And the topic this morning is how do the state and church relate?
How do the state and the church relate?
Maybe a better way of framing this is how does religion interact with government?
Now I use that word religion because religion is much broader than just the state.
I'm defining religion as all good attorneys do to define their terms.
Religion is how do we answer ultimate questions about our life and then prescribing actions based on those answers.
So how does religion, these ultimate questions, interact with government?
Let's pray and then we'll dive into this question together.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this time together.
We thank you for your Lord, the Lord Jesus.
Give us insight.
Lord, this topic is often confusing and complex.
Lord, give us clarity.
Bind our hearts together.
Love the church.
Father, give us an anchor in these church lives.
Father, for your namesake, would the church live as you call it?
As a people for your own possession.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So how am I going to answer this question?
Thankfully, Christianity was not started the year you and I were born.
In fact, there have been Christians who have carried the same burdens we face today.
Who have thought through these questions and made mistakes.
And we can learn from them.
There's no phrase, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
So, in light of that, I want to have this discussion in light of church history.
Through the lens of church history.
And one of the lessons you often find in church history is that you realize that old errors are so often recycled and repackaged in new forms.
Right?
There's nothing new on this side.
So to face the challenge of a culture that might be unraveling like a cheap sweater, we can go further back in time to men and women who have thought through these things, carry the same burdens, and have wisdom for us.
And so for the second half of the class, I'm going to reference Augustine.
Augustine.
One of those early church fathers in the 5th century from North Africa.
Now, you might not agree with everything Augustine has to say.
But he does have a wonderful way of framing the issue for us in the 21st century.
So to give us a road map of where we're headed on this journey, we're going to talk about the context of the early church.
Then Constantine.
Third, the crisis.
And fourth, the Magnus Otis.
And what's Augustine's Magnus Opus?
The City of God.
That book, The City of God.
It took him 13 years to write that.
The City of God.
So let's start with the context of the early church.
So I want to picture yourself in 5th century Rome.
You're going to take a time machine.
We're going to travel to about 410 A.D.
If you were living then, you may have heard stories of the horrible, twisted, violent persecution that Christians faced.
Because of their allegiance to Christ, Christians were slandered, mocked, misrepresented, nailed crosses, lit on fire, and made and torn apart by animals.
Christians often were scapegoated in Rome.
To describe this time, a 2nd century pastor, Petulian, once said,
If the Tiber River rises too high or the Nile too low, the cry is,
The Christians to the lion!
These Christians were scapegoated.
And to face a death, they were witnesses of the risen Christ.
This was reality.
And often this persecution would be top down from the emperors.
Top down from the emperors.
So unlike today, there was no voting for the emperors on election day.
No consent of the governor.
In this context, Paul would tell Christians in Romans chapter 13, verse 1, to give the government their due.
He writes,
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
And so scripture says, earthly governments are ordained by God to administer justice.
And believers are to be subject to their authority.
Even unjust governments.
Peter writes, honor the emperor.
Yeah, even the corrupt one, like Nero.
Honor the emperor.
Christians are to honor the very governments that later would arrest the next week then.
Why would anyone do this?
1 Peter 2, verse 21 tells us,
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
So submit to the civil authorities, pay your taxes, honor the emperor, and when reviled, do not revile in return.
That's the rule.
Now, of course, there are limits on disobedience.
Some of us want to immediately go to the exception.
We collaborate, but we never compromise.
There are places where we cannot go.
Like our modern day, Romans consider themselves inclusive and tolerant.
And tolerant.
So inclusive and tolerant.
But there's a catch.
Rome was tolerant as long as you accept the status quo.
And the status quo involved taking part in religious worship of the emperor.
You know, bow down.
Offer some incense.
It's not a big deal.
It's a big deal, Christian.
Be a good Roman citizen and bow down to the emperor.
And this is where Christians ran into trouble.
And does anyone know what Christians were called for their refusal to worship the Roman pantheon?
Atheists.
Why were they called atheists?
