Quote from Forum Archives on October 14, 2002, 5:05 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

STANDING FAST IN THE FAITH
October 13, 2002

Text: Acts 24:1-27

As Christians in America, we are the heirs of an incredibly rich
spiritual heritage that our founders and other early leaders cherished.
Part of this heritage is our right to worship God and share the Gospel
freely. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose
for his inheritance” (Ps. 33:12). Listen to just a small sample of our
godly heritage: (1) “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and
religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any
other.” - President John Adams, 1798; (2) “Providence has given to our
people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty of our Christian
nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” -John Jay,
first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1816. Can’t you imagine
that being said in our nation today? (3) “We have been the recipients of
the choicest bounties from heaven; we have been preserved these many
years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and
power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We
have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and
multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined,
in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were
produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with
unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the
necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God
that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the
offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency
and forgiveness.” - President Abraham Lincoln, 1863. All of this gives
proof that our nation’s founders and greatest leaders clearly recognized
the biblical foundations of government and built America upon these
principles.

Now I am not out to try to show that the so-called “American way of life”
is the same as Christian discipleship, or vice-versa. As a nation,
America has committed some pretty serious sins. And plenty of individual
Americans throughout the years have rejected a personal relationship with
Jesus. So I am not one to really refer to America a “Christian nation.”
What I do lift up, though, is that the foundational laws of our land are
based upon Judeo-Christian morality and principles. And, significantly,
our form of government was established in such a manner that the voice of
believers have an opportunity to be heard. We are free to not only live
out our Christian faith privately, but also to share that faith openly
and persuasively in the public arena.

But all across America today, God’s people are systematically being
denied these rights to exercise their faith and preach the Gospel. For
example: (1) In Wisconsin, an eight-year-old girl was denied her right to
share Valentines with the message, “Jesus Loves You.” (2) In Florida, a
church was denied its equal access right to use elementary school
facilities on weekends for worship services. (3) In Colorado, a swim
coach was denied access to city recreation facilities because he
mentioned Christ to some of his students.

What would you do if the government restricted or denied your right, or
the right of our church, to share the Gospel? How would you respond if
those in power demanded that you remain silent about your faith? Or if
they even outlawed the assembling together for worship? Well, it has not
come to that in this nation, but our heritage of freedom to worship and
the right to preach the Gospel is under serious, sustained attack today.
Paul wrote quite prophetically in Philippians 3:18, “For, as I have often
told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies
of the cross.”

I cannot say with certainty that our Christian witness will cause
everyone in our nation to accept Christ as Savior, but I can say that we
have a right to speak up and stand fast for the faith, and we have a
right to speak against those who want to dismantle America’s Christian
heritage and deny the foundations of religious freedom upon which our
country was built.

Chapters 21 through 28 of Acts chronicle Paul’s trip to Jerusalem, his
testimony, his arrest, his judicial proceedings, and his trip to Rome for
final disposition of his legal case. Although the system of government in
Paul’s day is different than ours in America, these final eight chapters
of Acts indicate to believers that defending even religious rights in the
courts can be appropriate. Of what was Paul guilty? We read in Acts
24:17-21, “After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to
bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings. I was
ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this.
There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance. But
there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be here
before you and bring charges if they have anything against me. Or these
who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before
the Sanhedrin - unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in
their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am
on trial before you today.’”

Likewise, Christians today are being denied their rights in some areas
and instances simply because the name of Jesus is being proclaimed. Yet,
ironically, even those who deny the very name of Christ want the personal
and national blessings derived from the Christian faith! When was the
last time you heard anyone tell you that they hoped they would be cheated
and swindled today? Or that they hoped that someone would con them out of
their hard-earned savings? When was the last time someone told you that
they hope that someone would mistreat them today because of their race or
ethnic origin? When was the last time you heard someone remark that they
hope some homicidal lunatic would shoot them or a loved one today in a
random act of violence? I don’t hear people say those kinds of things. If
I did, I would be prone to take a couple or more extra steps away from
that person.

What do we hear, instead? “I want others to treat me fairly and even with
compassion. If I am injured, I hope some “good Samaritan” will stop and
render aid. I hope that the people I deal with will treat me fairly and
provide honest service for my money. I hope the police capture those
homicidal lunatics, and that the courts don’t let them go again.” Aren’t
these the kinds of things that people hope for in their daily lives?

Does this sound familiar? “In everything, do to others what you would
have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” It’s
right out of the Bible, Matthew 7:12, and is well known as the “Golden
rule.” Luke 6:31 likewise reads, “Do to others as you would have them do
to you.” It expands further in that section of Scripture, verses 35 and
36, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without
expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you
will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and
wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Not even the
secular enemies of Christ argue against these principles for living, yet
they want to mute the very source of the teaching as if we can live out
the teaching without the Teacher! Thomas Jefferson observed in 1781, “Can
the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their
only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these
liberties are the gift of God?”

The answer to such a rhetorical question is “no.” But this is exactly
what we see happening in America today. And not in America alone. But we
are not in a position to influence another government as much as our own.
And it may not be that any of us individually are ever in a position to
influence anyone of power in our own government. But, like Paul, there
are Christians who are. And this is where we do come in. Turn to 2
Timothy 4:16-17 with me. Near the end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy,
“At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted
me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and
gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully
proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

Notice that Christians should have been ready to rally around Paul as he
defended the Gospel. This was important from Paul’s standpoint not just
because he was personally on trial and needed support. At stake was the
spread of the Gospel into all the world in accord with Jesus’ command. If
God loves justice, and injustice is being practiced in an attempt to shut
down our witness and stifle the Gospel, how can we as God’s people stand
by silently and tolerate injustice? Paul never did. In every situation,
he made certain that the Word of God was made known to his hearers. He
made it known that all of the goals and dreams for daily living they
longed for could come about only through faithful devotion to God and a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Before each and every higher
court before which Paul stood, he gave the testimony about Christ we find
in Acts 26:17-18. “I will rescue you from your own people and from the
Gentiles. I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from the
power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a
place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” The last verse of
Acts, chapter 28 verse 31, is as excellent an epithet as Paul would ever
want: “Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and
taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Be involved in the worthy cause of defending your right to practice your
Christian faith and proclaim the Gospel. There are a number of good
Christian legal groups, such as the Alliance Defense Fund and others,
dedicated to keeping the Gospel unfettered in this country. These
organizations are made up of highly committed Christian attorneys who
love God and have a passion to see justice and righteousness prevail in
America.

These skilled men and women volunteer their time and expertise in the
defense of the Gospel, but they need our prayers and support to carry out
their vital work. On this special Sunday, pray that God’s truth will be
upheld in the courts of this land. Become personally involved by
contacting a Christian legal group and finding out what its needs are.
These dedicated professionals are brothers and sisters in Christ who are
serving on the front lines of the battle for the Gospel! Let’s stand with
them in this vital struggle through our prayers, our involvement, and our
support. And let us, like Paul, not fail to make known the Word of God
with passion and compassion so that more and more of our fellow citizens
know the true source of the freedoms, rights, and liberties that they
know. Let us proclaim and live the very words of Jesus, “In everything,
do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law
and the Prophets.”

(All historical references and legal cases cited are from the 2002 Faith
& Freedom Sunday Sermon Outline, PO Box 54370, Phoenix, Arizona,
85078-4370, www.faithandfreedomsunday.com.)

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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