Continuing in series focused on Integrating Spirituality into Everyday Life. We’ve
considered spiritual dimensions and dynamics involved with our living spaces… workplace…
recreational life… and today… our CITIZENSHIP.
Perhaps a less conscious role for many of us… not something that we think of as part of our
everyday life in the same way. In fact… usually most conscious of it only when we resent it…
when certain responsibilities are called forth… responsibilities we don’t always have positive
feelings about – taxes, DMV, Jury Duty… and voting. For many there is an unspoken disdain for
all that comes with citizenship.
But it’s also not an area that’s new to Christian involvement. 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.
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.
Citizenship is a role of 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," www.empower.org
To be human… fully human… is to embrace this unique quality… the ability to shape the
common good.
"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," www.empower.org
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> Every citizen is a civic servant.
A glimpse into HISTORY can help us appreciate this often unappreciated role of citizen as
well.
The History of Citizenship (The following from lost source was simply summaraized in
brief)
The idea and practice of citizenship originated in ancient Greece, not in Israel. But biblical
religion had a big influence on the development of the meaning of citizenship in the West.
The citizen in certain Greek city-states was someone who had a voice in shaping the common
life of the community, especially in making its laws through a deliberative process. Most
people in those city-states were not citizens. Citizens gained their status by virtue of their
education, wealth or leadership prowess. The role of the citizen came to be distinguished
from other affiliations and classes of people, such as cultic officials, tradespeople, warriors,
farmers and slaves. Citizenship meant having the responsibility and privileges of membership
in what was thought to be the highest form of human community, namely, the political
community.
Several important developments between about A.D. 300 and the Protestant Reformation
(which began in the 1500s) led to new understandings of citizenship. First, the early church,
which had no political authority in the first centuries after Christ, gradually grew to become
the most influential institution in the collapsing Roman Empire and in the feudal period that
followed. For the most part, until the time of the Reformation, a top-down conception of
political authority dominated in this church-led culture, which reached its height in the
twelfth through fourteenth centuries, called the High Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic
Church absorbed the hierarchical pattern from imperial Rome. The idea was that God granted
authority to the church (eventually to the leading church official—the bishop of Rome), and
the church then delegated political authority to lower, nonecclesiastical officials. However,
beginning late in the Middle Ages, a rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman documents led
to a renewed interest in the work of Aristotle, the Stoics and other ancient philosophers. One
consequence was a revival of the idea of citizenship.
Both inside the church and in wider political circles a number of people began to argue
for a bottom-up origin of authority. In one way or another, officials—whether in the church
or the empire—ought to be accountable to the people. From this point of view, God
delegated authority to the whole church, not just to priests, and to the body politic, not
merely to the rulers.
One line of argument for citizenship in the new states was deeply rooted in Christian
faith. Its advocates continued to believe that God is the source of all authority on earth, but
they also believed that God’s grant of authority to governments, for example, should be
recognized as having the purpose of establishing justice rather than perpetuating autocracies
or monarchies. People should not merely be subject to authority but should be free to
participate in holding governments accountable to God. Furthermore, there is nothing sacred
about a monarchy, and there is no reason why political authorities should be subordinate to
church authorities. Different officeholders have different kinds of authority from God, and
each one should exercise that authority in a way that is accountable to the people—whether
those people are members of the church or citizens in the state.
What does God want us to see…. and do?
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I. The Role of Government and Citizenship
1. When humanity unites in autonomy from God, God creates separate
nations to diffuse such a work… while seeking to restore accountable
relationship to Himself.
Genesis 11:4 (NLT)
“Let’s build a great city with a tower that reaches to the skies—a monument to our
greatness! This will bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the world."
> Humans are sorely tempted to trust in their own collective strength.
2. 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.
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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.
3. 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… but they are not God’s
instrument to overcome evil. Overcoming evil can only be accomplished by the power of
the Gospel and the Holy Spirit.
In a similar way, I believe it is true that…
We cannot legislate ultimate morality. The development of true morality requires the
development of internal character (i.e. 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 plumb line… upholding a clear picture of right-living
(righteousness) just as the Ten Commandments have long done to serve human good. In
this sense they serve God’s heart for the human life He so values… and the justice He
desires.
4. 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)
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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?”
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He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?”
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“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… we are ambassadors of another
country.
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> An ambassador to another country keeps 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?
But we must also note…… when Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God
what is God’s” (Mark 12:17), he does not say that what belongs to Caesar does not belong
to God.
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.
Stay sensitive to the ways in which criticism can turn to cynicism.. and cynicism to cursing this
nation.
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.
As government is understood as a limited and accountable form of authority
from God, we are embrace our responsibility as citizens for the common good.
Titus 3:1
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“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do
whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true
humility toward all men.”
II. Eight Ways We Can Exercise Our Prophetic Role as Citizens in Bringing Forth The
Will Of Heaven On Earth:
1. PRAY for your 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. LIVE your values
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!
3. VOICE your convictions
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].
Resolved to speak clearly… and pay personally…
A famous doubter of modern times, the French existentialist philosopher, Albert
Camus, wondered about the role of Christ’s people during WW2. “. . . the grouping we
need is a grouping of people resolved to speak up clearly and to pay up personally."