They didn't seem to believe in the gods.
Right.
They worshiped this god who was invisible.
They didn't worship the visible pantheon of gods.
They were atheists.
And many consider Christians to be dangerous to the unity of the empire.
Threats to society.
I mean, you can almost picture, like, imagine yourself a Roman official.
Right.
These Christians were gathering together.
The upper class slaves and women were calling each other brother and sister.
Right.
We even heard that they drank the blood and ate the flesh of this king Jesus whom they worshiped.
What in the world is going on?
Right.
These Christians were odd.
They're weird.
They're suspicious.
Now, we live in the 21st century, but we have first century problems.
Right.
But we also have an opportunity to live out first century Christianity.
When Christianity becomes increasingly weird and suspicious in our culture.
But as you listen to these stories, in the 5th century Rome, of the context of the early church,
maybe you hear how everything changed under Constantine.
There was the Constantinian moments where things suddenly turned upside down.
In 312 AD, Christians found a champion in Emperor Constantine.
In some ways, this is a very paradoxical age.
So we're going to break this down by looking at the beautiful and the good,
and then we're going to get into the ugly.
So let's start with the beautiful and the good of Constantine.
Now, picture yourself.
Imagine witnessing family and friends martyred.
And then very suddenly, Christians are supported.
To illustrate how sudden this was,
Roman officials kissed the broken hands of the Christians whom they had tortured.
And understand, Constantine didn't just proclaim freedom of religion for Christians,
but initially it was for everyone.
No longer fearing for your life.
That's good.
Constantine restored property and legal rights to Christians.
He subsidized the building of new church buildings.
He even organized church councils.
A force in the passing of the Nicene Creed,
which brought unity to Christians,
declaring that Jesus is Lord over and against the heresy of Arianism.
For Constantine, it brought unity to the Roman Empire.
For Constantine,
and most historians recognize this,
it represents a turning point in the Western world.
Previously marginalized Christianity began to be a driving cultural force in the Roman Empire.
And even Emperor Constantine at this point claims to be a Christian.
So imagine yourself in that context.
What do you do when now the leader of the emperor claims to be a Christian,
and Christianity is now a driving cultural force in the Roman Empire?
So this is the advent of Christendom.
What do you do?
What would you do
where the majority in society
now call themselves Christians?
Now, I think we need some intellectual humility in the 21st century.
Philip Yancey, a Christian author,
once recounted a conversation with a Muslim,
who said,
I find no guidance in the Koran
on how a Muslim should live as a minority in the society,
and no guidance in the New Testament
on how Christians should live as a majority.
Now, that might be overstated.
Right?
But he's touching on something there, isn't he?
Right?
If you approach the Bible with the question,
what's the right political order,
you're not going to find the answer.
It's the wrong question.
But it does answer this question very clearly.
What is the church?
The Bible has a lot to say about what is the church.
So your understanding of ecclesiology
is going to influence your thinking on political theology.
And Nick touched on this last week.
And initially, I had 30 minutes of just expositing
what is the nature of the doctrine of the church this morning,
but I took it out.
But your ecclesiology is going to influence your political theology.
So a lot of Presbyterians and Baptists
have different political theologies
because of based on how we understand the church.
And we understand Christianity is not just about
having your sins forgiven.
Right?
Christianity touches our political life.
Remember we said last week,
this is important, but not ultimate.
The Greek word polis,
from which we get the word political,
simply means city.
How is the city working?
Right?
And we're serving on the mount people.
Poor in spirit.
Mourning and thirsting.
After righteousness.
Christians care about what God cares about.
Human flourishing.
Protecting the innocent from being falsely convicted.
Protecting the vulnerable.
Caring for the poor.
Christians now bring in their values
to advocate for what is right and good in Rome.
And this begins to influence the Roman Empire
in good ways.
Right?
Women were second class citizens back then
in the ancient world.
And because of Christianity's influence,
the lowest in society started to gain
some more legal protections.
Women now could control property.
