A God Blessed America
Psalm 33:12-22; Proverbs 14:34
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Introduction: It just doesn’t seem like the Fourth of July without all the fireworks and festivities. I know. I will never forget the Fourth of July we spent where nobody else celebrated. No parades. No parties. No fireworks. It just didn’t seem right.
Of course, there was a good reason. Rose and I were in Canada on that particular Fourth of July. We had just started a month long camping adventure up the Alaska Highway for our 25th wedding anniversary. We had crossed from Montana into Alberta. Late in the afternoon on July 1, we pulled into a municipal campground in High River, just south of Calgary. I was surprised to see the remnants of a parade from earlier in the day and posters for a big fireworks display that night. Did Canada operate on a different calendar? I didn’t have a clue. I soon learned that July 1 is Canada Day, their version of our Independence Day. That’s when they celebrate their birthday, not ours. At dusk we made our way to another park and watched the fireworks.
We spent the next two days sightseeing in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta and home of the world’s biggest mall. On the Fourth of July, we set up camp in a rainstorm at Dawson Creek British Columbia, the starting point of the 1500 mile long Alcan Highway. I was thoroughly disappointed. July 4 came and went. It was just like any other day for all those Canadians. Go figure! Eh!
Even for Americans, the Fourth of July can be just another day off. We easily forget the reason for the celebration. The real purpose fades into the background behind the parades and picnics. Younger kids could think that the Fourth is really fireworks day. Most adults know better.
Let me remind you—tomorrow is America’s birthday. On July 4, 1776, fifty-six American leaders signed the Declaration of Independence separating the thirteen British colonies from England. That was 229 years ago. That makes ours the world’s oldest surviving democracy.
But in the grand scheme of world history, America is a mere child among nations. Compared to Egypt, China, Japan, Rome, and Greece, America is a “Johnny come lately.” Consider how brief our history really is. Our country was born just over four generations ago. When Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration and the third president of the country died, Abraham Lincoln was a young man of 17. When Lincoln was assassinated thirty-nine years later, Woodrow Wilson was a boy of 8. When Wilson died in 1924, Ronald Reagan was 12. President Reagan passed away a year ago. The lives of these four men span our nation’s entire history.
America is young. Yet we stand tall among these nations of the world. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States is undisputedly the most powerful nation on earth. Many don’t like it, but it’s a reality. We are also the most prosperous. The poorest among us fare far better than the average citizens of many nations. That abundance gives rise to a lot of jealousy. But we are also the freest nation on earth. If the truth be told, I am convinced there is a connection between our prosperity and our freedom. All of the complicated economic theories aside, the greatest cause of poverty is tyranny and corruption. Where freedom flourishes, people eventually prosper. Where tyrants rule, the tyrants prosper while the people perish.
I think there is another fact, one even more important. We are not just the most powerful, the most prosperous, and the freest nation on earth. We are the most blessed. To say that is to acknowledge that America’s greatness is secondary. We have much for which we cannot take credit. We are blessed. Arrogance and ingratitude ill becomes us. We are indebted to those who have gone before us. But most of all we should be thankful to a God who has showered blessing upon blessing on us. We are blessed.
That’s what that hymn we sang earlier declared. Did you catch the words to the chorus of “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies?” “America, America! God shed his grace on thee.” That’s my point. We are a nation blessed. We have much for which to give thanks.
God has blessed America in the past. Our founders and early leaders believed that. They believed that the very existence of the new nation came at the hand of God. In recent years, many have attempted to rewrite history. Some have claimed that faith had nothing to do with the beginnings of our nation. It is said that Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and others had little sympathies for established religion. That is why they erected a wall of separation between church and state, so the argument goes. Our founders didn’t want the government telling churches what to do. They contended for freedom of religion but not freedom from religion.
Many of the first American settlers were religious refugees. They came seeking a place where they could express their faith without government harassment. The Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock declared their intentions in the Mayflower Compact. “Having undertaken [this journey] for the glory of God and for the advancement of the Christian faith,” they explained, “[we] do solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, covenant and combine ourselves together.”
One need only read the birth certificate of our nation to recognize that this land was not founded on secular principles. The Declaration of Independence begins with these words—
“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 inalienable 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.”
We may not know everything about the personal religious beliefs of America’s founders, but we do know that their thinking and convictions were steeped in the Bible. Several years ago, the political science department at the University of Houston completed a ten year long research project. Historians scoured over 15,000 documents from America’s founding fathers trying to discover what most influenced their thinking. The researchers isolated over three thousand direct quotations in these writings. Of these references, thirty-four percent came directly from the Bible. Another sixty percent were from writers like John Locke and Sir William Blackstone, who themselves frequently quoted the Bible. The researchers concluded that the Bible was clearly the one most influential source for our founders.
That’s why it isn’t surprising that one of the first acts of the United States Congress was the authorization to print 20,000 Bibles for distribution among the American Indians. I’ll bet our kids don’t learn that in their history classes.
In the 1830’s French scholar Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to America. He was curious to discover what set the young democracy apart from her European counterparts. At the end of his trip, he wrote, "I have toured America, and I have seen most of what you offer. I’ve seen the richness of the fields and the wealth of your mines. I’ve seen your industrial might, the beauties of the rivers, the streams, the lakes, and the grandeur of the mountains. I’ve noticed the abundance of the forests and the marvelous climate with which you are blessed. In none of these things did I see the cause for the greatness of America. It wasn’t until I went into your churches that I saw the reason for America’s greatness. America is great because America is good; and as long as America is good, America will be great. If it ever ceases to be good, it will cease to be great” (unconfirmed quotation).
George Washington knew this. In his Farewell Address, he said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” (Source: George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge), pp. 22-23. In his Farewell Address to the United States in 1796.)
John Adams, the second president, said, “[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.” (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776.) On another occasion Adams insisted, “[W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.)
Even Benjamin Franklin, a man not known for his religious fervor, wrote, “[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” (Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, p. 297, April 17, 1787.)
Note how all of this brings our two texts together. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.” America has been blessed. But we dare never assume that the blessing is guaranteed regardless of what direction America goes.
General Omar Bradley, famous WWII general and the nation’s first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1949-53), warned years ago, “America today is running on the momentum of a Godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America." There’s not a one of us in this room who isn’t concerned about the direction of our nation and the society that our children and grandchildren will inherit.
Over a hundred years ago one historian made this chilling observation about the rise and fall of ancient democracies, “The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back to bondage.” (Alexander Fraser Tytler in The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic; quoted by Dennis and Barbara Rainey, Moments Together for Couples, Ventura, California: Regal Books, 1995.) Democracies fall, Tytler found, not from outside conquest but from internal decay.
Followers of Jesus Christ must never be satisfied that our nation has been blessed by God. We must work and pray and live so that those who come after us will know those same blessings. We want the next generation and the one after that to also be able to live in a blessed nation.
Conclusion: Two final reminders for this Independence Day. As proud and appreciative as we are of our nation, we dare never forget that our ultimate allegiance does not belong to the American flag but to the kingdom of God. Our citizenship is in heaven, the Bible declares. Our kingdom is not defined by national boundaries, political philosophy or ethnic background. All who believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ are fellow citizens of the kingdom to which our ultimate allegiance belongs.
Secondly, we, like all believers in every land, should want to be good citizens. We know that our Savior’s reputation rests in large measure on our reputation. Listen to these words of Scripture penned to believers who were living under the oppressive rule of evil, ungodly rulers. “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” (1 Peter 2:13-17).
That is also the responsibility for us who live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!
(For an excellent source of original documents and quotations from America’s founding fathers, see wallbuilders.com.)
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
