Restoring the Soul of America

Restoring the Soul of America

(Preaching Outline)

1)      The idea of a nation having a soul like a person.

a)      The value of a soul. | The idea of a soul.

b)      What about the idea of repentance?

c)      The reason we talk so much about ideas.

d)      The reason we talk so much about America.

e)      Zechariah 1:3 (NKJV) — 3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.

f)        What does this actually look like for us?  How we answer that question will determine the world we create.

2)      The substance of the soul

a)      Matthew 16:24–26 (NKJV) — 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Luke 12:16-21 – this day you life is asked of you.)

b)      The interconnection between the individual and the national.

c)      Part of a national dream – Deuteronomy 4:7–9 (NKJV) — 7 “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? 8 And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,

d)      The language in the church is that this is a special dispensation only for Israel.

e)      We need to consider whether this an accurate vision of what the Lord wants to do in nations today?  If so, how do we get there?

3)      Before we answer that question, we need to put some thought into the “law set before us”.

a)      There is no Hebrew word that means obedience. The closest equivalent – shema – means not obedience but rather hearing, listening, striving to understand, internalising, and responding in deed. The very tone and texture of Deuteronomy is directed not at blind obedience but at the contrary: it is a sustained attempt to help the people understand why it is that God wants them to behave in the way that He does, not for His sake, but for theirs.[1]

4)      How does America fit into the plan of God?

a)      Romans 11:11–15 (NKJV) — 11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

b)      Rabbi Sacks understands the Biblical prophetic tradition talks about a day when the gentiles would adopt the fear of the Lord.

c)      The seed of the kingdom sown

d)      ACTS 15 – Moses has had for many generations those who preach him in every city.

e)      Already in the twelfth century, Moses Maimonides could write (in a passage long censored and only recently restored): The whole world is already filled with the words of [the Christian] messiah and the words of the commandments, and these words have spread to the farthest islands and among many unenlightened peoples, and they discuss these words and the commandments of the Torah.[2]

f)        The Reformation is the next great development of the fulfillment of prophecy. – This was due to the fact that there was not one form of protest against the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, but two. One, developed by Luther, focused on Paul and the New Testament. The other, developed by Calvin, drew its inspiration from the Hebrew Bible, especially the book of Deuteronomy. That meant that Calvinist regions – such as Geneva, Holland, Scotland, and England, as well as the Pilgrim Fathers of the United States – developed strong civil societies, whose basic understanding of morality was identical with that of the book of Deuteronomy.[3]

g)      The 5000 Yea Leap by Cleon Skousen

h)      I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and in her ample rivers, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her public school system and her institutions of learning, and it was not there. I sought for the genius and greatness of America in her democratic congress and her matchless constitution, and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. – Alexis de Tocqueville^[4]

5)      If we are going to restore the soul of America we need to know what is at the heart of it.  This idea is going to be challenging for many Christians, but we need to return to the faith that made America great:

a)       Several of the Founders have left us with descriptions of their basic religious beliefs, and Benjamin Franklin summarized those which he felt were the “fundamental points in all sound religion.” This is the way he said it in a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University: “Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion.”[5]

b)      In 1787, the very year the Constitution was written and approved by Congress, that same Congress passed the famous Northwest Ordinance. In it they emphasized the essential need to teach religion and morality in the schools. Here is the way they said it: “Article 3: Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”[6]

c)      In New England, every citizen receives the elementary notions of human knowledge; he is moreover taught the doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution. In the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts, it is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon.[7]

6)      How we are restoring the soul of America

a)      The challenge of messages like this is how they work on us as individuals.

b)      We are providing information and ideas that can help people get a view of God, truth, history.

c)      They will hopefully lead to conclusions that result in faith, hope and love.

d)      What they do not do is package things neatly for simplicity.

This is part of the process of preparing a people who can walk in the fear of the Lord.