Continuing is our series entitled “You Asked For It… in which we are focusing on topics which were drawn from a survey of the entire community.
Today… How should we relate to the roles of government and politics?
The issue of Christian involvement in politics has been one of the most debated and divisive issues not only of our times… but throughout much of history.
I suppose it’s natural to think we are going to find ourselves filled with controversy…
After all… if one wants to maintain relationships…. We are told never talk about… religion and politics… so I suppose we could be in trouble.
So why am I comfortable addressing this topic? Is it because I believe that if we talk about both religion and politics that somehow the two negatives will cancel eachother out and become a positive? Interesting theory but that’s not why. I’m confident because I believe our diversity of perspectives and convictions is actually a great gift… and what will serve that gift is to see the common ground that we can share.
I believe we are all open to what God’s Words has to say… and I believe there is plenty of common challenge to our common role as citizens. … regardless of political affiliation.
I want to help us capture two things… first, the proper appreciation for government, politics, and our role as citizens, and secondly, ways in which I believe God would have us live out his calling as citizens.
The reason I want to begin with establishing that God even has a role for government… is because I think many of us have become disillusioned or detached. People who believe is a greater source of power can naturally begin to just become critics of human governance. And lets be honest… if we look at simply the way we grow up… it can be loaded with some negative connotations towards government. We slips through from our parents… media… may not have always sounded great. Then our first facing of the governing authorities comes with getting a driver’s license. The authorities hold a power that we must fight for. So comes the one that often sets the tone most… paying taxes. In these and so many other ways, we can begin to see governing authorizes as our nemesis.. our enemy to a free life.
So what is God’s perspective about…
I. The Role of Government and Citizenship
1. God has established the role of governing authorities to deter the effects of evil.
Romans 13:1-4 (MsgB)
“Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. 2If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. 3Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear.
Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, 4the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it.”
These words may seem difficult in light of how wrongly some governments rule… but perhaps not so different from recognizing that God ordained the role of marriage and parenting… which also can fall deeply and destructively short of their intentions.
Paul indicated that even “secular” governments, such as the autocratic Roman Empire, are God-ordained (see Rom. 13:1–7).
> The institution of governing authorities bears a legitimate role and purpose… even while the actual exercising can fail to live up to it. Our role is to honor what is right and God-given, while honoring God above all and who alone fully bears justice and righteousness.
In a day when disrespect for government is in vogue, Christians have a challenge to adopt a different attitude. We do well to remember:
David respected even a morally degraded, insanely driven Saul. How much more ought believers today to honor duly elected public officials.
Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia, who God His shepherd and His anointed (see Is. 44:28–45:1) as a secular government who carried out God’s sovereign purposes.
Paul - As a Roman commander arrested Paul and ordered that he be beaten, Paul used his Roman citizenship to protect his rights (Acts 22:25–29). He had done the same thing at Philippi after being illegally jailed (Acts 16:36–40, cf. Acts 24:18-19). In Jerusalem, he insisted on due process rather than endure unjust mob retaliation.
> As we think about governments, particularly those that seem to oppose God’s ways, it helps to remember that God will always be glorified. Despite a Pharaoh, a Nebuchadnezzar, or a Herod who seeks to thwart God’s purposes, God will accomplish His will.
2. Governmental structures and laws cannot render ultimate righteousness, but they can help reflect and uphold it.
We must keep an appropriate perspective on the merits and limits of government and legislation.
Governments (‘rulers’) are given to contain the evil that now is at work in the human condition. They can serve God’s purpose in containing evil and serving good… but they are not God’s instrument to overcome evil.
In a similar way, I believe it is true that…
We cannot legislate ultimate morality. The development of true morality requires becoming a good person rather than just ceasing bad behavior to avoid punishment. However, legislation is a good backdrop for morality. Establishing proper laws provides a shared affirmation of right-living (righteousness.)
