Independence Day 2018

Churches differ in the attitude they take toward America and patriotism in general.  On the one hand some churches go all-in for a red white and blue celebration of America even in church services.  In the extreme they virtually equate Americanism and Christianity. On the other hand we have churches that see such patriotic displays as borderline idolatrous.  In the extreme we have those that see America with its consumerism, militarism, and checkered history as the very antithesis of the gospel.
A fundamental question underlying such divergent views is our philosophy of history.  Through what lens do we view history and current events?  How do we see Christ’s “kingdom of God” materializing?  Is it other-worldly, something experienced only internally by believers and to be suddenly revealed at the end of history, at the second coming?  Do we see the kingdom of God as being just another name for the church, and if so, which institutional church?  Is history itself just random events pending a future divine intervention, or is history providentially ordered by God, with each nation rising and falling  just as each sparrow falls under God’s control?
When I read the Bible I see a consistent plan of God to redeem a fallen humanity and fallen creation through a “called out assembly of people,” an ekklesia.  I see this as his original purpose with Adam and Eve to “fill the earth and subdue it,” with Noah when he repeated this charge after the flood, with the seed of Abraham and the nation of Israel, and with the New Testament Church.  I do not see one group “replacing” the other but see it as a continuity, an unchanging purpose.  And I see all of history as providentially governed.
I view in particular the New Testament Era as a time of the progressive conquest of the world by a Holy Spirit led and empowered church, an ekklesia for King Jesus, its legitimate Ruler.  Christ’s Great Commission to this church was to make disciple of all nations, teaching them to obey all things he commanded them.  The Great Commission is thus both wide and deep.  It is wide in that it applies to all mankind.  It is deep in that it applies to all topic areas.
This is what we have seen happening over the past 2,000 years.  The gospel of Christ’s kingdom has been progressively converting all of mankind and its implications have been conquering all topic areas.  Like the stock market, when viewed in the short term it looks like random ups and downs, but when viewed for the long term the positive trend is clear.
One topic area it has impacted is the area of civil government.  Outside the gospel’s influence, all civil government takes the form of tyranny under a man like Pharaoh or Caesar pretending to be God, or perhaps better, as the sole mediator between earth and heaven.  With the coming of Christ, we have the advent of the one true mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, fully human and fully divine, seated at the right hand of the Father as absolute Ruler of all things.  As such he invalidates the claims of all earthly rulers to absolute authority, reducing them to a ministerial role.
This reduction of human rulers to “limited government” was first formalized in the United States Constitution with its system of checks and balances which did not locate final sovereignty in any earthly institution, whether king or parliament, thus recognizing that sovereignty belongs to God in heaven alone.  From this has flowed the balanced system of order and liberty, the security of property, equal justice before the law, and the lack of recognized classes and legal privileges, all of which has made this “the land of opportunity.”  People may scoff at this description, but people from all nations are constantly “voting with their feet” to come here.
As was the case with Old Testament Israel, we may yet experience the loss of all of this blessing in our sin and rebellion, and like many nations blessed and used by God in the past, fade into a degraded state.  But the lessons learned here will not be lost, and the progressive total conquest of the world by and for King Jesus will continue.

A note about 2018
As we enjoy this Fourth of July, we survey our current events and think about how they relate to this picture.  The (Republican) elephant in the room is President Trump, whose unexpected victory and subsequent success in reversing decades of progressivism are nothing short of astounding.  He is either the result of or the cause of enormous division in the body politic, a division leading some to worry about a civil war.
But I don’t think so.  I think we are seeing a restoration of the constitutional order and its underlying Biblical world view.  I think God is giving us another chance.
Donald Trump may be, shall we say, an unexpected instrument of God for such a restoration, but perhaps no more unexpected than Samson or Jephthah or Cyrus.  In any event, God Bless America!