tolerate both factual carelessness and ideological hammering.

Population control is his pet issue, leading him to applaud any movement that promotes contraception and safe abortion and to blast the Catholic church for trying to turn back the Enlightenment and keep population-control methods from penetrating Africa. O’Brien even claims that, after George Bush’s loss in 1992, Republican candidates in 1994 backed off from the pro-life cause — a statement clearly refuted by the actions of the large class of GOP freshmen who won election that year.

But when one looks past these flaws, one finds plenty of useful provocation in O’Brien’s writing. Most insightfully, he questions whether democracy as we know it can survive the battering it is receiving from the ascendancy of sophisticated polling and sound bites. “Democracy is turning into a series of instant plebiscites, over which the spin doctor is king,” he says, and this dependence on government by popularity contest is guaranteed to give us leadership by mediocre career politicians. As his favorite example of the problem, O’Brien reserves his most biting wit for the Clinton administration’s Haiti initiative, calling it an exercise in hypocrisy aimed not at helping Haitians but at averting an influx of no-longer-wanted boat people and preventing a backlash against Democrats in Congress. “Operation Restore Democracy was really Operation Return the Democratic Candidates,” he charges.

O’Brien notes the irony that the Enlightenment he cherishes is threatened by the anti-elitism of impulses it has spawned, toward political correctness and multiculturalism (PCM for short). Although no friend of traditional religion, he suggests that if any nation is positioned to recover the dying spirit of effective democracy, it is the United States, the only nation where the Enlightenment tradition is supported by national pride and civil religion.

Where can we find the seeds of this recovery? Not within the religious Right or Left. The Christian Right, though far more effective and constructive than in its early years, remains driven by pragmatic rather than philosophical imperatives. It is too wholeheartedly committed to the task of electing ideologically friendly legislators to ruminate on the more foundational but far more complex problem of making a distinctly Christian contribution to the restoration of civil society. And if Charles Stith’s “Political Religion” is any indication, the Christian Left can do no better.

Stith, a Methodist minister and self-described liberal, agrees with the Christian Right that the issue is not whether religion and politics should mix — of course, they should — but how. Unfortunately, Stith exemplifies the cynical definition of a liberal as someone who is tolerant of everyone except conservatives. This stance is particularly ironic because he urges Christians to pursue “the politics of consensus” and says Christian politics should be marked by a spirit of reconciliation. Stith discusses consensus- building with Hispanics, Jews, and women, but he has no time for dialogue with the Christian Right, which he dismisses as a movement “predicated on outdated precepts” and “defined by conflict rather than reconciliation.”

The Christian Right needs to be challenged by thoughtful arguments from fellow believers of more liberal political leanings. However, not only does Stith close the door to reconciliation between the Christian Right and Left, but his arguments are shallow and often unfounded rather than thoughtful. He trots out, with no documentation, the tiresome claim that Pat Robertson’s style of politics “would result in the obfuscation of the line between church and state.” Faulting conservatives for opposing sex education, he makes the dubious claim that “studies” (he cites none) show that sex education reduces teen pregnancy and promiscuity. And he simply asserts, without any acknowledgment of or engagement with opposing views, that Christian principles of equality should lead to support for the era and gay rights.

Politically conservative Christians ought to read this book simply to understand better what liberals think of them and what misconceptions they must dispel. Admittedly, a conservative who reads Stith will feel as if he or she stumbled into the wrong sanctuary while Stith was preaching to the choir. But maybe that is an experience all of us need once in a while to keep us from being satisfied with preaching to our own political choirs.

Why is the Christian Right, as the dominant form of American evangelical political engagement, having such a hard time communicating an effective Christian message to the broader culture? In “Saints as Citizens,” Timothy Sherratt and Ronald Mahurin, both professors of political science at Gordon College, have pinpointed the primary answer: evangelicals “do their politics piecemeal, on an issue-by-issue basis.” As a result, they are reactive, playing by rules others have set and never grounding their action on identifiably Christian principles.

Having diagnosed the prevalent lack of adequate philosophical reflection, Sherratt and Mahurin proceed to overreact somewhat. They spend nearly half their 120-page book reflecting on the Christian as sojourner and citizen, the nature of the kingdom of God, and the concept of church, providing an excellent theological refresher that made me feel I was retaking my Ph.D. comprehensive exams. They then admit frankly, “This handbook on politics has taken up three chapters without getting close to the subject, or so it must seem.” Indeed. This weakness would be less glaring had Sherratt and Mahurin discussed more fully not just why the type of reflection they recommend is necessary, but how it might prove to be productive. They acknowledge that realists and pragmatists will object to the complexity of their project, and they point to Britain’s Movement for Christian Democracy as a real-life example of theologically grounded politics. But on the whole, in my judgment, their proposal is too demanding; it expects more theological preparation, with less clarity of destination, than the impatient, pragmatic, beleaguered American church will tolerate.

Perhaps we could find a compromise, combining pieces of Sherratt and Mahurin’s reflectiveness with the growing resources of Christian practical expertise to create a movement more Christian in both style and content than any of the current options. But perhaps, as Don Eberly boldly suggests, the problem is not that we are doing politics badly, but that we are doing it at all.

As a former White House aide, Eberly speaks from experience when he says “politics has been oversold.” In his probing introduction to “Building a Community of Citizens,” he continues his argument (previously presented in his book Restoring the Good Society) that America’s crying need is for civic and cultural renewal, a reshaping of the habits of our hearts that no politics, whether conservative or liberal, can reach. Polarization is the enemy of this civic renewal, Eberly suggests, and he even hints indirectly that political movements like the Christian Right may be part of the problem: “Attempts to restore declining cultural values and order through power often only provoke and exacerbate the conflict.”

Eberly’s paradigm has one major problem of its own: it is hardly apolitical. He stresses the breadth of consensus in support of the values of “civil society,” such as self-government, family stability, and mutual respect, but the contributors to his volume range generally from Right to center, not Right to Left. Many of them urge, as one contributor puts it bluntly, “the dramatic decentralization of power and accountability away from the centralized, bureaucratic ‘Nanny state’ in Washington.” But this is not a plank on which to build a new social consensus; rather, it is precisely the root of the intense debate that has produced a partial shutdown of the federal government.

The residual political component of Eberly’s paradigm limits its potential as a basis of society-wide consensus. But the paralyzing level of political polarization we experienced in 1995 and continue to face in 1996 makes Eberly’s core concern for rebuilding civil society timelier than ever.

A Christian role in restoring civil society would mean not just energetic participation in the voluntary organizations (families, churches, nonprofits) that communicate the essential values of citizenship; we already do plenty of that. It would also mean taking the leadership in restoring a civil form of public discourse, encouraging the sort of reasoned, respectful discussion that divisive political campaigns, governed by the lure of negative advertising, seldom produce. This is no pie-in-the-sky goal; on the contrary, it is achievable wherever we perceive the need for a thoughtful forum for dialogue and step forward to assemble the pieces that can make one happen. As founder of the National Fatherhood Initiative, Eberly has given us a practical example to follow along with a philosophy.

Compare the core value statements promulgated by conservative evangelicals and the liberal Children’s Defense Fund, and you will find that their widely noted divergence in political proposals masks a significant convergence in shared concerns. Maybe, as we capitalize on the areas of convergence and seek to bring people of all political persuasions to the same table, we will find that they too are crying out with needs that can be solved not by politics, but only by religion. And maybe we Christians will become known more as the reconcilers rather than as the angry ones.

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“Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices,” by Robert Booth Fowler and Allen D. Hertzke (Westview Press, 287 pp.; $55, hardcover; $18.95, paper).

“On the Eve of the Millennium: The Future of Democracy Through an Age of Unreason,” by Conor Cruise O’Brien (Free Press, 167 pp.; $12, paper).

“Political Religion: A Liberal Answers the Question, ‘Should Politics and Religion Mix?’” by Charles R. Stith (Abingdon, 160 pp.; $14.95, paper).

“Saints as Citizens: A Guide to Public Responsibilities for Christians,” by Timothy R. Sherratt and Ronald P. Mahurin (Baker/ Center for Public Justice, 123 pp.; $7.99, paper).

