This week sees the celebration of two national birthdays. On Sunday Canada turns 145 and on Wednesday, the United States turns 236. We love the patriotic music, fireworks displays and our national flags.
Canada and the United States have much in common with the national political roots of both countries going back to Europe and to Great Britain in particular. The United States is 91 years older than Canada and gained its independence through a brutal war; Canada’s independence came peacefully through an evolutionary process.
The United States has 10 times the population of Canada but Canada has considerably more land and natural resources. Canada is the United States’ biggest trading partner. The United States does more trade with Canada than with China, Japan and many European countries. Canada sends hockey players to the States and the States sends baseball players to Canada.
The border between the United States and Canada is the longest unguarded border between any two nations in the world. In the war of 1812, Canadians had to show it’s big neighbor that it couldn’t push them around. The Canadians captured the city of Detroit, burned the White House in Washington and burned much of the city of New Orleans, for what the Americans were trying to do. But apart from that, the two nations have been at peace.
A plaque at one of the border crossings says, “This border is a lesson of peace to all nations.”
President Truman said, “Canada and the United States have reached the point where we no longer think of each other as foreign countries. We think of each other as friends.”
President John Kennedy said of Canada, “Geography has made us neighbors, history has made us friends.”
The Indian chief, Sitting Bull, once said, “The meat of the buffalo tastes the same on both sides of the border!”
One person said, “Canadians are generally indistinguishable from Americans and the surest way of telling the two apart is to say so to a Canadian.”
I’ve always liked what Martin Luther King Jr. said. “During the Civil War and the operation of the underground railway, which worked to bring freedom to the slaves, the American negroes in the south knew that to the north was a land that was free from prejudice and where there was opportunity.” He added, “What our masters did not know, was that in our spirituals, heaven was a code word for Canada!”
The two nations have much in common. We share the Great Lakes, the Rocky Mountains, great customs and traditions and great preachers.
Our nations are still relatively young, both are blessed with great beauty and both are still filled with tremendous opportunity. Both nations face tremendous challenges and have major social problems to deal with.
Joseph Stalin, the dictator in the former Soviet Union said, “If we can effectively kill the national pride and patriotism of just one generation, we will have won that country. Therefore there must be continued propaganda abroad to undermine the loyalty of citizens in general and the teenagers in particular.”
Well, Joseph Stalin is dead and the political system he sought to establish has crumbled. Perhaps we have survived because he was never successful in destroying our national pride, our love of country and our sense of loyalty to the principles of freedom.
This is a time for patriotism.
A TIME FOR REFLECTION
We’re facing major problems and as patriotic as we feel, this is not a time for blind allegiance; this is a time for honest reflection. The world of Norman Rockwell is no more; we face a new day.
Violent crime, abortion, illegitimate births, divorce, children living in single parent homes, teenage suicide and child abuse have increased dramatically. Never before has one generation of teenagers been less healthy, less cared for or less prepared for life.
The social landscape has changed, the political arena has changed and standards of behavior and family values have changed. Corruption and greed are rampant.
We are facing a revolution in the economic system, turmoil in our judicial system and a radical transformation of our moral values. For most of us, these changes are unsettling and disturbing.
It’s time to open our eyes and realize what’s happening. You can’t get away from the moral and ethical perversions that are all around us.
Today is a time not only for patriotism but for reflection.
A TIME TO RESPOND
I am often asked how Christians should respond to the tremendous social issues we face. This is not a time to sit back in complacency; this is a time for righteous anger. It’s a time to be informed about what’s happening and for wise action.
People tend to go to one of two extremes. Some Christians withdraw, saying it’s no use to speak up because it won’t do any good. They don’t want to get their hands dirty in the fight for righteousness. They think that we’re to separate from the world.
Others become aggressively involved. They are what I call Christian imperialists. They seek not only to stop the downward moral slide, they actually want to take over the world for God. They have a consuming passion to wage a holy war against society’s evils. What they are practicing, whether they realize it or not, is really a form of post-millenialism. They seek to take over the world and legislatively introduce Christian values and introduce the kingdom of God on earth.
The key of course is to find the balance point between these two dangerous extremes. Whenever the Christian community has withdrawn from the world and refused to be salt and light in the world, evil has had free reign. On the other hand, whenever the Christian imperialists have had their way, the church has forgotten it’s primary mission and has self-destructed on secondary issues.
The church’s agenda is proclamation not legislation. The social action of the church is always secondary to its redemptive work. The church’s evangelization of the world relies on proclaiming the gospel of the cross and the resurrection, not on political legislation or lobbying.
The biblical approach is for the church to teach values and clarify the issues, then for individual Christians to get involved in a variety of ways in places of influence and service throughout the community.
HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?
Reestablish our values.
Many people confuse what’s legal with what’s morally right. However, there are many things that are legally right but morally wrong.
Many people confuse North American culture with what is biblically appropriate. There is a great deal in our culture that is ethically sick. For the most part today, our culture is lying to us. When culture contradicts Scripture, Scripture wins and culture loses.
Promote biblical values.
Jesus taught ethical values. The Sermon on the Mount is still the bedrock of how we ought to relate to one another and how we ought to function in society. The church needs to trumpet these values.
Practice a biblical lifestyle.
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:7-8).
In other words, the Lord is not pleased with our worship if we don’t back it up with mercy, justice and humility.
Familiarize yourself with the current issues.
Political ignorance is never a virtue. Political awareness without political literacy leaves Christians with emotional issues but with little positive impact on society.
Respond individually to social issues.
Dr. J.I. Packer said, “To try to improve society is not worldliness but love. To wash one’s hands of society is not love but worldliness!”
We need to respond individually to these issues as an act of love. The church’s job is to preach biblical values and standards. The church’s job is to enable individuals to deal with contemporary issues.
Refocus on what’s critically important.
Remember that the first church lived in a society without any religious freedom, any constitutional safeguards or government protection. They didn’t fight the system. They saw individuals converted and in so doing, changed society. People today seem more interested in stopping abortions than in winning lost people to Jesus. It’s not the primary function of the church to respond to every social issue. In fact, history not only shows that it is seldom effective, it shows that it has often hurt the church itself.
Pray
We may not all be able to run for office or speak up at public meetings but we can all pray.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone‑‑ for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
Keep social issues in perspective
Social action must be kept in perspective. The church is called primarily to evangelize. Jesus taught ethical principles and told his followers to live by them. He didn’t attack the social structure or the moral practices of the Roman government. Jesus influenced individuals one by one.
The New Testament church didn’t seek to change the social structure of the world but to evangelize individuals and as people were converted to Christ, they changed and society changed.
We have reason for pride and it’s proper that we demonstrate our patriotic feelings, but I’d remind you of one important fact. God is not a Canadian, nor is God an American. God’s love and purposes go beyond any national boundary. Regardless of our citizenship, our loyalty to King Jesus has priority over every patriotic emotion that we feel.
The key question is not, “What passport do I carry?” or, “What country was I born in?” but rather, “Where is my spiritual citizenship registered?” Paul said, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” When everything is said and done, when the last flag has been waved, when the fireworks are over and when your passport is out of date, the only thing that will matter is where your spiritual citizenship is registered.
A complete directory of articles can be found at http://calsinsights.com/
You can receive this material regularly by email – just fill in your email address at the bottom left side of the home page under subscription options and you will receive a copy of each new article as it is posted.
To forward the material to someone else, press the “share this” button and fill in an email address.
I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.