This is a vital truth declared by Jesus … and by Paul. Even God’s laws were revealed to be a great boundary… a great framework for understanding righteousness… even a ‘tutor’ as Paul says. But righteous laws will never make righteous people in and of themselves. We do well to understand the good but limited nature of all legislation and laws. They are worthy of our shaping… but it will prove naïve to think that if we get all the right laws in place we will now have a perfect society.
3. Those who enter new life that flows from God’s reign and rule, live first and foremost as citizens of God’s kingdom, as instruments of the Divine will breaking into this world in which we are citizens of earthly nations.
When the Roman governor Pilate asked Jesus point-blank whether he was king of the Jews, he replied, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews.
Luke 20:21–25 (cf. Matt. 17:24-27)
21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?”
25 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Luke 20: 25 – “He (Jesus) said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Jesus understood what we are now all to understand… a new kingdom has come… one which transcends the kingdoms of human endeavor. We are ambassadors of another country. It’s a word to those who have become ambassadors living in another nation…”Don’t forget your true country.”
> An ambassador to another country respects the local laws in order to represent well the one who sent him. We are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). Are you being a good foreign ambassador for him to this world? Do you respect the appropriate authority that serves the common life?
We have been called to live as those who contribute to the God-given relative potential of our communities and civic life through embracing our common life, while prophetically maintaining our ultimate allegiance to God’s liberating rule over life.
This requires a healthy sense of what America is… a nation quite uniquely founded with Biblical principles… and in many respects enjoys the fruit of peace and prosperity that came forth… but not a nation that has ever been purely Christian or righteous. There is a healthy pride that should rise up and appreciate deeply what is right… while not becoming so presumptuous as to ignore what is wrong.
> The patriotism of one who is a citizen of God’s kingdom isn’t the patriotism of naïve pride that says flows with ‘my country right or wrong’… nor is it the critic who dismisses the significance of what our unique Biblical worldview has raised up in the midst of human history.
Healthy patriotism… healthy citizenship, involves being contributors and correctives towards righteousness, in word and deed.
To those who may tend to become critical and cynical… don’t lose sight of the true reality of suffering and sabotage of human dignity that has defined so much of history and nations before the American experiment through which a new hope flowed from many of God’s principles at it’s soul.
Christians of the early nineteenth century were at the forefront of founding public hospitals and public education, of meeting human needs, and stopping abuses of working men and women. The abolition of slavery was spearheaded by Christians, as was the civil rights movement. There is much to bless.
Stay sensitive to the ways in which criticism can turn to cynicism.. and cynicism can turn into cursing.
To those who may tend to idealize this nation as a light to the world… don’t lose sight of the fact that this country rose out of a deep mixture of influences… including an opportunism to prosper and even a greed that exploits.
As Tony Compolo says, if we are to understand that all world systems are Babylonians in their own right… this may be the best Babylon… but it is still a Babylon. It may be a system that is blessed to have righteously chosen Biblical principles of justice and human rights… but it is still a world system… vulnerable to it’s human nature. We must keep our distinct identity.
Citizenship is a role of remarkable power and responsibility.
Encarta Dictionary – Citizenship - “The duties and responsibilities that come with being a member of a community.”
To appreciate the power and responsibility… we need to grasp what is unique in our God-given HUMANITY… and HISTORY.
"Aristotle reminds us that man is a political—not (merely) a social—animal. (Only) human beings inhabit a polis as well, a political community, where they rationally, consciously develop those laws and political institutions that comprise a just regime and permit them to live a good life . It is a virtue that elevates us, that invests our daily lives, and civil society itself, with a larger meaning and dignity, a larger moral purpose. As citizens, we have two complementary, not contradictory, obligations: to revitalize and, more important, remoralize the institutions of civil society; and to respect and utilize wisely the instruments of law and government that make this a country worthy of our love."
("Recapturing Tocqueville: Civil Society and the Pursuit of Virtue" from www.empower.org)
To be human… fully human… is to embrace this unique quality… the ability to shape the common good.