“Building a Community of Citizens: Civil Society in the Twenty-first Century,” ed. by Don E. Eberly (University Press of America/Commonwealth Foundation, 376 pp.; $75, hardcover; $29.50, paper).

******************

Bruce Barron was for four years an aide to Congressman (now Senator) Rick Santorum, R-Pa. His book “Politics for the People,” a guide to politics for the average reader, has just been released by InterVarsity.

Copyright (c) 1996 Christianity Today, Inc./CHRISTIANITY TODAY Magazine April 29, 1996, Vol. 40, No. 5, Page 35 ctap2996mrj6T50356417

Duties of a Christian citizen, according to Jonathan Edwards:

1) We have a responsibility to society beyond the walls of the church.

2) We should not hesitate to join forces with non-Christians in the public square to work toward common moral goals.

3) We should support our government but be ready to criticize it when conscience demands.

4) Christians should remember that politics is comparatively unimportant in the long run.

5) Christians should be aware of national pride.

6) Christians should care for the poor.

[see #4139 for expanded, original version.]

You are wrong if you do not vote.

You are to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. Our Caesar [in the United States] is a government of the people by the people for the people. One vote may make the difference.

In 1645 Oliver Cromwell gained control of England by one vote.

In 1649 Charles the First of England was executed because of one vote.

In 1776 one vote gave America the native language English rather than the German. (humor insert: you ought to be glad for that because none of us speak German). One vote!

In 1839 Marcus Morton was elected Governor of Massachusetts by one vote.

In 1845 one vote saved president Andrew Jackson from impeachment.

In 1876 One vote gave Rutherford B. Hays the presidency of the United States.

In 1923 ... one vote ... gave Adolph Hitler the leadership of the Nazi party. One vote.

I'm only one but I am one. I can't do everything but I can do something and what I can do I ought to do and that by the grace of God I will do.

Brett Blair, Sermon Illustrations, 1999

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their own independence upon the overruling power of God ... and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proved by all history, that those nations only are blest whose God is the Lord."

-- Abraham Lincoln

"The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend. Remember officers and Soldiers, that you are Freemen, fighting for the blessings of Liberty -- that slavery will be your portion, and that of your posterity, if you do not acquit yourselves like men."

-- George Washington, General Orders, August 23, 1776

"I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests -- and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public school system, and in her institutions of higher learning -- and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution -- and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!"

-- Alexis de Tocqueville, French writer, after visiting America in 1831

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens."

-- George Washington, in his Farewell Address of 1796.

SOURCE: William J. Bennett. Our Sacred Honor: The Spirit of America. NY:

Simon and Schuster, 1997, page 365.

"America has meant to the world a land in which the common man who means well and is willing to do his part has access to all the necessary means of a good life."

-- Alvin Saunders Johnson

"America, thou half-brother of the world;

With something good and bad of every land."

-- Philip James Bailey

"America has believed that in differentiation, not in uniformity, lies the path of progress. It acted on this belief; it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered."

-- Louis D. Brandeis

"Americans never quit."

-- Douglas MacArthur

"I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins, because I offered freedom to the oppressed. I am many things, and many people. I am the nation. I am 213 million living souls--and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me."

-- Otto Whittaker

"If there is one word that describes our form of society in America, it may be the word--voluntary."

-- Lyndon Baines Johnson

"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that's sleeping in the unplowed ground."

-- Lyndon Baines Johnson

"Let our object be our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country."

-- Daniel Webster

"America is the country where you buy a lifetime supply of aspirin for one dollar and use it up in two weeks."

-- John Barrymore

"I was born an American; I live an American; I shall die an American."

-- Daniel Webster

"The metaphor of the melting pot is unfortunate and misleading. A more accurate analogy would be a salad bowl, for, though the salad is an entity, the lettuce can still be distinguished from the chicory, the tomatoes from the cabbage."

-- Carl N. Degler

"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."

-- Bill Vaughan

"America lives in the heart of every man everywhere who wishes to find a region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses."

-- Woodrow Wilson

"In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor."

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"If she [America] forgets where she came from, if the people lose sight of what brought them along, if she listens to the deniers and mockers, then will begin the rot and dissolution."

-- Carl Sandburg

"If there is a country in the world where concord, according to common calculation, would be least expected, it is America."

-- Thomas Paine

"I would rather see the United States respected than loved by other nations."

-- Henry Cabot Lodge

"America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair."

-- Arnold Joseph Toynbee

"The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colors breaking through."

-- Alexis de Tocqueville

"But America is a great, unwieldy Body. Its Progress must be slow... Like a Coach and six--the swiftest Horses must be slackened and the slowest quickened, that all may keep an even Pace."

-- John Quincy Adams

"America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization."

-- Georges Clemenceau

"The country's honor must be upheld at home and abroad."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

"Our country is still young and its potential is still enormous. We should remember, as we look toward the future, that the more fully we believe in and achieve freedom and equal opportunity--not simply for ourselves but for others--the greater our accomplishments as a nation will be."

-- Henry Ford II

"Ideals are the 'incentive payment' of practical men. The opportunity to strive for them is the currency that has enriched America through the centuries."

-- Robert E. Hannegan

"Why is it, whenever a group of internationalists get together, they always decide that Uncle Sam must be the goat?"

-- Bertrand H. Snell

"I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found. And this belief, which mounts now to the catharsis of knowledge and conviction, is for me--and I think for all of us--not only our own hope, but America's everlasting, living dream."

-- Thomas Wolfe

"I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and of will and vision ..."

-- Carl Sandburg

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."

-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"America... It is a fabulous country, the only fabulous country; it is the only place where miracles not only happen, but where they happen all the time."

-- Thomas Wolfe

"It may be that without a vision men shall die. It is no less true that, without hard practical sense, they shall also die. Without Jefferson the new nation might have lost its soul. Without Hamilton it would assuredly have been killed in body."

-- James Truslow Adams

"If the American dream is for Americans only, it will remain our dream and never be our destiny."

-- René de Visme Williamson

"America is a country of young men."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Every time Europe looks across the Atlantic to see the American Eagle, it observes only the rear end of an ostrich."

-- H. G. Wells

"The interesting and inspiring thing about America is that she asks nothing for herself except what she has a right to ask for humanity itself."

-- Woodrow Wilson

"Our country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right."

-- Carl Schurz

"There is a New America every morning when we wake up. It is upon us whether we will it or not."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson

"Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood--the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

"The less America looks abroad, the grander its promise."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Wake up, America."

-- Augustus P. Gardner

"Intellectually I know that America is no better than any other country; emotionally I know she is better than every country."

-- Sinclair Lewis

"America is not merely a nation but a nation of nations."

-- Lyndon Baines Johnson

"I am certain that, however great the hardships and the trials which loom ahead, our America will endure and the cause of human freedom will triumph."

-- Cordell Hull

"America ... a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose."

-- Herbert Hoover

"For the American people are a very generous people and will forgive almost any weakness, with the possible exception of stupidity."

-- Will Rogers

"We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind."

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

-- Theodore Roosevelt , U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said

during World War I, when Woodrow Wilson was president.

"Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it is redeemed spiritually. It can be saved only by becoming permeated with the Spirit of Christ and being made free and happy by the practices which spring out of that Spirit."

-- Woodrow Wilson, 1923

"We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined that all things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us."

-- Abraham Lincoln

"I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more that I wish I could give to them that is the Christian religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling, they would have been rich; and if they had not that and i had given them the world, they would be poor."

-- Patrick Henry, author of "Give me liberty or give me death," from his will

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."

-- Mark Twain

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."

-- President Harry S. Truman

"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men; and so it must be daily earned and refreshed -- else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die."

-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The real democratic idea is not that every man shall be on a level with every other, but that every one shall have liberty, without hindrance, to be what God made him."

-- Rev. Henry Ward Beecher

[A critical view of the Pledge of Allegiance.]

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America;

and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God,

with liberty and justice for all.