Women now were protected from sexual assault.
Mothers were given legal rights over their children,
whereas former women and adopters had those rights.
Not to mention, you know,
the efforts to protect slaves,
the poor.
The practice of infanticide was outlawed,
where unwarranted babies
were left to wild animals
and cast into sewers.
Abortion was a common medical procedure.
The early church had plenty to say about that.
And so from the beginning,
Christians believed these people had value.
Made in the image of God.
Money from the imperial treasury
was used to help desperate parents
who couldn't afford to keep children.
And the church acted as sort of a distribution system
that the Roman government would use.
So this is something we can thank God for.
Right?
Today we have a lot of non-Christian politicians
who say, you know,
of course human rights.
But friend, there was no
of course human rights in ancient Rome.
If you believe in human rights,
then you can thank Christianity for that.
Now for us,
this doesn't necessarily mean
being involved in institutional politics.
through the government.
But it might.
It might.
Maybe God will call some of you
to run for mayor,
or city council,
or a senate.
So how would this kind of public witness
work today?
Christians in the public square.
Well, a senator or citizen
can argue for a policy
on the basis of your Christianity.
But the government cannot adopt that position
because of Christianity.
So influence,
but not to institutionalize Christianity.
That would violate
the anti-establishment clause
of the First Amendment.
That's the soil in which
our representative democracy
was founded.
Christians can and should influence
government for the common good.
As someone once said,
the early church wasn't a thermometer.
They were a thermostat
that transformed society.
Does anyone know who said that?
Does anyone know?
Sounds really good to anyone?
That was Martin King Jr.
in a letter
in Birmingham jail.
The idea that Christians
brought their values
for the common good
was the civil rights movement.
So just laws are a good thing.
But remember,
laws cannot change the human heart.
Laws cannot do the works of culture.
Now, one of the reasons
why we don't institutionalize Christianity,
which John is going to get to next week.
Does anyone know why
we, in our accounting,
we didn't want to institutionalize
one specific denomination?
They didn't want the religious strife
from Europe to come here.
Right.
Yeah.
And that religious strife was here.
It was here.
The Baptists were the ones
who were exiled in the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts
because they refused to practice
the baptism.
So the legacy of religious liberty,
John's going to get to next week,
but that, in part,
was due to the fact
that Baptists were on the wrong end
of religious persecution.
Now, some Christians believe
if we just pass the right laws,
if we just institutionalize Christianity,
that will solve the moral decay
of our times.
But that's chasing after a mirage.
Laws cannot do
what only the gospel can do.
So that's the good side.
I mean, let's get to the ugly.
So we're going back to Constantine.
There was a darker side.
Remember, Christians found a champion
under Constantine.
Constantine was called
the capital-L liberator of the church.
He was called a Christian emperor
by men like Eusebius of Caesarea.
The church began to have power and wealth,
and so nominalism skyrocketed at that point.
If you wanted a career in politics,
you were expected to be a Christian
under Constantine.
But that wasn't the only problem.
You may recall hearing
in some Western civ class
that he took in college
the story where Constantine
saw a sign in the sky,
and when he and his entire army
looked up,
he saw a Cairo, or a cross,
with the words,
conquer by this sign.
Conquer by this sign.
You find meteorologists
trying to figure out,
how did this all work?
How did they find that apparition
in the sky?
But Constantine put the sign
of the cross
on the shield of his soldiers,
crusading and conquering
under the banner of the cross.
He hardly ever lost a battle,
and he was a ruthless man.
In John 18,
Peter is rebuked for drawing the sword
after Jesus' arrest.
And what does Jesus tell Pilate
when he's at his trial?
My kingdom's not of this world.
My kingdom is not of this world.
If it were of this world,
my servants would be fighting.
So the Christ kingdom
does not advance
through course of power,
but through the word.
We don't fight fire with fire.
Civil governments
cannot cause conversions.
You know, the sword,
convert or die!
That doesn't happen.
That cannot happen.
