When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. NRSV
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In this current political season all the news shows are overwhelmingly all about the presidential election and money. Both major party candidates cannot say anything without using the words that surround the economy. Newscasters monitor the stock market 24/7. I get the feeling that if the Martians landed this afternoon the breaking story would have to wait until after the Dow-Jones report was done.
Here are some words mentioned on CNN one day last week in only 90 seconds: Taxes, prices, gas, groceries, Jobs, renewable energy, invest, billion, money, spend, healthcare cost, wasting money, providing, education, compete, cost, rebuild, economy, opportunity…and that was a sports report….(just kidding).
I go to sleep at night only to dream of monster-sized budget spread sheets all in red. My nightmare includes bank foreclosure notices tacked on my drycleaners and favorite McDonalds. Even my dog wants to know who I’m going to vote-for, and if the new president will make things better. We had a repair man here this week; he couldn’t help talking about the election and economy. He told me he was scared to death about what will happen. Just as he was writing-out our bill for fixing the folding machine (putting a dent in OUR economy), Eric pulled up to deliver some heating oil for the church. Said the repair man, Look, here comes a load of gold! I told Eric about it and he told me: Yeah, I’ve been thinking about getting an armed guard to ride with me!
All of us try to make light of the situation; nervous jokes abound, but the truth of the matter is we are traveling in uncharted waters economically, and it is a serious worldwide economic crisis. When you throw-in presidential politics on top of the economic mess, it begins to border on the unbearable…especially if you’re a news junkie like me!
The questions we all ponder probably boil down to two main issues:
a. What’s going to happen?
b. For whom should I vote?
I cannot answer either question definitively – the first one because I am not a prophet, and I do not own a crystal ball. The second, about the person that ought to be elected, is open to my opinion, but closed-off from this pulpit because of our status as a tax-exempt charitable organization (Can we all say "501C3"?).
Now, this does not mean we are going to remain silent about the election. I understand very well the rules the IRS maintains concerning our non-profit status. The IRS rules prohibit us from engaging in partisan political activities; we cannot say “vote for this one or that one”. However, we are constitutionally-assured of the free exercise of religion. As that applies to presidential elections, I am free legally and morally to interpret from this pulpit what our faith teaches about what kind of person makes for a Godly public servant. So, to restate that, I cannot talk about WHO should be elected, but I can lay out WHAT KIND of person a Christian should look for to lead from the oval office.
A Caution for Christians
We are being constantly hammered with the idea that the most important item on everyone’s agenda is the economy…money! The politicians echo the news media; the political scientists shake their heads up and down and the populace of America all nod in agreement like we’re fixed in a trance…of course it’s “issue #1” – it’s the economy, stupid.
Let me depart slightly from the trance. The economy is an important issue…we need to straighten that out. But, compared to the real issue #1, the economy is a side-issue at best. The greatest issue at stake in the November election is how we as a nation will respond to our Creator. That’s not unique and particular to the election of 2008; that’s ALWAYS issue #1!
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Proverbs 14:34 (NRSVA)
Righteousness, not a great economy exalts a nation – being in right relationship with God is always issue #1. We certainly have a problem with THAT in America, and even if we fix the economy, Social Security, unemployment, education and everything else Joe the Plumber is worried about – if we don’t begin to life lives of obedience to God, with kindness, mercy, and gentleness towards one another, the office of the president may not have much of an America over which to preside! We can get the money thing figured out and lose our souls! THAT’s what’s really at stake in November!
If you want to support this great freedom experiment we call America from a Godly perspective, please remember that when you go to the polls, your vote must not be about money…make it about righteousness.
Listen carefully to this quotation that is sometimes attributed to an 18th century professor at the University of Edinburgh,
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (charity, gifts, assistance) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
“Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage. ” [1]
Choosing – the “How-To”
Now, we are Methodist, Wesleyan in our approach to life and theology. As such, we hold to a four-sided methodology of attempting to understand our Creator and the world in which He placed us. It is this method that we employ (or should) when making decisions. This method has been called The Quadrilateral. “Quad”, Latin for “four” and lateral, suggesting parity or even weight, is a search for truth with four weapons at our disposal. This is a system developed by Methodist founder John Wesley, and it is less a system than an “awareness” including four sources of perspective we must employ when we investigate the environment around us. Here are the four:
1. Scripture is first; Christian believers hold that the Bible contains every needful understanding for life’s decision-making which leads to a life that is well-pleasing to God and beneficial for all persons.
2. Tradition of the church – includes a large body of interpretive work that our “fathers in the faith” have learned and preserved for us over the last two millennia.
3. Experience is the third source, being that which we have seen and understood first-hand. Scripture tells me not to drink “much wine”; the tradition of the church speaks for itself, but experience would be an excellent teacher if I disobeyed Scripture and church tradition.
