PANIC PODCAST

Series – Freedom 250

A Blessed Nation, A United Body:  250 Years and our Communion in Christ

AMERICA 250

 A Blessed Nation, A United Body:  250 Years and our Communion in Christ

 Scripture Reading:  1 Corinthians 10:14 – 26.

Text:  1 Corinthians 10:16, 17; Galatians 5:1.

 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? [17] Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.  (1 Corinthians 10:16, 17 | TNIV)

 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1 | TNIV)

 Introduction.  Yesterday the flags flew, there were parades and fireworks, and all across the country millions gave thanks for a nation that has endured for two-and-a-half centuries.  Today, the smoke has cleared, the crowds have gone home, and we – the church of Jesus Christ – gather not around monuments or barbecues but around the Communion Table.  Here we remember something far older and far greater than the birth of our Republic:  We remember the broken Body and shed Blood of our Lord.  And we discover that the unity and freedom we celebrated yesterday find their truest and most lasting expression right here.

As we mark 250 years, I want us to see three great realities:  The remarkable gift of freedom God has granted this nation, the greater freedom Christ has purchased for us, and the unity we taste at this Table that finds us together more deeply than any flag or constitution ever could.

A nation blessed with freedom.

 In Romans 13, we are told:

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  (Romans 13:1 | TNIV)

The fact that the “governing authorities” were established or given to us by God, means that we should, as Paul said here, be subject to them, but what he didn’t say and what is implied is that we ought to be thankful for them since they are given to us by God for our good.  As a matter of fact, we should not only be thankful for them, we should be praying for them:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— [2] for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. [3] This is good, and pleases God our Savior…  (1 Timothy 2:1 – 3 | TNIV)

 On this weekend we do exactly that with special gratitude.

Consider what God has done.  In 1776, thirteen colonies – diverse in economy, religion, and temperament – declared that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights.  That language didn’t come out of nowhere.  It came out of the Bible.

So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  (Genesis 1:27 | TNIV)

 Every human being bears the image of God and therefore possesses inherent dignity that no king or parliament or congress can revoke.  The Founders were not perfect, sinless men, but they articulated a vision grounded in Biblical truth.

Religious liberty stands at the heart of the American experiment.  The Pilgrims and the Puritans  crossed the ocean so they might worship God according to conscience, not the way the State told them to.  John Winthrop, in his 1630 sermon “A Model of Christian Charity,” told the settlers they would be “as a city upon a hill.”  The eyes of the world would be upon them.  That phrase, drawn from Jesus’ own words in Matthew 5:14, was originally a call to the church community to live visible for God’s glory.  Over time, it became associated with the nation itself.  That’s right, the aspiration of the church became the aspiration of the county.  And that aspiration remains:  That this land might shine where faith is free, virtue is honored, and people can pursue life, liberty, and happiness under the protection of just laws.

For 250 years, this nation has been, in the providence of God, a refuge for the oppressed and a sender of the Gospel.  Millions of immigrants arrived with nothing but hope and built lives of dignity.  The church in America has sent more missionaries, planted more churches, and funded more Bible translations than perhaps any other nation on earth in history.  In two world wars and in the long struggle against totalitarian ideologies, America stood, however imperfectly, against tyranny.  The civil rights movement drew its moral power from Scripture:

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!  (Amos 5:24 | TNIV)

 It wasn’t a political slogan; it was a Biblical cry.

We can’t romanticize the story, though.  America has known slavery, broken treaties, racial injustices, and moral failures of ever kind.  But the same Gospel that exposes sin also supplied the reformers who fought to correct those evils.  The arc of genuine progress in this country has almost always been driven by men and women of faith whose consciences were captive to the Word of God.

The psalmist still speaks today:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.  (Psalm 33:12 | TNIV)

 America isn’t a new Israel; don’t let anybody tell you that.  But we simply acknowledge, with humble gratitude, that God has been extraordinarily kind to this nation.  To whom much is given, much will be required, as Jesus taught.  That is both our privilege and our solemn responsibility.

The freedom that truly sets us free.

 Yet political and civil freedom, precious as it is, is not ultimate.  Jesus said:

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. [35] Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  (John 8:34 – 36 | TNIV)

 The Founders sought liberty from a distant parliament and king.  Christ came to liberate us from a far more tyrannical master:  Sin, death, and the devil.

Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1 –

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1 | TNIV)

 This isn’t the freedom to whatever we want.  Paul added this in verse 13:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another humbly in love.  (Galatians 5:13 | TNIV)

True Christian liberty is the freedom to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves.  It is the freedom to forgive when we have been wronged, to speak the truth when lies are more popular, and to serve when the world says, “Look out for number one!”

American’s extraordinary liberties give the church a unique stewardship.  We can preach the Gospel without fear of the secret police.  We can gather together on the Lord’s Day without hiding in catacombs.  We can raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord with relatively little interference.  These are not rights given to us by the State, or rights that we earned; they are gifts from God that we must steward for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors.

At he same time, freedom without virtue collapses into license and then into new forms of bondage.  The Founders themselves warned that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  More importantly, Scripture gives us strong warning:

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.  (Proverbs 14:34 | TNIV)

The greatest threat to American freedom is not external enemies but internal decay of character.  And the only power that can renew the heart is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One loaf, one body: The unity we share at this table.

 This brings us to this Table today.  Yesterday we celebrated a political union that has held together for 250 years despite enormous diversity and disunity.  Today we celebrate a spiritual union that is even more miraculous.

Paul tells us that when we eat the one bread and drink the one cup, we participate in the Body and Blood of Christ.  Then he draws the obvious conclusion:

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.  (1 Corinthians 10:17 | TNIV)

 Think of it.  Around this Table there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.  This is no Republican, no Democrat, no rural or urban, no lifelong Presbyterian or brand-new believer.  This is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Ephesians 4:4 – 6).

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, [15] by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, [16] and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  (Ephesians 2:14 – 16 | TNIV)

 This Table is where that reality becomes visible and edible.

In a nation as divided as ours, this is revolutionary.  We come from different backgrounds, hold different political beliefs, and carry different wounds.  Yet when we eat this bread together we are declaring that our unity in Christ is deeper than every other loyalty.  We are literally bound to each other by something stronger than blood or party or opinion.  We are bound to each other by the Blood of the Lamb.

That’s why Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians 11:29 –

For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.  (1 Corinthians 11:29 | TNIV)

 We are not just remembering a private transaction between Jesus and me.  We’re remembering that His Body was broken to make us ONE Body.  To despise a brother or sister while eating the bread that symbolizes our oneness is to sin against the very meaning of Communion.

So let this Table do its work in us today.  Let it humble us where we have been proud.  Let is soften us where we have been hard.  Let us reconcile us where we have been estranged.  Let it send out as ambassadors of the reconciliation we have received.

Living as free and unified people.

So, what will we do with these 250 years of blessing and this Table of unity?

First, let’s give thanks.  Thank God for religious liberty, for the rule of law, for the opportunity to work and worship and raise families in peace.  Thank God for faithful pastors, every Bible-believing and Gospel-preaching church, and every quiet saint whose prayers have upheld this great land.

Second, repent.  Where we as Christians have failed to be salt and light, where we have loved our political tribe more than the Body of Christ, where we have grown complacent with our freedoms, let’s confess it.

Third, live worthy of the freedom we have been gifted.  Use your freedom to serve.  Speak the truth in live.  Raise children who know the Lord.  Support the work of the Gospel at home and to the ends of the earth.  Pray for those in authority – not only when you agree with them, but always.  And above all, keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4:3.

Finally, fix your eyes on the city that can’t be shaken.  American is a great, great gift.  But it’s not our home.

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…  (Philippians 3:20 | TNIV)

The kingdoms of this world will one day become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.  Until that day, we live as dual citizens – grateful for the land beneath our feet and completely loyal to the King of reigns above.

Conclusion.  Folks, the parades are over.  The fireworks have faded.  But this Table remains.

In a moment we’ll hear again the words our Lord spoke on the night He was betrayed:  “This is my body, which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me…This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

As we eat and drink, let’s remember with gratitude the 250 years of God’s kindness to this nation.  Let’s remember with awe the infinite cost of our redemption.  And let’s remember with joy that we who are many are one Body, because we all partake of the one bread.

So, come to the Table.  And come as the free people you are.  Come as one body.  Come and meet your Lord.

For freedom, Christ has set us free.  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one Body.