I don’t spend all my time in my church office because I like to be available in the community and where people can find me in a less official way. I’m usually in my church office in the mornings to do my study and take care of my administrative responsibilities. I was in my office the other day, and I had someone stop in to tell me he appreciated my mentioning something about service men and women who gave their lives so we can enjoy the liberties we get to enjoy today in the United Stated.
I remember that Memorial Day Sunday. I didn’t say much. I simply provided a moment of silence so we could remember the sacrifices of those men and women during our time of worship. The songs were our usual songs about and to Jesus. The sermon was expository like always. Simply providing a brief moment meant something significant to some of the people present. I don’t feel as if I said too much, accidentally making the church of Christ into a nationalistic church of the state. I also feel I avoided a trap many preachers fall into—saying too little and making too few acknowledgments. To put things briefly, saying nothing when the time comes in our land can easily halt or slow our ministry to the people. It costs us nothing to acknowledge the day and thank the appropriate people. Mere patriotic acknowledgment does not a nationalist make. It’s an easy win for preachers most of the time.
I get it. Nationalism is a thriving religion that equates Christian belief with the ideologies of the government. Biblical Christianity, contra nationalism, comprises a kingdom of people among every tribe, nation, and language. It is very obvious only from that fact that Biblical Christianity is not compatible with nationalism of any kind.
I remember one year I was serving as the youth pastor of a church. One Independence Day weekend I was helping to lead the worship—which put me on stage in front of everyone. The interim pastor at the time had the congregation stand and say the pledge of allegiance to the American flag—in a church worship service where allegiance was to be first to God and His kingdom, which is among the nations. It was a show, and the whole thing felt cringey to me. I was on stage in front of everyone, which made it worse. The preacher knew how I felt about the whole thing and still chose to assert his leadership. He did way too much. I’m a patriot. I love the flag. I love the United States. In almost every setting, I consider it an honor to stand and salute the American flag. In this particular instance, it did not sit right with my spirit. Consider for a moment flag etiquette. If the American flag is displayed, it must always have priority over other flags and symbols at the same institution. This means crosses, Christians flags, and Bibles, if they are displayed as standards on display, must be placed in positions of inferiority to the American flag—even though Christ Himself sits as judge over all nations. To confuse those authorities is to, even if by accident, make the church nationalistic instead of merely patriotic. I am not okay with making one worldly nation an idol over Christ’s kingdom.
I get it when preachers and pastors want to remove all flags, banners, and standards from their worship centers or remain silent on patriotic occasions so as to not give the impression in today’s culture that the church is somehow a nationalistic sort of church. We love our nation, but we do not worship it. There is something to be praised about wanting to separate ourselves from the growing nationalistic religion of our day. Consider a pendulum. After it swings too far one way, it then falls too far the other. In a very similar way, people react to things they believe have gone too far and most often go too far another way. But, Christ has not taught us to be reactive. He has taught us to be prudent.
Here’s some theology for you. God is omniscient; He knows all matters. God is omnipotent; He is powerful to work all things according to His will. Acts 17 even reveals that God has sovereignly placed all peoples within their boundaries for the purpose of causing them to seek Him. That means in 1776 when our founders committed treason against King George and subsequently drafted a constitution and bill of rights modeled after Andrew Jackson’s political philosophy—which recognized according to Genesis 1 that all people are created equal with unalienable rights—God was sovereignly establishing a new nation in the West for the explicit purpose of causing people to seek Him. The establishing of the United States, just like any other nation, is God’s sovereign work for His glory and the salvation of His people among the nations. I think if we pay attention, we can see that very truth at play on a worldwide stage. It is difficult to miss. Even if worldly people in a government mean evil when they do anything—God, in His sovereignty, means it for good—just like we read in Genesis 50.
While we don’t want to err by saying too much. We also don’t want to err by saying too little.
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29).
Scripture doesn’t call us to react. It calls us to be prudent even in our speech. Explicitly, that means not speaking in an unwholesome way. It also means speaking for edification according to the need of the moment. Scripture bids us be sensitive to every type of moment, know our audiences, and speak what is good for edification—giving grace to those who hear rather than sticking as thorns in their sides. This means we remain silent about the things we do purposefully, waiting until the appropriate time to speak them. It also means speaking things that are appropriate in the correct season, or on the correct holiday, in a way that both glorifies God and edifies the people we serve.
Doubtless God will bless it. Fellow preachers and pastors, the wise thing to say or do may look different outwardly for you than it does for me. We do not in legalistic fashion say one word is right while another is wrong. We simply strive to act and speak prudentially—with wisdom rather than the big-headedness of mere intellect. I hope you have a wonderful Independence Day and that God increases the fruitfulness of your ministry this Independence Day weekend. Praise God for the liberty we have to meet and worship freely according to our convictions rather than the convictions of King George.
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