Note: This message was adapted from another sermon on SermonCentral, but I can’t remember who contributed it. Sorry.
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
Scott R. Bayles, pastor
First Christian Church, Rosiclare, Illinois
In 1776, fifty men signed a document hand-written by Thomas Jefferson:
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve a political bond which they have committed with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitles them ... 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 that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That document was the Declaration of Independence signed in congress on July 4th 1776, declaring America’s freedom from the oppressive rule of England. And “freedom” has been the battle cry of this country for over 200 years. The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage” (Psalm 33:12 ESV). The pledge of Allegiance declares without apology that America is “one nation under God.” Yet, how far we have come.
Let’s suppose that sometime this week you turned on the news and heard these announcements: “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has just issued this statement: ‘Divine Providence (that’s God) 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.’”
Then you heard, “Inquiries by our reporters reveal that almost every state legislature has now passed a law requiring all elected officials to take this oath: ‘I do profess faith in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ His only Son, and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration.’”
Then to top it off you hear reports saying, “Legislation was passed today in Congress to affirm that, ‘The Congress of the United States approves of and recommends … the Holy Bible for use in the schools.’“
It’s hard to imagine those things being said in the United States today, but they were said. It was John Jay, the first Chief Justice and “father” of the Supreme Court, one of the primary authors of our Constitution, who wrote, “It is the duty of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
It was the state of Delaware (along with most of the others) which required officeholders to take an oath affirming their Christian faith before they could take office.
And, not only did Congress in 1782 approve the use of the Bible in our schools, they even paid for them with tax dollars. And, in 1844, when someone sued to remove them, the Supreme Court ruled: “Why should not the Bible, and especially the New Testament, be read and taught as a divine revelation in the schools? Where can the purest principles of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament?”
We’ve come a long way from our roots as Americans. Something President Obama has often said is: “We not a Christian nation; at least, not just.” For once, I have to agree. We are no longer solely a Christian nation. We are a diverse nation consisting of Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Wiccans, Spiritualist, Catholics, Protestants and atheists. But the fact is—the vast majority of Americans (as much as 75% according to some surveys) still identify themselves as Christians and our nation was built upon Christian ideals and biblical principles. It is our Christian heritage that is slowly slipping away from America.
When Thomas Jefferson and our fore-fathers penned the words of the Declaration of Independence, they recognized certain God-given, “inalienable” rights. Three are mentioned specifically: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, Americans’ understanding of those rights has diminished. At the time, those rights carried great political—and also great spiritual—meaning. If we want the God of the Bible to be the God of this nation, as we have often claimed He is, then we must realize what our founding fathers understood so well—that true life, liberty and happiness can only found in Him. Let’s consider these inalienable rights with which all men have been endowed by their Creator. The first of which is life.
• LIFE
Jesus said, in no uncertain terms, “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV). In other words, real, lasting life can only be experienced through Jesus Christ! In fact, Jesus even said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 NKJV). Another translation puts it this way: “My purpose is to give life in all its fullness” (TLB).
Apart from Jesus Christ, this life is no life at all. The founders our nation understood that—and believed it. Unless we believe in Him and commit our lives into His hands then this life has no real purpose or meaning. Our earliest settlers were people who came here primarily looking for religious freedom. Other nations, for the most part, came into existence by conquest for selfish and ambitious motives. But it was primarily in the atmosphere of God, not gold, that America was born.
The hardy souls who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 fled from tyranny and oppression. And in the Mayflower Compact which they signed beneath the swinging lantern in the cabin of their ship, they proclaimed that they had come to the new world for “the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”
In the early colonies the first public building to be erected was a church house and the first public exercise was the worship of Almighty God. When sorrow came they gathered at the church to appeal to God for help. When bountiful harvests filled their barns they gathered at the church to bless His name.
In 1643, as more and more people arrived on these shores, they joined together to form “The New England Confederation.” They wrote a constitution—the first constitution written in the New World—and it began with these words: “We all came into these parts with one and the same end and aim, namely to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel in purity and peace....”
Remember, though, that around 150 years passed by from the time of the earliest settlers to the beginning of our nation. And we’re not very proud of some of the things that happened during those years. As time passed, and the original settlers died off, many of their descendants were more concerned with increasing their wealth and comfortable living than being faithful to God and His Word. And as wave after wave of immigrants arrived, many of them came for other reasons and with entirely different motives than those earliest settlers. The end result of it all was that by 1730, only about 10% of the people in the Colonies attended church at all.
But then something amazing happened! Beginning in 1734, a handful of preachers began to preach in the churches and in the streets and in the fields. So many people came to Christ that this era came to be known as “The Great Awakening.” Tens of thousands dedicated their lives to Jesus. Benjamin Franklin wrote, “It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.”
Why am I telling you all this? Because this “Great Awakening” was a precursor to the American Revolution. Our Founding Fathers, the authors of the Declaration of Independence, those who wrote our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, those who put their lives on the line, who fought and died that we might be free—all these grew up and came into leadership while this “Great Awakening” was engulfing the land.
Listen to this prayer recorded in the personal diary of George Washington, and in his own handwriting: “Let my heart, gracious God, be so affected with Your glory and majesty that I may.... discharge those weighty duties which Thou requires of me.... Again, I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of sins.... for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ offered on the Cross for me. Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of my salvation.”