The voice Camus is calling for is the voice of Pentecost; the grouping is a Pentecostal
church.
That’s the voice in which Peter speaks on this historic occasion when the church is
born. In his sermon on that first Pentecost, Peter uses a word he’s never used before.
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Indeed, it’s a word that appears only once before in the NT. "Let me speak freely to
you," he says to the crowd gathered there that day. That "freely" comes from the
Greek word parrhesia.
Originally, as Bill Kellerman notes, the word parrhesia "signified the right of the full
citizen to speak fully and freely in the public assembly." It literally means "the freedom
to say all." Fortunately, Peter did not serve the Emperor. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the man
who denied Jesus now breaks out and speaks not as Roman citizen, but as a citizen of the
Commonwealth of God.
Led by a group of disciples that once denied and doubted their leader, this first Pentecostal
Church of Jerusalem becomes a grouping of people resolved to speak up clearly and to
pay up personally.
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.
4. Model HUMILITY and RESPECT
As Paul says in Titus… “slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true
humility toward all men.”
And in 2 Timothy, Paul tells us, we are to live "peaceful and quiet lives." In an atmosphere of
divisiveness and partisan hostility, this counsel of civility can guide us both as Christian citizens
and as a church body.
This instruction is in stark contrast to the angry rhetoric of many Christians today.
NOTE: HANDOUT “Principles To Guide Our Approach To Politics”
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.
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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.
Closet Democrats
I’ve voted both parties… and neither party… so I probably offend everybody’s good sense.
5. VOTE your 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.
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.
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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. 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.
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7. SERVE your community’s common 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.”
Jeremiah 29:4–7
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This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
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“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find
wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in
number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, 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.”
8. 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,”]
CLOSING:
A grounded … guiding hope is the greatest 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. First, let’s be fair to
the cynics. Cynicism is the place of retreat for the smart, critical, dissenting, and formerly
idealistic people who are now trying to protect themselves. They are not naive.
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.
Other Potential Ideas / Illustrations
All temporal power is of God,
And the magistratal, His institution, laud,
To but advance a creaturely happiness aubaud:
Let us then affirm the Source of Liberty.
“Ever agreeable to the nature and will
Of the Supreme and Guardian of all yet still
Employed for our rights and freedom’s thrill:
Thus proves the only Source of Liberty.
“Though our civil joy is surely expressed
Through hearth, and home, and church manifest
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Yet this too shall be a nation’s true test:
To acknowledge the divine Source of Liberty.”
[Samuel Adams, “The Divine Source of Liberty,” in George Grant, The Patriot’s Handbook
(Elkton, MD: Highland Books, 1996), 86]
I Walk the Line by Author: James Standish, Publishing date: 07/04/2004 at
http://shadow.libertymagazine.org/article/articleview/448/1/2/
William Wilberforce’s legacy was possible for two reasons. First, he was a committed Christian.
Second, he was also a member of the British Parliament. Because of the first, he had a burning
passion against the institution of slavery. Because of the second, he was perfectly placed to do
something about it. For seventeen straight years he introduced a measure to abolish slavery and
failed every time. On his eighteenth attempt, the measure passed. Wilberforce lived to see the
slave trade abolished in the entire British Empire a month before his death.
But was Wilberforce right to do what he did? Every biography points to his conversion to
Evangelical Christianity as the turning point in his public priorities. His dogged determination to
legislate the abolition of slavery was undeniably motivated by a morality anchored in his faith.
By legislating his personal morality based explicitly on his religious values, did Wilberforce
cross a line from secular advocacy to the legal enforcement of religion?
The question can be posed in other similar contexts. Was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King
wrong to base his legislative efforts on his religious convictions? Were Gandhi, Washington, and
Lincoln wrong to let their religious beliefs influence their public actions? Did Susan B. Anthony
cross the line when her understanding of equality instilled during her Quaker upbringing
persuaded her to fight for women’s rights?
The answer to all these questions must be a resounding “No.”
HOPE AND CYNICISM
Prophetic faith does not see the primary battle as the struggle between belief and
secularism. It understands that the real battle, the big struggle of our times, is the
fundamental choice between cynicism and hope. The prophets always begin in
judgment, in a social critique of the status quo, but they end in hope—that these
realities can and will be changed. The choice between cynicism and hope is ultimately
a spiritual choice, one that has enormous political consequences.
First, let’s be fair to the cynics. Cynicism is the place of retreat for the smart, critical,
dissenting, and formerly idealistic people who are now trying to protect themselves.They are not
naive. They tend to see things as they are, they know what is wrong, and they are generally
opposed to what they see. These are not the people who view the world through rose-colored
glasses, the ones who tend to trust authority or who decide to live in denial. They know what
is going on, and at one point, they might even have tried for a time to change it. But they
didn’t succeed; things got worse, and they got weary. Their activism, and the commitments
and hopes that implied, made them feel vulnerable. So they retreated to cynicism as the refuge
from commitment.
