“United We Stand”
July 6, 2014
Community Service in the Park
1 Corinthians 1:10
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
We are united here today in this lovely setting at the foot of Mount Shasta to celebrate freedom and to worship Jesus Christ. We can agree on that, can’t we? We are grateful for our freedoms and we worship our Creator God, Jesus Christ, who gives us them.
For too long the Body of Christ, the Church, has focused on our differences instead of what we agree on. I think it is okay to have opinions. I think it is okay to have different doctrines. It is okay to have different beliefs – as long as we don’t let them divide us. Who wants just one restaurant? Who wants just one denomination? Our forefathers fought and died to make it possible to have more than just one state run church. In spite of our differences – we can still be united in love.
My wife and I just celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary. If you know Julie, you know we are very different from one another. Our backgrounds are very different. Our families are very different. We think differently. But one thing has kept us together for all those years-love! Our love for God and our love for each other binds us together. Love enables us to get past the differences. Love is the glue that binds us together.
1 Corinthians 8:1 tells us that knowledge puffs up - but love builds up. We need to grow in knowledge –in theology and doctrine and Scripture - but we must not let it puff us up and divide us. Love enables us to get pass the differences.
When we are divided we are weak and ineffective. The world sees us fussing and feuding and fighting. We need to be okay with our differences and love each other anyway. How are we ever to lift up Jesus if we don’t? Nothing hurts the cause of Christ more than carnal, cranky Christians fussing and feuding. We need to be united in love and we need to be united in lifting Jesus up.
One of the blessings in my life is the opportunity to have friends from many different faiths and religions. Most of my friends are Christians of one faith or another. Some are Arminian; some are Calvinists; some are Buddhists; some are New Age; some are even atheist. I don’t believe it is my job to convict someone of sin. It is not my place to judge or condemn. I leave that to God.
I believe it is my job to love everyone as they are and to live my life in such a way as to let God’s light shine through me. The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict and correct. My job is to love everyone. I don’t have to agree with them – but I have to love them. And I do. And because I do – I can be the light and the salt God called me to be. You will never win anyone to the Lord that doesn’t like you. They will reject your faith along with rejecting you. Love covers a multitude of faults, Peter wrote. (1 Peter 4:8)
We are celebrating our freedom today. Do you know what our moto was back then? “United we stand – divided we fall!” The thirteen colonies understood that there was strength in unity. Any army knows that to conquer the enemy you divide them. Satan know that, too. He uses it against us. Had the 13 colonies of Great Britain in North America not united in their rebellion against the government they would have been defeated and there would be no United States of America. But they united and declared their Independence from England.
The grievances were many. Taxation without representation was on the list. The government taking private property was another. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the government interfering with their religious rights. When they won their freedom - the first and most important of their God given rights was the freedom of religion. In their declaration they said,
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
Notice that they founded our nation of a belief in God and a belief that God has given us certain rights which no man or government has the right to take from us. They further defined these right in the Bill of Rights. Listen to the very first right,
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Did you notice that the government is to make NO law - pro or con- when it comes to religion – and they didn’t for two hundred years or so? Then in 1954 LBJ – Lyndon Baines Johnson – ran for congress in Texas and won in spite of opposition from two churches and two pastors in particular. When he was placed on a tax code committee he saw his chance to get even. He made an amendment to the tax code that did two very important things.
First, it unconstitutionally took religious freedom from the church and stopped what they had done for two hundred years.
Secondly, it put government over God. It could tax the church or not - as the ‘government’ saw fit. The government took sovereignty away from God. We the People - allowed it. And within ten years prayer was taken out of our schools – Bibles were removed and the ten commandments, which were in nearly every courthouse in the land, were ordered to be removed as well. In effect, we no longer are a Christian nation. Can we expect God’s blessings much longer?
We need to be united in love. We need to be united to lift up Christ. And we need to be united to live free. We are slowly losing our religious freedoms and it won’t be long until they are gone.
I believe it is our job, as it was our forefather’s job, to fight for our God given rights and freedoms. Get involved. Be vigilant! Thomas Jefferson wrote that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Be the salt that Jesus spoke of. The only way we can do that is by being united.
Let me conclude by sharing three things you can do to preserve our God given freedoms. First of all, pray for our country. I’m afraid that most Christians never utter a word to God on behalf of our Country. God said, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray…” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Folks we need to pray if we want God to hear, forgive and heal our land.
Secondly, we need to educate ourselves. We are no longer being taught a true view of our history in school. We are being dumbed down. The only way we will have a true understanding of our country is to educate ourselves by going back to the original records and sermons and speeches. We are dying because of a lack of knowledge on our part. Educate yourself.
Thirdly, get involved. Vote. Every Christian ought to be a voter. How can you expect to hear “Well, done, Good and faithful servant.” If you don’t care enough to do what little you are empowered to do. You may think your vote doesn’t matter – but it does. You are at least making a mark for what is right and true. You are taking a stand for our way of life.
Also, get on those community committees and boards. Run for political office and vote your faith. Good people being involved is how our Country began and good people being involved is how we will keep our freedoms.
Let’s unite in our love for Christ. Let’s unite in our love for our Church. And let’s unite for our Country. It is “United that we will stand.”
