When Patriotism Becomes an Idol

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Whenever the patriotic celebrations come around there is temptation to display our patriotism in the worship service by singing patriotic songs and saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Some try to sanctify the secular pledge to the flag by combining it with a pledge of allegiance to the cross and/or the “Christian flag”. There may be a place for patriotism, however, the Christian worship service is neither the time nor the place for this.

The problem is not with patriotism nor with the Pledge of Allegiance. I love my country and I do not hesitate to say the Pledge of Allegiance with my hand over my heart on nearly all occasions, but not during the worship service. The divine service was instituted by God for the purpose of delivering forgiveness and salvation to us through His Means of Grace (i.e. the Word and Sacraments). Whenever we add elements to the worship service which don’t deliver the Means of Grace we take our attention away from Christ, which makes these added elements idols.

Not only is nationalistic patriotism NOT a Means of Grace, it isn’t even commanded by God. Though God rules in the secular world (the Kingdom of the Left Hand) and in the Church (the Kingdom of the Right Hand), He doesn’t require patriotic pledges. If you look in the Small Catechism under the Table of Duties for Citizens you will find that what is required of Christians for good citizenship is to pay our taxes and submit to those in authority out of love (except where such authorities require us to break God’s commandments, then we must obey God rather than men). This is another reason why it is inappropriate to require the Pledge of Allegiance in the worship service.

One more thing to consider is that not all Christians are Americans. Most Christians are not Americans and have no desire nor reason to pledge allegiance to the American Flag. God’s Word and Holy Baptism are universal. They are for everyone. Communion fellowship is restricted to those of the same confession (Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, etc.), but while an African Lutheran (for example) can commune in an American Lutheran church, he would not pledge allegiance to the American Flag.

Patriotism, too, can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the actions of the State. When Patriotism is used to support truth, justice, and a benevolent government, then it is a good thing. When Patriotism is used to support wicked and unjust governments then it is a great evil. An example of the latter is the German army in World War II. They were not all Nazis, but their patriotic support for the National Socialists (Nazis) was a great evil. This particular example does not necessarily explain the “why” or “why not” of patriotic pledges in the worship service, but it just shows that some discretion is necessary.

Not all Americans are Patriots, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Many people just want to live their lives in peace and fulfill their Godly vocations, and there is nothing inherently sinful about that. Because of this, and the fact that patriotism is not commanded by God, we ought not make anyone feel guilty for not being particularly patriotic, nor should we make anyone feel as if they are a better Christian just because they are patriotic. This view is unpopular in some circles, I know, but I am a minister of the Gospel of Christ, and I am much more concerned about the Spiritual well-being of God’s people than their patriotic feelings. I do not wish anyone to confuse the Gospel for patriotism, because they are not the same, nor are they related. There is no salvation to be found in national patriotism. Salvation is only found in Christ Jesus.

In the First Commandment God says, “You shall have no other Gods before me.” When we add practices to our worship service which God has not commanded, and which do not deliver the Means of Grace, we are placing a false god before the True God. This also applies to the Pledge of Allegiance. While the Pledge is not necessarily idolatrous in its proper context (though it can be), it does become an idol when we place it in the worship service. It does no good to try to sanctify the Pledge with a pledge to the Cross and/or the “Christian Flag.” These also are not commanded by God. We confess our faith in God’s work of salvation when we confess the creeds, and there is plenty of Biblical examples encouraging us to do this, but nowhere in Scripture is there a separate requirement to pledge allegiance to the cross. As to the “Christian Flag,” I am not even sure where that comes from. Christianity is not a national identity like being a citizen of the United States. Christians are citizens of every nation on earth (even where it is illegal to do so), so I don’t know what it means to pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag, but if there can be a proper context for doing this, the worship service is not it.

You may well find me pledging allegiance to the U.S. flag on patriotic holidays like Independence Day, September 11th, etc. but it won’t be in Church. I look to Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation, and the worship service is where these precious gifts are delivered to Christ’s people. There is no salvation apart from Christ even in the greatest country on earth. Some may accuse me of being a hypocrite, but that just shows their misunderstanding of God’s rule in the Kingdom of the Left (secular society) and the Kingdom of the Right (the church). God rules in the world as well as the church, but salvation is not found in the world, but only in the Word and Sacraments as administered in faithful Christian worship services, and we are well served when we keep this distinction clear.