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. If things are not really going
to change, why try so hard to make a difference? Why become and stay so involved? Why
take the risks, make the sacrifices, open yourself to the vulnerabilities? And if you have
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middle-class economic security (as many cynics do), things don’t have to change for you to
remain secure. That is not intended to sound harsh, just realistic. Cynics are finally free just
to look after themselves.
Perhaps the only people who view the world realistically are the cynics and the
saints. Everybody else may be living in some kind of denial about what is really going on
and how things really are. And the only difference between the cynics and the saints is the
presence, power, and possibility of hope. And that, indeed, is a spiritual and religious
issue. More than just a moral issue, hope is a spiritual and even religious choice. Hope is not
a feeling; it is a decision. And the decision for hope is based on what you believe at the
deepest levels—what your most basic convictions are about the world and what the future
holds—all based on your faith.You choose hope, not as a naive wish, but as a choice, with
your eyes wide open to the reality of the world—just like the cynics who have not made the
decision for hope.
- God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, pp. 346-347
POLITICAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN JESUS’ DISCIPLES
As you read through the list of Jesus’ disciples given in Matthew 10:2-4, you might miss
the fact that Scripture tells us something really remarkable about two of them: Matthew the
(former) tax collector and Simon the Zealot. In first century Palestine, it would be difficult to
find two figures more likely to disagree. Suffice it to say that, politically, Zealots or tax
collectors wouldn’t shed many tears if the other got run over by a chariot.
Whether or not they debated with one another after Jesus called them to a new life is,
well, debatable. What is certain is that Christians have struggled and argued over how to
integrate their faith and politics since the Church’s beginning.+
RIGHT POLITICAL SYSTEM CAN’T OVERCOME EVIL IN MEN’S HEARTS
We may sweep the world clean of militarism, we may scrub the world white of autocracy, we
may carpet it with democracy and drape it with the flag of republicanism. We may hang on the
walls the thrilling pictures of freedom: here, the signing of America’s Independence; there, the
thrilling portrait of Joan of Arc; yonder, the Magna Carta; and on this side, the inspiring picture
of Garibaldi. We may spend energy and effort to make the world a paradise itself where the lion
of capitalism can lie down with the proletarian lamb. But if we turn into that splendid room
mankind with the same old heart, deceitful and desperately wicked, we may expect to clean
house again not many days hence. What we need is a peace conference with the Prince of Peace.
-Arthur Brisbane 1121+
We cannot expect politics to offer permanent solutions. Politics cannot offer permanent
solutions because it is based on a flawed view of sin and society. One of its premises is that if
you elect the "right" representatives who will pass the "right" legislation you will have the
"right" society. But we know this is not true. You don’t change society from the outside by
legislation, you change it from the inside--one person at a time.
- Edward G. Dobson
GOD IS PERSONAL, BUT NEVER PRIVATE
The lesson is this: God is personal, but never private. If God is not personal, there is little
meaning to faith. It merely becomes a philosophy or a set of teachings from religious
figures who died long ago. Without a personal God, there is no personal dimension to
belief. There is no relationship to God, no redemption, salvation, grace, or forgiveness. There
is no spiritual transformation without a personal God, and no power that can really change
our lives beyond mere self-improvement. In today’s world, there is one overriding and key
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distinction in all of the religion that is growing—a God who desires relationship with each
person. Much of liberal religion has lost the experience of a personal God, and that is the
primary reason why liberal Christianity is not growing. And without a personal God,
liberal faith will never grow.
However, that personal God is never private. Restricting God to private space was the
great heresy of twentieth-century American evangelicalism. Denying the public God is a denial
of biblical faith itself, a rejection of the prophets, the apostles, and Jesus himself. Exclusively
private faith degenerates into a narrow religion, excessively preoccupied with individual and
sexual morality while almost oblivious to the biblical demands for public justice. In the end,
private faith becomes a merely cultural religion providing the assurance of righteousness for
people just like us.
- God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, pp. 34-35
RELIGION SHOULD FUNCTION IN DEMOCRACY TO PROPHETICALLY VOICE THE
COMMON GOOD
The secular fundamentalists want to hide faith "under a bushel," but the gospel specifically
instructs us not to do that.The purpose of biblical faith is not simply to comfort the
believers but to transform the world. But that must always be done in ways that both respect
religious liberty and enhance democracy. Catholic teaching says it well—religious faith should
serve the common good. And with practitioners like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., religious
faith should help "bend the world toward justice."
Religion is not inherently undemocratic, as the secular fundamentalists want to make it
out to be. But religiously motivated citizens must learn that bringing faith into public life
doesn’t best happen by the takeover of the mechanisms of the state—the school boards in
Orange County, for example. They must learn the dynamics and disciplines of prophetic
religion. And prophetic faith is the best counterpoint to fundamentalist religion. We bring
faith into the public square when our moral convictions demand it. But to influence a
democratic society, you must win, the public debate about why the policies you advocate are
better for the common good. That’s the democratic discipline religion has to be under when it
brings its faith to the public square. And some religious fundamentalists haven’t learned
that yet. But religious people shouldn’t be told just to be quiet, they should be invited to par-
ticipate as citizens who have the right and the obligation to bring their deepest moral
convictions to the public square for the democratic discourse on the most important values
and directions that will shape our society.
