As the beautiful days of autumn keep coming, our hearts are stirred to worship the gracious God who has allowed us to live in such a gorgeous part of His world. We ought to thank Him for each new day. Around this time of year, many of us used to sing, “For the beauty of the earth … Lord of all, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise!” I believe that, when we consider God’s bountiful care for us, we ought to praise Him for the freedom that is ours to make Christ known to others. I consider such freedom nothing short of a sacred trust, and a sacred responsibility.
Religious liberty matters for everybody. Just a few years ago, most people engaged in American political life understood this. It wasn’t that long ago, 1993 in fact, when Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman Chuck Schumer advanced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That successful attempt to rearticulate the religious freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment was a political landslide, applauded by national leaders on both sides of the aisle. If you’re interested in the details, the RFRA passed unanimously in the U.S. House, and received only 3 “nay” votes in the Senate. And it was President Bill Clinton who signed it into law.
We’re now at a place where many, even within the church, are skeptical about the priority of religious freedom. I’m not entirely sure how we landed here so quickly, but we did. If you will allow me, I’d like to share with you why I’m praying for a revival of appreciation for what it means for you and me to enjoy the manifold blessings of a free church in a free state.
First of all, I feel compelled to remind you that religious liberty means so much more than what many today are labeling “freedom of worship.” Religious liberty surely includes the right to worship as we choose, but it also means that you and I are entitled to the freedom of conscience. We don’t have to think as we are told to think, and we don’t have to leave behind our personal convictions when we take a new job, or when we enter into a discussion in the public square. This freedom, I believe, is why we have been given a First Amendment, built right into the framework of American government. It is a remarkable blessing.
I am not at all claiming that you and I could not honor God, or live faithfully for Christ, without a First Amendment. That would be a ludicrous claim, as many of our brothers and sisters are serving our Lord joyfully under brutal dictatorial regimes across the globe, even as I pen these words. But I am saying that you and I should think long and hard before we abandon our religious freedoms by sheer neglect. After all, the best way to preserve a liberty is to exercise it. While we have such freedom, we ought to make much of Jesus wherever and however we can.
And I’m urging you not to fall for the deception that it is somehow inappropriate, at this particular point in history, for us to live as public ambassadors for Christ. There seem to be many in the culture who want us to leave our Christian ideology at home, but that’s not possible, friends. That’s not who we are. That’s not in keeping with our Lord’s marching orders for us. We must recognize that everybody, literally, brings their fundamental presuppositions into their discussions of important subjects. Buddhists and Muslims do it. Atheists and Marxists do it. So do followers of Christ. Expressing the beliefs that are most central to our souls is part of what it means to be human. It’s what God’s image bearers do by our nature. God communicates from the heart, and so do we.
It is a cruel thought that any government would seek to deprive any person, in any place or at any time, of such freedom. Such action would be far beyond the boundaries of any government’s God-ordained function as the state. While you and I have influence, surely we should speak up on this subject.
Fundamentally, friends, this is not an “American” concern. Tertullian, the prolific African thinker and writer who was born in Carthage in 160 A.D., rightly understood that religion arises from inner conviction, not from external coercion, and that the inherent freedom of the human soul must be cherished and protected. I contend that you and I ought to deeply desire that fundamental freedom for every person on Planet Earth.
I’m not advocating for any kind of hostile takeover. You and I must live humbly and respectfully in our lane as well. I’m simply advocating for a little more “robust winsomeness” on our part. Like that term? I just made it up. This is how I see the Apostle Paul conducting his ministry in Athens in Acts 17. He isn’t foaming at the mouth with anger, but he is right there in the Areopagus, in the middle of all the action. He isn’t despairing because he has to function within a broad marketplace of competing philosophies, but he shows tremendous compassion and grace by seeking to understand where the people around him are coming from. He doesn’t speak down to the crowds or try to silence the voices of his detractors, but he does share the saving gospel of Christ when the moment is right. This is LOVE. So, I suppose, I’m calling us to love.
As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I are His salt and His light (Matthew 5:13-16). We preserve the truth. We stall the decay. We shine a ray of hope into the darkest places here on earth. Will this be an easy road? Hardly. Far, far from it. It was never intended to be easy.
But we do not travel this road alone.
Pastor Charles
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