Religious Liberty Is Vital, but It Is not Enough!

Word from the Center
Written By Dr. Gregory Seltz

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In 2021, the July 4 holiday fell on Sunday. You could hear the groans because that meant less time off, right? This year it falls on Thursday, so people surely will take the LONG weekend off. And isn’t that the point? Vacation, refreshment, leisure? Well, yes and no. The point of the holiday isn’t merely to take time off. It’s to remember the sacrifices that make temporal freedom possible (Freedom isn’t FREE), but it’s also a time to remember what makes freedom CONTINUALLY possible in practice. Yes, faith, religion, obedience to God—these undergird a healthy citizenship necessary for freedom to survive and thrive. July 4 is a commemoration, even celebration of our temporal freedoms, such as the freedoms of liberty, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and all of our constitutional protections. But the long weekend ends on Sunday, the day when Christians celebrate and continually receive the eternal liberty that God in Christ earned on behalf of the whole world. We have a saying here at the LCRL that we, as two-kingdom (2KG) Christians, are “to put our temporal liberties to work for the sake of the eternal liberties of Christ.” Every July 4 then, we are reminded that our temporal liberties are always in service to something bigger. We are reminded that it is a worthy thing to celebrate and even to fight for “the protections and responsibilities of religious liberty;” it is a worthy thing to fight for “equal protection under the law.” But all of those blessings are not enough. For God didn’t create and redeem this world merely so that we might live freely among its sinfulness and brokenness as we please. God didn’t engage the world through the person and work of Jesus merely to make a sinful world a little bit better place. No, He ushered in a new and eternal kingdom amidst the temporal kingdoms of the world so that all might receive His everlasting kingdom by grace through faith, and then live in service to others, both now and forever! Wow!

It’s proper, then, to say that temporal freedom is a blessing; it is to be cherished. But it is also proper to say that it is not enough for the human flourishing that God wishes the world to have. The freedoms we enjoy (temporally and eternally) compel us to live freed, virtuous, and moral lives that are motivated and empowered by God’s grace to share God’s good news and to live our lives for the sake of others. In other words, we are graciously freed to be faithful to God and then to our neighbor in His name. Temporal, religious liberty and the protections of the Constitution are precious. We celebrate them, but as John Adams, one of our Founding Fathers, reminds us:

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.1

On Memorial Day, we were reminded that in life, there are some things worth dying for. We honored the men and women who gave their lives so that we might have liberty and freedom in our country. But today, when July 4 starts off the long weekend that ends on Sunday, take time to remind yourselves, your families, your children that there is something even more important to our lives than mere temporal, political, or civil freedom. It is the freedom that comes from God’s redeeming work on the cross through Jesus alone. In that gracious work God in Christ literally took upon Himself the sin which destroys us and enslaves us in eternal bondage to death. He then gifts us with the reality of a life of freedom and liberty not just for now, but forever. Such a freedom, received in faith, is worth celebrating and even fighting for, not merely for ourselves, but also for the right to share it humbly and graciously with others.

So let this long July 4 weekend be one of those times when you cherish both temporal and eternal freedoms. But also realize that, while both are precious, one matters most of all. This year, think about the bigger issues that demand our voice, our efforts, and the freedom protections we have to engage the culture for the sake of the culture and the mission of the Church. This July 4 (with the extra time), think about the real Saint Nicholas (Yes, that St. Nick!). While we often reflect upon and even seek to mimic some of his generous acts at Christmas, I think July 4 is another appropriate day to be reminded of his life. As a bishop of the Early Church, he endured suffering and persecution for his faithfulness to the Gospel amidst the tyrannies of Rome. (He didn’t have First Amendment protections like we have today.)

Then, when gifted with new-found temporal freedom (still much less than we have today) via Emperor Constantine’s legal recognition of Christianity, Nicholas put that freedom to work in fighting back against the fourth century heresy of Arianism (a false teaching that diminished Jesus’ divine nature as the God/Man Savior of the world). At the Council of Nicaea, he rose to the occasion by defending and proclaiming the Gospel, faithful to the Scripture. He did it with such commitment that at one moment, overcome with zeal, St. Nick arose literally to “fight off” such heresy in order to preserve God’s saving message for all.

According to this legend, Nicholas was so angry at an advocate of Arianism that, overcome by apostolic zeal, he struck his opponent.2

He literally defended and proclaimed the truth of the freedoms of the Gospel with his body during times of persecution, with his heart in his many episodes of service, and with his soul when he boldly stood up for Jesus for all to see. He not only slapped Arianism back, his advocacy for the truth led to the formulation of the Nicene Creed that blesses the Church to this day. The stories of his kindness and his life of merciful service to the needy call us to acts of service even today.

It is a precious thing to have temporal freedoms and liberty. But let us never think such things are “enough.” For we were meant to put those freedoms to work for the sake of the ultimate freedom in Christ that comes by grace through faith in Christ alone. Happy Fourth of July, and happy long holiday weekend. Use it to think about the freedoms that Christ earned for all on the cross, the life of St. Nicholas, and the Nicene Creed this Sunday. Be blessed!

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

Be Informed
Hear more about a Supreme Court ruling in a case regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s removal of safety standards on abortion drugs with Gabriella McIntyre of Alliance Defending Freedom.

Be Equipped
Why is the state of Vermont coming down so hard on foster parents? Click here to read why Vermont is disqualifying people who have proven they can provide a loving home for children simply because they hold religious beliefs that the state dislikes.

Be Encouraged
“We have grace on our side; we have Christ on our side and the love of God.” –Rev. Clifton Loman, First Lutheran Church, Tahlequah, Okla.

https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/history/misquoting-our-founding-fathers.html

https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas/real-person/early-sources

See Also
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