What's Right about America?
Psalm 33:12
One of the most important days in the life of our nation each year is Independence Day. We celebrate it on July 4. Many don’t realize the legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain actually occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a committee with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4.
A day earlier John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:
"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forever more."
Adam's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of congress.
In a similar way, I think our observance of our nation’s independence is sometimes misguided. Often we, as preachers take this opportunity to talk about all that’s wrong with America. It’s easy to do. We could easily list all that is wrong with our country. It is the favorite pastime of many. We could mention her many sins and shortcomings and failures and problems. But that is far from what John Adams had in mind when he wrote to his dear Abigail! He had in mind that we celebrate our nation’s birth and freedom. And that we honor our nation’s God.
So this morning, rather than talking about what is wrong with America, we need to remember what is right with America. America is still the greatest nation on the face of this earth. No other nation in modern history has been blessed as has America.
Katherine Lee Bates recognized what was right with America. In 1893 a group of teachers decided to visit Pike's Peak, elevation 14,000 feet. Katherine wrote of that trip, "We hired a prairie wagon. Near the top we had to leave the wagon and go the rest of the ways on mules. I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy: All the wonder of America seemed displayed there with the sea-like expanse.
It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country, spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of the hymn floated into my mind. When we left Colorado Springs the four stanzas were penciled into my notebook."
What song? America, the Beautiful.
You want a reminder of what's right with America? Listen to her words:
"O beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain,
for purple mountain's majesties,
Above the fruited plain
America, America, God shed His grace on thee;
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea."
What's right with America? The Psalmist said it like this in Psalm 33:12, "Blessed is the nation, whose God is the Lord." I think we can safely say, America is right in her
I. Founding
Pericles built a civilization on culture, and it failed. Caesar built a civilization upon power, and it failed. The Medo-Persians had a great nation, but they drank their way to doom in one drunken orgy after another. That civilization came crashing to the ground, and they perished from the face of the earth.
Egypt flourished under Joseph, but four hundred years went by and the people had forgotten Joseph and his God and Egypt went down.
Greece, under Alexander, conquered the world, but he could not conquer himself and died at 33 years of age.
Rome was the proud ruler of the world, but luxury and lust was at the center of her life, and she too perished.
But the founders of America were overwhelmingly Christian. Of the 55 colonial delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, 52, 94.5%, were members of Christian churches. Only 3 of them considered themselves to be deists.
When you study the 17,000 written works of the framers of the Constitution, 34 percent of their quotations came from the Bible. The two most quoted non-biblical writers were European legal writers with clear biblical views of law and government.
George Washington, the father of our country, said, "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible." While revisionists would say that Washington was not a Christian, the truth is that he was converted and baptized by immersion by a Baptist preacher during the revolutionary war.
Patrick Henry said, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity and freedom of worship here."
James Madison said, "We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
The Preamble to the Constitution states that each person is "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Thomas Jefferson began the practice of appropriating money for missionaries to the Indians, a practice that continued well into the 19th century. During the time of Jefferson, Bibles were placed in the public schools in Washington, D.C. at Congress's expense.
As you walk up to the steps of the Supreme Court, you can see a row of statues of various lawgivers, each one turned to face the one in the middle, which is Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
As you enter the Supreme Court, the oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on the lower portion of each door. The wall above where the justices sit has a display of the Ten Commandments.
There are Bible verses etched in stone all over federal buildings and monuments in Washington, D.C. Every session of Congress begins with prayer by a paid chaplain whose salary has been paid by taxpayers since 1777.
The first Supreme Court Chief Justice, John Jay, said, "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."
On the aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument are two words: "Laus Deo." You can't see them, but they are placed at the highest point. Translated the phrase means, "Praise Be To God."
From the top of the monument you can see for 69 square miles. The city is divided into four major sections forming a perfect cross: White House to the North, Jefferson Memorial to the south, Capitol to the East, Lincoln Memorial to the West.
In the cornerstone of the Washington Monument is a Bible. The walls of the capitol dome have these words: "The New Testament according to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
In the rotunda of the Capitol is the figure of the crucified cross. A Latin phrase translated, "God has smiled on our undertaking," is inscribed on the Great Seal of the United States. Micah 6:8 is on the walls of the Library of Congress.