- God’s Politics by Jim Wallis, p. 71
Below From
Worship as Higher Politics
Political priorities for citizens of the kingdom.
A Christianity Today editorial | posted 06/23/2005 09:00 a.m.
George W. Bush is not Lord. The Declaration of Independence is not an infallible guide to
Christian faith and practice. Nor is the U.S. Constitution, nor the U.N. Universal Declaration
on Human Rights. "Original intent" of America’s founders is not the hermeneutical key that
will guarantee national righteousness. The American flag is not the Cross. The Pledge of
Allegiance is not the Creed. "God Bless America" is not the Doxology.
The not-so-subtle equation of America’s founding with biblical Christianity has been shown
time and again to be historically inaccurate. The founding was a unique combination of
biblical teaching and Enlightenment rationalism, and most of the founding fathers, as
historian Edwin Gaustad, among many others, has noted, were not orthodox Christians, but
14
instead were primarily products of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment, we should
recall, has never been much of a friend of biblical Christianity.
In worship we signal who is the Sovereign, not of just this nation, but of heaven
and Earth. In worship we gather to be formed into an alternate polis, the people of
God. It is here that we proclaim that a new political order—the kingdom of
heaven—has been preached and incarnated by the King of Kings, and will someday
come in fullness, a fullness to which all kingdoms and republics will submit:
"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. …
The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it
light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of
the Earth will bring their splendor into it" (Rev. 21:2, 23-24).
Nearly a quarter of a century ago, just as the Religious Right was blossoming, Richard John
Neuhaus put it this way: "Jesus Christ is Lord. That is the first and final assertion Christians
make about all of reality, including politics. Believers now assert by faith what one day will
be manifest to the sight of all: Every earthly sovereignty is subordinate to the sovereignty
of Jesus Christ. The church is the bearer of that claim."
Theologian Stanley Hauerwas, no political ally of Neuhaus, extended the point in a recent
interview: "Christians’ first political responsibility is to be the church, and by being
the church they should understand that their first political loyalty is to God, and
the God we worship as Christians, in a manner that understands that we are not
first and foremost about making democracy work, but about the truthful worship
of the true God."
Let us be clear: The Christian citizen of every nation has a moral obligation to engage at
some level in that nation’s political life. We do not recommend withdrawal from the political
arena. We admire especially those whose calling falls in this area—mayors, councilmen,
senators, representatives, presidents. Theirs is as noble a calling as that of a plumber or
pastor.
But Christians who enter that calling, and those who pray for and work with them, must not
forget one thing: where hope for this nation, and the world, really lies, and where that hope
is most manifest Sunday by Sunday.
YANCEY DESCRIBES KINGDOM OF GOD BEYOND EARTHLY POLITICS
Jesus encouraged such beliefs by using the word that quickened the pulse of his people.
"The kingdom of heaven is near" he proclaimed in his very first message. Each time he spoke it,
that word stirred memories to life: bright banners, glittering armies, the gold and ivory of
Solomon’s day, the nation of Israel restored. What was about to happen, Jesus said, would far
surpass anything from the past: "For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what
you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it." On another occasion he
announced provocatively, "Now one greater than Solomon is here." Zealots stood at the edge of
Jesus’ audience, armed and well-organized guerrillas spoiling for a fight against Rome, but to
their consternation the signal for revolt never came. In time, Jesus’ pattern of behavior
disappointed all who sought a leader in the traditional mold. He tended to flee from, rather than
cater to, large groups. He insulted the memory of Israel’s glory days, comparing King Solomon
to a common day lily. The one time a crowd tried to crown him king by force, he mysteriously
withdrew. And when Peter finally did wield a sword on his behalf, Jesus healed the victim’s
wounds.
To the crowds’ dismay, it became clear that Jesus was talking about a strangely different
kind of kingdom.
15
A question has long puzzled me. In view of their expectations, why did Jesus keep
arousing his followers’ hopes with the word kingdom? (It appears fifty-three times in Matthew’s
gospel alone.) He insisted on associating himself with a term that everyone seemed to
misunderstand. What did Jesus mean by the kingdom of God?
It is a great irony that the one who so failed the expectations of his people became known
to all history as a king--so much so that a form of the word became his "last name." Christ, or
Christos in Greek, translates the Hebrew word Messiah, which means anointed and refers to the
ancient manner of coronating kings. Now, all of us who call ourselves Christians carry an echo
of the word that so baffled the people of Jesus’ day. I wonder, Do we understand the kingdom of
God any better?
To the oppressed, his primary audience, Jesus offered a message of comfort and
consolation. He called the poor and the persecuted "blessed." Never did he incite the oppressed
to rise up and throw off their chains. In words that must have galled the Zealots, he commanded,
"Love your enemies." He invoked a different kind of power: love, not coercion.