So now you see
what's happening here
under Constantine.
Now there's confusion
of categories.
The church and the state
are now molding together.
And theologians at that time
began linking Constantine's rule
with the rule of God.
Jerome, one of the church fathers,
said,
Rome was an earthly reflection
of the kingdom of heaven.
You know, someone once said,
I think Nick Vizenti told me this,
this is like Trump on stairways.
Right?
You hear this rhetoric today.
Right?
Ronald Reagan,
in his farewell address,
famous,
he said,
America is the shining city
on a hill.
Drawed upon Matthew 5,
verse 14,
in the top of the last week.
You are the light of the world.
A city on a hill,
set on a hill,
cannot be hidden.
And the you there
is not referring to America,
it's referring to the church.
But the temptation
to confuse categories
is bipartisan.
Unfortunately,
blasphemy is bipartisan
on both sides of the aisle.
In 2021,
President Biden,
speaking of the American military
going to Afghanistan,
quoted Isaiah chapter 6,
verse 8.
The Lord says,
Whom shall I send?
Who shall go for us?
Biden then said,
The American military
has been answering
for a long time.
Here I am,
Lord,
send me.
Here I am,
send me.
God's saving mission
is not a military campaign
to blow up buildings
in Kabul.
Let me ask this question,
what kind of problems
does this create
for the gospel witness
in places like Afghanistan?
Where God's purposes
are American military campaigns
overseas.
What kind of problems
does this create
for Christians
for the gospel witness
overseas?
Well,
if you look at Nazi Germany
where the church
caved to Hitler
and did not stand up
as a witness
against the government,
terrible,
terrible confusion
over what Christianity is
and what it meant.
And my sister-in-law
who's Jewish
and she really
doesn't want to hear
about Christianity
because of her parents
and her parents' experience
in Europe.
she quakes
Nazism
and Christianity.
That's that.
That's what he said.
So,
if I were
into the Taliban,
Christian
and American
would mean
the same thing
to me.
And both hateful.
Yeah,
that's true.
Afghan Christians
could be
pro-America
because
what else
could they be?
Yeah,
it seems like
you justify violence
on the other side
to tell them
it's all power politics.
There is no alternative.
Yeah.
Right.
Tom pointed this out
to me that
when Rome
identified
as a Christian empire,
a great persecution
arose
amongst Persian Christians
because the governments
thought native
Persian Christians
must have been
with Rome.
Yeah.
So now there is
suspicion
for Christians
in Persia.
And there would be
suspicion,
I mean,
this kind of rhetoric
would cause
suspicions
for Christians
in Venezuela
whose government
doesn't align
with American interests.
So,
we do a lot
of damage
to gospel witness
overseas
if we're
aligning America
with Christ
and they're
both the same.
Now,
in 2021,
a lot of us
heard the term
Christian nationalism
all over the news
and you hear it today.
Most people
have no idea
what it means
but it sounds
scary,
right?
It sounds
aggressive,
authoritarian,
Christian nationalism.
After January 6th,
don't get me wrong,
there was a lot
ugly
in America,
but after January 6th,
I think it became
a dog whistle word
in a smear campaign
among some of the media.
Why?
Because it is a way
of lumping together
those in the crowd
that broke
into the capital
with normal Christians
who are engaged
in politics.
Guilt by association.
I mention that
because there's
such a temptation
to just slap a label
on someone,
right,
rather than to listen
to them
and to ask questions.
You think
governments should
promote traditional
family structures?
You're a Christian nationalist.
You support police reform?
That sounds
really woke to me.
So you don't really
engage with someone,
you just slap a label
on them.
And we should not
do that as a church.
Right?
Let's listen to each other,
ask questions,
rather than really
assume that someone
is a Christian nationalist
because of their
political preferences,
not necessarily
a theological
commandment.
Any questions?
And then we're going
to get to the crisis
and then Augustus.
Any questions?
How long was
Constantine's reign?
That's a good question.