The greatness of the founding of America is recorded in the ink of her involvement with God--from the Pilgrims to Jonathan Edwards, to the Great Revivals of the 1700's and 1800's. While the Puritans have been criticized as prudes we are a blessed nation because we were founded by people who sought a land where they could freely worship the true and living God.
The Declaration of Independence which we celebrate this weekend, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were founded on a biblical world view. The Declaration of Independence correctly states our liberty comes from "the laws of nature and nature's God."
When the Continental Congress, faced with great problems and difficulties, knew not which way to turn, Benjamin Franklin called the members of the congress to fall upon their knees and pray.
A picture of Moses was upon the first coin that was made in America, and today we still have on our money the grand old words, "In God We Trust."
Think about that picture of General George Washington at Valley Forge. His little army was almost starving and freezing to death. Everything they held dear was at stake. They were fighting against humanly insurmountable odds--but out in the snow George Washington was down on his knees in prayer.
This is the spirit that built America. America is right in her foundation. Many American statesmen have acknowledged this truth.
Woodrow Wilson our 28th president said this:
"America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy scriptures."
Gerald Ford, our 38th President, quoting from a 1955 speech by Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 5, 1974, said "without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help it will continue to be."
WHAT MAKES A NATION GREAT?
Not serried ranks with flags unfurled
Not armored ships that gird the world
Not hoarded wealth nor busy mills,
Not cattle on a thousand hills.
Not sages, wise, nor schools, nor laws,
Not boasted deeds in freedom's cause
All these may be, and ye the state
In the eye of God be far from great
That land is great which knows the Lord,
Whose songs are guided by His Word
Where justice rules 'twixt man and man,
Where love controls in art and plan;
Where breathing in his native air
Each soul finds joy in praise and prayer
Thus may our country good and great
Be God's delight--man's best estate
Alexander Blackburn
America is right in her founding. And I would say America is right in her
II. Freedoms
All of the freedoms we enjoy today we owe to our founding fathers and those who’ve defended them down through the years. There is an anti-American trend today in America. It is anti-patriotic and it demeans the sovereignty and the freedom of the United States.
There are those who would like to revise history to undermine the character and the integrity of our founding fathers, saying they weren't who we know they were. They would have us to believe that they weren't motivated by principle, but by property and greed and desire for wealth.
But that is not true. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence had far more to lose than to gain! They were motivated by a quest for freedom. Most were very wealthy already. Twenty-four were lawyers. Nine were rich land-owners or rich farmers. Eleven were merchants; the others were physicians, ministers, and politicians. All but two who signed had families. They were educated men of standing in their communities.
They felt there was something more than security: Freedom! Many of the signers paid the ultimate price for their boldness for freedom's cause. They were pursued, they were captured, they were tortured, and many died.
Young people you need to know when you look at this Flag that these red stripes are bars of blood, a price paid so that we could be free.
God has given us good government. We have a free democracy. May we never have a dictatorship in America. We have tasted freedom through the years, and we must never surrender that freedom to any one man or group of men. There are no concentration camps in America, no secret police, and no confiscation of a man's business. We have no Siberian wastelands where an innocent man is sent away to die. We have a free democracy where every man has a vote and a voice.
God has given us freedom of speech and press. I can preach the word of God without fear and without favor and the pulpit cannot be muzzled. A person can criticize the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, and is absolutely free to do so. (unless it’s General McChrystal!)
Try living in China and speaking out against the leaders and the government and you will be in peril for your life. In the communist state preachers are placed in prison and persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.
Before Gorbachev passed the freedom of religion mandate in Russia, it was a crime even to own a copy of God's Word. Years ago, on May 1st, 1937, communist leader Stalin issued a decree that declared there must not remain in the territory of Soviet Russia a single house of prayer to God, and the very conception of God will be banished from the boundaries of Russia."
Putin re-established in Russia the control of the press by the state. America has religious freedom. We must appreciate how great that is, and the blood that was shed to give it to us.
An humble Baptist preacher by the name of Roger Williams was so persecuted for his belief that he fled with a few followers to the land which is now Rhode Island. There he founded the city of Providence, which is just another name for God. In the constitution of that state he wrote down the decree that every man should be permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.
Then when Thomas Jefferson and others were forming the Constitution of the United States, they borrowed this principle and inserted in that sacred document called The Bill Of Rights, an undying law prohibiting Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
This does not mean the separation of the Church and State; that phrase was coined by Jefferson in a letter he wrote to the association of Baptist churches in 1802. He wrote it to emphasize that no religion should be given preference over another religion.