I feel convicted by this quality of Jesus every time I get involved in a cause I strongly
believe in. How easy it is to join the politics of polarization, to find myself shouting across the
picket lines at the enemy" on the other side. How hard it is to remember that the kingdom of God
calls me to love the woman who has just emerged from the abortion clinic (and, yes, even her
doctor), the promiscuous person who is dying of AIDS, the wealthy landowner who is exploiting
God’s creation. If I cannot show love to such people, then I must question whether I have truly
understood Jesus’ gospel.
A political movement by nature draws lines, makes distinctions, pronounces judgment; in
contrast, Jesus’ love cuts across lines, transcends distinctions, and dispenses grace. Regardless of
the merits of a given issue--whether a pro-life lobby out of the Right or a peace-and-justice lobby
out of the Left--political movements risk pulling onto themselves the mantle of power that
smothers love. From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out
love and humility, or otherwise I betray the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus refused to use coercive power. He knowingly let one of his disciples betray him and
then surrendered himself without protest to his captors.
Sheep among wolves, a tiny seed in the garden, yeast in bread dough, salt in meat: Jesus’
own metaphors of the kingdom describe a kind of "secret force" that works from within. He said
nothing of a triumphant church sharing power with the authorities. The kingdom of God appears
to work best as a minority movement, in opposition to the kingdom of this world. When it grows
beyond that, the kingdom subtly changes in nature.
For this reason, I must say in an aside, I worry about the recent surge of power among
U.S. Christians, who seem to be focusing more and more on political means. Once Christians
were ignored or scorned; now they are courted by every savvy politician. Evangelicals especially
are identified with a certain political stance, so much so that the news media use the terms
"evangelical" and "religious right" interchangeably. When I ask a stranger, "What is an
evangelical Christian?" I get an answer something like this: "Someone who supports family
values and opposes homosexual rights and abortion."
This trend troubles me because the gospel of Jesus was not primarily a political platform.
The issues that confront Christians in a secular society must be faced and addressed and
legislated, and a democracy gives Christians every right to express themselves. But we dare not
invest so much in the kingdom of this world that we neglect our main task of introducing people
to a different kind of kingdom, one based solely on God’s grace and forgiveness. Passing laws to
enforce morality serves a necessary function, to dam up evil, but it never solves human
problems. If a century from now all that historians can say about evangelicals of the 1990s is that
they stood for family values, then we will have failed the mission Jesus gave us to accomplish: to
communicate God’s reconciling love to sinners.
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Jesus did not say, "All men will know you are my disciples ... if you just pass laws,
suppress immorality, and restore decency to family and government," but rather " ...if you love
one another." He made that statement the night before his death, a night when human power,
represented by the might of Rome and the full force of Jewish religious authorities, collided
head-on with God s power. All his life, Jesus had been involved in a form of "culture wars"
against a rigid religious establishment and a pagan empire, yet he responded by giving his life for
those who opposed him. On the cross, he forgave them. He had come, above all, to demonstrate
love: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son ..."
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. But now my kingdom is from another place." Allegiance to a kingdom
"not of this world" has emboldened Christian martyrs who, ever since the death of their founder,
have met resistance from kingdoms that are of this world. Unarmed believers used that text
against their Roman persecutors in the Colosseum, Tolstoy used it to undermine the authority of
the tsars, and civil rights marchers used it to challenge apartheid laws in the southern United
States and in South Africa. It speaks of a reign that transcends the boundaries-and sometimes the
laws-of nation and empire.
On another occasion, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would
come. He replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation; nor will
people say, ’Here it is,’ or ’There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you."
Clearly, the kingdom of God operates by a set of rules different from any earthly
kingdom’s. God’s kingdom has no geographical borders, no capital city, no parliament building,
no royal trappings that you can see. Its followers live right among their enemies, not separated
from them by a border fence or a wall. It lives, and grows, on the inside of human beings.
To rephrase her question, Is our first aim to change the external, political kingdom or to
further God’s transcendent kingdom? In a nation like the U.S., the two easily get confused.
I grew up in a church that proudly displayed the "Christian flag" next to the Stars and
Stripes, and we would pledge allegiance to both. People would apply to the United States
passages from the Old Testament that were obviously intended for a time when God worked
through a visible kingdom on earth, the nation of Israel. For example, I often heard this verse
quoted as a formula for national revival: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." The principle may apply in a general
way, of course, but the specific national promise was given as part of God’s covenant
relationship with the ancient Hebrews; its occasion was the dedication of Solomon’s temple,
God’s dwelling place on earth. Have we any reason to assume God has a similar covenant
arrangement with the U.S.?
Indeed, have we any indication that God now judges the U.S. or any other country as a
national entity? Jesus told his parables of the kingdom in part to correct such nationalistic
notions. God is working not primarily through nations, but through a kingdom that transcends
nations.
As I now reflect on Jesus’ stories of the kingdom, I sense that much uneasiness among
Christians today stems from a confusion of the two kingdoms, visible and invisible. Each time an
election rolls around, Christians debate whether this or that candidate is "God’s man" for the
White House. Projecting myself back into Jesus’ time, I have difficulty imagining him pondering
whether Tiberius, Octavius, or Julius Caesar was "God’s man" for the empire. The politics of
Rome were virtually irrelevant to the kingdom of God.
