Is there a tension between our allegiance to God and our allegiance to country? Should there be?
As followers of Christ, we are citizens of multiple kingdoms. First and foremost, we are the people of God who pray "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." As believers who "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33), we are also citizens of our cities, states, and nations with a biblical mandate to pursue the well-being of our communities (Jeremiah 29:7).
If our allegiance is first to God, then we can live as transformational ambassadors to the communities in which the Lord has placed us (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
But the Cross and the Flag are not equally authoritative. Rather, the former governs and empowers the latter for God's glory and the common good.
If we make allegiance to country synonymous with service to God – or vice versa – we not only risk idolatry; we also risk failing as agents of Gospel change.
The Founding Fathers had just escaped the tyranny of kings who manipulated their citizens with the promise of heaven or the punishment of hell. They understood that keeping the government out of the Church house meant keeping organized religion out of the State house. Make no mistake: these were deeply religious men who wanted their faith to inform their politics, but they knew all too well what happens when secular leaders lay claim to divine authority or when religious organizations used the power of the State to enforce their rules.
The Church – not the State – is God's primary strategy for changing our world. To be sure, the Lord can use governmental leaders to provide safety and blessing (Proverbs 21:1). Likewise, God called and equipped godly people like Joseph, Moses, and Daniel to the highest levels of secular leadership. To be redemptive "salt and light" (Matthew 5:13-15) will mean that our faith will permeate our politics. But to be clear, our struggle is not against the souls of our political or military adversaries...it's for their souls. Our King has already destroyed sin and death, and soon he will resurrect a New Heaven and a New Earth for his ultimate and eternal glory.
So should God's people be patriotic? I would answer with a qualified "yes."
When we celebrate our nation's birth or the blessings of citizenship, we can do so in clear recognition that these come by grace rather than by entitlement. For believers, patriotic holidays are another opportunity to bow our knees and lift our prayers on behalf of those who govern us. We can humbly boast in God's blessing and protection – not in our own strength. We can celebrate the ways our current country resembles that "better country" that the writer of Hebrews references (11:6). Likewise, we can confess where we've fallen short and ask the Lord to heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). We understand that the glory of the Gospel triumphs over differences of nationalism, race, economics, and culture: "Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all" (Colossians 3:11).
As you look toward the 4th of July in America, consider scheduling a patriotic themed service on the Sunday beforehand. Discover Worship offers more than 30 patriotic anthems and 6 musicals/mini-musicalsfor your consideration.
Additionally, you may want to consider working up Scott Pethel and Greg Skipper's upbeat, 2-part arrangement of "The Star Spangled Banner" to sing at the local ball park, firework's display, veterans celebration, or shopping mall (do the "flash mob" thing with a boom-box...and you'll probably make the local news!).
