I Am The Bread Of Life, July 6, 2014

I Am the Bread of Life

Leviticus 24:1-9, John 6:35-51

Grace Presbyterian Church

July 6, 2014

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller

 

The Joy of Bread  In the year 2000, I was in Oberammergau, Germany to see the Passion Play or Passionsspiele.  It is one of the most well-known Passion Plays of the world and is presented every ten years. I was staying in a hotel just on the edge of town. As an early riser, I went for a walk about 5:30 a.m. As I strolled down the streets, I suddenly smelled the aroma of freshly baked bread. I followed my nose and soon found the bakery where I enjoyed a large sweet roll and a cup of coffee. What a treat it was! It brought back memories of my childhood when my mother would bake bread for the family. And such aroma would always make me hungry even after a full meal.

Today, bread baking is not nearly as popular. After all, all we need do is drop by the grocery and pick up a loaf on our way home. When we do this, we have a myriad of varieties from which to choose - white, wheat, rye, French, Italian, Spelt and Brown Rice bread. We can take home honey wheat, light wheat, whole grain, pumpernickel or zucchini bread. Sometimes we find nut bread or cranberry bread. On and on the list could go.

Usage  However, bread is not only something we eat, it is a part of our speech in many ways. For instance, we refer to money as bread, and those who bring home a pay check as being a breadwinner. We say that the Midwest is the breadbasket of America. We talk about knowing which side our bread is buttered on. We speak of casting our bread upon the waters. Thank you notes are called “Bread and Butter” letters. We might invite someone for a meal by saying, “Come over and break bread with us.” Something great is the best thing since sliced bread.  And in the Lord’s prayer,we pray “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Manna  In Exodus, we find the account of the time when the Israelites were starving in the wilderness. Manna, or bread, came down from heaven to keep them alive for forty years. When the people of Israel first saw the manna, they wondered what it was.

And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.” Manna was white with a yellowish tinge. It tasted like wafers made with honey. [Exodus 16:31]. As a result of this wilderness experience, the Israelites always have associated bread with God’s saving presence which sustained them in the wilderness.

Bread of the Presence  This eventually evolved into what the Israelites called “The Bread of the Presence.” In our morning scripture, we read that this consisted of twelve loaves of bread that rested upon a special table in the temple twenty-four hours a day. The loaves were lined up in two rows of six and represented the twelve tribes of Israel. Each week on the Sabbath, the twelve loaves were replaced with freshly baked ones. The loaves acted as an offering of thanksgiving to God They also pointed to the presence of God in the Temple and hence in their individual lives.

Jewish Meal  This idea logically carried over to the Jewish meal. At every meal, the head of the family, normally the father, would take a large piece of bread and pray, “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who bringest forth bread from the earth.” He would then break the bread, eat a piece, and pass the rest for other family members to eat. Then they would enjoy their meal. As Jesus grew up, his father, Joseph, no doubt offered this blessing at every meal.

Asking the Blessing  In various ways, we do the same thing whenever we offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God before we eat. As a boy, my father would always give the blessing before we ate. I remember one time when he was finished that I said, “Dad, I couldn’t hear what you were saying in your prayer.” He looked over at me and said, “I wasn’t talking to you.” Last Sunday at our wonderful potluck, I offered the blessing and hopefully both you and God heard what I said.

But once I said, “Amen” something quite astonishing happened. The dishes of food of all kinds began to mysteriously disappear. And, like the feeding of the 5,000, when we were all full and content, there was great amounts of food left over. But our fullness and contentedness from that potluck did didn’t last very long, did it? I suspect that each of us had an evening meal and perhaps even a snack before going to bed. Why? Because we got hungry again, and again, and again.

Throughout our lives, three or more times a day, we feed our bodies. And if we miss a meal, we might say, “I’m famished!” or “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”

Feeding of the 5,000   I suspect that exclamations such as this were uttered by many of the 5,000 people who had gathered to listen to Jesus. They wanted to hear what Jesus had to say, but their stomachs were growling. They were hungry. They were getting edgy and crabby. And Jesus knew that people who were hungry wouldn’t be able to hear his words of life. The only person in the crowd that had any food was a little boy who had five barley loaves and two fish. Normally, that wouldn’t go very far with 5,000 people, so Jesus took the bread and the fish, offered a prayer of thanksgiving, and then miraculously multiplied the loaves and fish so that everyone ate as much as they wanted. When finished, twelve baskets were filled with bread fragments. Of course the other miracle was that the little boy hadn’t eaten his bread and fish by mid afternoon.

