Spiritual Lessons From America's History

Spiritual Lessons From America's History

While reading historian, William Bennett's excellent book, "Our Sacred Honor," I discovered a multitude of lessons that are applicable to members of churches of Christ in the 21st century. Consider the following words of wisdom.

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a Mrs. Powell asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Franklin replied, "A republic, if you can keep it" (p. 15). Our fathers in the faith delivered into our hands a restored church. The question is are willing and able to preserve it? It was almost swept away in the apostasy of the last half of th 19th century. It is in grave danger at this very hour. Satan labors incessantly to transform the church into something other than the spiritual kingdom of Christ (Matt. 16:16-18).

"Only a people possessing the right dispositions and mores, and strong but tempered religious beliefs, would be able to keep what the Founders had bequeathed to them in 1776" (p. 16). In the 200 years of our American history, the church has suffered repeatedly from leaders with wrong dispositions and untempered religious beliefs. Most of our congregational conflicts and even wider fractures can be traced to strong-willed and ambitious individuals who were determined to impose their will on their neighbors.

Abraham Lincoln warned that the great deeds and virtues of the founding generation "grow more and more dim by the lapse of time" (p. 16). When and where their courage sacrifice and selflessness is forgotten, the value of the treasure they bequeath to us is greatly diminished. We tend to take for granted that which was purchased with blood and tears. So it is in the church. The great deeds and virtues of our fathers in the faith must not be forgotten. The church of Christ has little worth or value in the minds of a generation that knows little or nothing of the saintly men and women who cleared the path for us. They were giants in the faith and courageous in battle. Next to Christ and his apostles, we owe them a great debt of gratitude. Read our spiritual history and the biography of our pioneers and you will thank God for their sacrifice.

John Hancock believed that America would dazzle "the great theater of the world," not by its regal splendor but by adopting the virtues peculiar to a free people (p. 17). So the church of Christ will command the respect of humanity not because of her wealth, political or economic power, not by grand temples. She will do so by her faithful service to God and his Son, by the faithful proclamation of His word (Mark 16:15) and by the holy lives of her members living among and serving humanity (Phil. 2:14-16).

Tonight as you pray, consider what a great privilege is yours to be a member of a church that seeks to be no more nor less than the church revealed in the New Testament. Thank God for those who handed this faith down to you. Solemnly promise the Father that you will never forsake the church for which Jesus died (Acts 20:28) and that you will never stand by and allow others to harm her. Gratitude demands no less.

Sincerely,

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