So, this past weekend we celebrated the anniversary of our nation's birth - when America's founding fathers sent a colonial "up yours" to the motherland of England in the form of the Declaration of Independence. I really like the 4th of July - I like the food, the fireworks, and the fact that the holiday has yet to be commercialized to death. However, I think it's odd how most churches interact with the celebration.
It seems like Christians feel the need to commemorate the 4th, but it's not clear how the Christian faith and the birth of a nation - one that's not specifically Christian - intersect. The Declaration of Independence does have magic words that preachers cling to in order to draw out the sacredness and uniqueness of America... "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." Right there, in the text of our nation's first official document was an acknowledgement of God. And that makes America special, right?
That question about God's blessing being upon America has probably been debated since 1776. And I'm sure the discussion started much earlier actually - when the first European settlers came to these shores and found beautiful landscapes, abundant resources, and religious freedom - oh, and those pesky Native Americans already living here. A quick glance at the history books will show some amazing accomplishments for a young nation. In fact, if one believes that there is a God and that He takes an interest in human affairs, it would be hard to argue that this land hasn't been blessed by God, regardless of one's specific religious orientation.
Still, it seems that in the minds of many people, America's best days are behind her. Things have gotten a bit out of whack with our economy, with our culture, and with our security. No one knows what will happen in the next several decades, but things seem a little out of control these days. That very freedom that was once proclaimed in the Declaration of 1776 seems under fire from forces both within and without of our borders.
When we arrived at church this morning, it actually slipped my mind that this was Independence Day weekend - probably because there was no rousing chorus of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA." But then, when I saw the text for the morning's sermon, 2 Chronicles 7:14, I remembered. This gem of a verse has long been a staple in the pulpits of churches when it comes to patriotic events. If you're not familiar with the reference, it says this: "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (NIV).
Though the original recipients of the promise were the people of Israel - a people chosen by God to be a special nation of blessing to all the nations of the world - pastors often make the quick jump in applying it to Christians in America. The idea is simple: If we acknowledge our sins and pray to God for forgiveness, God will do his part and fix the problems in our country. Oh, and there's one other thing - the "turn from their wicked ways" part; we need to stop sinning - at least stop the really blatant ones.
This all sounds very good and very spiritual, right? The problem is that we need to understand what is truly wicked in the eyes of God. Yes, I realize that all sin is wicked, and breaking one of God's commandments at even one point makes us guilty. But still, we must understand what God expects of us.
There was once another group of people who took this 2 Chronicles 7:14 promise very seriously. They got a lot of bad PR in the Gospels; they're called the Pharisees. They too were very patriotic, wanting the best for the little nation of Israel. And Israel, like America, had fallen on some hard times. Many in the nation had economic woes, but their security situation was much worse than ours - they had been conquered by the Romans and lost their national sovereignty altogether. They were, for all intents and purposes, slaves in their own land.
But the Pharisees remembered God's promise to heal their land if they would just turn back to Him. And they got busy with the task: they had laws for worship, laws for the Sabbath, laws for eating and drinking, laws for mourning, laws for giving, laws for marriage and relationships, and laws for going to the bathroom. You name it; they had a law for it. These people were very serious about being holy. Except for one important thing - the most important thing, actually: they forgot about the heart of God.
As a result, they often missed the point of their outer purity. And worse than this, they lost all sense of what it means to love one's neighbor. They instead treated their neighbors with contempt. Anyone who was not as "sinless" as they were was considered unclean, and they were blamed as the reason God had seemed to abandon them. Remember, God had promised to heal the land of Israel if the people who were called by His name would turn from their wicked ways. Yet, here were prostitutes, tax collectors, and criminals in their midst. No wonder God had not yet delivered the nation of Israel.
Jesus had some harsh words for the Pharisees of his day, and I suspect he would have some harsh words for many of us today. Every time we take the easy path of the Pharisees, instead of the loving path of the Good Samaritan, we proclaim religion, rather than the heart of God. Every time
we say that the problem with this country is the ____________ - you can fill in the blank with any group you like - we miss the example Jesus left us. He didn't avoid the tax collectors or prostitutes, and he didn't keep his distance from the poor and the diseased - those considered stricken by God. Instead, he embraced them.
If you research the history of Israel, you'll find that the Pharisees failed. They never did bring the people around to a place of "good enough" holiness, so that God would deliver them from the Romans. In fact, the nation of Israel was lost for 1,900 years, and though it's borders have been restored (to a certain degree), there is hardly lasting peace. Jesus, however, succeeded. He brought a new nation - a kingdom - that began in his ministry and continues to this day. This kindgom exists without the threats of terrorism, recession, or violence. The good news of the kingdom is that it exists without physical borders and is not dependent on the personal and external holiness of its citizens - because the kingdom of God reflects its King. If we know Christ, our hope is not in the healing of our land; it's in the citizenship that we've been given in a land that needs no healing.
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