We must raise our role as citizens out of the mire of disdain and division…and recapture it’s proper place in service to God.
> Every citizen is a civic servant.
If then, we can appreciate the proper value of what it means to serve as citizens of our earthly nations and community, lets consider…
II. Six Ways We Can Exercise Our Prophetic Role as Citizens in Bringing Forth The Will Of Heaven On Earth:
1.PRAY for our leaders and common needs
I Tim 2:1-4
“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
We are to pray for government officials. Remember, this instruction was written when Nero was emperor, and he was decidedly anti-Christian. I believe we are to pray for their salvation… their wisdom, teachability, and sense of accountability. And for those with whom we disagree, we are to pray, avoiding a hostile and punitive spirit. Above all, we are to pray for God’s intervention and protection from human error in matters of the nation’s life and destiny.
2. EVALUATE political issues (candidates, policy, propositions, etc) based not simply on family and party lines, but on God’s vision and values (as reflected in ‘the whole counsel of Scripture.’)
Interesting tendency… each side of the political spectrum…. Each side tends to have certain issues which it deems to be religious in nature… or most relevant.
Conservatives focus on the social issues of abortion and homosexuality.
Liberals focus on issues of economic justice.
Should not surprise us that roughly 80% of white evangelicals are Republicans while roughly 80% of black evangelicals are Democrats..
Different story and experience creates different priorities.
> BOTH choices find ground in Jesus.
We naturally assume that God is on our side.
> God is not registered as a Republican or a Democrat.
Here is where we must ask who we really are…if our primary identity is that of a particular political party… or a follower of Jesus.
“Clearly there are those on the Religious Right who would make Jesus into a Republican and an incarnation of their political values. And on the other side of the aisle there are those who would make Jesus into a Democrat who espouses their particular liberal agenda. But Jesus refuses to fit into any of our political ideologies. Transcending partisan politics, Jesus calls us to make judgments about social issues as best we can when we vote, and to do so in accord with our best understanding of God’s will. This of course will make voting into a difficult decision-making process. But who said following Jesus was easy?” – Tony Compolo, Red Letter Christians, pp. 17-18
If you identify yourself as a Republican… I am convinced that you will become a more Christ-centered Republican by listening less to Rush Limbaugh and more to your brothers and sisters who are Democrats.
If you identify yourself as a Democrat, I am convinced that you will become a more Christ-centered Democrat by listening less to similar polarizing critics and more to your brothers and sisters who are Republicans.
Followers should help lead both parties to a broader moral vision that reflects Jesus’ vision of God’s new social order (Kingdom) – of compassion, justice, integrity, and peace.
Since when are not all issues Jesus spoke to.
My own journey…
New Evangelical movement… some referring to themselves as “Red Letter Christians” referring to taking the words of Jesus seriously as they apply to all issues within society.
Legend has it that some members of clergy visited Abraham Lincoln at the White House to assure him that fighting and winning the Civil War as God’s Will. Lincoln is said to have answered,
“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” We do well to always ask the same question.
3. Model HUMILITY and RESPECT
Titus 3:1
“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.”
As Paul says in Titus… “slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.”
This instruction is in stark contrast to the angry rhetoric of many Christians today.
We need to keep a perspective on our posture. Perhaps the greatest danger in political positions is the potential for self-righteousness.
How easily we can cast all those who take another position as ‘fools’. Our culture has become increasingly given to a polarizing rhetoric that is generally destructive and divisive and bears little redemptive good for the culture it claims to serve. It rarely helps people to listen and learn. It’s very intent is to be sensational because sensationalism sells. (Consider the increasing nature of talk radio program. It is often merely a product produced to sell to those who already agree rather than to genuinely help those who disagree.) If there is anything we must seek to offer to the world around us, it is a more loving way to address others when we feel strongly about a position in which we disagree. This ability must first begin within Christ’s own community (the church).