I am the Bread of Life  The next day the people heard Jesus declare, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’”

At another time, Jesus saw a Samaritan woman at the well he said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [John 4]

Bread of Life. Spring of water welling up to eternal life. What a great diet! Food and drink that gives us eternal life. That’s food we can’t get at any restaurant. Jesus is saying the following to our lives today. “I offer you the bread of life and living water. Come - eat and drink.”

It is true that the bread of life and living water of Christ is why we gather at 10:45 a.m. each Sunday morning. In fact, I’ve had many people through the years come up to me and say, “I come to church each Sunday to fill up my tank and recharge my batteries.” As great as this is, I am tempted to say, “Is just one meal a week on Sunday morning all you need to keep your spiritual body healthy?” This morning I suggest that just as we eat physical food every day of the week, so we must dine on spiritual food every day so that our souls are nourished. I know that many of you do this. You consume the Bread of Daily Prayer, the Bread of weekly Bible Study, the Bread of Daily Meditation, and the Living Water of morning and evening Scripture reading. You remember that Jesus said:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” [Matthew 5:6] Are we famished for God’s Word?

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will flow from within him.” [John 7:37-38] Are we thirsty for God’s Spirit? The scriptures reflect the hunger and thirst of people for God.

Psalm 1  Happy are those whose delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night. [Psalm 1]

Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. [1 Thessalonians 5:17-18]

You shall teach God’s word to your children. [Deuteronomy 11:18-33]

Yet Jesus is the Bread of Life and source of living waters upon which we must feed daily and by which our parched souls are nourished.

Use it or Lose it  When the Israelites were given manna from heaven to eat while in the wilderness, they had to eat it that day. If they tried to save or hoard it, the manna would spoil and be inedible. Only on the eve of the Sabbath could they gather two days’ supply in order not to work on the Sabbath Day. In like manner, we can’t put Jesus on a shelf for a rainy day which we decide he would be useful.

We must fill our spiritual hunger every day of our lives. When we pray “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking God to nourish us spiritually every day.

The Last Supper  During the Last Supper, Jesus startled his disciples by saying, “This is the last time I will be eating with you.”  He then picked up the bread, just as he had done hundreds of times before, and said, “This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.” [1 Corinthians 11:24]   By saying these things, Jesus was telling his disciples that whenever they gathered together and broke bread in his name, he would be there in the midst of them.

Bread of the Presence of Christ As we gather about the Lord’s Table this morning, we have one loaf instead of twelve. We know that Christ is here, right now, in our midst. We become aware of his presence when we open our hearts and listen for his guidance and direction. Paul wrote, “The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”  This means we do not come to the table as observers, but as participants. As our host, Christ has invited us to join in communion with him and one another.

Paul goes on to say, “We who are many are one body, for we all partake of the same loaf.” [1 Corinthians 10:17] Here Paul is saying that each of us is a part of the one loaf...the community of faith...the Body of Christ. This means that no matter how we might differ in back ground, ages or personalities, we share a common spiritual bond. This was never so apparent to me as the time when I served communion to thirty-four Mennonites on the side of a mountain in Switzerland. There we were, men and women, young and old, sharing a common ancestry, praising God with the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup.

As we partake of Holy Communion this morning, we who are many become one body for we are sharing the one loaf - the body of Christ. And we will be experiencing the presence of our Lord among us. Amen.

Leviticus 24:1-9 NRSV

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations. He shall set up the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.

 You shall take choice flour, and bake twelve loaves of it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. You shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold. You shall put pure frankincense with each row, to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to the Lord. Every sabbath day Aaron shall set them in order before the Lord regularly as a commitment of the people of Israel, as a covenant for ever. They shall be for Aaron and his descendants, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy portions for him from the offerings by fire to the Lord, a perpetual due.

John 6:35-51 NRSV

 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’

 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

 

The Whole East Coast, June 22, 2014

The Whole East Coast

Trinity Sunday

Genesis 2:4-9, Matthew 28:16-20

June 15, 2014

Grace Presbyterian Church

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller

 

The Whole East Coast

A small girl stayed for the worship service for the first time.  When the service was over, her Father asked how she liked it.  She replied, "Oh it was just fine.  However, there's just one thing I don't understand.  Why wasn't the west coast included?"  Her Father asked her what she meant.  And she replied, "Oh, you know!  It's where the minister said, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the whole east coast."

