In anticipation of Martin Luther King remembrance on Monday, I listened again to his “I have a Dream” speech he gave in 1963 in Washington D.C. He begins his oratory talking about the Founding Fathers of our country establishing the United States on the principle of rights given to men.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
Next he asserted that for black Americans the experience was quite different. In this speech he said:
In a sense we have come to our Nation’s Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked “insufficient funds.”
His statement is indeed powerful noting the disparity between what black Americans experience when compared to others, most notably, I think he was referring to white Americans. This country was founded on a new and profound idea and that idea should have been for everyone without regard to race, wealth, status or station. The horrible reality is that not everyone in this country has been treated equally. But it strikes me that the promissory note to which he referred was it taken to the wrong bank? In reality, America did not provide the freedoms to anyone. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are rights that the Founding Fathers did not provide. Such “promissory note” would not be drawn on the bank of an American government and taking it to America there would indeed find funds insufficient. Legislating these rights through our courts would never be able to be satisfactory and these “unalienable rights” would remain unfulfilled.
The wealth and prosperity as well as material riches seen in America were not provided by the American government nor were they provided by “the rich” in any trickle down economy. Taxing the rich to fix the deficit problem in our nation would not come close to paying off this debt. Taking the wealth from others would leave all Americans paupers while the burdensome bureaucracy continued to oppress the Nation. Moving to a socialist type of governance would also cripple the country providing a new set of rich while throwing the majority of American taxpayers in abject poverty. No socialist effort has done any different and tweaking it in this country trying to find a different result is the definition of insanity.
So what missed the mark and what can we do? Where would this promissory note be taken to find these unalienable freedoms? The founding Fathers did not provide that government would be the source but that government should ensure rights guaranteed by God. What happens when we separate the foundation of this Godly principle from government, then government is an empty shell providing freedoms for only those with influence, money, status and power. If we rely on government to provide civil obedience through legislation, those civil rights can just as quickly be vacated.
I think Paul, in the book of Philippians gives us a clue to the answer. He writes:
“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”
Philippians 3:1-3 NKJV
In this verse Paul refers to circumcision referencing that there were those preaching that one had to become a Jew first before they could become a believer in Christ. He called this approach to becoming a believer “mutilation” because coming to Christ requires nothing but belief. But what I want to focus in on is his statement that we “worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”
The founding Fathers outlined that our rights come from God, not from any form of government, not from kings or any who are in earthly authority. Our rights cannot be secured by any effort of our own. Just as Paul said in verse 3 of Philippians 3, we get our identity from Christ so we should not put any confidence in what we can do but on what Christ has done! So taking the promissory note to the Americans or the American government would always result in insufficient funds because those rights were never given by any earthly government. Our rights were given to us by The Lord on Calvary and the prosperity and material blessings come from God as well, because of our faith in Him and His provision for us. We are not to have confidence in earthly governance or our own ability because it only leads to poverty.
I heard David Jeremiah refer to the flesh like this, “you spell flesh backwards (hself) and you take away the ‘h’ and you are left with ‘self.’ The flesh is just our self without God.” When we legislate rights, those are rights the government can take away. The rights that come from God cannot be taken by anyone. Why would we have confidence in ourselves when God is 100% reliable? He provides our rights, He provides our material needs and blessing, He provides Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness for all who believe.
I especially liked his conclusion illustrating his dream of the equality that Americans have and joining hands celebrating that freedom. That dream can become a reality but that reality is rooted in faith in Christ, not faith in any system run by men and women. In Christ we find the rights that are inalienable. In Christ we find material satisfaction and blessings. In Christ we find life abundant. In Christ we have liberty from the sin that entanglers us as well as freedom that is unassailable In Christ we not only find temporary happiness but long lasting joy. So this day in January that we stop to honor Martin Luther King, my dream, my prayer is that you find the Christ that offers us this and so much more.