How did this Pledge of Allegiance to a flag replace the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights in the affections of many Americans? Among the nations in the world, only the U.S.A. and the Philippines, imitating the U.S.A., have a pledge to their flag. That begs the question: Who institutionalized the Pledge as the cornerstone of American patriotic programs and indoctrination in the public and parochial schools?

In 1892, a socialist named Francis Bellamy created the Pledge of Allegiance for Youth’s Companion, a national family magazine for youth published in Boston. The magazine had the largest national circulation of its day with a circulation around 500 thousand. Two liberal businessmen, Daniel Ford and James Upham, his nephew, owned Youth's Companion.

Before the turn of the last century the American Flag was rarely seen in the classroom or in front of the school. Upham changed that. In 1888, the magazine began a campaign to sell American flags to the public schools. By 1892, his magazine had sold American flags to about 26 thousand schools(1). The market for American Flags existed because state’s flags held the staff of honor, not the military flag of the United States that currently hangs in classrooms and courtrooms across America. [Holwick: I don't think the Star Spangled banner can be construed as a military flag. Some nations have a military version of their flag but America has a single version.]

In 1891, Upham had the idea of using the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America to promote the use of the flag in the public schools. The same year, the magazine hired Daniel Ford's radical young friend, Baptist minister, Nationalist, and Christian Socialist leader, Francis Bellamy, to help Upham in his public relations work. Bellamy was the first cousin of the famous American socialist, Edward Bellamy. Edward Bellamy's futuristic novel, Looking Backward, published in 1888, described a utopian Boston in the year 2000. The book spawned an elitist socialist movement in Boston known as "Nationalism," whose members wanted the federal government to nationalize most of the American economy. Francis Bellamy was a member of this movement and a vice president of its auxiliary group, the Society of Christian Socialists(2). He was a Baptist minister and he lectured and preached on the virtues of socialism and the evils of capitalism. He gave a speech on "Jesus the Socialist" and a series of sermons on "The Socialism of the Primitive Church." In 1891, he was forced to resign from his Boston church, the Bethany Baptist church, because of his socialist activities. He then joined the staff of the Youth’s Companion(3).

By February 1892, Francis Bellamy and Upham had lined up the National Education Association to support the Youth’s Companion as a sponsor of the national public schools' observance of Columbus Day along with the use of the American flag. By June 29, Bellamy and Upham had arranged for Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to announce a national proclamation making the public school ceremony the center of the national Columbus Day celebrations for 1892(4).

Bellamy, under the supervision of Upham, wrote the program for this celebration, including its flag salute, the Pledge of Allegiance. His version was,

"I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it

stands -- one nation indivisible -- with liberty and justice for

all."

This program and its pledge appeared in the September 8 issue of Youth’s Companion(5). He considered putting the words "fraternity" and "equality" in the Pledge but decided they were too radical and controversial for public schools(6).

The original Pledge was recited while giving a stiff, uplifted right hand salute, criticized and discontinued during WWII. The words "my flag" were changed to "the flag of the United States of America" because it was feared that the children of immigrants might confuse "my flag" for the flag of their homeland. The phrase "Under God," was added by Congress and President Eisenhower in 1954 at the urging of the Knights of Columbus(7).

The American Legion's constitution includes the following goal: "To foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism." One of its major standing committees was the "Americanism Commission" and its subsidiary, the "Counter Subversive Activities Committee." To the fear of immigrants, it added the fear of communism(8).

Over the years the Legion has worked closely with the NEA and with the U.S. Office of Education. The Legion insisted on "one hundred percent" Americanism in public school courses in American history, civics, Geography and English. The Pledge was a part of this Americanism campaign(9) and, in 1950, the Legion adopted the Pledge as an official part of its own ritual(10).

In 1922, the Ku Klux Klan, which also had adopted the "one hundred percent Americanism" theme along with the flag ceremonies and the Pledge, became a political power in the state of Oregon and arranged for legislation to be passed requiring all Catholic children to attend public schools. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned this legislation(11). Proving, once again, that the Constitution is the underlying strength of our political and judicial system.

Perhaps a team of social scientists and historians could explain why over the last century the Pledge of Allegiance has become a major centerpiece in American patriotism programs. A pledge or loyalty oath for children was not built around the Declaration of Independence -- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...." Or the Gettysburg address -- "a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal..."

Apparently, over the last century, Americans have been uncomfortable with the word "equality" as a patriotic theme. In 1892 the nation began its second century with the Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps, and this is meant with no disrespect to the brave men and women who have given their lives for all the flag represents, the time has come to see that this allegiance should be to the U.S. Constitution and not to a piece of cloth.

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1. Louise Harris, THE FLAG OVER THE SCHOOLHOUSE, C. A. Stephens Collection, Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1971, p. 69.

2. Margarette S. Miller, TWENTY-THREE WORDS, Printcraft Press, Portsmouth, VA, 1976, pp 63-65.

3. Ibid, pp. 55-65.

4. Ibid, pp. 105-111.

5. Ibid, p. 123.

6. Ibid, p. 122.

7. Christopher J. Kaufmann, KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS, Harper & Row, NY, 1982, pp. 385-386.

8. Raymond Moley, THE AMERICAN LEGION STORY, Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, NY, 1966, p. 7.

9. Ibid, p. 371.

10. Miller, p. 344.

11. NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, Washington, D.C., Catholic University of America, 1967, Vol. 10, p. 738-740.

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The ruling of Judge Goodwin [that "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional] -- as outrageous as it is -- provides a rare opportunity for patriotic unity in America, eclipsed recently only by the tragedy of Sept. 11. For Christians, however, there is even greater reason for reflection on the meaning of patriotism and citizenship. Unlike our unbelieving relatives, friends and neighbors, our civic obligations should be based not solely in the value of a manmade statement of allegiance -- as necessary and valuable as it is -- but founded instead on the mandate for citizenship found in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

The witness of Scripture is that Christians are citizens simultaneously of two realms -- the earthly nation of our birth (or naturalization) and the heavenly realm of the kingdom of God. Although we owe ultimate allegiance to God's kingdom, there are nevertheless serious obligations of earthly citizenship for Christians who seek to live in accordance with biblical standards.

Although many passages of Scripture can be appealed to, the apostle Paul in Romans 13:1-7 provides the Bible's most succinct treatment of the meaning of Christian citizenship. Paul's message to first-century believers who lived in the seat of the Roman Empire -- the all-encompassing political entity of its day -- was that the Christians should be the best citizens. Although two millennia old, Paul's message is as valid today for American Christians as it was for Christians who lived under a pagan, totalitarian dictatorship in Rome.

Paul exhorted believers in Rome to "submit to the governing authorities" because they were established by God and are agents -- they're even called "ministers" -- of God's purpose and order (vv. 1-2). The biblical model of government does not allow Christian support for anarchy (no rule). Paul doesn't address when Christians have an obligation to disobey government (when government seeks to take the place of God and requires Christians to act contrary to biblical principles or prevents us from obeying God; see Acts 4:18-20, 5:29; Daniel 3:18 and Daniel 6). But the standard operating procedure for Christians is willing submission to government.

In verses 3-4, Paul provides two natural reasons Christians should submit to government: the promise of commendation (reward) and the promise of condemnation (punishment). When we do the right thing, we will be commended, and when we do wrong, we will be punished. There is also a supernatural reason Christians must submit: the Christian conscience (v. 5). A conscience regenerated by the work of the Holy Spirit knows that worse than violating man's laws, resisting governing authorities is a violation against God himself -- a sin.

Although it seems at times in our society today that evildoers are rewarded and righteous folks are persecuted, don't forget that Paul's exhortation of submission was written to Christians living under a totalitarian government. Therefore, American Christians who still enjoy the blessings of liberty have no less of an obligation to submit to our government.

Finally, Paul illustrates two ways Christians can demonstrate their submission and good citizenship (vv. 6-7): financial loyalty (paying our taxes) and attitudinal loyalty (paying honor to our nation and governing authorities -- patriotism).

This Independence Day (and every day) let's remember our biblical obligation to be the best citizens of our nation, knowing that such patriotism is motivated by our heavenly citizenship. As such, let us pray that God will bring a reformation in our land, starting with a heaven-sent revival in our churches.

