Dual Citizenship

Even though we each have our unique backgrounds - including our nationalities - we are considered part of the Kingdom of God.  1st Peter 2 says we are part of a holy nation: the nation of faith.  But, we can also acknowledge that most of us have been brought together as citizens of the U.S.  Acts 17
states:
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'

But for the Christian, our citizenship in heaven supersedes our national citizenship.  Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"  We can celebrate many aspects of our great country, including how God has worked in our history.  We can acknowledge His blessings, and cry out to Him for His hand to guide and empower us in the future.  Believers in Christ are citizens of heaven first, but we are also called, or assigned, to locations, including those of us who are called to be here in America.

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While we have been sovereignly placed as citizens of this great nations, the United States of America, whose birthday we celebrated yesterday, we recognize that we are citizens of another
kingdom and our ultimate allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3 states:
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

This Independence Day was marked by an array of fireworks displays, community events, and perhaps the playing or singing of patriotic favorites. One of those turned 100 this year - God Bless America, the song written by Irving Berlin, was performed on the National Mall in Washington, DC last night by gospel artist CeCe Winans, with fireworks exploding in the background.  It was added to the seventh-inning stretch in major league baseball games after 9/11.  The song was the work of an immigrant, a Jewish man from Russia, who wanted to thank his new country, according to a story on the Performing Songwriter website.  He had written it as a song of peace during World War I while he served in the Army, tucked it away, and brought it out near the beginning of World War II, when Kate Smith was enlisted to sing it.  The article stated that Berlin's daughter, Mary Ellin Barrett, said:

“I came to understand that it wasn’t ‘God Bless America, land that we love.’ It was ‘God bless America, land that I love.’ It was an incredibly personal statement that my father was making, that anybody singing that song makes as they sing it. And I understood that that song was his ‘thank you’ to the country that had taken him in. It was the song of the immigrant boy who made good.”

That song has been performed in churches and at special events worldwide. This year, however, the linkage of God with America has apparently become a source of contention, even irritation.  A Washington Post article featured statements of church leaders who issued a stern warning against mixing patriotism with religion.  On The Gospel Coalition website, Jonathan Leeman wrote:

Yet when you add that patriotic song, display that flag, or invite that politician to offer a special word to your church gathering, you risk working against the Great Commission. Jesus commissioned us, “Go into all nations.” That means he was establishing a people not bound or defined or constrained by this world’s national borders. He was building something multinational.

This line of thinking seemed to be the main point of the writer's agenda of the Post article, which seemed to spotlight that mix of what is being termed "nationalism" with Christianity, but it also refer to a LifeWay Research survey from 2016 that found:

Six in 10 Protestant pastors (61 percent) say it’s important for July Fourth worship services to incorporate patriotic elements to celebrate America, according to a survey by Nashville-based LifeWay Research. And while they plan to celebrate the birth of the nation, more than half (53 percent) agree their congregation sometimes seems to love America more than God.

Scott McConnell of LifeWay Research states: “Our nation’s birthday weekend celebration impacts almost 9 in 10 church services,” adding, “As people remember veterans, service members and patriotism, it is natural for churches to seek to apply theology to these cultural activities.”

Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy offers a word of caution to those who would want to decry the incorporation of patriotic elements into church services.  He proclaims:

Supposedly America is awash in Christian Nationalism that conflates America’s founders with the Apostles, America’s founding documents with Scripture, and aspires to restore a mythical Christian America through Religious Right political activism and acquisition of temporal power.

He also mentioned that, "This week a newspaper ad from the evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby was widely mocked as Christian Nationalism for merely quoting American historical figures about God and the Bible in anticipation of July 4. Church services planning to acknowledge July 4 were also widely warned against idolatry as though any patriotic hymn or flag appearance might substitute America for God."

But, he thinks the criticism may be overblown:

But of late the push-back against Christian patriotism by some Evangelicals may vastly overstate the threat and itself become more problematic. A measured and prudent response to excessive religious fidelity to nation does not disdain nation but should instead model responsible Christian appreciation for the nation under Divine Sovereignty.

Noted television host and author John Ankerberg relates four reasons for Christians to celebrate Independence Day:

1) He says, "America offers significant religious freedom for Christians (and others) to freely worship." And,

2) "Christians can thank God for those who serve and have given their lives to defend our freedom." He also says,

3) "...we can thank God for the opportunity to participate in the democratic process of our nation."  And, finally,

4) "...we can express appreciation for a nation at peace."

I have a few thoughts in response to this material.  First of all, I believe that we can recognize that worship of God and appreciation of country are not mutually exclusive.  I think it's telling that God refers to people as "nations" - yes, there are distinctions, and we can be thankful for the group, the country, to which He has called us.  

We can also recognize that God's hand is extremely evident in the founding and the maintenance of this nation. I would encourage you to find that Hobby Lobby ad, because it includes quotes that show the hearts of our Founders.  They were very cognizant of the presence of and the need for dependence on the Almighty.  Have we as a nation failed to apply His principles?  Certainly.  But, they developed a framework, under divine inspiration, I believe, that serves as an effective method of governing a people - "We, the people."  "One nation under God."

Finally, we can thank God for His blessings on this country.  We are a land that was founded on human dignity and the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.  We can certainly guard against placing love of country above love for God.  But, loving our country is not the opposite of loving the Lord.  We give thanks to Him for all things and we acknowledge His provision in all areas that affect us.