Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
July 4, 2004 - W0427

On July 4, 1776 (two hundred and twenty-eight years ago) 56 men representing 13 colonies unanimously accepted the Declaration of Independence severing their relationship with Great Britain. John Adams in his letter to his wife Abigail wrote saying, “Posterity, you will never know what it cost my generation to preserve the freedoms that you now enjoy. I hope you shall make good use of it. And if you do not, I shall repent in heaven for even taken half the pains to preserve it”.  Yes, they were acutely aware back then of the price for freedom.

Q1: The responsibility is with us. How are you preserving that freedom?

To better understand how his all came about, let’s take a step back to 1517. The Catholic Church in Germany began drifting from scripture and doing things that were completely unbiblical. It eventually led Martin Luther, a priest to protest what was going on and was summarily excommunicated from the church. He actually protested against the fact that the church drifted so far from scripture and not against the Catholic Church itself.

Nevertheless, the church called him a protestor and anyone who followed him Protestants. They were also called Lutherans or Methodists and many were persecuted because of it. Later the king of England established a state church for his own selfish reasons, the Church of England. They called it the Anglican Church or what we now call in America the Episcopal Church. People were forced to attend and if they refused were punished by imprisonment or death.

Eventually it leads us up to a group called the Separatists sailing on the Mayflower to America to form the very first colony. Once in America, they put together a Mayflower Compact which was like the first Declaration of Independence. It was their first attempt for a self-governing, self-determining rule. Then one event after another led to July 4, 1776. That day they, these colonists they decided to make a separate country from England. And pledging their lives they wrote the Declaration of Independence.

So it was with this in mind that they separated themselves from Great Britain. Although they tried appealing to King George III, the king just wanted them to come back to the church and under his control. Which brings us to why after the Declaration of Independence; they wrote the first amendment to the constitution. It states, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Free speech was for the people in order to hold the government accountable to be just in the eyes of God. Is there a church and state separation? Yes. It was so that the state would not dictate how the people would worship God. At the same time it was so that the church wouldn’t use the political system to endorse their doctrines. However, we’ve drifted far from its original intention today.

Some ask today, what’s the role of the church, what’s the role of the state, what’s the role of God, who is God? What is truth? People in the Bible asked those same questions. In fact, Jesus asked His disciples, “‘…who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered. ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you…because flesh and blood did not revel this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven’”. (Matt. 16:15-19)

In other words, Peter’s answer was a divinely revealed answer. God says upon this rock I will build My church or upon this statement which removes all debate, all doubt, all question. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. So upon this foundation He will build the church, which is, us and gives us a wonderful authority. In essence, people getting into the kingdom will in large part be due to the way we respond. Think about it! God has given us a tremendous amount of authority and influence. For that reason it is so important for us to…

1.      UNDERSTAND OUR AUTHORITY.

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven”. (Matt. 16:19)

The Lord is saying if we hold grievances and sins against people, we won’t pray for them and therefore He won’t be able to move in our lives. However if we are a people who forgive and help, the same is loosed in heaven. God will move through our prayers. God has given us (the church) a huge privilege.

Q2: Have you ever thought about the authority & responsibility God has given you? How are you responding?  

·        ONE GROUP HAS BEEN GIVEN SUCH GREAT AUTHORITY:

THE CHURCH.

The way we treat one another has more of an impact on America and the world than we know. In fact, not only can we impede or cause a slow down of some events in the world, we can also resist the devil.

“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”.

(James 4:7) That’s right! The devil will not only stop, he will flee. We have been given permission to do that. The name of Jesus Christ becomes a powerful force in the universe. “…at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth”. (Phil. 2:10)

Did you know that there is no group of people who can say, “In the name of

Jesus, stop” and the devil has to obey? Only those who have a relationship

with Jesus Christ and who have a bedrock faith. Sure some try to use that

name without having that kind of faith. In Acts 19 there were seven sons of

Sceva who tried to invoke the name of Jesus to drive out demons as they seen the disciples do. But look at what the demons say to them: “One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit…overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding”. (Acts 19:15-16)

The Bible says if we know Jesus, He will give us the power of the name

of Jesus to resist the devil and the gates of hell will not prevail. That’s the

authority. However, we must be mindful to…

·        STEWARD YOUR AUTHORITY WELL.

Why did God give us authority? “…our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you…” (2 Cor. 10:8) In other words, we need to use our authority well so that we will build up our family and others in order that they may become great men and women of God.