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Smith is executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness newsjournal.

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"In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life, and they lost it all - security, comfort and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free."

- Historian Edward Gibbon

Philip Nolan is the hero of Edward Everett Hale's classic American short story, "The Man without a Country." According to the story, Nolan was an eager young officer in the Western army under Aaron Burr in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Burr was plotting a rebellion against the United States to set up a separate government west of the Appalachians. The youthful members of his staff, including Nolan, were duped into becoming unwitting partners in the plot. It was discovered, of course, and all those implicated were court-martialed. Still convinced Burr was a hero instead of a traitor, Nolan impetuously told the court he never wanted to see the flag of the United States again. He lived to regret that rash vow and to become a fervent patriot, but the verdict of the court was that his wish be carried out. For the rest of his life he was shunted from one naval vessel to another, never to set foot on American soil and never to see the Stars and Stripes - truly the man without a country.

Hale told his story so artfully that many people thought it was true, that there really was a Philip Nolan who was sailing the seven seas as the man without a country. Their sympathies aroused, many wrote to Washington demanding Nolan's pardon. But the story was fiction, not fact.

The subject of this discussion, however, is not fiction, but fact. In addition it is somewhat the reverse of Hale's story about Philip Nolan, because it is the record of the man with two countries. Each Christian is this man with two countries, because the child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ at the same time is a citizen of the kingdom of God and a citizen of an earthly nation and government. The Christian holds citizenship in two lands - one temporal and physical, the other eternal and spiritual. Many of the problems the Christian faces grow out of the interrelationships and the conflicts of priority between these two citizenships. In this Bicentennial year of the United States [1976] it is appropriate to consider what the Bible teaches about the man with two countries - the Christian citizen.

____________________________

John A. Witmer, Librarian and Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary

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How do you teach people to love their country — even when it means a great personal sacrifice?

That question has long interested Walter Berns, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the book Making Patriots. Berns argues that patriots are made, not born — that we have to be taught to love our country. He also believes that this love, though necessary to our nation's very survival, does not come easily. That's because it's in our nature to put ourselves first — especially so here in America, where individualism is so rampant.

“In theory,” Burns writes, “this nation began with self-interested men ... endowed not with duties or obligations but with certain unalienable rights ... Why should self-interested men believe it in their interest to give their lives for the idea or promise of their country?”

And yet, our cemeteries are full of men and women who did give their lives for their country and are doing so today in Afghanistan and Iraq. This Veterans Day, we honor the sacrifice of these brave people who rose above their own interests, and who are doing so each day in Iraq. Their lives and deaths remind us that, in order for America and its ideals to flourish, we have to teach our kids that there are things more important than simply fulfilling their own desires.

The key lies in Berns's phrase “the idea or promise of our country.” It's not enough to show people that it's in their own best interests if the country prospers. We have to remind them of what our founding documents state: that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

Our nation's promise is a declaration of the rights and freedoms of everyone. So we each have a higher standard to meet than simply looking out for number one. Now, sadly, we have often fallen short of that standard, arbitrarily denying rights to one group or another. But when we did, we knew it was wrong, and we worked to correct it. If we truly believe in the ideal of freedom for all people, we will keep reminding our countrymen of that standard and keep doing our best to meet it.

Walter Berns does this throughout his book, pointing to great figures from American history who believed that the promise of freedom was a precious heritage and a goal to keep striving toward. As one book reviewer wrote, “He's instructing us in our own history and ideals in order to demonstrate that our nation is worthy of our love.”

For example, Berns quotes from Abraham Lincoln's eulogy for Henry Clay: “He loved his country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity, and glory, because he saw in such, the advancement, prosperity, and glory of human liberty, human right, and human nature.” Well said.

How do we teach people to love their country? We teach them to love goodness and freedom — and remind them that these are the ideals America was founded to preserve and promote. It's the only way we can guarantee that those ideals will survive, in America and around the world. And what better day than Veterans Day to remind our kids and grandkids of these truths.

For further reading:

• Walter Berns, Making Patriots (University of Chicago Press, 2001).

• Walter Berns, “From the Ashes Comes the Rebirth of Patriotism,” AEI Online, 1 October 2001.

• Michael Potemra, “Teach Them Well,” National Review, 17 September 2001.

• “American Patriots,” Online Newshour, PBS, 9 July 2001.

• Read President Abraham Lincoln's eulogy on Henry Clay.

• BreakPoint Commentary, “Quiet Heroism: And the Culture that Produces It.” (Archived commentary; free registration required.)

• Anne Morse, “I Pledge Allegiance to ... Whatever,” BreakPoint Online, 25 February 2003.

• Anne Morse, “I Pledge Allegiance to Myself,” BreakPoint Online, 19 August 2002.

• Jim Tonkowich, “Heroism Rediscovered,” BreakPoint WorldView, September 2002.

• Roberto Rivera, “Uncommon Valor and Common Virtue,” BreakPoint Online, 27 November 2000.

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Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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On August 24, A.D. 410, the Visigoths, led by Alaric, sacked Rome. For the people of late antiquity, August 24 was even more traumatic than September 11 was for us. Rome, the capital of the greatest empire the world had ever known, was plundered by barbarians, people Rome regarded as uncouth and inferior.

In North Africa, these events prompted a Christian bishop to start writing about the lessons Christians should take away from the destruction of Rome. The result was a book that is every bit as relevant for our day as it was for his: THE CITY OF GOD by St. Augustine of Hippo.

In response to critics who blamed Rome's demise on the fact that she abandoned the pagan gods and turned to Christ, Augustine introduced readers to two cities: the “City of God” and the “City of Man.” The City of Man is shaped by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, and the City of God is shaped by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.

In describing the two cities, Augustine reiterated Jesus' teaching that while Christians live in the City of Man, they do not belong to the City of Man. Their presence in the earthly city is like that of strangers sojourning in a foreign country. We are to enjoy the blessings the City of Man has to offer, including its rights, its protection, and its preservation of order, but we are always ready to move on. The City of Man is not our true home. No, our true home is in the City of God. And it is to that city that we owe our affections and our ultimate loyalty.

While this sounds like a recipe for withdrawal, it is anything but that. Augustine taught that, just as we are to enjoy the blessings of the City of Man, we must assume the obligations of citizenship. As he put it, “Caesar looks for his own likeness, give it to him.” Only, instead of fulfilling these obligations out of compulsion and fear, the Christian does so out of obedience to God and love of neighbor. Being a good citizen means doing our civic duty and, of course, voting.

As we enter this election year, the struggle for our culture's soul has simultaneously produced passivity and defeatism in some evangelical quarters and a shrill triumphalism in others. Neither response, as Augustine teaches, is the proper Christian response.

We can never retreat into our sanctuaries and neglect our civic responsibility to help set the moral tone of our culture. Leaving your neighbor in ignorance of his folly is inconsistent with the command to love him, and so political and cultural engagement are required for faithful believers. We are, I like to put it, to bring the influence of the City of God into the City of Man, working for justice and righteousness.

At the same time, if we controlled every legislative, executive, and judiciary branch, we still could not transform the City of Man into the City of God. That's why talk about making this a “Christian nation” is wrong-headed and needlessly scares our neighbors.

In the next several BreakPoint commentaries, I'll be discussing what it means to be a Christian and a citizen in contemporary America: the temptations, pitfalls, and opportunities. Getting this right starts with the paradox Augustine taught: The best citizens of the City of Man are those who remember that their true citizenship is in the City of God.

FOR FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

• St. Augustine, The City of God (Doubleday, 1958 edition).

• “Christian America“ is a “BreakPoint This Week” special broadcast interview with Mark Noll of Wheaton College and Marvin Olasky of World magazine and the University of Texas in which they discuss the nature of faith in America and its founding.

• Mitch Muncy, ed., The End of Democracy (Spence, 1997).

• Richard John Neuhaus, The Naked Public Square (Eerdmans, 1997).

• See the Fall 2002 issue of Findings, “Modern Government in a Postmodern World.”

