NB: Next Sunday is July 4
On July 4, 1946, John F. Kennedy—then a 29-year-old Democratic nominee for a Massachusetts Congressional seat—was the featured speaker at the City of Boston’s Independence Day celebration.
Kennedy made the connection between national freedom and the Christian faith when he said, “Our government was founded on the essential religious idea of the integrity of the individual. It was this religious sense which inspired the authors of the Declaration of Independence: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.’ ”
It was this same theme that he would pick up again during the 1960 presidential campaign. In a speech in Salt Lake City, he called the Cold War “a struggle for supremacy between two conflicting ideologies; freedom under God versus ruthless, Godless tyranny.”
With respect to former president Kennedy, this vision of a simple, eternal, universal, and universally accepted God-sponsored version of “freedom” is not true and never has been true. The concept of freedom is neither straightforward nor, despite our constitution, does it seem to be self-evident. Freedom remains both ambiguous and contested for a number of reasons.
Eric Foner, the US historian, once wrote, “American definitions of freedom have meant very different things during different historical epochs, and still mean very different things to different Americans.”
Still, Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. Fireworks, picnics, barbecues, and great music. It’s the one day of the year when we, as Americans, can set aside our political differences and bickering and celebrate our freedom to have political differences and bickering.
However, there is a vast difference between American political freedom and the spiritual freedom found only in Christ. Let’s not get them confused. Jesus shocked the Pharisees when He stated, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Jesus asserted that we are all under the power and control of a natural tendency to sin; we can’t free ourselves from it through political or military means.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Sin brings a penalty that we can’t escape. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
How do we find freedom from the penalty and power of sin? That comes through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As we, by faith, submit to Christ, the Gospel does its work in us.
The men who authored the declaration were outlawed and threatened with execution for treason should they be captured. Freedom for the nation meant giving up their comforts and making tremendous sacrifices. Similarly, Paul writes to the Galatians concerning their freedom in the Gospel when he says: For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
Giving up His comfort and making THE great sacrifice, Jesus’ death, and His death alone brings us real freedom. So enjoy the holiday and celebrate with me our current version of political freedom. I pray, though, that you and I both can use the holiday as an opportunity to share with someone else what real freedom means.