4. Reason is the deductive power of the mind to look at everything and sift through all the nuances or meaning of what we observe.
Now this is a very rudimentary understanding of the Quadrilateral, however it shows us the basis for Christian decision-making.
Scripture – the Commanding General
One important distinction makes this a Christian model – Scripture! Wesley made sure in many ways and instances to communicate that there is a little less than “lateral-ness” in the Quadrilateral; the primary weight of evidence is always on Scripture.
In other words, Tradition, Experience and even Reason are like Captains who report to the Commanding General, Scripture. In deciding on a course of action, if the church’s tradition, our experience or reasoning are in conflict with what the Bible says, those other three must bow to The Book!
There is a good reason for this. Our three captains, tradition, experience and reason, are all subjective, they come from our ability to observe our life and environment. But they are limited to that – subjective human abilities. Scripture is not thusly-limited! Scripture is inspired, God-breathed. Scripture comes from the Creator of human experience; it is the divine Word of God that transcends our traditions and reasoning ability.
It’s not rocket-science…
• whatever you’ve learned at Grandma’s knee (tradition)
• whatever you’ve picked-up in life’s school (experience)
• whatever you’ve been able to dream up in your fine, finite mind (reason)
– it all bends the knee to the Book of Books.
Politicians may nod in that direction, but, my friends they (mostly) are like Amway distributors…they’re selling, but they don’t use the product! A good example of this was reported by Time Magazine about a decade ago. The Congress was voting on a constitutional amendment allowing prayer in public places. Here are the attendance records:
Members who voted in favor of the amendment: 224
Members present on the House floor for opening prayer on the three days preceding the vote: 18, 8, and 18.
They talk and vote about prayer; they don’t pray! [2]
In listening to the politicians talk, use your reasoning, remember what the church has taught, call on your experience…but, above all, hold them up to the light of Scripture before you cast your ballot!
In the current crop of candidates I see two men vying for president. I would suggest that the differences between the two are considerable; so are the similarities:
Both are imperfect
Both would make mistakes in office
Both have probably stretched the truth in their campaigns
Both will likely have a lot of people to “pay-back” for their support in getting elected.
Both will ultimately be accountable to God for their choices.
The one key ingredient we must all search for in a leader is integrity; will he do what he says he will do? That is a sign of righteousness, or the kind of humility that recognizes God is in charge. There’s an old story I love about the busload of politicians who were traveling down a country road. The bus driver was listening to the politicians talk and fell asleep. He ran off the road and smashed the bus into a huge oak tree in a farmer’s field.
The politicians weren’t missed, and it took three days for the sheriff to get the report. Arriving at the farm the sheriff asked the farmer what happened. The farmer told him he saw the bus crash, and then he buried all the politicians. The sheriff said, “But the coroner wasn’t even here; are you sure those politicians were all dead?” The farmer replied, “Well, some of them said they weren’t, but you KNOW how them politicians lie!” [3]
There’s a reason why we must elect people of integrity – our form of government is not a strict democracy…we don’t vote on everything. We elect representatives to do most of our voting for us. We choose them and then they go off to Washington to run things. Hopefully they will act like they promised to act; but they are bound only to their conscience, not legally to any promises they have made. We have to hope they HAVE a conscience! A person of integrity keeps his promises. That is the righteousness factor!
So…did Jesus vote Democratic or Republican?
Remember this one thing about applied Christianity at the polls; Jesus’ conversation in Matthew’s Gospel was with a lawyer who was trying to “test” him. Now, I’m certain that Jesus was prayed-up; that was His habit – He walked with the Father every moment! If you’re going to follow Jesus as a disciple you should probably be prayed-up when you enter the voting booth. But there is a danger to all that…praying over your vote.
The lawyers that came to Jesus with an eye to trip Him into some rhetorical debate – they got clobbered! All their reasoning, traditions and experience was no match for the Living Scripture – Jesus, the living Word of God!
Friends, you don’t come to Jesus to win an argument (or an election)! You only come to Jesus in faith. When you honestly engage God in prayer getting ready to vote a week from Tuesday…and you ask God that question: For whom shall I vote? – His answer will quickly set up a divide between the faith line and your bottom line…between your belief and your banking.
God’s answer will be telling you to vote for
• righteousness over economics
• for holding justice high
• for respecting life in the unborn and elderly and everywhere inbetween
• for sacrifice over selfishness.
…and you will have to choose; so…choose wisely!
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ENDNOTES
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1] From the Prayer Guide, National Day of Prayer Committee, May 2007
2] Time, June 15, 1998, reported on HomeleticsOnline.com
3] Byron Shermon on SermonCentral.com, adapted
