I love fireworks – a lot. I love them the way a moth loves a porch light, the way kids love the last day of school, even the way Joanie loves Chachi (if you get that reference, you’re old, but epic). There’s nothing like a warm summer night in Florida, sitting in my favorite lawn chair next to a cooler full of Diet Cokes, watching the sky light up over a country that is still standing strong.  

This year, the Fourth of July feels are going to be over the top – we made it to 250! Before the grumpy theology cops start asking if a pastor should be holding a Bible and waving the American flag at the same time, I’ll give you my position on that early. Yes – most assuredly, yes. We have a lot to be grateful for as citizens of the Kingdom of God who temporarily call the United States of America our home.

Freedom was God’s idea first.

Americans are obsessed with freedom – it’s basically our love language and spirit animal all wrapped up in a red, white, and blue bundle of awesome. We fought a war to get it and fought several more to keep it. The idea of liberty shows up early and often in our founding documents. It’s on our money, chiseled on our monuments, and is the subject of approximately 97.4% of all country music songs. There’s nothing wrong with that (although we can debate the merits of country music) – freedom matters, and it’s still worth defending and celebrating.

As good as the freedom is that we experience as Americans, it’s only a shadow of a greater freedom. As Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1, “For freedom, Christ set us free.” He wasn’t talking about political freedom, but the freedom followers of Jesus have from the weight of sin and death, and the freedom to love, serve, and bear the burdens of people God places in our path.

American freedom allows you to say what you think, worship according to your own convictions, and pursue the life you want without the government getting in the way. That’s incredible – a lot of places in the world still don’t enjoy that. But the freedom Jesus offers goes much deeper. It cuts through all the external stuff and literally transforms us from the inside out. Jesus told us how to get it – it’s only available through Him. Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free” (John 8:36).

So when you’re standing in your yard tonight, hoping that Roman candle your kid is about to light up doesn’t set your neighbor’s roof on fire (we’ve all been there), I hope this truth visits you: the liberty you feel as an American is a gracious gift from God, but it’s also a preview. It’s a foretaste of the deeper freedom He offers everyone, in every nation, through his perfect Son.

Blessings and responsibility.

Freedom is a gift, and gifts like this were never meant to be enjoyed privately. Paul told the philosophers in Athens that God “determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live” (Acts 17:26). That includes you, me, and the other 342 million Americans who happen to live in one of the freest, wealthiest, most Christian-resourced nations in the history of the planet.

None of that is an accident. It’s the design of our sovereign God.

Since I almost got squished by a U-Haul truck in a Walmart parking lot this morning, let me use my harrowing experience to make a point. Think of our stewardship of our God-given freedom this way: imagine God giving you a moving truck with a full tank of gas. The freedom we have as Americans is the truck. The nations still waiting to hear about Jesus are the destination. We have more fuel (Bibles, teaching tools, technology, access) than any generation of Christians in human history has ever had. It’s time to get behind the wheel and start moving.

Jesus told His first followers, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We tend to read that and think “the ends of the earth” means somewhere inaccessible by anyone not led by a team of sherpas. Jesus meant those places and everywhere from here to there, which tells me that the freedom you and I enjoy comes bundled with a passport.

There are still places on earth right now where followers of Jesus gather in secret, where owning a Bible is a crime, and where saying the name of Jesus out loud could cost someone their life. Meanwhile we’re free to preach it from any street corner we choose. That sounds like an invitation. Freedom and mission scale together. Much is given, so much is expected (see Luke 12:48).

So how do we celebrate?

Simply put, we celebrate with hearts full of gratitude as we thank God for the country He’s placed us in and with open hands as we offer what we have been given to a world in need.

At Generations Church, we’re doing whatever it takes to help people find, follow, and serve Jesus, both in Orlando and from Orlando, out into the world. Our nation’s 250th birthday is a perfect moment to recommit to that. Pray for persecuted believers. Give toward missions that are smuggling hope into hard places. Have a Jesus-centered conversation at your cookout tonight instead of just arguing about whose carrot and apple salad recipe is best (may I lovingly suggest that nobody needs raisins in anything).

So, fire off those fireworks with your fellow Americans. Cry a little when you hear “God Bless America,” because I probably will. But also remember, with a nod to F.S. Key, as you see the rockets’ red glare tonight, every act of celebration for our nation’s freedom is pointing to an even greater freedom – the perfect and complete freedom Jesus offers to all who place their faith in Him.

Happy 250th, America, and happy forever, church.