Anyone know?
Okay.
I was just wondering
how quickly
everything degenerated.
Yeah.
I noticed conversion
was unexpected.
Long enough
to change things.
Yeah.
Someone can look
to Google it
and then look at that.
Well, probably not
31 years.
Okay.
That's fine.
Thank you.
So, we have the
context here
of the church.
Constantine.
Let's get to the crisis.
Fast forward the years
410 AD.
We're back in the Roman Empire
and the empire is
teetering on the
verge of collapse.
So imagine 50 years
from now,
America is no longer
a country.
That would be shocking
for a lot of us.
But America is a toddler
compared to Rome.
Rome had been around
for almost a thousand years.
And the barbarians,
the Visigoths,
later the Germans
would sack Rome
and things began
to unravel in Rome.
This was a crisis
of the culture.
And maybe some of us
feel some of that
crisis today.
You know,
God's providence
is a sign of
those very Germans
would later become
Christians.
So, and a thousand
years later,
there was a man
who came forth
from the Germans.
Martin Luther.
So, Fred,
maybe those radical,
crazy, pagan,
non-Christian neighbors
of ours,
maybe there's a
Martin Luther
among them.
I don't know.
Alright, but now
during this crisis
in God's providence,
many refugees
fled to North Africa
who would meet
and talk with
one North African
bishop,
Augustine.
And Augustine's
magnus opus,
the city of God,
it took him 13 years
to write this.
And he started
writing it
pretty soon after
Rome collapsed.
Augustine's
and it's been
a foundational text
for Western
political thought.
This is why
I'm referencing
Augustine.
And you could draw
a direct line
of Augustine
thought,
especially of
human depravity
and original sin,
to the founding
fathers of the
draft of the
Constitution.
What do I mean
by that?
So if you look
at Augustine,
Augustine influenced
Martin Luther.
Martin Luther
taught Calvin.
Calvin taught
John Edwards.
John Edwards
taught John
Witherspoon.
And John
Witherspoon
taught James
Madison.
And Madison
wrote the
Federalist Papers,
which has a
very strong
Augustinian
bent to it.
And Madison
would draft
the Constitution.
So Madison
and the framers
had a very
realistic understanding
of man's
fallen nature
when creating
our system
of government.
And John,
again,
is going to
talk about this
next week.
Now,
Augustine doesn't
start out to be
a political
philosopher,
but as a
pastor.
He is doing
a couple of
things in the
city of God.
First,
he's refuting
the contention
that Christianity
is responsible
for the collapse
of the Roman
Western Empire,
the Western
Roman Empire.
And second,
he's comforting
the sheep.
These are
refugees that
are coming,
and he wants
to comfort them.
And if you
want to start
reading this
in the city
of God,
book 19,
start there.
The most
bang for
your buck.
Book 19,
chapter 17,
that's where
you should
start.
So,
there are
six thoughts
from the
city of
God applied
for today.
And here's
what I think
Augustine would
want to tell
our church
in a cultural
crisis.
One,
do not
panic.
Do
not
panic.
The loss
of any
Christian
influence
in America
does not
follow him
to question
God's
faithfulness.
Because he
would say,
don't confuse
America
with the
city of
God.
The city
of God,
he writes,
is invincible,
eternal,
and everlasting.
And the
gates of hell
will not prevail
against it.
Augustine gets
the title
from Psalm
97,
Glorious
things of
you are
spoken,
O city
of God.
Speaking of
Zion,
the dwelling
place of
God.
And he
would say,
look,
America is
just like
Babylon,
Assyria,
and Rome.
It's the
city of
man.
Right?
These
rise and
fall,
the earthly
cities
passing
away.
We are
pilgrims
and exiles
who have
a heavenly
citizenship.
That's where
our allegiance
lies.
And we
get afraid
because we
often confuse
the two.
In the
city of
God,
Augustine
has a
conversation
partner
named
Scipio
Africanus.
Scipio
is asked
the question,
what is
a society?