• BreakPoint Commentary No. 040116, “Say It Ain't So, Dave: Evangelicals and the Cultural Mainstream.”

• Douglas Farrow, “Three Meanings of Secular,” First Things, May 2003, 18-20.

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Copyright (c) 2004 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

*

Peter Writes to Pilgrims — 1 Peter 1:1b–2a: The Addressees of His Letter « Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. Review, 1 Peter 1:1a: Peter an Apostle of 1 Jesus Christ …

1. Both having been sent by, and belonging to

2. Given Peter’s character and experience – and the fact that inspiration if God’s truth expressed through man’s personality – what truths would you expect to find in his letter due to …

a. … his denial or his failure when walking on the sea? « – an exhortation to be faithful, loyal, steadfast to Jesus »

b. … his having witnessed the transfiguration? « – confession of Jesus the Son of God; a recognition of the preciousness of our salvation that Jesus left heaven to work it out »

c. … his part in election of Matthias, his Pentecost sermon? « – extensive application of Old Testament verses »

d. … Jesus’ final commission to him personally? « – nurturing that would help young believers in an adverse world »

B. When and where was the letter written? These two questions are somewhat tied together.

1. 1 Peter 5:13 say, ‘she, the fellow-chosen church in Babylon, greets you … ‘ which we will discuss, Lord willing, when we come to it; but it has been interpreted both literally, of the city Babylon, and as code word for Rome that being commonly inferred from Revelation 17:5, ‘Babylon the Great’ with 17:18 ‘that great city which rules over the kings of the earth,’ yet Babylon was to be totally destroyed (eg., Isaiah 14, 21) as it was, so describing it as ruling over the kings of the earth was not then nor now true

2. Date of writing

a. in 44-45, which seems too early, given the presence of Silas or Silvanus, who was with Paul until about 51-52

b. In 54-55, at which time Paul was still in Asia, which raises the question why Paul is not mentioned. He seems to make extensive reference to Romans (AD 57) and even to Ephesians and perhaps Philippians (AD 60), suggesting…

c. In 62–64 following Acts 28:30-31. If Babylon is a politically expedient reference to Rome, so also would be omitting Paul’s name. Perhaps after 2 Timothy 4:11 written, which explains Mark’s presence with Peter (if this is at Rome).

C. The letters recipients, 1 Peter 1:1b–2a: … to those chosen 1, living as pilgrims in a foreign land 2, of a people scattered 3 in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia; according to Father God’s predetermined counsel 4, God the Holy 5 Spirit’s sanctifying work, and unto obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus Christ (God the Son) 5 :

1. Elect, select; from eklego, ‘to lay out, to gather out, to collect out’

2. Sojourners; those living alongside natives of a country

3. Greek, ‘Diaspora’ or dispersion

4. Greek, ‘prognosis’ or foreknowledge, predetermination

5. I have emphasized The Trinitarian involvement in these italicized words (‘God the Holy’, ‘God the Son’) but note that these are not in the Greek text

D. Who are these people?

1. It is fairly easy to determine where they lived; where are all the regions that are mentioned? « – in what is now Turkey »

2. People from the places mentioned

a. Acts 2:9–10; which of these were represented at Pentecost? « – Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia »

b. Acts 16:1; Timothy was from « – Lystra which is in Galatia »

c. Acts 18:2; Aquila was from « – Pontus »

d. Some churches in these places were those in « – Ephesus, Galatia, Colosse, 7 churches written to in Revelation 2–3 »

3. This word, ‘diaspora’ or dispersion, refers in

a. John 7:35 « – Greek-speaking(?) Jews living among Greeks »

b. James 1:1 to « – the 12 tribes (all Israel) scattered abroad »

4. Now, the hard question: to whom was Peter writing?

a. Israelites (Jews) of the dispersion living in this area

b. Israelites of the 10 tribes resettled in this area (2 Kings 17:6, 1 Chronicles 5:26; Halah, Habor, River Gozan placed by some in most easterly borders of Cappadocia)

c. Gentile proselytes living in this area

d. Equally to Jews and Gentiles of the churches in this area as the new Israel of God, the successor to the promises of God

e. As we look through this letter, we will note that (d) seems favoured; Peter and Paul had ministries to Jew & Gentile respectively (Galatians 2:7); show neither did so exclusively

5. In what ways and senses do these words describe us today …

a. … ‘Sojourners’ or ‘living as pilgrims in a foreign land’ (see Philippians 3:20)? « – this word is made of three parts: para (besides), epi (upon), and demos (people, inhabitants, dwellers); denizens, not citizens; we live in heaven but reside alongside those dwelling upon this earth-age »

b. … ‘of a people scattered’ (see Revelation 5:9) « – in a Christian country? … no, but part of a people-nation spread over all the earth »

6. Unto whose obedience, as in 1 Peter 2:7–8, 4:17, Romans 10:16? « – that of believers; those obey who accept God’s message; disobey, who reject it – note that these two cannot be separated. Yet, let us note that there is a prior obedience or faithfulness, that of Jesus the Son of God being ‘faithful to the one who appointed Him’ (Hebrews 3:2), doing His will (Luke 22:42; John 4:34, 5:30; Hebrews 10:7) »

7. Unto the sprinkling of whose blood (Hebrews 9:19, 21-22;12:24)? « – that of Jesus, Lamb of God, Mediator of the New Covenant, sprinkled to purify from sin; used in O.T. for the sprinkling of the waters of purification (Numbers 19:9-22, Hebrews 9:13) »

8. What are the parts played by each person of the Trinity?

a. God the Father « – active foreknowledge or foresight which is demonstrated by His will and counsel »

b. God the Holy Spirit « – sanctification, making holy; includes His setting apart and marking (sealing) true believers »

c. God the Son « – shedding His blood as required for sin to be forgiven »

9. What is the outcome of this Trinitarian activity? « – that the obedient, ie., true believers, should find themselves among the chosen of God, His own, special people – wonderful! »

Sermon in Current Controversies series, #3 Deuteronomy 28:1-13

SHOULD GOD BLESS AMERICA?

=========================

I. It's a grand old flag.

A. Route 80's flag overpass near Rockaway.

B. Patriotism runs high in our land.

C. Patriotism has a place.

D. Patriotism has its dangers.

II. All nations will answer to God.

A. Americans see ourselves as different - better.

B. The proof is in the pudding.

C. How God blesses a nation. Deuteronomy 28

III. In the world but not of it.

A. What we can support in America.

B. What we must challenge in America.

C. What we can change in America.

IV. God and Caesar.

A. Jesus defends the legitimacy of government.

B. The ultimate citizenship.

Peter Writes to Pilgrims — 1 Peter 2:13-17 –Living as Earthly Citizens

« My translation of 1 Peter is to convey the flavour of the Greek rather than to be for English fluency and literacy. – Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. Review

1. Outline, thus far:

a. 1:1–2 — Peter’s greeting

b. 1:3-5 – Praise and thanksgiving to God for salvation

c. 1:6-9 – The Testing of Faith

d. 1:10-12 – the Prophecy of Salvation

e. 1:13–16 – A Transformed Mind

f. 1:17-21 – The ransom price paid for us

g. 1:22-25 – Three subjects on truth

h. 2:1–3 – Feeding on the Word

i. 2:4–8 – Founded upon the Rock

2. Last week, Living as Heavenly Citizens, 1 Peter 2:9–12

a. Chosen to be God’s People (9–10): 9 But you are a chosen race a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession in order that you should publish abroad the excellencies of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light; 10 who then were no people, but now are the people of God, who had not received mercy but now have received mercy

i. Who is Peter describing in these verses? « – the body of NT believers, the church »

ii. What kind of language does he use in describing it? « – the OT language that was applied to God’s people, the children of Israel »

iii. Of what OT prophet’s life and message does he use in describing this fact? « – Hosea; see also Romans 9 »

b. So Live Suitably as being a Member of God’s People (11-12): 11 I beseech you as exiles and pilgrims, hold yourselves off from carnal desires which things make war against the soul; 12 keeping your going to and fro beautiful in the midst of pagan peoples in order that when someone slanders you as evil-doers, those looking upon your beautiful deeds should glorify God in the day of visitation.

i. What ‘DO NOT’ command is here? « – do not let the old nature, the carnal desires, control your lives »

ii. What ‘DO’ command is here? « – live a life that is an ornament to your testimony to Christ »

B. Subjection to Human Authority 1 Peter 2:13–14

1. 13 Be obedient to every institution pertaining to humankind for the Lord’s sake; whether to the king as supreme, 14 or unto governors as being sent for his {ie., the king’s} sake in order for the maintenance of justice {or, judgement} on doers of evil and commendation of the doers of good.