It's easy to understand why she was confused.  Even if she had heard the words correctly, the Trinity is a difficult concept to understand or to explain.  However, since last Sunday was Trinity Sunday, and since few of us have heard a sermon about the Trinity this week, I’d like to focus upon this concept for the next few minutes and by so doing, celebrate God’s presence in our lives.

Every Sunday we sing Henry Greatorex’s Gloria Patri  as well as Thomas Ken’s Doxology. In both we proclaim and affirm the triune nature of God. In the Gloria Patri we sing, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.”

In the Doxology we sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heav’nly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

 

Thomas Ken was an Anglican Bishop in England in the 1600's. And he was the brother-in-law of Izaak Walton, the famous angler. King Charles of England appointed Thomas as one of his chaplains. It is said that when it was time for chapel, King Charles would say, “I must go in and hear Thomas tell me my faults.”

It has been said that the Doxology has been sung more frequently than any other religious song in the last 350 years.

Tertullian The concept of the trinitas or trinity to describe the Godhead was first put forth by Tertullian, a pagan who converted to Christianity around 195 a.d. Living in North Africa, Tertullian was known as the greatest theologian of the West until Augustine.

Triune Expressions  We speak of the Trinity in many benedictions such as “Grace, mercy and peace, from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest and abide with you now and forever more.” When I baptize a child or an adult, I say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Book of Confessions Our Book of Confessions reflect the triune nature of God. For instance, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Confession of 1967, and the Brief Statement of Faith of 1983 all are written in three sections: one for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit.

New Testament  The concept of the Trinity is found through out the New Testament.

At the end of his second letter to the Christians in Corinth, Paul ends with this familiar benediction: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." (2 Corinthians 13:14)   Peter speaks easily and frequently of the Trinity. He says that we have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to the Son. (1 Peter 1:1-9)

In our morning scripture Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...”  (Matthew 28:18-19)

So what is the Trinity? Frederick Buechner said, “Father, Son and Holy Spirit mean that the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, and the mystery within us are all the same mystery. In Latin, this is called the Divinum Mysterium - the Divine Mystery.

What is God Like?  Even though much of God is a divine mystery, we still strive to discover what God is like.

The story is told of a five-year old daughter who asked, "Daddy, what is God like?"  This appeared to be a simple enough question until the Father tried to answer it in terms his daughter could grasp.  He finally gave up and said, "Go ask your mother."  So she went to her mother and asked, "What is God like?"  Her mother knew at once she was over her head so she said, "Honey, why don't you ask your Sunday School teacher?"  So the next Sunday she did.  And the Sunday School teacher thought a moment and then said cheerfully, "Why don't you ask your parents?"  At this point the little girl muttered, "Boy, if I had lived with God as long as my mother and Father and Sunday School teacher, I think I'd know what God's like!"  

Now if someone asked you what God was like, what would you say? I suppose you could quote our Shorter Catechism and say, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” [7.004, “Shorter Catechism”] That’s a rather ponderous definition of God even for an adult.

God in Three Persons  However, another way to understand God is by looking at God’s three basic functions - Creator, Redeemer, and Comforter.  

St. Patrick tried to do this with the analogy of the shamrock.  The three leaves of a shamrock are all connected to the same stem.  In like manner, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three parts of the same God.   One way to explain the trinity is to say that God wears different hats when he's doing different things, just as we might do.  Some times we're a parent to our child, a child to our parents, and an employee to our boss.  

 

Another analogy is to look at God in the three ways he revealed himself: as Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

Creator - God created the world and each of us here. In our scripture reading from Genesis we read that after God made the earth and the heavens, “God formed man from the dust of the ground,and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” God continues to create and recreate his world and us all the time.

Savior -  Second, God is our savior. The same Word of God that went forth to create the heavens and the earth and gave us the breath of life, now went forth in flesh to save us from our sins. “In the beginning is the word, and the word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth.” [John 1:1, 14]  When God’s Word became flesh, Jesus was born. Jesus not only saved us, he continues to save us each day through the forgiveness of our sins. So now we speak of God the Son.

Holy Spirit - Finally, God is Holy Spirit. This is the presence and power of God in our lives today. We highlighted this on Pentecost Sunday when the Spirit came as a mighty wind to 120 followers of Jesus. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” [John 14:26] Just as Jesus was called Immanuel, God with us, so today the Spirit is God with us. So now we speak of God the Holy Spirit.