What makes
up a
culture?
Scipio
responds
with,
well,
it's an
assembly
united
in
fellowship
by
common
agreement
as to
what is
right
in a
community
of
interest.
So,
in other
words,
a society
that has
the same
values.
Or we
could say
it's a
nation
that has
biblical
values.
The same
sense of
what is
right.
But
Augustine
would say,
Scipio,
that's
great.
But that's
the city
of God.
A society
of people
united
with the
conviction
of what
is right,
that is
the city
of God.
It's not
the city
of man.
So,
number one,
do not
panic.
Two,
low
expectations.
Low
expectations.
America
will
disappoint
you.
When
Augustine
was
preaching
to
refugees,
you
would
probably
say
something
like this.
Look,
you've
been
through
tragedy.
Many
of you
have been
mistreated,
slandered,
harmed by
others.
Rome
and the
culture
has
collapsed.
But
remember
this,
Rome
was
always
disappointed
and
disappointed.
So,
I say
the same
to you.
In
the same
way,
this election
season,
America
will
disappoint
you.
Have
low
expectations.
Modesty
of
ambition.
Three,
there's a
spiritual
conflict
between
these
two
cities.
There's
a
spiritual
conflict
between
these
two
cities.
His
entire
argument
can be
summed
up in
this
sentence,
in the
city
of
God.
He
writes,
accordingly,
two
cities
have
been
formed
by
two
loves.
The
earthly
by the
love
of
self,
even
to
the
contempt
of
God.
The
heavenly
by the
love
of
God,
even
to
the
contempt
of
self.
The
former
in
the
word
glories
in
itself,
the
latter
in
the
Lord.
So,
what
he's
saying
is,
the
city
of
God
and
the
city
of
man
are
in
conflict.
I
mean,
this
is
the
message
we
saw
in
Revelation.
Remember
that?
Christians
attempting
to
worship
the
beast
of
the
political
power
in
Rome.
Now,
some
might
say
at
this
point,
okay,
I
agree
with
you,
Augustine,
so,
Christians
should be
like the
French
resistance.
We'll
go under
and we'll
start
fighting
the
Nazis.
We'll
just go
underground.
So,
you hear
some of
that today.
But,
Augustine
wouldn't
go that
far.
He
wouldn't
go that
far
because
the
fourth
principle,
and here's
the twist.
There's a
conflict
between
these
two
cities,
but
Christians
occupy
both
cities
at the
same
time.
Christians
occupy
both
cities
at the
same
time.
We
have
a
dual
citizenship.
So,
the
earthly
city
also
contains
members
of
the
city
of
God.
And
so,
that's
why
Gustine
would
say,
this
is
not
like
the
Nazis
fighting
versus
the
allies
in
World
War
II.
We
also
are
citizens
of
the
earthly
city.
So,
there is
both,
and here's
the wisdom
of Augustine
here.
He's
saying
there's
both
an
involvement,
but there's
also a
detachment
from the
earthly
city.
There's
tension in
that,
isn't
there?
I think
that's
what the
balance that
Nick was
really trying
to get
at last
week.
these
things
are
important,
but
they're
not
ultimate.
And
there's
a tension.
Be a
citizen
of
Babylon,
but
remain
in
exile.
Engage
in
politics,
but
don't
succumb
to
political
idolatry.
Obey
the
emperor,
but
above
all,
obey
God.
How
desperately
we need
the
Holy
Spirit
to do
this
while
in
our
public
life.
One
example,
I love
how one
person
illustrated
this
in the
second
century,
the
letter
of
Diocatis.
And
the
author
wrote
this,
Christians
are not
distinguished
from the
rest of
humanity
by country,
language,
or custom.
From
nowhere do
they live
in cities
of their
own,
nor do
they speak
some unusual
dialect,
nor do
they practice
an eccentric
way of
life.
They live
in their
own
countries,
but only
as
sojourners.
They
participate
in everything
as citizens
and endure
everything
as
foreigners.
