Tri-City Baptist Church

         I love the Fourth of July!  Before I knew what it was about I loved it.  In the days before fireworks regulations, I’m sure there were a lot more fires and injuries, but as a child I never knew of those, so the backyard ballistics were all positive memories for me.

          Now that I know about the miraculous convergence of people and events that precipitated the Declaration of Independence and the sacrifices that it initiated, now I truly love the Fourth of July.  Interestingly enough, both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, the same July 4, in 1826, on the golden anniversary of the Declaration.

          The core value of America is stated succinctly when the Declaration states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  Familiarity may have caused you to have become too little impressed with that today; but that assertion of the Sovereign Lord’s endowment is no less profound today than it was radical in 1776!

          That’s a big deal isn’t it!  Because there’s a bit of Pharisee in each of us, I’m afraid.  We tend to write people off.  Or we tend to be what the Bible calls “respecters of persons.”  Rudyard Kipling, admonishing growth to manhood said, “If all men count to you, and none too much.” 

An old friend, Gene Jester, reminded me of the words of Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior under FDR in a speech on July 4, 1941.  Hitler’s Nazi machine was rolling across Europe, the Japanese imperial saber was rattling in the Far East, and most Americans weren’t sure what we ought to do.  It would take Pearl Harbor later that year to awaken the giant in a fury, but on the fourth in Central Park, NYC, Secretary Ickes would rightly challenge us to remember our higher calling as did Washington, Jefferson, and later Lincoln.   

He said, “What constitutes an American?  Not color nor race nor religion.  Not the pedigree of his family nor the place of his birth.  Not the coincidence of his citizenship.  Not his social status nor his bank account.  Not his trade nor his profession.  An American is one who loves justice and believes in the dignity of man.  An American is one who will fight for his freedom AND that of his neighbor.  An American is one who will sacrifice property, ease, and security in order that he and his children may retain the rights of free men. An American is one in whose heart is engraved the immortal second sentence of the Declaration of Independence.”  THERE IT IS!  That second sentence.  Endowed by their CREATOR with certain unalienable rights… It’s a stewardship, an endowment from the Lord Himself!

Yes, it’s a big deal.  Many if not most of the founders understood that they were on a mission from God.  This totally new kind of nation would be a platform for evangelism for the glory of God Almighty.  The Treaty of Paris, which officially ended war for our independence in 1783 begins: “In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity…”  These are not just formalities and social niceties. 

So now we live in a generation when people are deliberately attempting to extract the influence of God from America and her history.  The phoniness of it would be ludicrous if it were not so serious.  “So let’s not be overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good!” (Romans 12:21)

Get informed!  Talk UP America every chance you get.  Refuse to get swept up into the whiners’ movement.  If you’re old enough, register and vote every chance you get (legally of course).  Send something nice to someone in the military.  Share Christ with someone.  Do something good for America!

Share the Adventure!

Pastor Ruffin

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 03, 2008 at 04:39 PM and is filed under . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.