2. What is the unexpressed but understood limitation on this verse (Acts 4:19, ‘But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge;”’ (NAS))? « – the obedience due to God »

3. Why should we so obey (Romans 13:6, ‘For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.’ (NAS))? « – rulers are God’s appointed servants »

4. How is such obedience ‘for the Lord’s sake’?

a. By it we give H_________ « onour (or praise) » to God

b. By this our lives are T____________ « estimonies » to God

5. What ‘king’ does Peter mean (John 19:15b, ‘… Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”’ (NAS))? « – Caesar, probably Nero! »

6. What limit is to be put on the word ‘supreme’ (Daniel 4:32b, ‘… until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, …’ (NAS))? « – means ‘stand or have (rule) over); they are so in human terms, only ; God is the Supreme Being »

7. The word ‘governors’ is literally, ‘leaders.’ Whom of these did we meet in Acts? « – the Herods (Antipas, Agrippa), Pilate, Felix, Festus; » Where did these derive their authority (John 19:11a, ‘Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above …”’(NAS))? « – Caesar; ultimately from God »

8. See Romans 13:3, ‘For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behaviour, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same’ (NAS). Under normal circumstances, what should be our feelings toward such authority? … why? … what constitutes normal? « – terror or confidence? Discuss the situation of 1st century Christians. ‘The heathen were keen to charge Christians with any crime after Nero set the fashion.’ (Robertson) »

C. God’s Will in This matter 1 Peter 2:15

1. 15 because this is God’s will: by your doing good to muzzle the ignorance of unthinking persons,

2. We are often exhorted ‘to seek God’s will’ and the implication sometimes seems to be that it is something hidden away and hard to find. What is the clearly revealed will of God …

a. … in this verse? « – doing good so that no one can level sustainable charges against us (this is the meaning of the word ‘blameless’ in the qualifications for elders & deacons (1 Timothy 3:10, Titus 1:7) »

b. … in Ephesians 6:6, ‘not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.’ (NAS)? « – working honestly, full-heartedly »

c. … in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality’ (NAS)? « – our being set apart for God which includes (but is not limited to) personal purity »

d. … in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, ‘in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.’ (NAS)? « – gratitude to God in all the circumstances of life – ingratitude constitutes a complaint and thus rebellion against God (cf. Israel in the wilderness) »

3. The charge was levelled against the early church of their being irreligious (because they did not have idols). They were also accused of being ‘cannibals;’ what would have led to this, cf. 1 Corinthians 11:24, ‘and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”’ (NAS)? « – the language used in the ‘love feast’ or Lord’s supper; so we see how Satan twists truth »

4. What differentiated the Jews of Thessalonica from those of Berea, Acts 17:2–5, 10–12? How are we to deal with those who have the Thessalonian attitude? « – the former didn’t examine the teaching against the Scripture and so rejected it, while the Bereans checked it out. Our lives should silence the objections of those who refuse to listen to the truth. »

D. Christian Liberty and Servanthood 1 Peter 2:16–17

1. 16 as free-born, yet not having this ‘free-bornness’ as a cloak of evil, but as bond-slaves of God: 17 be respectful of all persons; love the brotherhood; fearfully reverence God; honour the king.

2. What was the Jews’ claim about freedom, John 8:33, ‘They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You shall become free’?”’ (NAS)? « – that they were a free people » – what was the truth…

a. … politically? « – they had been slaves in Egypt, Babylon, to the Persians, the Greeks, and even then, the Romans »

b. … in John 8:34, ‘ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”’ (NAS)? « – sin had enslaved those who would not accept Jesus as the Christ »

c. what freedom then does Jesus give, John 8:36, ‘if therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.’ (NAS)? « – from the guilt, power and punishment of sin »

3. How then should our Christian freedom (liberty) be used (1 Corinthians 8:9, ‘But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.’ (NAS), Galatians 5:13, ‘For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.’ (NAS)? « – in loving care for other believers »

4. When we submit in the fashion of today’s passage, what are we acknowledging? « – that through the redemption price paid by Christ on the cross, we belong to Him as bond-slaves »

5. ‘Be respectful of all persons’ – give examples … is it always easy?

6. ‘Love the brotherhood’ – what does this prove (John 13:34-35)? « – that we are disciples of Jesus Christ (‘by this shall all men …’) »

7. ‘Fearfully reverence God’ – what are some results of this (see Leviticus 25:17, ‘So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.’ (NAS); Proverbs 1:7a, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge …’ (NAS); 23:17-18, ‘Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always. Surely there is a future, And your hope will not be cut off.’ (NAS))? « – right living, wisdom, right thoughts and hope – discuss these »

As you know from watching the news, America is in a very difficult security and political situation right now because millions of people have begun to inhabit this country without obeying the guidelines regarding immigration. This complicated issue will not be easily resolved by our competing political parties, but one simple truth remains: To become a legal citizen of a foreign land, you must follow the rules.

Some of the people who have come to the United States in violation of the rules are honest, hard-working people who want to do their best and provide for their families. Other illegal immigrants are dishonest people who engage in criminal behavior. There are undoubtedly both good and bad people who reside in our country without permission. However, no matter your behavior or personality, you must follow the rules in order to truly be an American.

As we celebrate Easter, I am reminded that to inhabit the foreign land known as heaven, one must also follow the rules. You can’t enter the kingdom of heaven by skirting policy or sneaking across the border. The only way to become a citizen of God’s kingdom is by gaining permission through God’s Son. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

To enter the United States legally, you need a visa, which demonstrates that you have received proper permission to enter. To enter eternal life, you don’t need a document; you need a relationship, by faith, with the gatekeeper known as Jesus of Nazareth. This relationship demonstrates that you have surrendered your heart and life to the Creator and King of the Universe, the God who is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Some people who try to barge into heaven are honest, hard-working people who feel their efforts at holiness and generosity will be rewarded with citizenship. Others who try to sneak into heaven without that a relationship with Christ are dishonest or lazy or manipulative. Many people truly believe that the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to them. Each of these folks -- the honest and the dishonest, the generous and the greedy -- believe that God is obligated to allow them into heaven, even if they disobey His rules for entrance.

Please understand that none of us deserves entrance into God’s kingdom. You are sinful, I am sinful, and we deserve eternal separation from God. Heavenly citizenship is eternally valuable because it has been earned by the death, burial and resurrection of a carpenter from Galilee named Jesus. You and I did not and cannot earn this heavenly citizenship, but we can receive it as a gift by faith.

Do you know why, after all these years, that first Easter Sunday remains the most important day in human history? Because we all desire heavenly residence and because the actions of one sinless man opened the doors to citizenship for every other sinful person.

How can you and I become citizens of the foreign land known as heaven? In Romans 10:9-10, the Apostle Paul tells each of us, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

That verse serves as the gate-opening formula for heavenly citizenship, whether you and I like it or not. God the Father gladly offers to open the door to His kingdom to anyone who willfully place his or her faith and trust in God the Son.

Sermon In Family Concerns Series, #2. Philippians 3:18-21

LIVE FOR SOMETHING LARGER

=========================

I. Bragging rights.

A. New Jersey has something others do not.

B. It was more than a War of Independence.

C. Great ideas are the best motivators.

II. God's Kingdom should be the greatest motivator of all.

A. Fourth of July vs. Easter.

B. Every Christian has dual-citizenship.

III. You need a plan.

A. Ruts are easy to fall into.

B. Be intentional about your goals.

C. Areas for challenge.

IV. Failure is an option.

A. Great goals don't always pan out.

B. Make an effort anyway.

On the second Tuesday of November, I plan to step up to the electronic ballot table in my voting precinct and cast my vote for president of the United States.

