In God We Trust - July 4th, 2001
Focus: Trusting in God
Opening
Good evening…
In just a few days, America will celebrate her 225th Birthday. From the Mayflower to the Space Shuttle…America has changed dramatically in a relatively short 225 year period of time.
She has proven to be an ’icon’ for the world, a model of democracy…and all the glory must be given to God Almighty.
God has been an active participant in our nation from its beginning and we need to pray that He will continue to be merciful and gracious to us.
Last weeks message…Gentle Reminders, called us to remind ourselves of God’s Amazing Grace. This week’s message includes ’remembering’ as well.
Part of this week’s celebration throughout the nation will include a reflection on our history. That celebration must include a reflection of what God has done for this country and thanking Him for many blessings He has bestowed upon this Nation and its people.
Certainly the fact that we are a ’free nation’…a ’democracy’ was a plus in our development and advancement. However, there can be no denying that this Nation’s success is attributable solely because it chose from the beginning to put God first and to place our ’trust’ in Him.
The message this morning is about…Trusting God.
We live in a society that teaches us trust is for fools. "Trust someone or something and they will let you down for sure".
From our personal relationships with each other to our governmental relationships, including the Presidency of the United States, Satan has insured a deterioration in those relationships and we now have an almost inbreed cynical distrust of everything.
We have learned to only trust our own senses, our own abilities, our own ’common sense’, in order to protect ourselves from ’being let down’ or made ’the fool’.
It is a sad commentary…but it is true…and Satan has once again found a way to fragment our lives…by creating an atmosphere of distrust…to the point we even question God!
In the beginning…this Nation was based on God and trusted God…now it barely even recognizes His existence. But I want to assure you that God does exist today, that He is active in not only this Nations affairs but our lives and that activity is just as much alive today as yesterday.
God’s message to you today is simple…
"When Nations and people put their ’complete’ trust in God He honors and blesses them".
Prayer
Lord, we are a nation whom you have blessed and given great power to. You are a gracious and merciful Father, and we recognize you as the almighty, the King of Kings, as the Supreme ruler of all Nations. We call upon you to forgive this Nation, and to pour out your Spirit on her that she may be convicted to repent of her transgressions just as the people of Nineveh did and turn from their sinful ways….
We seek your guidance and wisdom in the decisions we make and the direction we as your people should be taking to return this Nation to a Nation that places You above all else…that places You in the center of every decision…that places You in the heart of the Nation and its people. Amen.
Scripture Reading
Please turn to Psalms 18: 1-3 in your Bibles or follow along in your worship folder. I will be reading from the New King James Version. This same scripture, with some minor variances is also found in 2 Samuel 22:2, but I would like to read from Psalms, which is filled with words of ’trusting in God’:
Psalms 18: 1 - 3
1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said: I will love You, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.
Introduction
The fact that we are living in a country that is freer than any other nation is the result of sacrifices made by those who went before us. We are the beneficiaries of someone else’s sacrifices…in many cases they sacrificed their very lives.
We are fortunate to be able to gather in this sanctuary today without fear of reprisal or arrest and worship the King of Kings…Lord of Lords. We have this freedom because of those men and women who held freedom to worship as the utmost of importance and were willing to sacrifice everything to create a society that allowed ’Freedom of Religion’.
But far more importantly, we have this freedom because the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself as the ultimate sacrifice in order that we could have uninhibited "Freedom of Religion" within our souls.
Our country was founded on the principle of ’Freedom of Religion’. It has been 225 years since America declared her Independence from England. The signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was the culmination of almost 400 years of oppression…beginning with "Religious Oppression"…
I. Pilgrims (Puritans)
"Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord…" (2 Corinthians 6:17)
a. Reformation - The springboard for our Nations beginnings can best be traced to the Reformation movement in the 1500s. The likes of Martin Luther and John Calvin created a stirring in the people of England and its religious community, the Church of England, when they broke away from Catholicism in 1535. The offspring of the Reformation were the Puritans.
b. Puritan Act - In 1593, Queen Elizabeth of England signed what is known as "The Act Against the Puritans". The Act was the result of a number of other attempts to ’stifle’ or ’minimize’ the Reformation movement.
Queen Elizabeth (England) was concerned that the Puritans were congregating on their own and not attending the churches that were…"established by her majesty’s laws and statutes…". This Act begins with the reason for its implementation by the Queen…
"For the preventing and avoiding of such great inconveniencies and perils as might happen and grow by the wicked and dangerous practices of seditious sectaries (which means those belonging to a sect…sound familiar?…our own denomination carried that label when it was first started) and disloyal persons;…"
What we are doing right this very minute would have classified us as a ’seditious sect and disloyal subjects’ to the crown and we would have all been thrown into the slammer if it were 1593.
The Act is very lengthy and is written in very ’legalistic’ terms. But the gist of the law was this:
"Any person above the age of 16 who, for a period of one month and without legal cause, refused to go to church to hear divine service established by her majesty’s laws and statutes and being lawfully convicted, shall be committed to prison, there to remain without bail or release, until they shall conform and yield themselves to come to some church, chapel, or usual place of common prayer, and hear divine service, according to her majesty’s laws and statutes aforesaid, and to make such open submission and declaration of their said conformity."
The Act went on to include those who even tried to persuade others not to go to church, those who attended ’unlawful gatherings under the pretense of religion’ and basically, anyone who did not go the Church of England. They were all subject to being imprisoned and remaining there until such time as they conformed by profession and confession that they would go to the Church of England.
c. Pilgrimage to New England - It was only 13 years after this infamous Act that a group of people we refer to as ’Pilgrims’, migrated to Holland (1606) and then 14 years after that, in 1620, they set sail for New England in America.