Nowadays, as the U.S. grows increasingly secularized, it appears that church and state are
heading in different directions. The more I understand Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God, the
less alarm I feel over that trend. Our real challenge, the focus of our energy, should not be to
17
Christianize the United States (always a losing battle) but rather to strive to be God’s kingdom
in an increasingly hostile world. As Karl Earth said. "[The Church] exists ... to set up in the
world a new sign which is radically dissimilar to [the world’s] own manner and which contradicts
it in a way which is full of promise."
Ironically, if the United States is truly sliding down a slippery moral slope, that may
better allow the church--as it did in Rome and also in China--to set up "a new sign ...which is full
of promise." I would prefer, I must admit, to live in a country where the majority of people
follow the Ten Commandments, act with civility toward each other, and bow their heads once a
day for a bland, nonpartisan prayer. I feel a certain nostalgia for the social climate of the 1950s in
which I grew up. But if that environment does not return, I will not lose any sleep. As America
slides, I will work and pray for the kingdom of God to advance. If the gates of hell cannot prevail
against the church, the contemporary political scene hardly offers much threat.
God’s kingdom advances slowly, humbly, like a secret invasion force operating within
the kingdoms ruled by Satan.
As C. S. Lewis expressed it,
Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world in disguise and starting a sort of secret
society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it? Is it that He is not
strong enough? Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when. But
we can guess why He is delaying: He wants to give us the chance of joining His side
freely....God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and
directly in our world quite realize what it will be like when He does. When that happens, it is the
end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over.
When Jesus lived on earth he made the blind to see and the lame to walk; he will return to
rule over a kingdom that has no disease or disability. On earth he died and was resurrected; at his
return, death will be no more. On earth he cast out demons; at his return, he will destroy the Evil
One. On earth he came as a baby born in a manger; he will return as the blazing figure described
in the book of Revelation. The kingdom he set in motion on earth was not the end, only the
beginning of the end.
Indeed, the kingdom of God will grow on earth as the church creates an alternative
society demonstrating what the world is not, but one day will be: Earth’s prescription of a new
sign which is radically dissimilar to [the world’s] own manner and which contradicts it in a way
which is full of promise." A society that welcomes people of all races and social classes, that is
characterized by love and not polarization, that cares most for its weakest members, that stands
for justice and righteousness in a world enamored with selfishness and decadence, a society in
which members compete for the privilege of serving one another-this is what Jesus meant by the
kingdom of God.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse give a preview of how the world will end: in war,
famine, sickness, and death. But Jesus gave a personal preview of how the world will be
restored, by reversing the deeds of the Four Horsemen: he made peace, fed the hungry, healed
the sick, and brought the dead to life. He made the message of God’s kingdom powerful by living
it, by bringing it to reality among the people around him. The prophets’ fairy-tale predictions of a
world free of pain and tears and death referred to no mythical world, but rather to this world. We
in the church, Jesus’ successors, are left with the task of displaying the signs of the kingdom of
God, and the watching world will judge the merits of the kingdom by us.
We live in a transition time-a transition from death to life, from human injustice to divine
justice, from the old to the new-tragically incomplete yet marked here and there, now and then,
with clues of what God will someday achieve in perfection. The reign of God is breaking into the
world, and we can be its heralds.
-Philip Yancey, "The Jesus I Never Knew"+
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The History of Citizenship
The idea and practice of citizenship originated in ancient Greece, not in Israel. But biblical
religion had a big influence on the development of the meaning of citizenship in the West.
The citizen in certain Greek city-states was someone who had a voice in shaping the
common life of the community, especially in making its laws through a deliberative process.
Most people in those city-states were not citizens. Citizens gained their status by virtue of
their education, wealth or leadership prowess. The role of the citizen came to be
distinguished from other affiliations and classes of people, such as cultic officials,
tradespeople, warriors, farmers and slaves. Citizenship meant having the responsibility
and privileges of membership in what was thought to be the highest form of human
community, namely, the political community.
Several important developments between about A.D. 300 and the Protestant Reformation
(which began in the 1500s) led to new understandings of citizenship. First, the early church,
which had no political authority in the first centuries after Christ, gradually grew to become the
most influential institution in the collapsing Roman Empire and in the feudal period that
followed. For the most part, until the time of the Reformation, a top-down conception of
political authority dominated in this church-led culture, which reached its height in the
twelfth through fourteenth centuries, called the High Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic
Church absorbed the hierarchical pattern from imperial Rome. The idea was that God
granted authority to the church (eventually to the leading church official—the bishop of
Rome), and the church then delegated political authority to lower, nonecclesiastical
officials. However, beginning late in the Middle Ages, a rediscovery of ancient Greek and
Roman documents led to a renewed interest in the work of Aristotle, the Stoics and other
ancient philosophers. One consequence was a revival of the idea of citizenship.
Both inside the church and in wider political circles a number of people began to argue
for a bottom-up origin of authority. In one way or another, officials—whether in the
church or the empire—ought to be accountable to the people. From this point of view, God
delegated authority to the whole church, not just to priests, and to the body politic, not merely to
the rulers.
