The Times of Revolution

Patriotism

Engage

Thankful

This morning as our country celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence 244 years ago. I can’t help but to be thankful for the vision of the fathers of this country and that God has blessed me to be one of the 4% of the population of the world that lives in this country.

That said, I have to say up front that though many churches feel compelled to have a patriotic service on days such as today, I feel no such compulsion. The office of the pastor and the work of preacher is to preach the word and allegiance to the Kingdom of Heaven not to the kingdoms of men.

I once heard it said:

When you choose to preach something other than the word of God, you have decided — that thing, that you chose to speak on — is more important for your church to hear, than the word of God.

An Exception

This morning though, I see a parallel and some biblical truths that we can consider as we meditate on the history of this country which we are blessed to live in.

The title of this mornings message is: The Times of Revolution

Pray

An Attempt at Reconciliation

Tension

As you turn your bibles over to 1 Kings 12 I want to consider something.

The Parallel Narrative

The King had made the lives of the people very difficult with his rulings. So much so that the people mustered the courage and went to the king begging relief. They had thought that if they appealed to the Kings reasonableness that they would be heard.

Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be the case. The King redoubled his tyranny forcing the people into decision

Israel

The response of a despondent Israel after the King refused to grant their request, but in fact increased his tyranny is found in 1 Kings 12:16

1 Kings 12:16 KJV 1900

16 So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: To your tents, O Israel: Now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.

The Kingdom divided, The southern kingdom, Judah remained under the rule of the King, Rehoboam. A man named Jeroboam became the King of the Israel, the Northern Kingdom. And The divided kingdom remained in a state of war for the entirely of Rehoboam’s 17 year reign and off and on for 60 years.

England

The response of the colonists to the rejection of their pleading with the king begins:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

In other words: What portion have we in Britain?

And so under the increasing Tyranny of King George III, The colonies formed the United States and declared independence from Britain and remaining at war with them for the next 7 years.

Endowed by our Creator

Truth

Jereboam’s Apostasy

Jereboam was fulfilling the prophecy given to Solomon back in 1 Kings 11. See, Solomon had begun to worship false gods at the influence of his wives. And so God had told Solomon that the majority of his kingdom would be lost by his son.

But even though Jereboam was fulfilling the prophecy of God in leading a rebellion against King Rehoboam, he had no care as to if he was in the will of God or not.

He was concerned if you look with me in 1 Kings 12:26-27 that the people who left the northern kingdom to do sacrifice in Jerusalem would be turned towards obedience to God. He reasons starting in v26

1 Kings 12:26–27 KJV 1900

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

and look what he does to try and prevent the Israelites from rejecting him as we continue in v28

1 Kings 12:28 KJV 1900

28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

So he placed idols, golden calves for the people to worship and gave them glory for leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

The Colonists Faith

It was different for the colonists who rebelled against British rule. Don’t get me wrong, most of the founding fathers were deists, meaning that they believed in a higher power but didn’t give credence to the world of God or the divinity of Christ.

But, by and large, the colonists themselves were deeply commited to serving God and they were concerned that rebellion against the King of England would violate Romans 13. We get the summary in vs 1-2, please turn there with me.

Romans 13:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

How could they stage a revolution against King George III if the bible is explicit in requiring Christians to be subject to their higher powers? If resisting the King was resisting the ordinance of God and a recipe for damnation it was something they were going to have to take very seriously.

Modern Rebellion

With the political division being so great in our country, there is a temptation to simply ignore the laws and ordinances that we disagree with. What is heartbreaking to me is how casually some Christians have disregarded the authority of the higher powers in this country as if we didn’t have biblical instruction as to the seriousness of doing so.

But that heart of rebellion has been present for a long time.

Turn with me to 2 Peter 2:9 we will read through v10

2 Peter 2:9–10 KJV 1900

9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

The heart of some who is presumptuous, someone who is bold and arrogant is someone who is not afraid to speak poorly of authority.

And, Paul quotes Exodus 22:28 when he responds to the high priests in Acts 23:5

Acts 23:5 KJV 1900

5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

He is touching on this same point. As Christians we are commanded of God to be gracious towards the leaders of our country whether we agree with them or not.

New Testament Context

And believe me I get it, some years that is harder to do than others but why would need to be commanded to do something if it was something that came easily?

But let’s remember the context of these statements. At the end of the book of Philippians we stopped to consider who Nero was, and how great it was that Paul was able to have an impact for Christ even among the household of a tyrant. If Christians can be instructed to not speak evil of Nero, then certainly not speaking evil of our political leaders should be a light burden by comparison.

A Pledge of Allegiance

Truth

There are limits to Romans 13’s instruction to our command to be under the subjection of the civil government.

In Acts 5 the Apostles had been commanded to no longer teach in the name of God. And when they were brought before the council we the Apostles response in Acts 5:29

Acts 5:29 KJV 1900

29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

It doesn’t matter if we are talking about political authority or even those who might be in positions of authority in the church. If the dictates of man contradict the commands of God, we obey God — over man — every time.