St. Augustine elaborated on this concept when he described the Trinity as “Lover, Beloved, and Love.” For God so loved the world - the Lover. He gave his son - the Beloved. And his love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. God is always the divine lover inviting us to love him back. As God loves us, we become God’s beloved whether we respond or not. God’s creative love continues to shape and reshape our hearts and souls into the person he would have us be.

His redeeming love continues to receive us back into covenant with him no matter how many times we run away. And as Paul writes to the church in Rome, “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

God is With Us  As we struggle to grasp and understand God, the temptation is to try to make God fit our own idea of what and who God is. We try to reduce God to digestible and understandable size. However, it just doesn't work that way. God’s ways are not our ways, nor are God’s thoughts our thoughts. However, all that really is important for us to know is that our triune God has revealed everything necessary for our salvation.

Final Thoughts As we leave here this morning, I encourage us to celebrate the Trinity by doing three things:

1. Allow God the Father to continue creating and molding you into the person he would have you be.

1. Allow God the Son to continue saving and forgiving you so that you are free to witness to him in all things.
   3. Finally, allow God the Spirit to dwell in your heart that you might receive power to withstand temptation, guidance when confused, comfort when saddened, hope when filled with despair, strength to forgive the unforgivable, and love that never ends.
   God is Love Remember, the greatest definition of God is that God is love. That’s right, as creator, God is love. As savior, God is love. And as Holy Spirit, God is love. Each day of our lives, we are enveloped in God’s love whether we know it or not. Isn’t that great? Amen.
   Genesis 2:4-9 NRSV
   These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
   In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
   Matthew 28:16-20 NRSV
    Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

Quest for Freedom, June 29, 2014

Quest for Freedom

Psalm 33:1-12, Galatians 5:1, 13-14

Grace Presbyterian Church

June 29, 2014

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller

 

I’m Not Free  During Sunday School, the Sunday before the 4th of July, a teacher asked her class what the 4th meant to them. Some said “Parades”, some said “Fireworks!” and other said “Picnic.” The teacher said, “Yes, those are all right answers, but the main reason to celebrate is that we’re all free. A little boy raised his hand and said, “I’m not free! I’m four!”

As we know, it won’t be long before the melodious sounds of fire crackers will be resounding through our neighborhoods. And everywhere in America, plans for fireworks displays are being finalized. We’ll ooh and ahh at such visual pyrotechnics as arial repeaters, arial shells, flying spinners, fountains, rockets, poppers, Roman candles, snakes, and sparklers. Parades, carnivals, barbecues, concerts, family reunions, bunting, banners, picnics, and flags waving proudly will be the order of the day this coming Friday and through the weekend. Erma Bombeck said:

You have to love a nation that celebrates its Independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”

 

Freedom  Before the firecrackers go off and the parades begin, I’d like to share some thoughts about freedom. And I’d like to do this from two aspects: freedom from something and freedom to do something. I will highlight three aspects of freedom in our lives: freedom in our land, freedom in our spiritual life, and freedom in our daily interactions with those around us. My overall thought for us to take with us into the future is this: “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. [Pope John Paul II]

Freedom in America  Let’s first turn our attention to the freedom we enjoy as a result of the Declaration of Independence. This was a document adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies hereby declare themselves as thirteen sovereign states who are forever free from English rule. In its opening statement, the document states:

“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.” They declared that as United Colonies they were Free and Independent States. It concludes by saying, “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Does this mean they were free to do anything they wanted? Absolutely not. They quickly drafted The Articles of Confederation to serve as their first set of laws. This was  soon followed by the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights which established the civil boundaries to govern the actions of the citizens living in their newly found freedom. Although they had freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of lawful assembly, those freedoms came with responsibilities to obey the laws of the land. So their freedom did not permit them to do as they pleased, but gave them the freedom to abide by civil boundaries of behavior.

Under God  Undergirding the establishment of our nation was their desire to live under the governance of God.

Mayflower Compact   For instance, in 1620, the Mayflower Compact stated, ”In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill body politick, ...”

New England Confederation  In 1643, the constitution of the New England Confederation included these thoughts: “We all come into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace.”

