Introduction

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” These ideas, rooted in the fact that God created all people in His image, have galvanized the foundation of our nation where all people can find life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness.
• In spite of the many horrors, atrocities & injustices we’ve seen in the history of our nation, there is something worth celebrating as we consider the stewardship of our secondary citizenship.
• Today, we want to apply what we have learned in Romans by considering how the truths that Paul reveals form the foundation of a biblical worldview which informs our understanding of patriotism.
• Therefore, this morning we will see three things about our world that Romans 1-3 have taught us.

Human beings are broken

• The Bible tells us that we have been created for glory, but corrupted by sin (Romans 1:21-23, 28; 2:3; 3:10-11, 18, 23)
• This explains the moral evil we see in the world today. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. This will bear itself out more as we get into Romans 5.

Human communities are broken

• God created us for relationships. Because human beings are relational & are born into families, we replicate community. We break up into groups.
• Because human beings are broken, all communities & groups of people will bear the marks of this brokenness. There is no perfect people group. There is no superior group of people.
• Three things unite us: we have all been created in the image of God, we have all fallen into sin & are under the condemnation of God’s wrath, & we can all be redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ shed for us.
• Every person & thus every community has blindspots throughout history, meaning that within each grouping of human individuals there exist an imbalance of virtue and vice, love & hypocrisy.

Human institutions are broken

• Human beings not only form groups, but they establish structures of authority for the purpose of government. So, if individuals are broken, the communities that they form are broken, then guess what else will be broken? Their institutions.
• When you hear the term systemic racism, what is your reaction? Most of us may bristle when this term is applied to America as a whole, but we need to remember our biblical worldview. Romans 1:18-3:23 would tell us that system oppression & injustice can & will exist in a fallen human world. But does that mean that the ideas that founded America propagate system racism?
• Systemic racism or systemic injustice is actually where the oppression of certain groups is baked into the cake of society through policy & practice.
• What past or current examples of systemic injustice can you think of?
• In a fallen world, systemic oppression does exist, but God gave grace to our Founders to establish a system where justice could be advanced.

So, is America worth celebrating? How does Romans 1-3 inform your patriotism today?

• The ideals and the flawed human beings who founded our nation are worth celebrating because in America, we can still make declarations about where hope is found.
• Hope, not in a government, political party, & or even supremely a nation, but in a set of truths known as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that hope can remain
• Lewis Smedes >> This nation was built by the power of hope. No painter ever set brush to canvas, no writer ever set pen to paper, no builder ever set brick on brick, no enterpriser ever built an enterprise without having hope that he or she could do what they were dreaming of doing. We have not begun to fathom the power of hope in creating better lives for ourselves and our children.
• What do we do? We live out our principles in a contagious way in front of a watching world & let the truth stand on its own merit.
• We fight for justice by running into the darkness with the light & love of Jesus Christ.
• We embrace the Gospel as the only hope for redemption for every human individual.  As individual hearts are transformed by God’s grace, then families, groups, communities, & even institutions can experience the redeeming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This means you continue to preach the Gospel, pray for those around you who don’t know Christ, & taken advantage of your religious liberty while you still have it.  Join the church, be accountable to your church family to learn where God has gifted you, invest in His kingdom, & recognize that no matter how much the heat is turned up on Christianity, that you are not alone.