Polarizing rhetoric can easily become a safe and self-righteous way to cast all moral failure elsewhere. We quickly can become ‘the ‘right’ against ‘the wrong’… and lose our sense of humility. This is not to say that we should not feel passionate about our positions… but that we must take to heart the simple truth that holding the right positions is easy compared to being righteous people. Positions are easy…. true righteousness is not.
Certainly the Bible depicts God speaking strongly at times, through the prophets, against the hearts of the people. In a similar way, there may be times to speak strongly about a general tendency we see in ‘the people.’ However, we must take to heart that we are not God. Even the prophets when they spoke strongly, are generally noted to have understood they were speaking for God and identified themselves among the people who bore the sinful tendencies being addressed.
It’s easy to project all sorts of assumptions on others based on one position they have in common with others. In the full picture of understanding, they may be quite different.
During the start of the War in Iraq, those who supported the war were cast as ‘warmongers bent on killing’… inherently compassionless, greedy, arrogant, and evil. Those who opposed the war were cast as ‘unpatriotic fools’… inherently unappreciative of their country and the sacrifice of it’s soldiers, morally lost to liberalism, and lacking the courage to face reality. We set up a caricature of what we deem most foolish… and then project this as an easy weapon upon anyone who also differs with us. It reduces any real respect for the unique heart of another. The result is that we stop listening to what is really in one another’s mind and heart… to what the other has to offer.
This is especially true regarding the nature of the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative.’ I believe one of the most helpful steps we can take in going forward in our approach to political perspective is to stop wholeheartedly embracing such generalities as all inclusively good regarding ourselves and to stop presuming such generalities as all inclusively evil about others. I do not believe that a “Biblical” or “righteous” perspective on all the issues at hand can easily be reduced to what is often the traditionally conservative / Republican or liberal / Democrat position or candidate. I personally have found myself among a growing number of Evangelicals who find that neither affiliation fully represents my understanding of the mind of Christ.
Stand up in “DISOBEDIENCE” if needed for others.
Is it ever right for God’s people to participate in acts of civil disobedience?
The behavior of the Hebrew midwives (Ex. 1:15) suggests that there can be times when it is.It’s interesting that the Book of Exodus, a story of deliverance from oppression, begins with a case of political resistance as two women refuse to do Pharaoh’s bidding. Because his command was the law of the land, they were consciously and deliberately breaking the law.
This may seem to contradict biblical teaching elsewhere that believers should obey the law and respect the governing authorities (for example, Rom. 13:1–2). But it’s important to realize that there are limits to human authority. Sometimes God’s people must resist human officials in order to obey God (Acts 5:29). That was the type of situation here. Pharaoh was commanding nothing less than infanticide.
The text states plainly why he would do that: he was afraid of the Israelites (Ex. 1:8–10, 12). That fear translated into public policy designed to discriminate against and subjugate the Hebrews.
But whereas Pharaoh feared the Israelites, their midwives did not fear him; they feared God (Ex. 1:17, 21).
Furthermore, if we feel no tension between the authority of God and human authority, we have to wonder where our commitments lie. Apparently next to no one in ancient Babylon felt any tension or anxiety about bowing down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, or if they did, they feared the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:6) more than they feared God.
But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego did not submit. They refused to violate the first and second commandments, which forbid idolatry (Ex. 20:3–5). Furnace or no furnace, they were determined to honor the Lord (Dan. 3:17–18).
Disciples
Acts 4:19 (cf. Acts 5:29)
But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.”
Examples:
Egyptian Mid-wives (Ex. 1:15)
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3:1–30)
Disciples (Acts 4:13–22; 5:29)
Some Principles Noted in Biblical Examples of “Civil Disobedience” -
Their aim was to serve and glorify God. They were not motivated by ego or out to protect their own power.
Their point of disobedience was specific and particular. They did not resist authority in total.
They approached the situation with a spirit of submissiveness. They did not slander or show disrespect to their superiors.
