What Makes Us Free?

William Stout

Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

0 ratings

· 7 views

Notes

Transcript

John 8:32 NKJV

32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

John 8:36 NKJV

36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

2 Corinthians 3:17 NKJV

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Introduction

God Has Blessed America

Fitting to celebrate His goodness to us

I have heard many people say that we should not be celebrating the Fourth of July this year becasue of all the divisions in this country

Some people think that it is somehow only something that white people should share in or celebrate

that somehow the history of slavery and racial discrimination should be cause to despise our heritage, our history and our nation

I have even heard some of my Christian ministry friends say and publish statements that America is founded on a bad foundation of stolen land and slavery and racial oppression

It makes me sad to hear and see such statements. I believe they are a gross distortion of the truth and perhaps even an offense to God

This nation that we live in is still the greatest nation on the earth. Even with all of our problems and history

the things that people point to as a reason to be ungrateful for God’s greatness here, are actually reasons to celebrate, if they will look deeper at the story.

We should celebrate all the good that we have to share in this great land

First, lets consider the foundation that so many people today will say is flawed.

this country’s foundation goes back the Mayflower compact. An agreement of self government that was unique and new in history.

in it they declared their purpose to be , the Glory of God and the furtherance of Christianity

They also made a self governance agreement where they each had a voice.

this idea grew into principles that lead to other founding documents.

then there was the Declaration of Independence. A document unlike anything that had ever been done before

in it they declared that All men are created (yes created), equal

that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

Now the men who signed this document knew what they were saying. They knew that they were saying “all men”, not all white men”

there was a great deal of debate of that very issue, and at the end of the day, they wrote all men

they knew that if this thing worked, those words would be used later to address this slavery issue, and they wrote it anyway, and agreed anyway, becasue the alternative was that they all were subject to England....

This is the foundation - and it was good

Slavery existed all over the world in 1776, but the document that was used to found this nation was a solid foundation, upon which others built an abolition movement, and they were white people. Building on an amazing foundation of goodness, truth, and justice.

Yes, there were a great many problems and evils in America then and now, but they were not there becasue America was bad, they remained in spite of the greatness of America, because men are bad.

And what of the accusation of stolen land?

Yes, it is true that many of the Indians were treated unfairly.

it is also true that many of them were treating each other savagely long before the white came here

it is also true that the Aztec nations had more human sacrifices than just about any other group in history

It is also true that there is no land that was not inhabited by one people then another., Look at all the nations and regimes that have changed in Europe, Asia and Africa long before America was founded.

In fact, it was God that gave the Land of Israel to Abram and his descendants and sent Moses and Joshua to thrust out the people that were living there

God said that this was not becasue Israel was so good, but the people there were so bad

He also said to take heed, lest f we become bad, He cause the land to vomit us out.

So yes, it is true that many Native American were displaced, they were not allowed to leave the land undeveloped and bare, which is what they insisted on doing. they were not allowed to prevent development, any more than the white people who didn’t want to give up their homes for the new hospital were allowed to prevent that

It may be the price of having a great civilization which has blessed so many, protected so many, empowered so many, and given liberty and freedom to so many

But, even though it is true that these Native Americans were forced to allow the development, they were also allowed to participate in it. They were allowed to become full citizens of this nation, as several of my own ancestors have.

I did not have any ancestors who owned slaves. On my mother’s side, my Great grandfather came over from Italy around 1900, long after slavery had ended. On my fathers side, they immigrated from Europe in the lat 1800’s. Some of My father’s people married Cherokee Indian women, my grandmother’s maiden name was Roundtree, and Indian name. Her mother’s maiden name was Meadows, also and Indian name. I am thankful that they became part of this great thing that I was born into, in spite of the pain and death and racial prejudice that my Grandmother and great grandmother and their descendants might have gone through. I am glad that i was not born on a reservation, or in a Tee Pee on some open prairie becasue America was never allowed to happen.

Because of the great foundation that we have built this nation on, there is not a different level of citizenship for one race than another. And even today, the Indians who have chosen to stay on reservations have the benefits of sovereignty there, while still holding the benefits of citizenship here.

So no, I do not believe the accusation of stolen land is appropriate. I rather believe that it was divine providence of God that led us to this land and his bountiful blessings in it.

And what of the outcome?

In criticizing a thing, you ought to consider the alternatives as well.

as I said, the alternative to my ancestors coming here from Europe, seeking opportunity, and the alternatives to those choosing to leave the reservations, were not so good.

there were famines in Europe, in places like Ireland, Italy. There were also great troubles in China that caused the Chinese to migrate. Many Indians became quite happy with their lives in this society.

but before there was these United States, the Crow and Apache and Sioux and others used to murderously and savagely slaughter one another. They often had wars among themselves, and without law, without order, and without justice. Who was able to inflict enough harm was the victor. They offered no consolation to the losers, often scalping women and chidlren

It was not some grand Utopian place of peace and harmony in which they lived. where the buffalo roamed.

And even Africa. There are some pretty terrible problems in many places in Africa today.

AS I read of the child soldiers that are forced to kill in places like South Sudan and Uganda, I am sometimes in shock.

I thank God that my wife’s family was not born there.

Yes, we have had a terrible problem with racial bigotry and oppression.

But that is not becasue America is bad. That is becasue men are bad.

But it is the great foundation of this great nation that causes men to change those evils and challenge them

it is this great foundation, and Godly Character that brought about the abolition of slavery, at greater cost to white peopple than anything else in the history of this nation

that brought about the Civil rights act of 1964, and that compelled white men and women to march with MLK

there are no other nations that don’t also face issue with bigotry and hatred, and prejudice

have you heard of the things that china does to the Muslims and the Christians?

Have you heard of the cast system in India, although it has been outlawed for decades it is still practiced across the nation

heard of the Dhalit people of India, the untouchables?

And so many other nations are filled with like evils, becasue, according to the bible, the imagination of men’s hearts is continually to do evil

in fact, all have turned aside, there is none righteous. No, not one!

Yet, we are here, in this place where we have such a foundation of Godliness, and justice, that good men are still able to challenge evil publicly, change sill comes, becasue of this great foudnation. And Godly men can prevail to do good - for now. You must work while ti is light, the darkness is coming.

So, we Should Celebrate the great Gift that God has Given us here in the USA

Yes, I will still stand for the national anthem. I still love the idea of freedom that we are founded on, and I look to those very ideas as the basis to challenge racism and all injustice.

God Bless The USA!