I will do so prayerfully. I will do so carefully. I will do so gladly. I may do so sadly. But, Lord willing, I will do so. This has been my pattern during the years of my adult life and I see no reason to change.

Unlike billions of people on this globe who long to have freedom of expression and opportunity to influence government -- and billions more who lived across the millennia -- I am privileged to live in the land of the free. For now.

Most of us who will vote on Nov. 8 did not choose to live in America; our citizenship is a right of birth. We have a God-given and constitutionally-granted opportunity to help shape the destiny of our nation by selecting its top official, as well as numerous other elected leaders who will also be on the ballot. In some election cycles, I’ve been on the winning side. In others, I’ve been on the losing side. But whether winning or losing, I have sought to make my voice heard.

No one is more keenly aware than I of the dire straits in which we find ourselves in the 21st century, 2000 years since the death, burial and resurrection of our wonderful Savior and Lord.

Gone are the days when our leaders governed by Judeo-Christian principles shaped by a biblical worldview. Gone is the time when we had a cultural consensus on matters of good and evil, of right and wrong, of moral and immoral. Gone are the days when elected officials at every level of government truly believed that one day we will all stand before the Great Lawgiver and be judged by the Book ... or by the books (Revelation 20:12–15).

I find it interesting that one of the mightiest periods of miracles in Scripture occurred during one of the darkest times in Israel’s history. The kingdom was divided. The northern kingdom of Israel had followed the leadership of its first king, Jeroboam I, into consistent idolatry. Its gods were two golden calves. Its shrines were at Bethel and in Dan. Its priesthood was composed of the basest of people. The darkness only intensified when Ahab became king and brought his wicked queen to the capital city of Samaria.

1 Kings 16 contains an amazing passage: “Then as if following the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a trivial matter, [Ahab] married Jezebel ... and proceeded to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (vv. 31–33).

In this dark setting, the LORD still had a people. Obadiah hid 100 prophets of the LORD, providing shelter and provisions when Jezebel was slaughtering the LORD’s prophets (1 Kings 18). The LORD revealed to Elijah that He had a remnant of 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19). And, of course, there were thousands who proclaimed “The LORD, He is God” atop Mount Carmel when the LORD answered by fire (1 Kings 19).

Here is an intriguing fact. It was in this setting that the LORD instructed Elijah to anoint two kings and a prophet -- Hazael as future king of Aram, Jehu as future king of Israel and Elisha as Elijah’s successor. Though the anointings were to take place immediately, ascension to the throne for the two kings did not unfold for many years. And, when it happened, Elijah was long gone.

Elisha wept as he prophesied of all the evil Hazael would do to the people of God (2 Kings 8:11–12) when he became the Aramean king. Though Jehu became God’s instrument to execute the judgment of God upon Jezebel, the descendants of Ahab and the worshippers of Baal, he did not turn away from the idolatrous sins of his predecessor, Jeroboam I (2 Kings 10:28–31).

We hear a lot in the current election cycle about what a Christ-follower should do as the sprint to the White House begins. Some say a true follower of Jesus shouldn’t vote. Others advocate for a “lesser of two evils” approach. Still others hope a viable third party candidate will suddenly emerge. And, as always, some are already ardently committed to their party of choice, irrespective of who the nominee will be.

I suggest another option -- let’s approach the election with the “greater good” in mind. Why not ask the LORD to guide you to cast your ballot for the greater good for the nation? For the greater good for our Christian liberties. For the greater good for our children and their children and their children’s children. But, most importantly, for the greater good for God’s will and purposes for our nation and for us as His people.

Why would Elijah anoint wicked Hazael as king of Aram, who would later afflict God’s own people? Because God directed him to. Why would Elijah anoint Jehu, who would carry spiritual reform so far and no farther? Because God directed him to.

Regardless of who sat on the throne then -- or who sits in the seat of power now -- God is still in control. His will and purposes will not be thwarted by mere mortals.

God has blessed us to live in this golden age of democratic governance. The franchise is more than a mere right. It is a responsibility. It is a stewardship of trust, a stewardship that billions of earth’s inhabitants would love to have.

Do I as a Christ-follower have a right not to vote? Each of us must do what we feel led by God’s Spirit to do. But, we are neither unspiritual nor unscriptural if we choose to cast our ballot, bathed in prayer, and exercised with the earnest desire that God’s ultimate and unfailing purposes be fulfilled, whether for redemption of our sin-sickened society or for the rightful judgment of a nation that forgets God.

At the end of the day, we confess with those gone before that we are merely strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for our citizenship is in heaven. Our hope rests not in political parties, powerful personalities or prestigious positions. Our hope is in God.

As we approach the ballot box in our individual voting precincts this November, let each of us render unto God the loyal obedience He is due. But let us also render unto Caesar the elective influence God has graciously granted to us at this strategic juncture in history.

________

Frank S. Page is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.

The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our president?

Many of us have some disagreements with the president. As a conservative Christian, I believe unborn children have certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, and I wish President Obama would work to protect them. I believe freedom of conscience is the preeminent right in a civil society, and the administration’s incursions on religious liberty are troubling. I don’t plan to back down one bit on these matters, even as our forefathers Isaac Backus and John Leland relentlessly stood up to the founding generation of leaders on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity.

We are going to disagree with the president on some (important) things; there will be other areas where we can work with the president. But whether in agreement or disagreement, we can honor. Honor doesn’t mean blanket endorsement.

I am always amazed by those Christians who will dispute the command to honor, arguing that “kings” in our system are the people, and therefore we’re called to honor the Constitution but not elected officials. But the Scripture doesn’t command honor simply for the ultimate authority (which is, of course, ultimately God, in any case). Humanly speaking, the ultimate political authority in the New Testament context was the emperor. And yet, the Apostle Peter specifically calls the people of Christ not only to show submission to the emperor “as supreme” but also to “governors” (1 Peter 2:13-14). The Apostle Paul calls on the churches to pray and to show thanksgiving for “kings” (plural) and for “all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Paul imitated this when he showed due respect to the governor Felix, referring to him with the honorific title “his Excellency, the governor” (Acts 23:26), even as he appealed his way up through the political process of the Roman Empire of his time. Paul showed thanksgiving for Felix, despite his part in a system with which Paul disagreed at some important points, for his “reforms” for the common good.

Behind that is a more general command to “honor everyone” (1 Peter 2:17), to pray for “all people” (1 Timothy 2:1). We are to not only pay our taxes but give “respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7).

Christians, above all people, should pray for and show respect for our president and all of our elected officials. After all, unlike those who see politics as ultimate, we recognize that our political structures are important, but temporal, in view of the Kingdom of Christ. We don’t then need to be fomented into the kind of faux outrage that passes for much of contemporary political discourse. And, unlike those who see history as impersonal or capricious, we see behind everything a God who is sovereign over His universe.

So let’s pray for President Obama. Let’s not give ourselves to terms of disrespect, or every crazy conspiracy theory that floats across the Internet.

That doesn’t mean slavish obedience. In a democratic republic, the president and Congress govern by the consent of the governed. We appeal to our elected officials, and lobby them for the common good, expressing disagreement when we must. But we do this, as Paul does before Felix and Agrippa, with respect and honor, even as he seeks to persuade them of the need for religious liberty and as he preaches “righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment” (Acts 24:25).

However we voted in the election, let’s pray for God to bless our president. We can pray for him to be granted wisdom and health. We can pray that God would prosper his good ideas, and change his mind on his bad ideas. Moreover, we can teach our children to respect our president, starting with referring to him as “President Obama” or “our president,” not as “Obama” or “the guy our parents voted against” or what have you.

There’s a time to vote. There’s a time to campaign. And there’s a time to petition. But, through it all, let’s be the people who, even as we speak with conviction, are marked by kindness and respect. When we have to differ with President Obama, let’s do that, with backbone. But let’s make sure we do all this with honor, with respect, with prayer, and, most of all, with love.