I want to say to husbands: the authority given you will be one of the most crucial tests that will determine your future. It will require you to know the truth so that your family will be free from the devil’s attempt to destroy. You can keep the gates of hell in abeyance if you use your authority correctly. In fact scripture says, “Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free”. (John 8:32) Not free in doing whatever we want, but free from what the devil is trying to do.

Q3: Do you tend to build up or tear down? Is improvement needed?

Some people say that there is a church and state separation so we don’t need

the church or the Bible for that matter. And some even want to take the name of God out of everything. However, take a look at a few scriptures and see just how much the state needs God. Ephesians 6 tells children to obey and honor parents and fathers not to provoke children to anger. Jude 16 warns us not to be grumblers, faultfinders, or follower after lustful desires. Neither are we to speak arrogantly or flatteringly to others for our own advantage. And Romans 13:1-5 adds we are to obey the government for God is the one who put it there. We have nothing to fear if we do right, but will be punished if we are wrong.  Authorities are established by God for that very purpose to punish those who do wrong.

Does the state need the church? They sure do! Then why do they object? One reason is that many of us do not live what we believe. Ouch! Isn’t it true? We believe one thing and live another. We become people who are misusing authority, families are falling apart, and we are living incongruently.

On the other hand, God says, for those of you who have this bedrock faith the gates of hell won’t even prevail against you. Think how much of an influence we would be to our state if we lived what we believe. One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve studied history is that whenever the church was strong the nation was strong. Yet when the church started to drift, the government reflected the church. We have a huge responsibility as Christians.

I was mad when our last president was behaving immorally. I wondered why a leader would do that. Then I looked at the church and there was immorality going on there. How can we expect the government to know what’s right and wrong if the church doesn’t. We are actually putting people in office who are immoral. There are heads of denominations openly saying, “I’m living immorally”. And we’ve put them in leadership. You see if we take a look at our country, we cannot be upset at our leaders for being immoral. We must look among us.

God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 because of their immorality. Yet Abraham appealed to God for the sake of the innocent. God was willing to hold off judgment if Abraham could find at least 10 righteous people. As the story goes, Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed not because of the gross immorality going on there, but because there weren’t many people living what they believed. So the question for us is how are we living?

The same is true in America. Here’s the crux of the whole message: The church is more important to America than we will ever realize because our country will follow suit with the church. Scripture calls us “pillar and support of the truth”.  Our goal is to go out and reach the people, but only on the basis of our bedrock faith. In other words…

2.      BEFORE WE EVANGELIZE, EMMANUELIZE.

We have to make sure we are living what we believe. How can we start telling people what to do if our lives are in shambles? Before we evangelize, Emmanuelize for it will give us the bedrock of faith on which to influence a nation.

Q4: Are you living what you believe? How does your life reflect the church?

Remember that our government will reflect the church. And if we don’t know right from wrong, how are we to expect our country to? After all, the Bible says we are the pillar and support of the truth.

It’s alright to get zealous but be careful. “I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself”. (Rom. 10:2-3 NLT)

So first we must understand the authority and responsibility we’ve been given. Secondly, we need to be living what we believe. How else can we share the gospel! And finally…

3.      STAY TRUE TO GOD’S WORD AND HEART.

“I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth”.

(1 Tim. 3:15)

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power…” (2 Tim. 3:1-2, 4-5) (see Gen. 18:32)

We are pillars and support of the truth. And if the pillars and support start to buckle, then truth is compromised. So please hear this: the best thing we can do for our country is to be people of God, to use authority well, and to live what we believe because we will influence our country more than we’ll ever know. We can’t say our leadership is poor because look among us. It starts here.

How do we begin? We begin by being true to God’s word and heart because if we don’t have God’s heart, it’s easy to twist His Word in such a way that it becomes subservient to our own wishes. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. So upon this foundation He built the church, which is us and gives us a wonderful authority.

Where do we start? Start with Hawaii. If we as a church continue to grow as men and women of God, just watch how much influence we’ll be. But if we start losing it here, the government will mirror the church.

I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. The world will follow you. It’s a wonderful privilege, honor, and responsibility. Let’s say yes on this 4^th of July weekend that we will be people who will be called pillar and support of the truth.

Q5: How can you keep true to God’s word and heart?

Q6: How will you be different from what you learned today?

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