The Pilgrims who traveled to New England in 1620 "…were English people who sought to escape the religious controversies and economic problems of their time by emigrating to America. They believed that membership in the Church of England violated the biblical precepts for true Christians, and that they had to break away and form independent congregations which were truer to divine requirements. At a time when Church and State were one, such an act was treasonous and the Separatists had to flee their mother country." © Plimoth Plantation, Inc. 2000-2001 http://www.plimoth.org/Museum/museum.htm
The Pilgrims…"put their entire trust in God"…to sustain them and help them build a new life based on freedom of religion. It is because of that that God blessed them and they prospered.
II. Revolutionaries
a. England continued to suppress these people for another 150 years later - The Pilgrims of 1620 created a new life in a new country and they tried to ’co-exist’ under the rule of England. However, England loved to impose their authority and the Pilgrims were becoming ’disenchanted’ and the word ’Revolutionaries’ began to take root. Now they not only wanted to be separate from the Church of England…they wanted to be separate from England itself.
b. Declaration of Independence signed on July 4th, 1776 - The Declaration of Independence is signed by 56 men. We have all heard the familiar words…
" When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another..."
Followed by…
" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…"
But listen to the words of the very last sentence in the Declaration:
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Did you catch that…"with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence"…WOW! These men have just told the government of England that God Himself is in this decision and once again our forefathers…"put their entire trust in God"… to sustain them and help them build a new Nation based on that belief.
c. The Revolutionary War - America went to war with England and we eventually won our Independence. God Blessed this Nation because we put Him first. We won a war against a country that had conquered and brought 1/4 of the known world under their rule…
We didn’t win because we had superiority or were better fighters…we won because we put God first and He blessed this Nation. He honored our trust in Him.
III. Israel - America’s History is a reflection of Israel’s history. It was started because of a firm belief in one God and Providence on their side.
a. King David - against all odds, defeated one enemy after another in order to establish his kingdom. He wrote this morning’s scripture as a tribute to God, thanking Him for providing those victories. David was recognizing that by putting his…entire trust in God…that God honored Israel and gave them those victories. These were not the only victories in Israel’s history…
b. The Sons of Rueben
1 Chronicles 5: 18 - 20
18 The sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh had forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty valiant men, men able to bear shield and sword, to shoot with the bow, and skillful in war, who went to war. 19 They made war with the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. 20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them, for they cried out to God in the battle. He heeded their prayer, because they put their trust in Him. Did you catch that, He heeded their prayers BECAUSE they put their trust in Him. They didn’t win because of THEIR abilities…but because of who they placed their trust…God.
c. 1948 - Israel’s Independence - On 14 May 1948 the State of Israel was proclaimed according to the UN partition plan (1947). Less than 24 hours later, the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded the country, forcing Israel to defend the sovereignty it had regained in its ancestral homeland. In what became known as Israel’s War of Independence, the newly formed, poorly equipped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repulsed the invaders in fierce intermittent fighting, which lasted some 15 months and claimed over 6,000 Israeli lives (nearly one percent of the country’s Jewish population at the time).
IV. We need to Trust in God
A. Psalms 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
B. Matthew 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
C. Romans 15:12 And again, Esaias (Greek for Isaiah) saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
Summary
Clearly, God honors nations who place their total trust in Him. But in Jesus Christ this is extended to each of us as individuals…in fact, if I were to visualize God’s world it would be an upside down pyramid. Rather than having a large base with many stones holding up the top stone…it would be inverted and Jesus would be the bottom stone upon which many stones are built. It would take a great deal of trust to have such a design and believe it will not topple over. But God has proven throughout history, both to nations and man, that you can believe in Him, place your trust in Him and He will provide all that we require. He will provide more than we require which is evident in this country we are citizens of.
America has an ’over-abundance’ of everything…and this is attributable not to our doing, but God’s because we are "One Nation Under God". He blessed this nation because we ’In God We Trust’.
How about you? Are you trusting in God? Have you made Him the center of all you do?
I. The Pilgrims Trusted God
a. Reformation
b. Puritan Act
c. Pilgrimage to New England
II. The Revolutionaries Trusted God
a. England Continues to Suppress
b. Declaration of Independence
c. Revolutionary War
III. Israel Trusted God
a. David’s trust in God
b. Rueben’s trust in God
c. 1948 - Israel’s Independence
IV. We need to trust God
Matthew 12:21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.
Romans 15:12 And again, Esaias (Greek for Isaiah) saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
Psalms 9:10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
Insert for Worship Folder - Page 1
IN GOD WE TRUST first appeared on the 1864 two-cent coin. And it has appeared and disappeared over the years from various coins in our history. However, it has been on at least one coin since 1864.
The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins.
As a result, Secretary Chase instructed James Pollock, Director of the Mint at Philadelphia, to prepare a motto, in a letter dated November 20, 1861:
Dear Sir: No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.
You will cause a device to be prepared without unnecessary delay with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest words possible this national recognition.
Eventually the motto would appear on ALL our currency. A law passed by the 84th Congress (P.L. 84-140) and approved by the President on July 11, 1955. It said that the motto should appear on all United States paper currency and coins.
Finally, on July 30, 1956, the President approved a Joint Resolution of the 84th Congress, declaring:
IN GOD WE TRUST the national motto of the United States