Let’s render unto Caesar, as free people with natural rights. Because we know as believers that we will eternally say “Jesus is Lord,” we can as citizens temporally say, “Hail to the chief.”

1. Thou, by heav’nly hosts adored,

Gracious, mighty, sov’reign Lord,

God of nations, King of kings,

Head of all created things,

By the Church with joy confessed,

God o’er all, forever blest,

Pleading at Thy throne we stand;

Save this people, bless our land.

2. From all public sin and shame,

From ambition’s grasping aim,

From rebellion, death and war,

From destroying nature’s store,

From dread famine’s awful stroke,

From oppression’s galling yoke,

From the judgments of Thy hand:

Spare this people, spare our land.

3. Let our rulers ever be

Men that love and honour Thee,

Let the pow’rs by Thee ordained

Be in righteousness maintained;

In the people’s heart increase

Love of piety and peace:

Thus united, may we stand

One wide, free and happy land.

[Tune: “Martyn” or “St-George’s Windsor”]

What does it mean to live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom?

A. Seeing Heaven through the Lens of Faith. Faith does more than give

reality to that which we do not see; it makes us look differently at

visible things.

B. The Passport of Faith

C. The Passport of Pain

D. The passport of Pleasure

E. Renewed Citizenship

1. Citizens of Heaven count the cost.

2. Citizens of Heaven purify themselves.

3. Citizens of Heaven invest wisely.

F. Homesick for Heaven

#3871

*

The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our president?

Many of us have some disagreements with the president. As a conservative Christian, I believe unborn children have certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, and I wish President Obama would work to protect them. I believe freedom of conscience is the preeminent right in a civil society, and the administration’s incursions on religious liberty are troubling. I don’t plan to back down one bit on these matters, even as our forefathers Isaac Backus and John Leland relentlessly stood up to the founding generation of leaders on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity.

We are going to disagree with the president on some (important) things; there will be other areas where we can work with the president. But whether in agreement or disagreement, we can honor. Honor doesn’t mean blanket endorsement.

I am always amazed by those Christians who will dispute the command to honor, arguing that “kings” in our system are the people, and therefore we’re called to honor the Constitution but not elected officials. But the Scripture doesn’t command honor simply for the ultimate authority (which is, of course, ultimately God, in any case). Humanly speaking, the ultimate political authority in the New Testament context was the emperor. And yet, the Apostle Peter specifically calls the people of Christ not only to show submission to the emperor “as supreme” but also to “governors” (1 Peter 2:13-14). The Apostle Paul calls on the churches to pray and to show thanksgiving for “kings” (plural) and for “all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Paul imitated this when he showed due respect to the governor Felix, referring to him with the honorific title “his Excellency, the governor” (Acts 23:26), even as he appealed his way up through the political process of the Roman Empire of his time. Paul showed thanksgiving for Felix, despite his part in a system with which Paul disagreed at some important points, for his “reforms” for the common good.

Behind that is a more general command to “honor everyone” (1 Peter 2:17), to pray for “all people” (1 Timothy 2:1). We are to not only pay our taxes but give “respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7).

Christians, above all people, should pray for and show respect for our president and all of our elected officials. After all, unlike those who see politics as ultimate, we recognize that our political structures are important, but temporal, in view of the Kingdom of Christ. We don’t then need to be fomented into the kind of faux outrage that passes for much of contemporary political discourse. And, unlike those who see history as impersonal or capricious, we see behind everything a God who is sovereign over His universe.

So let’s pray for President Obama. Let’s not give ourselves to terms of disrespect, or every crazy conspiracy theory that floats across the Internet.

That doesn’t mean slavish obedience. In a democratic republic, the president and Congress govern by the consent of the governed. We appeal to our elected officials, and lobby them for the common good, expressing disagreement when we must. But we do this, as Paul does before Felix and Agrippa, with respect and honor, even as he seeks to persuade them of the need for religious liberty and as he preaches “righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment” (Acts 24:25).

However we voted in the election, let’s pray for God to bless our president. We can pray for him to be granted wisdom and health. We can pray that God would prosper his good ideas, and change his mind on his bad ideas. Moreover, we can teach our children to respect our president, starting with referring to him as “President Obama” or “our president,” not as “Obama” or “the guy our parents voted against” or what have you.

There’s a time to vote. There’s a time to campaign. And there’s a time to petition. But, through it all, let’s be the people who, even as we speak with conviction, are marked by kindness and respect. When we have to differ with President Obama, let’s do that, with backbone. But let’s make sure we do all this with honor, with respect, with prayer, and, most of all, with love.

Let’s render unto Caesar, as free people with natural rights. Because we know as believers that we will eternally say “Jesus is Lord,” we can as citizens temporally say, “Hail to the chief.”

The American people have decided that Barack Obama should have a second term. And, behind them, in the mystery of providence, God has decided that Barack Obama would be re-elected. So how should Christians respond to our president?

Many of us have some disagreements with the president. As a conservative Christian, I believe unborn children have certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, and I wish President Obama would work to protect them. I believe freedom of conscience is the preeminent right in a civil society, and the administration’s incursions on religious liberty are troubling. I don’t plan to back down one bit on these matters, even as our forefathers Isaac Backus and John Leland relentlessly stood up to the founding generation of leaders on behalf of religious freedom and human dignity.

We are going to disagree with the president on some (important) things; there will be other areas where we can work with the president. But whether in agreement or disagreement, we can honor. Honor doesn’t mean blanket endorsement.

I am always amazed by those Christians who will dispute the command to honor, arguing that “kings” in our system are the people, and therefore we’re called to honor the Constitution but not elected officials. But the Scripture doesn’t command honor simply for the ultimate authority (which is, of course, ultimately God, in any case). Humanly speaking, the ultimate political authority in the New Testament context was the emperor. And yet, the Apostle Peter specifically calls the people of Christ not only to show submission to the emperor “as supreme” but also to “governors” (1 Peter 2:13-14). The Apostle Paul calls on the churches to pray and to show thanksgiving for “kings” (plural) and for “all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

Paul imitated this when he showed due respect to the governor Felix, referring to him with the honorific title “his Excellency, the governor” (Acts 23:26), even as he appealed his way up through the political process of the Roman Empire of his time. Paul showed thanksgiving for Felix, despite his part in a system with which Paul disagreed at some important points, for his “reforms” for the common good.

Behind that is a more general command to “honor everyone” (1 Peter 2:17), to pray for “all people” (1 Timothy 2:1). We are to not only pay our taxes but give “respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7).

Christians, above all people, should pray for and show respect for our president and all of our elected officials. After all, unlike those who see politics as ultimate, we recognize that our political structures are important, but temporal, in view of the Kingdom of Christ. We don’t then need to be fomented into the kind of faux outrage that passes for much of contemporary political discourse. And, unlike those who see history as impersonal or capricious, we see behind everything a God who is sovereign over His universe.

So let’s pray for President Obama. Let’s not give ourselves to terms of disrespect, or every crazy conspiracy theory that floats across the Internet.

That doesn’t mean slavish obedience. In a democratic republic, the president and Congress govern by the consent of the governed. We appeal to our elected officials, and lobby them for the common good, expressing disagreement when we must. But we do this, as Paul does before Felix and Agrippa, with respect and honor, even as he seeks to persuade them of the need for religious liberty and as he preaches “righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment” (Acts 24:25).

However we voted in the election, let’s pray for God to bless our president. We can pray for him to be granted wisdom and health. We can pray that God would prosper his good ideas, and change his mind on his bad ideas. Moreover, we can teach our children to respect our president, starting with referring to him as “President Obama” or “our president,” not as “Obama” or “the guy our parents voted against” or what have you.

There’s a time to vote. There’s a time to campaign. And there’s a time to petition. But, through it all, let’s be the people who, even as we speak with conviction, are marked by kindness and respect. When we have to differ with President Obama, let’s do that, with backbone. But let’s make sure we do all this with honor, with respect, with prayer, and, most of all, with love.

Let’s render unto Caesar, as free people with natural rights. Because we know as believers that we will eternally say “Jesus is Lord,” we can as citizens temporally say, “Hail to the chief.”