Exhortation, July 4

Today we celebrate two hundred and twenty-eight years of American history, and it is a good time to assess, briefly, how we stand as a nation.

Reflecting over the past two centuries, it is obvious that this nation is a strikingly different place than it was after the smoke of the War of Independence had cleared. There have been many, many profound changes, but one of the most historically significant is the role that America has assumed in the world. It is a myth that America has traditionally been isolated from the rest of the world. Through most of our history, we have been willing to protect our interests, particularly business interests, in the rest of the world.

But America�s role has expanded exponentially over the last century. We entered two world wars, and emerged from them to play the key role in the global stalemate with the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, America has become the world�s only great power. We have become a global empire, with significant military outposts in nearly every sector of the globe.

What are we to make of this as Christians? How should we evaluate American empire? There are many challenging specific questions that need to be addressed. We are citizens of this nation, and bear some responsibility for the way our nation acts around the world. We need to consider realistically how America�s use of power around the world contributes to the backlash that often takes the form of terrorism. We need to challenge the use of air strikes as a leading weapon of war, which in both Kosovo and Afghanistan often resulted in death and suffering for civilians. We need to question the growing influence of the military on the formation and the execution of American foreign policy, and the dangers of a military that exercises autonomous foreign policy decision-making. A cynic would say that American foreign policy is captive to commercial interests, and that we are willing to use military power to crack open markets that would otherwise be closed; and there is much truth in that cynicism. Above all, we as Christians need to recognize that the world order that America is establishing and enforcing, is a false Catholicism, an attempt to establish a single human civilization that is not based on the gospel. America is a global rival to the church.

Important as those issues are, I want to address a broader question. However we evaluate the justice of American actions around the world, we believe that America�s status as the single superpower that towers militarily and economically above all other nations is a result of God�s providential rule of history. Scripture never condemns empire as such, and in fact God prepared the way for the gospel by establishing an imperial system that encompassed the Mediterranean for centuries.

So, in addition to asking about America as Americans, we should be asking how America fits into God�s program for the redemption of creation. We are Americans, and it is right for us to want what is best for our country. But we are Christians first, and our understanding of our moment in history has to be guided by questions about the advance of the kingdom.

For us, the question is not merely, �Should the US have intervened in Iraq?�Ebut also �Given the fact that we have intervened, what opportunities for the gospel does this present and how can we capitalize on the opportunities that this presents?�E Many Christians are asking these questions. During the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, Franklin Graham and other evangelicals were amassing their own armies in the countries bordering Iraq, ready to start an evangelistic invasion as soon as it was safe. Servant Group International has established Christian classical schools in Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, schools that are training many of the future leaders of Kurdistan, and organizing conferences to train leaders for the Christian Kurds.

We can at least pray for the ministries working in Iraq, and can give money to them. Perhaps the Lord will call some from within this congregation to participate directly in these ministries, as Ian Kern is doing. Basically, the question I want to pose is, What are YOU doing to capitalize on the opportunities that the Lord has given?

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Sunday, July 04, 2004 at 07:45 AM

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