Magi

From Emmanuel

Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

“‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

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It is easy to get the wrong idea about the Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus. First, the details that Matthew gives us about the Magi only leave us wanting to know more. Who were these Magi? Where exactly in the East did they come from? How many of them were there? What was the star that they saw, and how did they know it proclaimed the birth of the Christ? Why did they give Jesus these three gifts? It seems like God’s Word leaves us with more questions than answers about the Magi. It is very tempting to speculate about the answers to these questions, and many scholars who are undisciplined in their study of Christian theology are all too eager to give in to that temptation. There seems to be no end to such speculation. Faithful Christian theologians know that God’s Word tells us ALL that we need to know for our salvation, and whatever it leaves out is not necessary for us to know (no matter how much we want to know it.)

Second, the whole world is filled with false religions which tell of demanding gods which must be appeased by gifts given by supplicants. In a strange way this enslaves the supplicants who must work hard to please a capricious god, but it also shows a weak god who may be “bought off” by the work or sacrifices of people. There are even some Christians who have this view of God, but that isn’t true Christianity. It is only pagan theology with a Christian façade. The true, Triune God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) cannot be appeased by our gifts or good works. All things belong to Him anyway, so He is truly not impressed when we make a pretense to give Him a tiny portion of what already belongs to Him (see Hebrews 10).

Instead of requiring sacrifices and gifts from us, the True God made the sacrifices Himself and gives us the gifts. Jesus is God in the flesh and He sacrificed His life to redeem our lives from the guilt of our sin. The gift that He gives us is full forgiveness and pardon from any punishment which we deserve through our sinfulness and disobedience of God’s Law.

This is why Christians give gifts to one another at Christmas. God has already given us the greatest gift in the forgiveness we have through Christ, so we demonstrate our trust in this priceless gift by sharing what we have with others.

I don’t know who the Magi were, or how they knew about Christ, but we do know that they came to worship Christ and they were faithful to the God’s Word which told them to avoid King Herod. In this they can be great examples to us of faithfulness and worship.

A Sabbath Day Rest

Jesus teaching in Nazareth from Emmanuel

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:1-3)

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To tell you the truth, Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Dearborn, Michigan doesn’t have a window depicting the Seventh Day of Creation. Perhaps the church itself is a representation-in-action of the day that God blessed as holy. The window pictured here is a depiction of Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus was preaching on the Sabbath Day in a Synagogue in Nazareth early in His ministry and proclaimed that the prophesy of Isaiah concerning the Messiah was fulfilled by Him that day.

There is a lot of talk about a “six day creation” in the debate over the creation. What gets lost in this description is the very important Seventh Day of Creation. Though God rested from His work and did not create anything new, this day seven is a very important part of God’s creation.

When I teach this story to children they often ask the obvious, but impertinent, question, “Was God tired that He needed to rest?” The answer is “No.” God is almighty and created “life, the universe, and everything” (if I can be so bold as to quote the late Douglas Adams, who was often blasphemous before his untimely death) perfectly in only six days by merely saying, “Let there be …”, so clearly God does not need to rest. It was no great strain for God to create everything. He did not rest on the Seventh Day for His needs, but for ours. We are the ones who need the rest, so God led by example (to begin with). Ever since then God has been working on the Sabbath days serving our needs.

Angels worshipping at the cross

Most people think that worship is what we do to please God. This is a pagan idea, but it is not uncommon among those calling themselves “Christians”. The Holy Bible never says that we should try to please God. Scripture says, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2) Unfortunately, as sinners we cannot be holy no matter what we do. This makes it seem like salvation is impossible as Jesus’ disciples once realized when they asked Him, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus replied, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (see Mark 10:17-27)

If God had left our salvation in our control then none of us would have a chance of salvation. However, God didn’t leave it up to us to save ourselves. God worked out our salvation himself so that we all could be saved. Even before sin came into the world God set aside one day out of the week so we could stop and remember just how much we need God.

People reject Sabbath worship because we want to think that we don’t need God. It is humbling to have to rely on God to provide salvation, but most people don’t realize that it is far more humbling to try to save yourself – and fail.

“Christ is Risen” - From Emmanuel

Because God sanctified the Seventh Day of creation making that a holy day, the Old Testament people of God set aside that day for worship. Yet, today the vast majority of Christians now worship God on the first day of the week. The reason for the change is, of course, Jesus.

From the very beginning the Sabbath rest was a typological prophesy about Christ. Jesus fulfilled the promise of the Sabbath when He rested in the grave on the Saturday after He died. Jesus was in the grave part of Friday and part of Sunday, but He had a full Sabbath day’s rest from His work of salvation. Then He rose from the dead on Sunday to proclaim our salvation. Since then we remember Christ’s victory over sin and death for our sake when we go to worship every Sunday.

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The Seven Days of Creation

In the Beginning
The Orderly Creation
Distinctions in Creation
The Center of the Universe
Designed by God
The Crown of God’s Creation
A Sabbath Day Rest