The phrase separation of church and state has been perverted to intimidate preachers and believers from being active in the political life of our nation. That phrase does not appear and has never appeared in our Constitution.
If they meant separation of church and state, why did George Washington take the oath of office with his hand on the Bible? And every president since then has done the same. Separation of church and state does not mean that the voice of the church should be silenced. Separation of church and state does not mean separation of the state from God.
America is right in her freedom. This is our country, the greatest country on the face of the earth and we love it! God gave it to us, our forefathers fought and bled and died to make it what it is today and we are willing to do the same to keep it, " the land of the free and the home of the brave."
This is a country where every person is given a chance to succeed, no matter their background. If you work hard, if you play by the rules, you have a chance in America to develop your talents and abilities to their greatest heights.
One of the most vivid examples of this is President Obama. He was a boy who did not grow up in wealth and privilege. His father left home before he was old enough to really know him.
Most of his youth was spent in the home of his grandmother in Kansas. Yet he was able to finish High School and attend Harvard University and graduate from Law School.
He moved to Chicago where he became active in politics. Eventually he was elected to the Senate of the United States by the voters of Illinois. After serving less than one term in the Senate he was elected the first African American President of the United States in history.
There is no other nation on earth where he could have achieved what he has in such a short time. America is right in her freedoms and she has been good to all of us.
And here is a final thing: America is right in her founding, and her freedoms, and she can be right in her
III. Future
We can blame America's problems on the politicians, on Hollywood, or on the pagan culture in which we live.
But the future of America is dependent upon the people of God.
II Chronicles 7:14 says, "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 I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." Notice several things about this passage.
A. The People God Has
God says, "If my people, who are called by my name." Today, the church is the body of Christ. We are God's people.
Vance Havner wrote these words: "There is a striking parallel between the condition of the country and the church. As the Constitution means little to Americans today, so too the Bible means little to the average church member. Church members generally are as ignorant of the Bible as are Americans of the Constitution. Too many people within our borders are Americans in name, but un-American in their hearts and anti-America in their conduct. The church has a corresponding ailment, Christians in name, but in reality are only once-born children of Adam.
The American spirit is sadly eroded today by distrust, by corruption in high places, by moral decay. It won't be restored merely by flag-wavings and drum-beatings and Fourth of July speeches. It may not be possible to raise a new crop of patriots in such shallow soil. It may take disaster to make us realize what we had. There is also a Christian spirit in the Church that has that need."
There is a great need for God's people to recognize our responsibility as keepers of the flame of faith and it is we who must first turn to the Lord.
B. The Pride God Hates
The Bible says that God is near to the contrite but he resists the proud. To humble ourselves means we recognize our dependence on God and to confess that we have sinned against God. Pride means living your life for self without regard to what God would have you to be.
If we won't humble ourselves, then God will do it for us, and believe me God knows how to do it. The Lord may use our current economic crisis to humble us and teach us that once again we must turn to Him. When Israel became prideful God always humbled them.
C. The Prayer God Hears
The verse says if God's people will humble themselves, and pray and seek God's face he will hear from heaven. Our greatest weapon against the ungodliness that has our nation in its arsenal is prayer. Seeking God's face means to turn away from every human solution and turn to God for the answer.
Too often we seek the hand of God rather than the face of God. When we seek God's hand we come asking God for things. When we seek God's face we will discover what the Father asks of us. We will seek to know and do His will, not our will.
D. The Promise God Honors
God says, "I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land."
I believe that America can have a bright future, but we need the healing of our land." Our land is in need of healing today. We have racial strife, the oppression of the poor and the weak, corruption in government, and greed in our economic system. It all begins with you and me. You see the solution is not in the White House, the State House or the Court House, but in God's house and your house and my house!
Grace Crowell wrote these words:
So long as there are homes to which men turn
At end of day,
So long as there are homes where children are
Where women stay,
If love and loyalty and faith be found
Across these sills
A stricken nation can recover from
It's greatest ills.
So long as there are homes where fires burn
And there is bread,
So long as there are homes where lamps are lit
And prayers are said:
Although a people falters through the dark
And nations grope
With God Himself back of these little homes
We still can hope!
