This morning we’re dwelling on the blessings of God, and I think we have to acknowledge that as Americans and American Christians, many of the blessings we have known have come to us because of the nation that God has allowed us to live in. It is the vehicle through which many of our blessings have come, and we live the lives we live today largely because of where we live in the world. I don’t know about you, but I am grateful to be an American, and I’m thankful for how God has used this country through the years. This weekend marks a very special milestone for our nation, celebrating two hundred and fifty years, and I’m thankful for God graciously preserving us down through the years.
Our country has not been perfect. In fact, it has been far from perfect since the very beginning, wrapped in controversy, disagreement, and disunity, with constant battles fought either with words or with weapons throughout our history. If we’re honest this morning, it is God’s grace and God’s grace alone that we still stand here today, two hundred and fifty years later. As Christians living in the United States, we live with a very real tension, because we are American citizens who are grateful for the blessings we experience, and yet we also see the good and the bad that we face in our nation. While our country may have been founded on Christian ideals and principles, I would not even dare call our nation a Christian nation today.
We are facing a lot of brokenness, but as Christians we also recognize that our ultimate allegiance is not to a flag. It is not to a king or a president. Our ultimate allegiance and alliance lies in heaven with the God who created and rules all nations, the one to whom one day every knee shall bow. This morning I was tempted to just mention this milestone in passing and move on, but I felt like today we needed to slow down and take a moment to talk about where we are, to be grateful for some things, and to address the things we see going on around us, so that we can approach both the blessings and the frustrations from a biblical and godly perspective.
For just a few moments, I want to give you four reminders for those of us who are citizens of two different nations, who find our allegiance split in two different directions, although ultimately we realize that one allegiance controls the other. These are not new things. They are not new information, but they are things that will help frame what is going on around us. They will help frame the celebration we are bringing to a close, they will help frame the issues we face ahead of us, and hopefully they will give us some guidance as we live as pilgrims in a strange land.
Our Nation Was Established by God
The first reminder I want to lay before you, as we consider our nation and where we are today, is that we need to remember our nation was established by God. That’s where we turn to Romans chapter thirteen, where Paul, speaking to the Roman church, says, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” He is speaking here of the governments in charge, both the local, the regional, and ultimately the empire. “For there is no power but of God,” he writes. “The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” He goes on to explain that rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil, so that if we do good we need not be afraid of the power, for it is the minister of God to us for good. But if we do evil, we should be afraid, “for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” He tells them to pay tribute — that is, to pay their taxes — for the authorities are God’s ministers, and to render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Paul was writing to the Roman Christians, who found themselves in a very precarious situation, under a great empire that at the time ruled almost the entire known world. The Roman Empire was wicked, greedy, self-centered, and self-protecting, formed to serve those at the top. The Roman citizens enjoyed the blessings of that society — great infrastructure, clean drinking water flowing through aqueducts, roads they could travel — and they lived very good and comfortable lives, much like we do today. But the rulers were not kind to the Roman citizens, and specifically not to the Christians, and by the time Paul was writing this letter, the church was already beginning to experience persecution. Paul himself would ultimately be beheaded at the hands of the Roman emperor of his day.
They faced a nation that was wicked, sinful, and idolatrous, one that had reached a point where in order to do business or live comfortably, you had to go every day and put incense on an altar to the Roman emperor. If you did not do that, you did not receive the certificate that gave you freedom to buy and sell and conduct business within the empire, which meant that if you wanted to make money or buy food, you had to commit idolatry to do it. Christians found themselves asking how they could serve the Lord while living within such a wicked government, and Paul’s answer was that while our allegiance is to the Lord above all else, we need to be reminded that the nation we live in — even the Roman Empire itself — was ordained by God. There is no power that is not of God.
In Romans chapter nine, just a few chapters earlier, Paul had already made this point while discussing God’s sovereignty and God’s election, pointing to Pharaoh as an example. Pharaoh was a wicked man, an enemy of the Lord who did not respect or serve him, and yet God said, “I rose Pharaoh up, that my glory might be seen.” God was the one who put him in power, because at the end of the day God had purposes he wanted to fulfill that required Pharaoh to be exactly where he was. God is not the author of sin, but God can use our sin to produce his ultimate glory, and Paul’s point to the Romans was that the wicked empire they lived in did not get there by accident — God established that land and allowed it to grow and succeed.
We find this pattern all throughout Scripture. Egypt was built by God. Babylon was built by God. Assyria was built by God, and God told Habakkuk as much. Habakkuk had looked around at the wickedness of Israel and asked God when he was finally going to do something about it, and God told him that his plan was one Habakkuk wouldn’t believe — but he told him anyway. God was raising up the Assyrians to come in and bring judgment on his own wicked people, because he had a purpose for that nation, and because he was the reason it had prevailed.
