This weekend marks the 250th birthday of our nation. It is fitting, in accordance with the fifth commandment to honor our fathers, to celebrate the gift we’ve received in this republic. We certainly have a great deal of work ahead of us to ensure we don’t squander the inheritance we’ve received. However, the USA is the principle fruit of the Reformation.
After all, we are a nation shaped by the Calvinist work ethic. We grew out of the soil of the Puritan worldview of joyfully living by faith before the face of God, and applying the Scriptures diligently to all arenas of life. Our culture of liberty is a direct result of Luther’s recovery of the pure Gospel that we are justified by faith alone. We are a nation that began from a desire to worship God in accordance with Scripture.
Though we have sadly deviated far from that ideal, that soil is still fertile. A people that turn in faith to Christ, that devote themselves to worshipping Him according to Scripture, and that labor at the good works which the Triune God has commanded will be planting seeds in the fertile soil of God’s will. His favor is like gentle rain upon such crops. We cannot strong-arm Him into favoring us, but He can strong-arm us, by His strong mercy, to turn away from our folly and dwell in the fortress of His truth.
This is what our evangelical forefathers knew. The new birth found in Christ is the only hope for any nation to dwell in the favor of Almighty God. This was what made our nation thrive and enjoy unrivaled abundance and liberty from its very founding. But if we enjoy the abundance without gratitude for the undeserved grace shown to us, we will lose it all.
So, celebrate heartily, humbly, and in a holy manner that fits a people whose God is the Lord. Fire up the smoker, toss the beanbags, hold a watermelon seed spitting contest, get a sunburn, light off the fireworks without burning down the forest, and then rise on the Lord’s Day to worship the Triune God with your fellow saints, trusting that our independence from tyranny begins and ends with the forgiveness of sins which is proclaimed in the Gospel.
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