The first President of these United States acknowledged that Jesus is the Christ, the Son God, the source of all life. He knew and believed that it was only through Jesus that sin could be forgiven and eternal life inherited. “I have come that they may have life, and…have it more abundantly.” The second of our inalienable rights, according to the Declaration of Independence is liberty.
• LIBERTY
Patrick Henry was a great statesman and a great speaker. He was also a great patriot during the infancy of this nation. As a lawyer, he defended the character under which the colonies were founded in America. He resisted the “Stamp Act” with the words: “Caesar had his Brutus; Charles the First, his Cromwell--and George the Third may profit from their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.”
His most famous speech, though, was before the Virginia Assembly in 1775, when British troops were advancing to enforce King George’s rule on Virginia. At the conclusion of one of the most fiery speeches ever delivered, Patrick Henry cried, “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” And the fire of freedom was lit that still burns in this great nation.
The Statue of Liberty stands across from the Island of Manhattan in New York. Soldiers, on their return from overseas, often speak in awe of the feelings they had as they sailed into the harbor and viewed the “Torch of Freedom” in Lady Liberty’s hand. To the Christian, the Statue of Liberty and the Cross of Jesus Christ have kindred meanings. Both symbolize the highest and noblest in freedom and liberty. Both stand as beautiful and glorious ensigns of a liberated people.
Jesus came into our world on a mission of liberty. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18 ESV).
Specifically, the Bible teaches that there are at least three oppressions from which Jesus came to liberate us. The Bible says, “In the past, the law held us like prisoners, but our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way with the Spirit, and not in the old way with written rules.” (Romans 7:6 NCV). The Old Testament law was a system of rules and regulation that only served to condemn us, but Jesus “canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14). The Bible also says, “And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2 NLT). Because Jesus has given us his Spirit, sin no longer has any power over us and neither does death.
This country was founded by people who trusted more in the liberty found in Jesus than in the liberty granted even by our own Constitution. What we often forget is that in declaring their independence from England, our forefathers made an equally strong declaration of dependence upon Almighty God. The closing words of their Declaration solemnly states: “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” It is important that we remember this very basic declaration of their dependence, because the United States today is rapidly forgetting the God of our fathers, the God who gave this nation its birth and its greatness—the only source of true liberty. Finally, the third inalienable right recognized by our forefathers was the pursuit of happiness.
• HAPPINESS
Happiness comes and goes from day to day. Situations and experiences can make us happy or sad. But in Jesus, our happiness is not dependant upon outside forces. The word often translated blessed in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount actually means happy. The New Century Version translates it as such:
“Those people who know they have great spiritual needs are happy, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Those who are sad now are happy, because God will comfort them. Those who are humble are happy, because the earth will belong to them. Those who want to do right more than anything else are happy, because God will fully satisfy them. Those who show mercy to others are happy, because God will show mercy to them. Those who are pure in their thinking are happy, because they will be with God. Those who work to bring peace are happy, because God will call them his children. Those who are treated badly for doing good are happy, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.” (Matthew 5:3).
People all across this country will spend their lives pursuing a temporary sort of happiness. But that is all it will ever be—a pursuit. They will never be satisfied. They will never have enough. That empty feeling will never be filled. The pleasures and distractions of this world will never provide lasting joy or happiness. True happiness can only be found in Jesus Christ—and in Him it can never be taken away. Emory S. Peck was someone who understood well the joy that could be found only in Jesus. He writes:
If the skies above you are gray, and you are feeling so blue,
If your cares and burdens seem great, all the whole day thru,
There’s a silver lining that shines in the heavenly land,
Look by faith and see it my friend, trust in His promises grand.
Sing and you’ll be happy today, Press along to the goal,
Trust in Him who lead-eth the way, He is keeping your soul;
Let the world know where you belong, Look to Jesus and pray,
Lift your voice and praise Him in song, Sing and be happy today.
Psychologists tell us that people need three things to make them happy: (1) something to do, (2) someone to love, and (3) something to look forward to. Jesus gives us all three. Jesus gave us something to do, saying, “I tell you the truth, whoever believes in me will do the same things that I do” (John 14:12 NCV). Jesus gave us someone to love, saying, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23 NIV). And Jesus gave us something to look forward to, saying, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:2 NLT).
Only in Jesus can Americans, or anybody else, find genuine, lasting happiness.
Conclusion:
“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 that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
If you really are a patriot, if you’re genuinely concerned about America, if you earnestly want God to bless her—then live a life in harmony with the will of God. Only then does one truly have the right to sing:
God bless America, land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her,
Through the night, with the light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam;
God bless America, my home, sweet home.
So, as we celebrate again the birth of our nation, pray that our country might have a new birth of freedom; not a freedom from God, which ultimately leads to slavery, but rather a freedom built upon God and His commandments. Also, may each one of us, as individuals, reaffirm our dependence upon God. And then, as did the Founding Fathers of our country, we will find in Him our life, our liberty, and our happiness!
Invitation:
Let’s not forget, though, the Bible also says, “How blessed is the one whose... hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5 NASB). Before the nation can find hope in God, you and I must hope in Him. Each of us has that opportunity today. Jesus is calling... how will you respond?