And if it’s the culture of our country celebrating what the Bible is clear to define as immoral behavior let us echo Paul’s words in Romans 3:4

Romans 3:4 (KJV 1900)

..... let God be true, but every man a liar ....

Striking a Balance

John MacArthur came under fire several years ago when he made these comments:

People have mistakenly linked democracy and political freedom to Christianity. That’s why many contemporary evangelicals believe the American Revolution was completely justified, both politically and scripturally. They follow the arguments of the Declaration of Independence, which declares that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are Divinely endowed rights

He Continues

But such a position is contrary to the clear teachings and commands of Romans 13:1-7. So the United States was actually born out of a violation of New Testament principles, and any blessings God has bestowed on America have come in spite of that disobedience by the Founding Fathers.

But this is the same man who led Grace Church, where he pastors, to remain open, to not limit the number of people who could worship, and continue singing even as the State of California threatened to shut them down and fined his church daily.

Erik J. Segall, a law professor at he University of Georgia commented on Grace Church’s actions, he said:

We have rights from the Constitution, not the Bible, Biblical duties don’t trump our laws. Period. Full stop.

What a far cry this is from:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights

Let Freedom Ring

Application

It seems that when God created man he created in him a will for freedom. In the garden he gave man the authority to rule over the animals of the world but never over other men.

In Egypt

At the time when Israel was enslaved by Egypt we read in Exodus 2:23

Exodus 2:23 KJV 1900

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

Verse 24 tells us

Exodus 2:24 (KJV 1900)

24 And God heard their groaning ...

In the Kingdom

When Rehoboam increased his Tyranny over Israel saying:

1 Kings 12:11 KJV 1900

11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

He then sent his taskmaster to put the people in subjection and the people stoned the taskmaster to death in verse 18

The American Revolution

And while I can’t reconcile Romans 13 and the actions of the colonists I can observe that the heart of man cries out for freedom and resists Tyranny.

By the time that the Declaration of Independence had been penned the tension between the King and colonists had escalated to a point where reconciliation was unlikely.

First, and in response to unfair taxation the Sons of Liberty boarded a ship in Boston and dumped the tea overboard

In response the King passed what would become the Intolerable Acts, a series of 5 acts made by the king in retaliation against the colonies for their opposition:

The first act, The Boston Port Act closed the port of Boston until the colonists found a way to pay back the destroyed tea

Next, The Massachusetts Government Act, took away Massachusetts charter and removed all it’s authority for self government, putting them under complete control of Britain

The third, The Administration of Justice Act, required the trials of accused Royal officials to take place in Britain. George Washington referred to this as the murder act because it allowed a royal official to essentially get away with murder since most couldn’t afford the lost wages incurred by traveling to Britain to make their case.

The quartering Act required colonists to provide housing for soldiers even if no suitable unoccupied buildings were available. Meaning that people could be put out of their homes to quarter soldiers

Finally the Quebec Act was passed giving much of midwest over to the province of Quebec. Believe it or not, Ohio was once part of Quebec. The colonists found this particularly grievous as they saw it as establishing the state religion of Catholicism in the overwhelmingly protestant colonies.

A motto that was suggested but not used for the seal of the United States if something quoted from the Scottish reformer John Knox:

Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God

I have no doubt that the colonists were convinced that they were doing the work of God in their rebellion, but the scriptural gymnastics that took place to justify their actions is bit difficult to justify.

The Unalienable Truth

Action

Regardless, of the validity of the justification I can’t help but believe that God used the determination of our founding fathers for good.

We are celebrating 244 years of freedom today. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom to assemble. I have no doubt that our country has been blessed by the providence of God, despite our mis-steps.

This past year has seen attacks on the freedom of churches to assemble around the world. Pastors in countries as close as Canada have been jailed for refusing to allow the government to shut-down their meetings.

But, the first amendment to the constitution prohibits the state from infringing upon the free exercise of religion…So even in places like California, where efforts were made to shut down churches, those efforts had been ultimately unsuccessful.

Perspective

There is a perspective to be had here. The church is not the place to drum up patriotism. It’s not a platform for politics.

I had just responded to someone on this same subject, I replied that:

There are two principles we need to consider (we touched on the first at the beginning of the sermon)

Whatever we choose to preach other than the Word of God, we have decided is more important than the Word of God.

Any time we are glorifying man or mans creation in church rather than God we are engaging in idolatry.

But — I think it is very appropriate for us to be thankful for the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. We can have great respect and even admiration for the founding fathers of our country.

Primary though, I think we should be grateful to a God that — trough his providence — our time in history and the bounds of our habitation have placed us today in a country I find to be unparalleled, both in in our personal freedoms and in our freedom to worship our God.

Pray