One line of argument for citizenship in the new states was deeply rooted in Christian
faith. Its advocates continued to believe that God is the source of all authority on earth, but
they also believed that God’s grant of authority to governments, for example, should be
recognized as having the purpose of establishing justice rather than perpetuating
autocracies or monarchies. People should not merely be subject to authority but should be
free to participate in holding governments accountable to God. Furthermore, there is
nothing sacred about a monarchy, and there is no reason why political authorities should
be subordinate to church authorities. Different officeholders have different kinds of
authority from God, and each one should exercise that authority in a way that is
accountable to the people—whether those people are members of the church or citizens in
the state.
Recovering Christian Citizenship
What then shall we say, from a Christian point of view, about the meaning of citizenship today?
First, I would urge Christians to try to understand all of life as directly accountable to God.
Perhaps most of our employers, government officials and leaders in science, art and the
media will not agree with this judgment, but there is no alternative from a Christian point
19
of view. Not only does the apostle Paul say that governments are ordained by God (Romans
13), but the whole of biblical teaching makes this clear. It is not just the church, the people of
God, who are dependent on God; the entire creation depends on the Creator, and all human
authority comes from God.
… when Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mark
12:17), he does not say that what belongs to Caesar does not belong to God.
Citizenship is a role of power and responsibility. Every citizen is a civic servant.
Definitions:
Holman – “Officially recognized status in a political state bringing certain rights and
responsibilities as defined by the state.”
2033. What England Did For One Subject
The King of Abyssinia once took a British subject named Cameron prisoner and incarcerated
him in the high fortress of Magdala. No cause was assigned for his confinement. When Great
Britain found out, she demanded an immediate release for her citizen. King Theodore refused.
Within ten days after the refusal was received, ten thousand British soldiers were sailing
down the coast headed for Magdala. Then marching across an unfriendly country for seven
hundred miles, they went up the mountains to where the prisoner was being held. They gave
battle, tearing the gates of the fortress down and reached the depths of the dungeon. They lifted
that one British subject out, placed him on their shoulders and carried him down the mountains
to the coast where a big ocean vessel soon sped him safely home.
That expedition took several months and cost the English government twenty-five million
dollars. The entire resources of the government were made available in the rescue of only one
citizen. Every child of God has this privilege and birthright in Christ.
3403. One World In Future
The Reader’s Digest once contained this statement:
“God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the Rights of
Man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot
anywhere on its surface and say, ‘This is my country.’ ”
That day is coming!
If God established human community... am I serving it?
If God established nations ... am I participating as a citizen?
Ten Things That Help Guard Freedom
1. Honor your citizenship.
2. Know your heritage.
3. Live your values.
4. Maintain your prayer life.
5. Voice your convictions.
6. Discipline your criticisms.
7. Analyze your zeal.
8. Protect your family
9. Extend your compassion.
10. Declare your hope.
Tony Compolo –
In the days of the early church they looked at the government—they looked at the dominant
societal system, the dominant political economic system, and had a name for it. They called it
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Babylon. You say, “Are you suggesting that the United States is Babylon?”
I contend that if you read the biblical book of Revelation carefully, you will see that what the
writer is trying to do is to convince us that whenever the church finds itself in a particular
political economic system, then, of course, that system must be referred to as Babylon. You say,
“You’re calling the U.S. government Babylon?” Yes. And let me just say it’s the best Babylon
on the face of the earth. I mean, if you’ve got to live in Babylon, don’t you want to live in this
one? This is the best Babylon that’s ever existed in time and history.
Dear Robb,
Sorry to hear you’ve been sick. Hope you’re getting better.
If you plan to create intro film on citizenship... I thought I’d throw forward the following... I may expand
from strictly citizenship (politics) to community involvement (close related)... and either way I think the
following are ideas that could be incorporated in terms of images:
Voting
Debates – Congress... but also local town hall type
Working helping in what are clearly civic programs – reading at library, clean up, etc
Civic roles - Police / Fireman / Military
Taxes – IRS , forms
Public facilities – libraries, public parks,
Justice – courts, etc
Potential words.. perhaps at end only...
If God established human community... am I serving it?
If God established nations ... am I participating as a citizen?
Thanks,
Brad
http://www.resourcefoundation.org/Community/Schools/Citizen-o.shtml
Outline on Citizenship
Citizen Jesus
Matthew 17:24-27
Citizenship - Being law abiding and involved in service to school, community, and country.
Five Traits of a Good Citizen
1. A good citizen accepts the authority of community leaders - Jesus was visited by tax
collectors (v.24).
2. A good citizen accepts the responsibilities of citizenship: Jesus paid taxes (v.25).
3. A good citizen understands that God wants us to serve God and the authorities He
ordains. (v. 25-26).
4. A good citizen sets an active standard for citizenship: Jesus tried to keep others from
stumbling (v.27).
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5. A good citizen demonstrates to worldly authority God’s plan of redemption
How can we labor for God’s kingdom during our time here on earth?
Click on the order button below to download this Current Issues
Bible Study as a Microsoft Word file.
