Elections: Our Response
Romans 13:1-7
November 9, 2008
There were two men who were good friends but disagreed on one thing: what color Jesus was. Jack was certain that Jesus had been white. Charles was convinced that Jesus was black. Around and around they went. Well, as strange circumstances had it, they both died on the same day. They found themselves approaching the gates of heaven and rushed up to them to be greeted by Peter. The only thing on their minds was who was right.
“Tell us Peter, who is right. What color is Jesus?”
At the moment, hearing the commotion, Jesus walked up and greeted them saying, “Buenos Dias.”
Earlier this week I prayerfully prepared a sermon. But Friday as I was meditating and praying, I just felt the Spirit urge me to move in a different direction. And it really has to do with the election and the results and what may be in store for our leaders over the next few months and years.
And the issue is this: now that the election is over and we some newly elected leaders including our first African-American President-elect Obama. Now I know that there is varying opinions on not just the presidential candidates but other candidates. As I thought about this and I read through scripture, an idea kept coming up again and again for me.
I know most of us are glad its over. I know our mail carriers are glad because their loads just got fifty percent lighter. The ringer on our phone is glad its over. I would like to propose new legislation that political candidates be charged a flat rate tax on how many times each of our phones ring. However, it is really not over. It has really just begun.
So now that the people have decided, what is our response as followers of Jesus? Is it to just breathe a sigh of relief? Is it just to get back to our lives and let our elected officials do their thing? What should I be doing? What should I be thinking about? Where do we go from here? This is where God was really wrestling with me and I felt that we as a community of faith need to address this. We need to spend some time looking at what we need to do as a result of our elections.
I saw where some pastors were telling their parishioners who to vote for. Did you see that? Maybe I’m wrong here but that seemed to be a little too much like following a man (or a woman) than following Jesus. It also seemed a little arrogant and condescending as if the people of God can’t think for themselves and need to be told what to do. I may be oversimplifying and exaggerating so please forgive me and extend me the grace to me that I ironically am having trouble extending to others.
I have become convinced that we as followers of Jesus have a greater responsibility than to just cast our vote and go on. To be light, I think there more than just complaining because our candidate didn’t get the job or maybe because we think that they are all corrupt.
This is a critical time in our country. We have some monumental issues to face. And our leaders have no easy task. So how do we respond?
What I believe to be important for us as a body of believers comes out of a few scriptures. First there is Romans 13:1-7:
1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
There is a second scripture that ironically came to mind from Matthew: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Now there is a whole lot of things in the Romans passage as we apply it to our context that really just sidetrack us from what is important today especially in regards to submission and punishment. What I want to focus on is the part that reminds us as followers of Jesus to do what is right. That is what our calling here is. That is what our response to the elections. That is what our calling is in regards to our elected officials. We are to do what is right.
Election Response: Do What is Right
But we also must keep in mind that the leader is supposed to be God’s servant and supposed to rule justly. They are supposed to do good to us as long as we are doing what is right. And we do it not just because we are afraid of being punish or getting caught. We do what is right (and remember this is always as a follower of Jesus we do what is right in God’s eyes) because of conscience. Conscience is the awareness of what God desires as right and wrong.
So then what does this mean for us? How does this really play itself out? What difference then does this make for us? Whether we are pleased with the results of the election or we are scared or leery or upset, if we follow Jesus then there are several common things that we can unite together to be doing that is right in God’s eyes.
Surely, someone out there can say amen to that. I understand that following Jesus means that we are first and foremost a citizen of God’s kingdom. And that means that when we gather together for worship, we ought to be able to transcend past politics and worship God in the presence of people who seek God’s face whether they are red or blue or even green as well as black, brown, white, or yellow. So I have three things and then I’ll give us some time to actually get started on some of our responsibilities.
• Support
Doing what is right means that we give our leaders support. This does not mean we have to agree with them all the time. In our governmental structure, it also does not mean that we should not criticize their decisions. We are allowed that freedom.
However, I see submitting for us today to involve giving support to our leaders. Recognizing that they have tough jobs especially right now. Even if we criticize them, we can acknowledge their efforts to serve their country. Senator McCain showed an incredible amount of support (which revealed his character) during his concession speech. When people started booing that Obama had won, he shut them down and said that response was completely inappropriate.
Showing support also means taking the time to dig out the facts, which can be extremely challenging with our media. Support means recognizing decisions that you believe were good. Sometimes when we don’t like a lot of a politicians decision or views, we focus only on the negative and never take the time to recognize when they have done something good or right.
• Get Involved
Be a voice. Know what the issues are. Know where you candidate stands. Take time to let your representatives know where you stand. There are easy ways to do that with email and the web. There are some “watch groups” that can help you get connected but just remember that they have an agenda too. And sometimes they can slant the “facts” to reinforce their agenda and even a particular worldview without showing the full picture. We saw a lot of that during this year’s election campaign.
Get involved and be willing to learn. I think sometimes the greatest damage the Christians do to our collective witness is being unwilling to learn and listen to the perspectives of others. They think that they are to get involved but that ends up meaning that they are there not to help but make everyone see things exactly the way that they see them.
A kindergarten class was drawing pictures as the teacher walked around to check on the progress. She walked up to Suzy and was a little perplexed at her drawing.
“Honey, who are you drawing?”
She said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.”
The teacher explained, “Oh honey, you really can’t draw a picture of God because God is just too big. No one really knows what God looks like.”
Without even looking up Suzy said, “Oh they will when I’m done.”
Sometimes getting involved means we need to be willing to at least admit that we might not have all the answers.
• Pray
This is the core thing that I felt led to address. We need to pray. Whether or not you are happy with the results or bothered by them, we need to pray. There are a lot of new people coming into office. We need to pray for them. We need to pray for their families. We need to pray that they come to know God if they already don’t. We need to pray that they do what is right. We need to pray that they serve the best interests of the people and not themselves. We need to pray that they pray.
We are facing a huge, huge economic crisis. It really is much bigger than just one person such as the president can fix. And there are so many other issues. Health care. The two wars. Pork barrel spending. My friends, we need to pray for these women and men who are supposed to be serving our country. So what I have set up are some prayer stations. I want you to have a chance to pray for some of our officials at these stations. I have some suggestions for things to pray for on some of the people. You can use these or pray your own direction.
Remember when I said that the other scripture was “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” I think that Jesus sort of assumes that those who follow his ways will be praying for those who are not our enemies. We ought to be praying for our leaders whether or not we agree with them. We ought to be praying that they have wisdom and do what is right. Because praying for them is the right thing to do. I invite you to do so.