Folks, we need to understand today that the United States did not get here by accident. With all of its flaws and all of its blessings, the nation we live in today is not the work of man, and it is not even here because of something we did or did not do. This nation is here because God wanted it here to serve his ultimate purposes. The good things that have flowed out of the American story have been the work of God’s hand, and the issues and the brokenness of this nation have been used by God for a sovereign purpose. We can be confident this morning that wherever our nation has come from, wherever it is going, and whatever part we have to play in it, all of it is the work of a sovereign God who is working out his plans and purposes in this world. That matters for you this morning because you can take comfort in knowing God is in control — you can thank God for the good, you can trust God in the bad, and whatever the next two hundred and fifty years bring, we know it is the hand of our Almighty God.
Our Nation Has Been Blessed by God
The second reminder for us this morning is that our nation has been blessed by God. Notice James chapter one, verse seventeen: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” The context of this verse matters — some people in the churches James was writing to were claiming that when they experienced the temptation of sin, that temptation was coming from God as a test of their faithfulness, so that when they were drawn toward lust or greed or drunkenness or idolatry, they said it was simply God trying them out. James corrects that firmly. Nothing evil comes from the Lord — God can use man’s evil to serve his purposes, but he is not its source. That’s why in the verse just before, he says, “Do not err, my beloved brethren,” meaning don’t get off track by believing that anything evil has come from the hand of God.
To correct that error, James makes a statement confirmed all throughout Scripture: if anything good comes to you, it is coming from the Lord, and if anything comes from the Lord, it is going to be good. He wants us to understand that God is the author of goodness and righteousness, and that if we experience any kind of blessing in this life, it has one source, and that is the Lord. As we look at this imperfect nation we live in, we understand there are blessings we have experienced because of its existence. Why are you sitting here this morning praising the Lord in freedom, rather than waiting for a band of people to ride in and start firing through our windows, or setting fire to this building, or arresting me for preaching the gospel to you? That is a blessing God has provided us because of where we live.
God has blessed us economically, physically, and in many other ways, and all the good things you have in your life are blessings and gifts from above. While we have known them through the vehicle of the United States, we cannot thank this country for what we have — we thank the God who used this country to allow us to experience the blessings we’ve experienced. We think of the personal freedoms many nations long for and the Christian ministry that has been done even today, in all of America’s brokenness — America dispatches more world missionaries than any other country on this planet. All of it, all the things we have enjoyed and all the work God has done, has been a gift from his hand, and we should thank him for that this morning, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” As we bring this weekend of celebration to a close, be thankful for what God has allowed us to enjoy, and don’t feel guilty over what God has given you.
Imagine for a moment that you have a child, and you want to be a blessing to that child, so you take your hard-earned money, go out to the store, and pick out something you know they’re going to love. You bring that gift home and give it to your child and say, “This is for you. I got this because I love you, because I want you to enjoy it.” And they say, “Well, thanks,” and then set it on the shelf and never touch it. As a parent, you would be confused — are they not thankful for it, not grateful for it? And if they told you, “If I enjoy that, then I’m not appreciating you enough — I’m letting that get in the way of my love for you, so I’m just not going to touch it,” that wouldn’t make any sense at all.
God gives you the gifts he gives you because he loves you. The gift should never replace the giver, but that does not mean you have to be an ascetic in this life, giving up everything in order to properly love God. If you have something in your life that is a blessing to you, thank God for it and then enjoy it to the glory of God. We have great blessings in this life, and we should not be afraid to honor God for them, nor should we feel guilty about the things God has done for us. So if you’ve been blessed by God this morning, if you’ve experienced the grace of his hand, thank him for it — and folks, no matter how you feel about where our country is today, we should thank God that we are where we are, because it is only by his grace that we are here at all.
Our Nation Is in Need of God
The third reminder is that our nation is in need of God. Turn quickly to First Timothy chapter two, verses one and two, where Paul, speaking to Timothy, says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all,” meaning this is of first importance, “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” We do thank God for the blessings we have experienced, and we thank him for his protection and provision over our nation, but we need to understand this morning that God’s blessings on our lives and our nation are not just for our personal consumption. While we are free to enjoy God’s gifts, we are also called to use them to fulfill his ultimate purpose — he has given us the resources to do his work more efficiently and more impactfully.
In the Roman Empire, where Paul and Timothy were doing their work, God had set up that empire at just the right time and in just the right way, so that Christians would have wonderful roads to travel and carry the word of the gospel to every corner of the empire as quickly as possible. Beyond that, the empire had established one common language over all its peoples — even though every region continued to speak its own tongue, the Jews continuing in Hebrew and Aramaic and other places in their own languages — so that there could be unity and clarity for the spread of the gospel. No matter where you went, you had a means of communicating with the people within the Roman Empire. God gave the Roman people great blessings in establishing that nation, but it wasn’t just for their pleasure and benefit — he set up those blessings so they would have better resources to go out and spread the gospel across the empire.
