Because of the Sacrifice Given
Hundreds of thousands of people have laid down their lives so we could be here celebrating the 4th of July. But, in direct connection with this holiday, we think about the thousands of men who laid down their lives to start this country. Often times, we think of the Declaration of Independence as a piece of paper that was written for political reasons. But, there was much more entailed in its writing. It was a group of men standing up for themselves. It was a young country saying, “We are tired of our situation.”And so, they wrote a letter and sent it thousands of miles to a king in a distant land and told him, “We will not sit by any longer while our people are under this oppression!” And by writing this letter, it sparked a battle that would last years and take many lives, but those men were willing to give everything for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The same can be said about the Christ. He hates sin and the place it puts His creation into. Therefore, He came at a time where it was absolutely necessary to take His people out of that situation. Why? – Because He wanted the people of this world to have the ability to have eternal life (John 1:12), because He wanted the people to have liberty from their sins (Rom. 8:21) and because the Christian life is the only one that is truly happy (Mat. 25:21).
Our American freedom is not free, if you don’t believe it ask those men and women who have been to battle for that freedom. It takes sacrifice! And, our Christian freedom isn’t free because it took the ultimate sacrifice (the creator of the universe to submit Himself to being murdered by His own creation).
Because of the Service Required
The fact that this sacrifice has been given so we could have days like today warrants our action. You may have seen the pictures of what happened during WWII in the US. People who weren’t overseas fighting were at home scrimping by and working to make everything happen just the way it needed to happen. Women, for the first time, were going into the workforce in mass numbers so the men could be fighting and the country would still live a somewhat normal life. I remember hearing my grandmother talk about the rations they were given. (1 pair of shoes, limited rubber and gas, etc.). Look at what it takes by way of service just for the sacrifice to mean something. If all those men had stood up to the King of England and the non-fighting people weren’t behind them working, there would be no USA today.
There was a point when the church was either extremely small, or nonexistent in this world. Why? Because the people didn’t take the sacrifice seriously and didn’t work accordingly! But, if we take Jesus’ sacrifice seriously, we will provide the service that is required because of that sacrifice. Like evangelizing, remaining faithful in our lives and in our attendance, and overall living as Christians. The service required to keep America great is a big job, but the service required to keep the church in this world is even bigger, but it is our duty (Mat. 28:19-20, Jas. 1:27).
So, let’s take the sacrifice seriously, both the one made by the founding fathers and the one made by our Christ. And, let’s work accordingly in helping to keep America where it ought to be and keeping the church alive and well on earth with our faithful living and our evangelism.