Benjamin Franklin  In 1787, Benjamin Franklin at the age of 81 addressed the Constitutional Convention and said, “I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth... that God governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”

George Washington   Two years later, in 1789, George Washington included in his Thanksgiving Day proclamation that “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection, aid and favors.”

Under God  Over the years we have reinforced our belief that we live under the providence of God in several ways.

Star Spangled Banner  The third stanza of our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” reads, “Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just, and this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”  

Currency  This verse from “The Star Spangled Banner” was the inspiration for including the words “In God We Trust on our currency.” These words first appeared on our coins in 1864 and on paper currency since 1957. These words reflect the thoughts of several verses from the Bible, such as “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man.” [Psalm 118:8], “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust.” [Psalm 40:4], and “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” [Proverbs 3:5-6]

Pledge of Allegiance  And in our pledge of allegiance to the flag we say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God [added in 1954 on Flag Day], indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  

And on July 20, 1956, the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag was adopted as the National Motto of the United States by a joint resolution of Congress. And by being made the National Motto, it became the established guiding principle of our nation. It symbolizes the fact that we are a people who are to live out our citizenship under the laws of the land and live out our faith under the divine guidance and jurisdiction of almighty God.   

Under God    One nation, under God, means that God is in charge. God is in command. It means we are to live out our lives in obedience to our Creator and Redeemer.

God’s Rule  This belief is reflected in our morning scripture from Psalm 33. This psalm was a hymn intended to praise God and was used primarily for the choral part of the temple ceremonies.    

In verses 8 and 12, we read, “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him”   And, “Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!” [33:12]    At the time the psalmist lived, most nations worshiped many gods.  Shrines to these gods dotted the landscape.  It was a goal of the prophets and the psalmists to remind Israel to only worship Yahweh.   Here the psalmist is speaking of God’s rule in the earth.  He proclaims that the Lord is the master of history. The nation whose people live under his authority and governance is happy or blessed.  

Freedom from Pharaoh One of the most dramatic and well known struggles for freedom took place when the Israelites were delivered from over four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. In Deuteronomy we find one of the great celebrations of freedom in the Bible. "The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”    

(Deuteronomy 26:8-9 NIV)  Yes, God freed the Israelites from Pharaoh’s power and gave them a new life in the Promised Land.

But their freedom from Pharaoh did not give them permission to do as they pleased for God had not only freed them from servitude, he gave them the Ten Commandments as guides and boundaries to their words and actions.

Jesus and Freedom  In our morning Gospel reading from John, Jesus says that all of us are slaves to sin and that he will free us from its power. How? By dying for our sins on the Cross. By paying the penalty our sins deserved. Paul wrote that our freedom was bought with a price [1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23]. But it was not to give us freedom to do or say anything we wanted. Instead it was the freedom for us to surrender our lives to a higher power. It was the freedom to serve God instead of Satan.

Rev. Phillips Brooks, who wrote the words to the beloved Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” made the observation that , “No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude. There is no such thing as an entirely free man.”

Paul tells us that we who were once slaves of sin are now slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from our hearts. [1 Corinthians 7:22, Ephesians 6:6] Slaves of Christ means

Christ is our king and we are the citizens of his kingdom. We are called to serve him in every aspect of our lives.

Free Will   As Christians we not only live in the land of the free, and not only has God freed us from the power of sin and death, he has created us with free will. Such free will gives us the power to make choices as to whom we will serve in life. Everyday we struggle between good and evil. By the choices we make, by the words we speak, and by the actions we take, we reveal to everyone around us who or what we freely serve. If we love power, we will dedicate our lives to obtaining it. If we desire money over anything else, we will be slaves to our possessions and bank accounts. And we will end up as slaves of worldly powers instead of servants of Christ. Joshua put it well when he said “Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve.”

Fireworks   So as we watch the fireworks and parades, and as we eat food and play games, and as we get together with our loved ones, let us remember that “Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought. Amen

Psalm 33:1-12 NRSV

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.

   Praise befits the upright.

Praise the Lord with the lyre;

   make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.

Sing to him a new song;

   play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

For the word of the Lord is upright,

   and all his work is done in faithfulness.

He loves righteousness and justice;

   the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

   and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;

   he put the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;

   let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

For he spoke, and it came to be;

   he commanded, and it stood firm.

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

   he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,

   the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,

   the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

Galatians 5:1, 13-14 NRSV

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

The second freedom is found in Paul’s letter to Galatia in which he said, “For freedom Christ has set us free.” Set us free from what? Bondage and slavery to sin and death.

