Latest / Belin Memorial UMC / Pastor Bill Barber - "The Flag We Honor, The Kingdom We Serve"
Transcript
- Belin Memorial UMC: Today's scripture comes from Paul's letter that he wrote to the church in Galatia, specifically in the fifth chapter, verses thirteen through fourteen. Today I'm reading from the Common English Bible. Hear now these words. You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only don't let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. All the law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the word of God for us, the people of God. Thanks be to God. I mentioned briefly to you a little while ago that I am a retired Navy Senior Chief. And I'm going to tell you a little story that happened to me. And it's going to I risk doing it because it's going to sound like I'm bragging a little bit. And I'm really not. It ties in with the message that I'm going to bring you. See, one day in May of nineteen eighty eight, when some of you probably weren't even born yet. I was assigned to the Naval Security Group Command in Washington, D.C. My boss, Admiral James McFarlane, was summoned to the White House to brief President Ronald Reagan, anybody remember that name, on a worldwide top secret satellite communications project. Now, Admiral McFarlane was a very, very intelligent man, and he knew this project very well, but not necessarily some of the technical details. And President Reagan had a reputation, he was known to inquire about very technical, minute details on things. Admiral McFarlane, in his wisdom, came to me and said, you're coming with me to the White House. Now, I have to admit, it was a big thrill to be able to brief the setting president of the United States, and even more of a thrill to do it in the Oval Office. Now, the sensitivity of this briefing was such that the only people in the Oval Office at that time were the President, his White House Chief of Staff, Howard Baker, Admiral McFarland, and myself. ⁓ yeah, there was a Secret Service guy that kind of blended into the back wall back there. Anyway, shortly after this, on Flag Day, did you guys know today's Flag Day? Shortly after this, on Flag Day of 1988, Ronald Reagan declared in a presidential proclamation that quote, when we honor our flag. When we we stand as a nation, freedom, equality, justice, and hope. And that sentence has stayed with me ever since then. Because you see, Flag Day is not just an abstract national observance for me, and like many of you. I've stood when the colors have passed by. We've saluted the flag. We've seen what it means to men and women in uniform. Most of us have probably seen it folded and carefully handed to grieving families. I've watched it fly over ships, bases, schools, churches, courthouses, and yes, front porches right here in our neighborhood. The flag is not just cloth. It carries memory. It carries sacrifice. It carries gratitude. It carries grief. And it carries the hope of generations. But I've also spent a good deal of my time as a pastor. And as a Christian pastor, I have to be honest, I struggle with what it means for Christians to pledge allegiance to a flag or a nation or a government. Because my deepest allegiance belongs to God alone. Now That doesn't mean I don't love my country. It doesn't mean I don't respect the flag. It doesn't mean that I don't honor those who have served and sacrificed and died under that flag. But it does mean I cannot give to any nation what belongs only to God. For the Christian, the flag may be honored, but it must never be worshipped. The nation may be loved, but it must never become an idol. Patriotism is good and noble, but it must always be shaped, corrected, and purified by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that's not anti-American. In fact, I believe it may be one of the most faithful ways that a Christian can love America. Because when we love something rightly, we don't flatter it. We don't pretend that it's perfect. We do not excuse everything done in its name. We love it enough to call it toward its best self. And that's what strikes me about Reagan's words: freedom, equality, justice, and hope. Those four words sound very American, but they also sound very biblical. The challenge is that in much of our national conversation, we often reduce that fourfold vision down to one word, freedom. We say we are a freedom-loving people. We say freedom is what makes America great. We say our service members fought for freedom. And that's true as far as it goes, but freedom by itself is not enough. Freedom can be beautiful or it can become selfish. Freedom can open the door to love. service, generosity, worship, and truth. But freedom can also be twisted into, I don't care, I'll do whatever I want to do, and nobody can tell me otherwise. That's not biblical freedom. We just read part of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia. He said, You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only don't let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. That's a very different kind of freedom. Paul says, freedom is not permission to serve myself. Freedom Is power to serve my neighbor. Freedom is not the end of responsibility. In fact, it's the beginning of responsibility. Freedom is not, I owe nothing to no one. Freedom is Because God has set me free, I am now free to love, free to forgive, free to serve, free to seek justice, free to speak truth, free to care about someone besides myself. And that, brothers and sisters, is the freedom of the gospel. So on Flag Day, remember I said today was Flag Day? On Flag Day, you bet we can give thanks for freedom. We can give thanks for the freedom to worship. We can give thanks for the freedom to speak, the freedom to gather, the freedom to vote, the freedom to disagree, and the freedom to pursue a life of dignity and purpose. But Christians must always ask: freedom for what? Freedom for selfishness? Freedom for indifference, freedom for division, or freedom for love. Paul's pretty clear about this. We are set free in Christ so that we may serve one another through love. That brings us to the second of those four words: equality. Now, I understand equality can be a big political word. And sometimes people react to it before they even think about it. But before equality is a political idea, it's a biblical truth. The Bible teaches us that every person is created in the image of God. Now, back when I was in junior high school, I'm sorry, middle school, if you don't know what junior high is, in Sunday school, and our Sunday school teacher told us that and said, Every person is created in the image of God. I'll have to admit that there was a group of us young boys that looked at each other and said, Wow, that's one crazy looking dude. The point is. Every person bears sacred worth. Every person matters to God. Not just the people who look like us, not just the people who vote like us, not just the people who worship like us, and not just the people whose stories are easy for us to understand. Every person. Now Jesus lived this truth everywhere he went. Think about it. He welcomed children when others tried to push them aside. He spoke with, ⁓ my gosh, women in a culture that often dismissed them. He touched lepers that no one else wanted to touch. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. ⁓ my goodness. He noticed the poor widow. He healed the foreigner. He told a story about the he of which the hero was a Samaritan, a person that many of his listeners would have been trained to disgust in distrust. Jesus had a way of widening the circle. And every time we try to shrink that circle, Jesus widens it again. That's why Christians cannot speak of freedom without also speaking of, excuse me, without also speaking of equality. If my freedom depends on denying your dignity, that's not Christian freedom. If my liberty requires your humiliation, that's not biblical liberty. If my rights are protected while your humanity is ignored, Then, friends, something has gone wrong. The flag points to a republic that claims liberty and justice for all. The gospel calls us even deeper to recognize every neighbor as someone for whom Christ died. Now that leads naturally to the third word: justice. The prophet Micah. You don't hear him preached about all that often, but the prophet Micah asked the question rather plainly. He says, What does the Lord require of us? And the answer is not complicated. Do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with God. Justice in the Bible is not just punishment for wrongdoing. It's bigger than that. Biblical justice means setting things right. It means protecting the vulnerable. It means honest dealings with each other. It means truth in public life. It means care for the poor. It means refusing to use power to crush those who have less of it. Now, most of us. Are not presidents or senators or judges or admirals or generals. Most of us don't get to make national policy. But justice begins closer than we think. Justice begins with how we speak about people when they're not in the room. Justice begins with whether we tell the truth when a lie would be easier. Justice begins with whether we listen to people whose experiences are different from ours. Justice begins with whether we notice the person who is struggling, as many of you did just minutes ago. Justice begins with whether we use whatever influence we have in our family, our workplace, our church, our community to make things a little more right, a little more merciful, a little more honest, and yes, a little more. Where's Mary Malik? Kind. You've heard her use that word quite a bit, right? As a Navy senior chief. I learned that discipline matters, order matters, duty matters, accountability matters. You can't run a ship, a command, or a mission on vague good intentions. But as a pastor, I also learned that justice without mercy can become harsh. It can be it ⁓ mercy without justice can become sentimental. The biblical ver vision holds them together. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. That last part matters. Christians like us should be cautious about assuming that God automatically endorses our opinions, our parties, our preferences, or even our nation. The question is not: is God on our side? The better question is. Are we seeking to be on God's side? Are we on the side of mercy? Are we on the side of truth? Are we on the side of the poor and forgotten? Are we on the side of reconciliation? Are we on the side of love? And then comes the fourth word, in case you were counting, yeah, we're getting close to the end here. Then comes the fourth word: hope. Freedom, equality, justice, and hope. And hope may just be the most fragile of the four. Many people today are running low on hope. They're tired from the grief. Some are tired from politics. Some are tired from financial pressure. Some are tired from family conflict. Some are tired from illness. Some are tired from loneliness. Some are tired from feeling that the world is just too angry, too divided, too loud, and too uncertain. So, what does all that mean for Christians to be people of hope on Flag Day? Well, what it does not mean is pretending that everything is fine. Christian hope is not denial. Christian hope is not shallow optimism. Christian hope does not say, don't worry, everything will be easy. Christian hope says, God is not finished. Christian hope says the darkness is real, but it's not ultimate. Christian hope says the cross was real, but so was the resurrection. Christian hope says, sin is real, but grace is greater. Christian hope says empires rise and fall, leaders come and go, nations struggle and change, but the kingdom of God is still breaking into the world. And that's why our ultimate allegiance belongs to God. Because nations are temporary, but the kingdom of God is eternal. Flags change, borders change. Governments change, parties change, presidents change, public opinion changes. But Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. So where does that leave us on Flag Day? I believe it leaves us in a place of gratitude, humility, and commitment. Gratitude for the blessings that we have received. Humility about the ways that we still fall short. As Christians in America, we don't have to choose between loving our country and serving God. But we do have to keep them in the right order. We serve God first. And because we serve God first, we are called to love our country in a deeper, truer, more faithful way. We love it by telling the truth. We love it by serving our neighbors. We love it by honoring the sacrifices of those who came before us. We love it by caring for those who are vulnerable now. We love it by refusing to surrender to cynicism. We love it by praying for our leaders, whether we voted for them or not. That's not partisan, that's Christian. And maybe, just maybe, that's the kind of patriotism the church can offer. Not loud, not angry, not arrogant, not blind, but humble, grateful. Honest and loving, a patriotism shaped by the cross. Because the cross teaches us what love looks like. Love is not domination. Love is not self-protection. Love is not winning at all cost. Love is not me first. Love lays itself down for the sake of another. But the cross Points us toward a Savior. So today, we can honor the flag, we can give thanks to our nation, we can remember those who served and sacrificed, we can celebrate what is good and noble in our national story, but we do so as Christians. We do so with our eyes on Jesus. So on this flag day, May we honor the flag without confusing it for the cross. May we love our country without worshiping it. May we give thanks for freedom and use that freedom to serve. May we recognize the sacred worth of every person. May we do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. And may we live as people of hope, not because our nation is perfect, but because our God is faithful. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's pause at this time and go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious and loving God, on this day we come before you with grateful hearts. We give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy, for those who have served and sacrificed, and for the many blessings we have received as citizens of this nation. Yet, Lord, we also come with humble hearts, remembering that our first and highest allegiance is to you. Teach us to honor our country. without making an idol of it. Teach us to love our neighbors without condition. Teach us to use our freedom not for selfish gain, but for service, compassion, justice, and peace. Where there is division, make us instruments of reconciliation. Where there is fear, make us people of courage. Where there is injustice, give us the strength to stand for what is right. Where hope has grown thin, let the light of Christ shine through us. We thank you for the privilege of being able to hear your word. May the words that were spoken in the meditation of all of our hearts draw us closer to Christ and send us out as faithful servants in the world. And now, as your children, we pray together the prayer our Lord Jesus taught us by saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the... Amen.