And folks, we live in a nation today that is in need of the gospel. Our country is led by sinners, and I don’t care which party you pull for or which circle you make on the page — we are being led by lost sinners who do not know Jesus Christ. They may use the church crowd to get votes, but I promise you, the way they talk, the way they live, and the way they operate their lives are not revealing the fruits of a true born-again believer, and I’m saying that on both sides of the aisle. Our nation is not only led by sinners who do not know the Lord, but it is filled with people who do not know the Lord, and Paul, speaking to Timothy, said our first priority is to pray for all men. We are not only to pray for our brothers and sisters, or for those who live next door to us or the people we work with — we are to pray for kings and all those in authority: for the Caesars, the governors, the presidents, those in military command, the police officers, and everyone who is keeping the peace around us.
Not only that, but we are to conduct ourselves in a way that is exemplary of Jesus Christ, living in all quietness and peaceableness, which is good and pleasing to the Lord. Why? So that we can win a wicked nation by our prayers, our conduct, and our witness, and point that nation to Jesus Christ. Paul is calling on Timothy not to forsake the mission he has been given, and we Christians can so easily forget, in the comfort of our American lifestyle, that we are on a mission. When election time comes, we can so quickly forget that the people we are bashing and slandering and trying so hard to push away are souls and sinners on their way to an eternal hell.
Folks, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, the senators, the representatives, the Supreme Court — all of these people, if they do not know Christ, they will stand before the Judge, and no matter what position they held in this life, they will bow the knee to Jesus Christ. If they have never been washed in the blood of Jesus, they cannot earn their way into heaven; no policy they sign into law, no good they do for this country, is going to earn them a place if they are not found in the blood of Christ. Our job is not to hate them or to slander them — our job is to pray for them, to seek their salvation, and to live before them and the citizens of this world in a way that is godly and peaceable. How do we conduct ourselves as a country over the next two hundred and fifty years? The same way the early Christians did, by living as an example for Jesus Christ. When people pull up your social media profile, they shouldn’t see what political party you pull for first — they should see who your Savior is. We are reminded that we live in a nation that is in need, and we are called to meet that need.
Our Nation Is Temporary
The last reminder I want to give you is that our nation is temporary. Turn with me to Philippians chapter three and verse twenty, our last Scripture for this morning: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” I can just stop right there and say amen. What Paul is saying to the Philippian church is that while they were surrounded by people, some even calling themselves Christians, who were living for this world in wickedness and embracing it willingly, they were not called to live that way, because their citizenship belonged to a different kingdom.
That word “conversation” is a King James word that, translated into modern English, actually means citizenship — that’s what the underlying Greek word carries. Our citizenship, the place we belong to, the character we display, does not belong to the kingdom of this world but to heaven. Because we were born human beings on this soil, we are natural-born American citizens, and if someone asked you about your citizenship on a form, you would rightly say, “I am an American.” But because we are saved by grace, we have been translated into a different kingdom as well — we hold dual citizenship. My citizenship is not first American; it is part of the kingdom in heaven.
I thank God that I live here. I have friends who come from other countries and other places in the world, and I’ll be honest with you, I wouldn’t want to live in the middle of the civil wars, the persecution, the poverty and droughts that many of them are facing. I’m thankful to live where we do, and I thank God that I am where I am — but my primary allegiance is not to the United States. My citizenship is in heaven, and I thank God that one day I will set aside this American citizenship and embrace my heavenly one fully. Though I am already a citizen of that kingdom, one day I am going to go and live there, and that will be my home. I will enjoy the blessings and benefits of a perfect country, a perfect kingdom, where there is no sin and no sorrow, where every tear shall be wiped away, and where the soil is not stained with the blood of man but washed instead with the blood of Jesus Christ. I look forward to that nation where my citizenship truly lies.
As Paul said just one verse earlier, describing those who live only for this world, “whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.” In contrast, we have a citizenship in heaven, and from there we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. One of these days, Jesus is coming back, and he’s coming back for you. When he comes back and sets his foot down on this earth, the White House will bow to him, the Supreme Court will bow to him, Congress will bow to him, and the governments of this world will cease to operate. American dollars will mean nothing anymore, because we will be operating under a new currency, a new king, and a new rule. This country is temporary, and I thank God for it — I’m grateful for its blessings, but I am not counting on the success of the United States for my security, because one of these days all of this is going to come to an end, and these two hundred and fifty years are going to look like a dot in the rearview mirror as we spend eternity enjoying a perfect kingdom.
As we close out this special celebration, I want you to be reminded that we are not here by accident — we are part of a bigger, sovereign plan, and we can rest in that. I want you to be reminded that we are blessed by God, and we should thank him for that. But don’t forget that you have an assignment more important than anything else in this world, and as we fulfill that assignment, we enjoy God’s blessings and we share God’s blessings. Through it all, we say, like John, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” — come and bring all of this to an end, that we might enjoy your glory for all eternity. And I wonder, as we bring this to a close, is that the way you’re living your life? Are you living every day with that heavenly mindset, saying, “Even so, come”? Don’t make this country your home, because we’ve got a much better one ahead of us.
Leave a comment