This is part of the worship series
"Are We Faking It?"
Introduction | Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5
SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT
A Christian Nation?
Call to Worship based on Psalm 27
Let us worship God
who is our light and our salvation.
The Lord is the stronghold of our lives.
We desire to live in God's house
and to seek him in his holy Temple.
We have come with shouts of joy,
to sing and to make music to the Lord.
Let us worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
Teach us your ways
and make straight our paths
in this hour of worship and always.
Sermon Text
Philippians 3:17–4:1
Sermon Ideas
Karl Marx believed that Christianity is frequently used to "deodorize" or legitimize the sometimes evil practices of governments. Marx asserted that instead of shaping and, where appropriate, decrying the policies of the state, the Christian religion is very often used as an ideology to justify those practices in the name of God (thus placing them above reproach). Unhappily, the history of the church bears out much of what Marx asserted.
Today American civil religion (and its equivalent in other nations) proclaims that America is a Christian nation, founded by Christian people, established and regulated by Christian principles. Whether and to what extent those ideas are accurate is a matter of heated debate. But whatever their political views, all Christians should agree that their highest allegiance must be to the kingdom of God. Christians are called to incarnate the ways of Christ, whether or not those ways are in accord with or approved by the state.
As members of free nations, we Christians can be profoundly thankful for our country. The Bible frequently calls on us to pray for our leaders, pay our taxes, and be law-abiding citizens. But we must be wary of baptizing any one nation as "Christian."
Lent is a time when we need to be reminded that the cross, unadorned by any nation's flag, determines our true citizenship in God's kingdom. In Philippians 3 Paul makes clear that a focus on earthly things can lead us to neglect the cross, which in turn malforms our Christian lives. The cross, Paul says, is to shape us in every significant way. Our lives are to be examples of humble service, of self-sacrifice, of obedience, and of dying to sin that we might live for Christ (cf. Philippians 2:5-11).
As a Lenten message, this sermon need not be "political." Rather, given Paul's clear concern for the cruciform life, the message could highlight ways in which the "earthly things" of our own culture may distract us from the way of the cross. Some sample ideas might include the influence that capitalism has on our perceptions of grace; the influence that radical individualism has on our sense of community in the body of Christ; the influence that our culture's infatuation with power (power lunches, power ties) has on the humble way of the cross.
These days the media and many Christians focus on "litmus test" issues like abortion or homosexuality, often in an attempt to make a "Christian nation" out of our land. But while such issues may be of proper concern for Christians (cf. the message for next week) we should acknowledge that God's kingdom will never be built on this earth or represented by any government. When we attempt to make it so, we easily come to believe that our culture's patterns are the patterns of the kingdom. And when this happens, we cease being what we should be: namely a distinctive, counter-community of the cross.
In Lent we are called to walk with Jesus on the way of the cross, the only way that leads to life in God's kingdom in which all believers are citizens.
Prayer
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
we are your covenant people—
one church, drawn from all nations.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
Yet we confess, O Lord, that we sometimes lose sight of your kingdom and its ways.
We confess that we sometimes live more as citizens of our own land
than as citizens of your kingdom.
By your truth you call all peoples into account.
Forgive us for losing our distinctiveness.
Focus us on your cross and on the salvation we await from heaven,
from him who is the Lord and King and Judge of us all,
Jesus the Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Psalm and Hymn Suggestions
Opening Hymn
"O Lord, You Are My Light" (Psalm 27) Watts
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies" Wesley
Hymn of Confession
"Lord, We Cry to You for Help" Zwingli
Hymn of Preparation or Response
"O God of Every Nation" Watkins Reid
"Christ Shall Have Dominion" Public Domain
Revised Common Lectionary
Year C: Lent—Second Sunday in Lent
