Is Christian Nationalism a Problem?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: John 18:36, Philippians 3:20-21

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--is-christian-nationalism-a-problem
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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That really is the heart of the question. What do you mean by that? So it means different things to different people. But let's talk about some things that it doesn't mean I or or that shouldn't mean um and to answer the question I do think it is a problem and can be a problem. So Christian nationalism could mean several different things. But one idea is that America was founded as a Christian nation and should remain a Christian nation. um other ideas that we should fight for a Christian identity for our nation and sometimes that can even mean potentially violence or civil war.

So obviously these problems are very problematic and for some it might even be connected with racial identity or ethnic identity. Obviously that's a problem. So let me back up and start with the biblical concept. First of all, I think we should love our family, love our society, love our community, love our nation. That's called patriotism. So patriotism is love of country. I think that's expected. We're to love our neighbor as oursel. Well, by extension, then our neighbors would certainly be our own nation. Um, you do have examples of in the Psalms, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Well, that was spoken first and foremost to the Israelites.

They were to pray for the peace of their own capital by extension their own nation. In Jeremiah when people were in exile in Babylon, uh Jeremiah said to the Jews again, pray for the peace of the city where you are. So even though it's a pagan city, that's where you live. Pray for prosperity, success, peace. And the Hebrew term for peace is a more broad term meaning wholeness, health, well-being. So should we be concerned about the the security, well-being, uh progress, prosperity, safety of our own neighborhood, our own city, our own state, our own nation. Well, yes, of course. And you could say the whole world, but I mean we have responsibility.

We are citizens. So we have more direct responsibilities where we are citizens. Now, nationalism has a little different connotation which it could mean promoting your nation. Uh and and then just what does it mean to promote your nation? So yes, you should have a a love for your nation and maybe want your nation to do well. It's not your responsibility to try to advance the interest of another nation. But then just what do you mean by nationalism? Does it mean suppressing other nations or competing in such a way to harm other nations? That would seem to be to go against uh the principles of scripture of love your neighbor as yourself.

We should really have a concern for all nations. So I certainly support patriotism. I've already described it. But let's step back now and say um as Christians we have a heavenly citizenship. So even though we love our country, our first allegiance must be to God and to the people of God. And frankly, I have more in common with people around the world world of different nations who are baptized in Jesus' name, filled with the Holy Spirit, serving God, pursuing the holiness than I do some people of my own society who are against God. So uh our our allegiance has to transcend just our our earthly nation.

And Jesus said when he was on trial before Pilate in John 18, let's read uh in verse 20 36. Uh Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here." So we have to understand we have an allegiance that goes beyond this world that we have a spiritual allegiance a spiritual a heavenly citizenship and we see this also in Philippians chapter 3 and I'm reading of course from the new King James but uh uh Philippians 3:20 for our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the savior the lord Jesus Christ who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body.

So we need to think in the sense I have a heavenly kingdom and a heavenly citizenship and everybody that's baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, everybody who's saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, everybody who's filled with the Holy Spirit. So we have the same name, the the same bond. We all speak in tongues in that way, in that sense, the same language. So that bond is even stronger. So when you talk about Christian nationalism, it's problematic to me because it sounds like promoting our earthly interest above our heavenly interests. And that would be wrong. Now the idea about America being a Christian nation, it never was a Christian nation as defined by um biblical teachings of what Christianity is supposed to be.

I do think there's a truth that it was founded on some biblical principles and the vast majority did have a Christian type of identity but it was never exclusive. Uh even from the beginning there were people who were marginal Christians or really non-Christians maybe deists they believed in God but not the God of the Bible and Christians who were or people who were not any kind of religion or who did not believe in God. There were Jews from the very very beginning. There were ca both Catholics and Protestants from the very beginning and there are at least small amounts of people of other religions, Eastern religions early on.

Uh I the Declaration of Independence was founded on scriptural principles. In fact, it mentions God four times talking about the laws of nature and nature's God and that we are given certain unalable rights by our creator. I think maybe we've discussed that in another session. and how that the whole American system is built on our rights come from God. Therefore, government has no authority to take them away. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion. So, if you're going to talk of Christian nationalism or Christian identity in the sense of there's certain basic values we must treasure which ultimately come from God such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of press, then I would say yes, we must preserve that as a nation.

those national values. Other nations may not have those values. People who immigrate from other nations, yes, they should adopt our values as a nation. And I would say that uh for the US, for Canada and and and so on. So in that sense, we should have a national culture and that people who come to our nation to immigrate or even to reside should conform to our culture. And that culture has important principles that actually come from the Bible that come from our Judeo-Christian heritage. And we should preserve that against attacks of whether it be atheism or other religions or uh sinful behaviors. Uh so if that's what we mean, yes, we want to preserve our uh cultural identity, our national values, but we have to be careful not to equate that national identity with our beliefs as Christians.

So if we value freedom of speech, then we have to protect the freedom of speech for people of other religions or no religion. Because if we don't, if we try to demand conformity to Christian um nationalism, well, apostolic views are not going to be the ones that are promoted. They're going to be suppressed. So, you know, people say, "Well, let's put prayer back in the schools." Well, I'm all for a a moment of silence, but wait just a minute. What kind of prayer do you want? It's not going to be Pentecostal prayers. So, are you going to want to promote generic um prayer to a generic deity?

Is that going to advance your cause? So, so we really need to think about that is that if you're trying to make a Christian nation, it never was a Christian nation apostolic sense. And if you're wanting to be a generic Christian nation, well, people with our beliefs might end up being suppressed or silenced. We're the ones that wouldn't have freedom of speech or freedom of religion. So if we're truly going to want that for ourselves, we have to guard it for people who are not like us as well. So at the end of the day, my response would be number one, our allegiance is to our heavenly kingdom, to the one true and living God in the name of Jesus Christ.

Our personal values, our lives, our churches. We should first prioritize the will of God over our own national identity, policies, government, and so forth. And we need to be willing to critique our government or our culture or our society if it's getting off track. And so in that sense, we promote a union of all races, all ethnicities, all languages, all cultures, all nations under the umbrella of we're all created by God. But more specifically, we want everyone to be born again of the water and of the spirit. That's that's our highest allegiance, our highest unity, and we don't in want anything to supersede that.

Second, we should love the place where we belong and and we should be a participant and be accountable. And so that starts with our local government, our state government, our provincial government, our national government. And so I would say we should be patriotic. We should be loyal supporters of our nation, but the best of our nation, and critique it when it gets off track with biblical values, support it with biblical values, but we're not trying to establish an earthly kingdom. So, we're not trying to impose apostolic doctrine or lifestyle on the whole nation. We do want it to follow biblical values, especially in protecting our rights as humans, which we believe come from God.

But since we want um the ability to promote the gospel as we understand it, we have to give other people the same liberty to have their own views and their own opinions. So I don't agree with the idea of trying to make this a Christian nation or make it a Christian government. I would focus on on making it a a government that operates according to uh what we believe are correct values among which are freedom of religion and freedom of speech.