They accepted the cost of being loyal to the truth.
4. LIVE our values and SERVE your community’s common needs
1 Peter 2:12 (MsgB)
“Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.”
It is one thing to extol high moral values and to be hard on those who seek to lower them. It is another thing to prove your morality in the body and behavior of your own flesh.
We must understand that the greatest authority lies not in our positions but in our lives. Mother Teresa is a great example. She held no political position… had no formal authority… yet she had more moral authority than any politician ever has. She could speak at the United Nations and say what no one else could. Why? Because she lived her values.
She alos is a great example of what it means to embrace serving the common needs of her community… embracing those needs.
Jeremiah 29: 7 – “…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
How easily we detach ourselves from being responsible servants of the good of the city in which we live. We can become sideline critics … those who curse… when we are called to be those who bless. Lets embrace and love our city… our communities.
5. VOICE and VOTE your convictions for the common good
Francis Schaeffer -
“… the Reformation’s preaching of the Gospel brought forth …a true basis for form and freedom in society and government. …that 51 percent of the vote never becomes the final source of right and wrong in government because the absolutes of the Bible are available to judge a society. The ‘little man,’ the private citizen, can at any time stand up and, on the basis of biblical teaching, say that the majority is wrong” [Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? p. 110].
Let us VOICE our convictions through the various means of dialogue that transpires all the time… between elections.
Personally… I can feel the resignation or busyness… but I’ve come to feel that if an issue or bill is raised that I recognize as holding significant implications for my country or state… I must take the time to raise my voice.
Over the past couple years I’ve probably written at least 8 to 12 letters regarding 5 or 6 issues. Often what has drawn my initial attention is a particular organization related to particular issues… and I’ve found that I need to avoid the pre-stated statements … and form my own letter… to keep an authentic voice.
Then let us VOTE our thoughtful assessment of common good
The popular vote was a long time in coming. Not until the twentieth century did women win the right to vote in the United States. Not long before that only males who owned property were allowed to vote. The electoral process in political life arose as part of the movement toward accountable government. Autocratic monarchs and aristocrats, particularly when they claimed to rule by divine right, argued that their sovereignty required their independence from the opinion of others.
Like so many Americans, we can easily become resigned regarding the flawed nature of government… we may feel that no candidate inspires us or fully represents us… or that our vote will make a difference. I’ve felt all those feelings… and in at least one election… didn’t get around to voting. But I realize that there’s a matter of principle at play… in voting we carry out our responsibility to God to be His instruments for appointing leaders…. And to contribute towards what we deem the best leaders and the best policies.
If I feel I don’t know enough… I try to learn (internet is great)… and if I’m not able… I won’t vote on that position or proposition.
6. Lift up your true HOPE
As vital as our efforts may be, as important as election outcomes may be, as crucial as the debates over moral issues may be, the hope of America lies squarely in the hands of a sovereign God, the Judge of earth, who will always do right! His side wins! [Charles G. Fuller, “Ten Commandments for Citizen Christians,”]
A grounded … guiding hope is the greatest gift we offer.
Jim Wallis - Prophetic faith… understands that the real battle, the big struggle of our times, is the fundamental choice between cynicism and hope.
Cynicism does protect you in many ways. It protects you from seeming foolish to believe that things could and will change. It protects you from disappointment. It protects you from insecurity because now you are free to pursue your own security instead of sacrificing it for a social engagement that won’t work anyway.
Ultimately, cynicism protects you from commitment. More than just a moral issue, hope is a spiritual and even religious choice. Hope is not a feeling; it is a decision.
- God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, pp. 346-347
We alone can follow Jesus as a light in this world… as we enter the living hope of what uses governments… but never relies on them.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have
forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’”
“Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left
by that upheaval...
...But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’”
(Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “Templeton Lecture, May 10, 1983,” in The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings,1947-2005, 577.)
Perhaps the most essential political action we take is remembering God.
Let’s worship.
