Sermon Tone Analysis

“Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

“You were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

[1]

Religious liberty is not simply an ecclesiastical truth debated among churches; religious liberty is headline news.

As an example of the veracity of this assertion, note some of the headlines which crossed my desk in a single day.

Indonesian Laws Fuel Violence against Religious Minorities

Religion-related conflicts on the rise in Indonesia

Indonesian Churches Banned from Streets with Islamic Names

Pakistani Christian Attacked for Evangelism

Christian Convert Arrested in Tehran

Somalia Islamists Prevent Starved Christians from Receiving Food Aid

Hindu Radicals Ransack Churches, Beat Up Clergyman in Karnataka

Three years on from pogroms, Christians still living in fear

Catholic church attacked in Pune, India

Christian Worshippers Brutally Beaten by Vietnamese Police [2]

I maintain files detailing persecution of Christians on my computer.

Persecution ranges from oppressive regulatory laws to slavery, forced conversion and execution.

Among those files are accounts of Muslims persecuting Christians, accounts of Hindu persecution of Christians, accounts of Jewish persecution of Christians, and perhaps surprisingly, accounts of Christian persecution of Christians.

I also have accounts of Communist inspired persecution of Christians and a number of files detailing governmental controlled persecution of Christians—even in North America.

It is as though Jesus’ Words were being played out before my eyes.

Jesus warned His disciples, “You will be hated by everyone because of My Name” [MATTHEW 10:22 NET BIBLE].

Christians do not seek persecution—we seek peace with all people—but persecution comes because of Him whom we serve.

Of all the foundational truths which have marked Baptists as a distinctive people, the doctrine of religious liberty has had the greatest impact on Christendom as a whole.

It seems safe to say that this one issue is most readily threatened in our world by government, most appreciated by Christians, and perhaps least understood by religious leaders.

State religions inevitably employ government to coerce compliance with the tenets of that particular religion and to oppress all other forms of worship.

The concept of the separation of church and state is based more on principle than on proof texts.

To be sure, Jesus’ words, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” [MATTHEW 22:21], constitute a clear statement of the principle.

The record makes clear that the early Christians were good citizens in matters deemed important by the Emperor [ROMANS 13:1-10; 1 PETER 2:12-17].

Even some early Roman writers testify to this fact.

Only when Caesar tried to claim for himself the position of God did Christians refuse to obey.

The record of Roman persecution of Christians is too well known to require further word here.

[3]

The great ideal for Baptists is a free church in a free state.

For Baptists, the verses of our text have become the watchword for our advocacy of religious freedom and liberty of conscience.

Listen again to those words of the text.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

“You were called to freedom, brothers.

Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

It is not my intent this day to present an exposition of these verses; but rather I seek to present the argument based upon the Word of God which impels Baptist people to champion the concept of religious liberty.

In the past several weeks, I have presented the case for the form of church which characterises Baptists throughout the world, and especially here in North America.

We believe in a regenerate church membership and we believe in congregational church polity.

We are convinced that those who unite with a church must be born from above, testifying to this rebirth through baptism.

We insist upon believers’ baptism.

All this is in contradistinction to the model of multitudinist churches as exemplified in the state churches of Europe.

This is in contradistinction to the hierarchical models of ecclesiastical polity demonstrated among the mainline denominations of our own nation.

This is in contradistinction to the pædobaptists and their rite of infant baptism.

Years ago, at a notable dinner in London, the world-famed statesman, John Bright, asked an American statesman, himself a Baptist, the noble Dr. J. L. M. Curry, “What distinct contribution has your America made to the science of government?”

To that question, Dr. Curry replied, “The doctrine of religious liberty.”

After a moment’s reflection, Mr. Bright made the worthy reply, “It was a tremendous contribution.”

Indeed, the supreme contribution of the New World to the old is the contribution of religious liberty.

Historic justice compels me to say that it was pre-eminently a Baptist contribution.

Dr. George Truett, citing the American historian, Mr. Bancroft, says, “Freedom of conscience, unlimited freedom of mind, was from the first the trophy of the Baptists.”