 

"Final Thoughts

As we participate in picnics and family reunions on this Independence Day weekend, let us remember two things:

1. We live in the greatest nation on earth; and,

2. God asks us to live under his divine jurisdiction in everything we do.

May all that we do and say, be it at home with our family, at school with our classmates, or at work with our co-workers be a witness to God’s divine Lordship in our life.  

One person observed:

       The freedom to fly is related to the string. The very thing that holds the kite to earth is what keeps it in the sky. Cut the string, and what will happen to the kite? It will fall. But the string, which seems to bind it, allows it to fly. In like manner, the Law which seems to bind us allows us the freedom to fly.

The words of "The Star-Spangled Banner" were written by Francis Scott Key on Sept. 14, 1814, inspired by the sight of the U.S. flag at Fort McHenry withstanding a nightlong bombardment from an offshore British warship. He indicated that the words were to be sung to the Anacreontic song, a melody he had used 9 years earlier for another poem. "The Star-Spangled Banner" attained popularity quickly but was no more prominent as a patriotic air than "Yankee Doodle" or "Hail Columbia." During the Civil War it was adopted informally as an anthem by the Union Army, and it was adopted officially by the U.S. Army during World War I. It did not become the U.S. national anthem, however, until signed into law by President Herbert Hoover on Mar. 3, 1931.
Conflict with State  One problem arises when our lives under the Lordship of Christ comes into conflict with the law of the state.  John Calvin had this to say on the subject:

“In the obedience which we have shown to be due to the authority of governors, it is always necessary to make one exception, and that is entitled to our first attention, that it does not seduce us from obedience to him, to whose will the desires of all kings ought to be subject, to whose decrees all their commands ought to yield, to whose majesty all their sceptres ought to submit.” [ Institutes of the Christian Religion , Book IV, Chapter XX, Section 32, pp. 804-805.]

Calvin is saying that although we are to abide by the laws of the state, Christ is our ultimate Lord and King in all aspects of life.  So what happens when a civil law is contrary to God’s law?  

Calvin leaves no doubt as to his opinion: if the state commands anything against God, follow God and ignore the state.  This is, of course, civil disobedience.   

The question, then, is this: “Can we, or should we, separate our involvement in the political arenas of life from any thought of God?”  The answer is absolutely “No.”  Yet far too many times we try to keep our faith in Christ separate from our actions in the work place or from the laws of government.  It is up to us to meet every situation as a disciple serving under the King of all kings, Jesus the Christ.

Giving Unto Caesar

Jesus said “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” [Matthew 22:21]   When he said that they should give to Caesar his due, it should be remembered that since 6 A.D., Rome had imposed a head tax of about twenty-five cents for each of the citizens of Judea.  The coin, or denarius, that was used bore the likeness of Tiberius Caesar.   As such, it was considered to be Caesar’s private property and rightly due him.   Governments were seen as instruments by which God brought order to diverse peoples living together.  

However, Jesus also said that they were to render unto God the things that are God’s.  This means that if the authority granted to secular governments is misused, then God’s rule must prevail.  

 

But why go to all this fuss and bother? We do this every year. What’s the point? The point is simple: it is to remember and celebrate the time in our history when we obtained our freedom from the rule of Great Britain.

 Freedom  Isn’t that a great word? We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave! This freedom is aptly captured in these words by Emma Lazarus, inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

 

 

Yearning to Breathe Free “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” [ The New Colossus , 1883, Emma Lazarus, Inscribed in 1903 on base of the Statue of Liberty]   

These thoughts capture the essence of the quest for freedom on the part of thousands of our immigrant ancestors. They came to America in the quest for freedom. Freedom to worship, freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom from fear. This land was, for many of our ancestors, the biblical land of Milk and Honey.

In addition to celebrating our independence, it will be a day of giving thanks to God for this land and acknowledging the fact that we live out our freedom under the governance of God. We find that fact echoed in many ways.

The Bible However, there are equally inspiring stories of freedom in a document even greater than the Declaration of Independence - the Holy Bible.

Limits to our Freedom  However, freedom of any kind has limits. It never permits us to do as we please. When our founding fathers won their freedom from British rule, they immediately adopted the Constitution as the laws under which all men and women would live out their freedom. In like manner, when we accept the freedom Christ won for us, we also agree to live out our freedom by abiding by the laws of God.