The U.S.A. celebrates July 4, Independen Day. Now, this is not unique to the USA. For example, on the same month France celebrates Bastille Day, July 14; South Africa calls theirs “Freedom Day” and in other countries Constitution Day, named after their own unique set of national laws, I guess.
But what about your Christian Constitution Day, your Christian Independence and Freedom Day? The day you renounced your allegiance to both home and country for the one and only eternal coming home and country, the Kingdom of God. After all, this is what our father in the faith did so long ago:
Heb 11.8 Abraham had faith and obeyed God. He was told to go to the land that God had said would be his, and he left for a country he had never seen. 9 Because Abraham had faith, he lived as a stranger in the promised land. He lived there in a tent, and so did Isaac and Jacob, who were later given the same promise. 10 Abraham did this, because he was waiting for the eternal city God had planned and built.
The faith of Abraham shows not only a focused mindset but a willingness to take decisive actions that go beyond national and even familial ties.
Jesus reminds his followers of the price of faith repeatedly throughout the NT.
Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
In the parallel account of Matthew 10.37 Jesus says that anyone who loves parents or children “more than me” cannot follow him. And Jesus himself certainly practiced what he preached. For example, in Mark 3 his mother and siblings are trying to take Jesus away because they thought he was demonized, i.e., insane!
Yet, later Jesus asks:
Mark 3.33 “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 3.34 Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 3.35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” NLT
So what happened?
How did Christians forget about their Christian independence Day?
When did Christians put on national hats and put down their personal crown of thorns and cross? And why did churches start looking, sounding, acting like the world and stopped imitating the one they call lord and master?
Gregory Boyd, a Christian pastor and writer, has said The God Who kills the most people is the greatest God. Boyd said this is how pagans throughout history think. But I say this is how the majority of today’s self-professing Christians think!!
John MaCarthur in his aptly titled Why Government Can’t Save You: An Alternative to Political Activism (pp 6-7), rightly noted that:
Over the past several centuries, 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 argumentation of the Declaration of Independence, which declares that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are divinely endowed rights. Therefore those believers say such rights are part of a Christian worldview, worth attaining and defending at all costs, including military insurrection at times. 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 that God has bestowed on America have come in spite of that disobedience by the Founding Fathers.
Boyd adds in his best-selling book, The Myth of a Christian Nation (p 95):
When kingdom-of-God citizens aspire to acquire Caesar’s authority to accomplish “the good,” we sell our kingdom birthright for a bowl of worldly porridge (Gen. 25:29-34 Esau selling his birthright, aka kingdom citizenship). To the extent that we pick up the sword, we put down the cross. When our goal as kingdom people becomes centered on effectively running a better (let alone Christian) version of the kingdom of the world, we compromise our calling to be faithful to the kingdom of God.