John Locke stated, “The Baptists were the first propounders of absolute liberty, just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty.”

[4]

Religious liberty is not toleration.

Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right.

Toleration is that which man grants; freedom is that which God gives.

The sole obligation of human authorities is to protect the individual in the exercise of his God-given right to worship according to the dictates of his own heart.

[5]

Some have imagined that the Maryland Toleration Act (1649) was the first great step toward religious liberty among modern states.

The parliament of Catholic Maryland merely recognised that the majority of the inhabitants of that colony were non-Catholic and wisely accorded them a measure of toleration to keep them from rebelling.

Toleration depends upon the good will of political powers, and that is precisely the reason religious liberty is threatened in this day as our culture increasingly becomes a culture of disbelief.

Likewise, religious liberty is not license.

Freedom does not mean that the individual has the right to do as he pleases regardless of the rights and privileges of others.

That is not freedom; it is license.

Too many confuse the two.

Milton said of some of the people of his day:

License they mean when they cry, Liberty!

Religious liberty means the natural and inalienable right of every soul to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to be unmolested in that right, so long, at least, as he does not infringe on the rights of others.

Religious freedom does not grant one the right to molest others or to make of himself a public nuisance.

THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN SOCIETY — Canada and the United States have enjoyed greatness in no small measure because of religious foundations, including the emphasis upon freedom of religion.

Of course, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution establishes religious freedom in American society.

That amendment reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

For centuries, most people believed that a government-enforced religion was essential for social order.

If individuals were free to choose their religion, it was feared, there would be chaos.

[6] As evidenced from the news articles cited earlier, efforts to enforce religion provoke conflict and hatred and death.

Moslems and Hindus, when in the majority of a given culture, kill people who disagree with them.

In Europe, we need but remember the Inquisition which ordered the torture and execution of those accused of disagreeing with Catholic doctrines.

Remember that the papacy has never relinquished its claim to authority over both church and state.

When Geneva was ruled by theologian John Calvin (1509-1564), people were burned at the stake for missing church services.

Michael Servetus was burned alive for disagreeing with the Reformer.

In 1567, the Spanish Duke of Alva sentenced thousands of Dutch Protestants to death, and Protestants retaliated by destroying 400 Catholic churches.

England’s Queen Elizabeth I executed some 800 rebellious Catholics.

In 1572, French Catholics seized and slaughtered thousands of French Huguenots, triggering a quarter-century of religious conflicts.

In Germany, bloodshed over religion climaxed during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) which wiped out about a third of the population.

Most European countries still have state churches and only tolerate dissent.

The first great sanctuary of religious freedom was Rhode Island, established by the Baptist, Roger Williams.

Williams explained that in his colony of Rhode Island, “magistrates, as magistrates, have no power of setting up the form of church government, electing church officers, punishing with church censures… And on the other side, the churches, as churches, have no power (though as members of the commonweal they may have power) of erecting or altering forms of civil government, electing of civil officers, inflicting civil punishments…” Such a position was revolutionary!

Later, William Penn, a Quaker, adopted a similar position for Pennsylvania colony.

Rhode Island welcomed Catholics, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Mennonites, Quakers, Jews and atheists.

Consequently, these societies prospered, even finding peace with the Indians.

It became clear that society does quite fine if government leaves people alone to pursue their religious affairs as they see fit.

There are, and will ever be, questions raised concerning the Christian’s place in society.

Unfortunately, we live in a day in which society is increasingly hostile to faith, especially if that faith is founded upon the Christian Faith.

We have arrived at a time when we are taught—almost compelled—to agree that religion is a private affair.

In such a secular environment, it is inevitable that conflicts should arise.

I cannot address all the issues which touch on religious freedom in our day, but I must point to several which should give us concern as Christians, and especially as Baptists.

Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States early in the nineteenth century.

As result of his visit, he wrote, Democracy in America.

In that treatise, he wrote that the young nation’s “religious atmosphere was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States.”

In his view, liberty was tempered by a common morality.

“Thus, while the law allows the American people to do everything, there are things which religion prevents them from imagining and forbids them to dare.”