Every
foreign
country
is their
fatherland,
and every
fatherland
is foreign.
They
marry,
as do
all others,
and they
have children,
but they
do not
destroy
their
offspring.
They
have a
common
table,
not a
common
bed.
They
are in
the
flesh,
but they
do not
live
according
to the
flesh.
They
pass
their
days
on
earth,
but
they
are
citizens
of
heaven.
They
are
cursed,
but they
blessed.
They
are
insulted,
yet
they offer
it.
I just
love how
he captures
how Christians
are in
both cities
at once.
We're in
the world,
but we're
not of
it.
Fifth
principle,
work for
the welfare
of the
earthly
city.
Augustine
says,
work for
the welfare
of the
earthly
city.
So this
is the
Daniel
principle
where God
told the
Jews in
Babylon,
Jeremiah
29,
verse 7,
seek the
welfare
of the
city
where I
have sent
you into
exile,
and pray
to the
Lord on
its behalf.
For in
its welfare
you will
find your
welfare.
I'm going
to repeat
that last
part.
For in
its
welfare
you will
find your
welfare.
And so
he understood
politics was
seeking the
good of the
city that
God placed
them in.
In the
city of
man's
welfare,
Christians
will find
our
welfare.
So although
there is a
conflict,
there is also
common interest
in life in
the earthly
city.
So in
earthly
political
life,
Christians
can be
united in
these earthly
goods with
non-Christians.
And Augustine
will use
illustrations like
seeing society
prosper,
food,
shelter,
these are
good things.
things.
A well-run
police
forest is a
good thing.
Stable
families are
good things,
laughing together
over a
meal.
He sums
it up in
this phrase,
earthly peace.
Earthly peace
is a good
thing.
In the
earthly city's
welfare, we
will find our
welfare.
So Augustine
saw that we
could be united
by common
interest with
non-Christians
and there will
be a spiritual
conflict, both
at the same
time.
Now of
course, and
Augustine
recognizes this,
our society
doesn't share
the same
values of
what is good
and evil,
right?
But we
can work for
areas of
common ground
that we both
can work
toward.
And we
love these
things in
different ways.
Christians
love is
always in the
context of a
greater love
for God.
So we
love earthly
peace not
for earthly
peace in
itself.
We love
these things
because
God is the
one who
gives them
to us.
They are
gifts from
God, right?
So we
can be
thankful for
the many
good gifts
that God
has given
to us as
Americans.
I'm one of
the types
that I get
choked up
singing the
National Anthem.
I don't know
why, I just
start getting
teary-eyed.
And it's
okay to
thank God
sincerely for
being an
American.
There's
nothing wrong
with that.
But ultimately
we thank God
for those things.
And our
allegiance is to
God.
And the
sixth principle,
and then we'll
open up for
questions and
comments,
the sixth
principle is
ground your
hope in
the heavenly
city.
Ground your
hope in the
heavenly city.
There's a
story, again,
of Scipio
Africanus.
He conquers
Rome's most
bitter enemy,
Carthage,
at the site
of the city
perishing amidst
the flames.
it is said
that Scipio
burst into
tears.
He had just
destroyed Rome's
greatest enemy.
And someone
asked Scipio,
why are you
weeping?
He replied,
this is a
glorious moment,
but I have a
dread foreboding
that someday
the same doom
will be
pronounced on
my own
country.
Scipio was
weeping because
one day what
happened to
Carthage will
happen to
Rome.
Augustine would
agree with
that.
What happened
to Carthage,
what happened
to Rome,
we pray that
this doesn't
happen, but
one day it
will happen to
America.
The earthly
city is
temporary.
Politics are
temporary when
you measure
them against
the city of
God.
That's where
our hope lies.
ground your
hope in the
heavenly city.
So those are
the six
principles.
Do not
panic.
Low
expectations.
Spiritual
conflict.
Christians
occupy both
at the same
time.
Work for
your welfare
in the
earthly city.
And above
all.