Fourth of July 2026
This 4th of July weekend celebration is an incredibly special holiday as we mark the semi quincentennial of our country’s independence. For those of you who have never heard the word semi quincentennial it means our 250th birthday.
I am sure many of you celebrated yesterday with the four F’s; family, friends, fireworks, and too much food. And it is as it should be—as we have a lot to celebrate.
And we have a lot to celebrate because the USA is the greatest nation on Earth.
And why is this so?
It is because the ideas upon which our country was founded were great. Those ideas are still great today. And they will still be great another 250 years from now.
- The idea that all men are created equal.
- The idea that the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness are deemed inherent, unalienable rights rooted in natural law.
- The idea that our government’s legitimacy is derived from the consent of we the people.
- The idea that The people hold the right to change or abolish our government if it becomes destructive to the aforementioned ends.
- The idea that no one is above the rule of law.
When exiting the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on Sept 17, 1787, a woman in the crowd named Eliabeth Willing Powel, asked Benjamin Franklin, “well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy? To which Franklin replied, “a republic if you can keep it.”
I say this because not everyone in America holds to these ideas. Just under two weeks ago, on Tuesday June 23, three candidates from the Democratic Socialists of America Party were elected to be the Democratic party’s candidates for Congress for the 7th, 10th and 13th Congressional districts representing parts of New York City. And again on June 30th a socialist was chosen to be the democratic candidate for Colorado’s 1st Congressional district. This is the same party that supported the current mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani, and Seattle’s mayor, Katie Wilson, and is sponsoring candidates for many other jurisdictions across our country. You may ask “well so what?”
The “so what” comes directly from the DSA’s website, and I quote.
“Our goal is to put workers in charge of the government through a new democratic constitution that establishes civil, political, and democratic rights for all, is based on proportional representation in a single federal legislature, and ends the role of money in politics.
With a government by, for, and of the working class and with powerful labor unions and social movements organizing in every city and town, we hope to build a socialist society where people come before profit, basic needs are guaranteed, the largest corporations are put under public ownership and democratic control, peace around the world is secured, and workers around the world join together in common struggle to construct socialism worldwide.”
We can laud the DSA for its desire to address the human condition, but history has shown that socialism ends in poverty, tyranny, and national ruin. So, when I read the news that these candidates won, and then went to their website to see what they believed, I was first appalled, then somewhat angry. How could this type of thinking take root and grow within our nation? Whose fault is it that these people can rise to power? Then, I wanted to take action. What could I do to fight this organization? But then I thought, should I even try to fight it? Because, as a Christian, a larger question loomed, what is my responsibility to civically engage in the temporal affairs of my country?
Now this is a sermon and not a political polemic, but I raise this issue because I trust we are all Christians here. We all profess a belief in the transformative person of the Lord Jesus Christ who forgave our sins and brought us into the kingdom of God by faith. As Colossians 1:13 says, he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. I see all of us sitting here today as the most fortunate people on earth, for God gave us both a citizenship in Heaven as Paul states in Phil 3:20 (but our citizenship is in heaven), but also, in His divine providence, sovereignty, and mercy, allowed us all to be citizens of these United States of America.
Hence we all have dual citizenship. By birth (or naturalization) we are citizens of the USA and by faith we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We have responsibilities in both realms. And there is often tension between them.
So this morning I want to Biblically outline our responsibilities as citizens of heaven that informs our role as citizens of this country. In other words, as a citizen of heaven, what is my Biblical responsibility as a citizen of the land in which I temporally reside? Those responsibilities follow a simple pneumatic which we all know as the soda PEPSI (now some of you may be Coke fans but as Christians we all have to live by PEPSI). So here are our five responsibilities to the State (some material adapted from blog by Bryan Guinness).
Our Five Responsibilities, PEPSI.
Pray.
First, we are to pray for our civil leaders and the authority structure in which they operate. Paul advocated this directive to Timothy who was pastoring the Ephesian Church. Paul wrote in 1 Tim 2:1-3, I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior.
Note, Paul advocated prayers for kings, those at the top of the administrative state, and all those in authority, in other words those who held lessor positions –so we are to pray for the king all the way down to the local magistrate.
Now why did Paul ask Timothy to teach and promote prayers for those who held civic responsibility? He answers at the end of verse 2, so we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. In other words, the purpose of our prayers is that government will provide an environment whereby we can live out our faith without intrusion or interference. Another way to say it is pray that government will leave you alone so that you may live out your faith.
Exercise your rights.
The second principle is to exercise your rights as a citizen within the governmental system in which you live. Paul, though a Jew and an evangelist to the Gentiles, took advantage of this principle in Acts 16. Paul was arrested while in Phillipi and was illegally flogged and imprisoned. God rescued him that night he spent in jail through an earthquake. You will recall the jailor came to faith through this experience, but the next morning when the city officials ordered Paul’s release, Paul noted he had been beaten and imprisoned illegally as he was a Roman citizen. We pick up the narrative in Acts 16:35, When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 36 The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” 38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.
The point is it is Biblical and appropriate to use the rights you have as a citizen in whatever jurisdiction you reside. And I will say loud and clear, the two most useful rights we as Christians have in our beloved country is our right to vote and our right to speak out. This means we should all be informed of the issues within the civic domain of where we live; so vote, and speak out when needed.
Pay your Taxes.
The third principle we are to note is we are to pay our taxes. Though no one wants to pay for things we don’t believe in or support, we are under a biblical mandate to financially support the civic authorities under which we reside. Jesus made this clear to the Pharisees in Mt 22:15, Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?” 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” 21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Paul concurs with this teaching and tells the Roman church in Rm 13:6-7, This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Submit to authority but don’t always obey it.
The idea of submission is to yield yourself to the authority, will, and control of another party. It is to subordinate your desires to theirs. And this is what we are to do as citizens. We willingly place ourselves under the authority of our government. Obedience is the act of following instructions, or rules, or laws, and we are to obey our laws with one exception, and that is when laws, ordinances, or directives directly oppose our ability to worship God.
We have a few biblical examples of this principle. The prime one is found in Dan 3, when Nebuchadnezzar constructed a large statue and made a law that everyone should worship it. We pick up the narrative in Dan 3:14, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[c] from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. Note, SMA submitted to Nebs authority, but they did not obey his command.
Influence or change the state if called.
The last principle is influence or change the state if you are called. This is the most subjective principle but also the one with potentially the greatest impact. Jesus told us in Mt 5:13 that we are all the salt of the earth. Salt is flavorful but also preserves. He also said we are the light of the world. What this means is that God uses every one of us to flavor, preserve, and give light to the sphere of influence in which we live, but some He calls on a grander scale to help correct the many injustices of this world. And here is the sad thing; sometimes our system of government is the source of those injustices.
William Wilberforce became a member of the English parliament in 1780. He was a nominal Christian, but had a conversion experience in 1785. In 1787 he came in contact with a group of abolitionists and became an ardent advocate for the abolition of slavery. For 20 years he led the parliamentary effort to abolish slavery which finally was achieved in 1807 with the passage of the Slave trade act which ended Britain’s involvement in slavery. He was a Christian whom God had called to correct a horrific injustice.
So this fourth of July, as citizens of Heaven, we are to be active citizens of our earthly nation by
- Praying for our leaders,
- Exercising our rights when needed,
- Paying our taxes,
- Submitting but not always obeying, and
- Influencing and change the state if called.