Overview
September 11, 2001, was hardly the first time a vicious attack shook a predominantly
Christian nation, writes Timothy George. A few decades after the Roman Empire made
Christianity its official religion—just as church leaders were gaining cultural power and social
transformation seemed to be underway—an army of unbelievers reduced the “Eternal City”
to ruins. Fifteen centuries later, as C. S. Lewis watched “Christian” Europe self-destruct, he
pondered the same questions Augustine had asked in the last days of Rome: Why do so
many promising human endeavors fail so miserably? Surrounded as we are by death and
destruction, what can Christians possibly accomplish? How can we engage the world without
being dragged down to its level? Is God’s kingdom really coming? These are the questions
we’ll explore in this study.
Table of Contents
LEADER’S GUIDE
• Identify the Current Issue
• Discover the Eternal Principles
—Teaching point one: All human institutions are deeply flawed.
—Teaching point two: Humans are sorely tempted to trust in their own collective strength.
—Teaching point three: Despite their flaws, human institutions play key roles in God’s plan.
—Teaching point four: Civil society can be a dangerous place, but Christians are needed
there.
• Apply Your Findings
Sermon : What Does This Mean?
Text : Acts 2:1-12
Date : June 4, 2006
Context : Warren Wilson Presbyterian Church and College Chapel
By : Rev. Steve Runholt
Of course, that was then. Another famous doubter of modern times, the French
existentialist philosopher, Albert Camus, also wondered what all this means. Bill
Kellerman, a Methodist minister, tells the story of how Camus came to talk to a group of
Christians at a Dominican monastery.
22
"He had a complaint and a yearning," Kellerman writes. "It seemed to him that as the
preparations for WWII were undertaken . . . the church [had] remained unconscionably
silent, or spoke only in an abstract and obtuse style."
Camus, in contrast, was candid and blunt: "For a long time during those frightful years I
waited," said Camus, "for a great voice to speak up in [the Church]. I, an unbeliever
waited . . . for I knew that the spirit would be lost if it did not utter a cry of condemnation
when faced with force . . ." :What the world expects of Christians," Camus continued, "is
that they should speak out, loud and clear, and that they should voice their
condemnation of violence in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt,
could arise in the heart of the simplest person . . . the grouping we need is a grouping of
people resolved to speak up clearly and to pay up personally."
The voice Camus is calling for is the voice of Pentecost; the grouping is a Pentecostal
church.
That’s the voice in which Peter speaks on this historic occasion when the church is
born. In his sermon on that first Pentecost, Peter uses a word he’s never used before.
Indeed, it’s a word that appears only once before in the NT. "Let me speak freely to
you," he says to the crowd gathered there that day. That "freely" comes from the Greek
word parrhesia.
It breaks into the biblical records here with a force that’s lost on us English speakers.
For not only has it only occurred once before in the New Testament, but it is a word
deliberately lifted out of the political lexicon of the ancient Roman empire.
Originally, as Bill Kellerman notes, the word parrhesia "signified the right of the full
citizen to speak fully and freely in the public assembly." It literally means "the freedom to
say all." But, of course, then, as now, one was not free to say all. Then, as now, even a
patriotic citizen was not free to criticize the Emperor or the Empire.
Fortunately, Peter did not serve the Emperor. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the man who
denied Jesus now breaks out and speaks not as Roman citizen, but as a citizen of the
Commonwealth of God. And, he’s willing to lay it all on the line in the service of the
Kingdom where he holds his citizenship. A kingdom whose values were fundamentally
at odds with a militarized Empire bent on colonizing the world.
Yes, I know that’s strong stuff. But, maybe we need a dose of such Pentecostal power
from time to time in our shrinking denomination. And, if you don’t think this story has
political overtones, if you think church is just a place to come to be comforted and
inspired, read the rest of the story.
There’s a rhythm to Acts. The disciples speak so freely and so boldly of this new
Kingdom and its sovereign Lord that they are literally arrested. They speak out loudly
and clearly in a voice so powerful and persuasive that not even the slightest doubt could
arise in the heart of the simplest person. They proclaim a message so full of joy and
hope that despite the risk of jail time, despite being accused by the Romans of treason,
thousands join ranks in this new Kingdom.
23
Led by a group of disciples that once denied and doubted their leader, this first
Pentecostal Church of Jerusalem becomes a grouping of people resolved to speak up
clearly and to pay up personally.
Jeremiah 29:4–7
4
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.
6
Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in
marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not
decrease. 7 Also, 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.”1
Luke 20:21–25.
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.”
26
They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his
answer, they became silent.
2
Titus 3:1
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do
whatever is good, 2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility
toward all men. 3
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. 4
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.
1
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Je 29:4-7). Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
2
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Lk 20:21-26). Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
3
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Tit 3:1-2). Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
4
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (1 Ti 2:1-4). Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
24
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.
Civil disobedience, Daniel 3:1–30.
13
Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. So these
men were brought before the king, 14 and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I have set
up? 15 Now when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of
music, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not
worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to
rescue you from my hand?”
16
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need
to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the
God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But
even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship
the image of gold you have set up.”
19
Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude
toward them changed
5
CITIZENSHIP
Governmental Authority
Scripture challenges us as believers to subject ourselves to whatever governments we live
under (Rom. 13:1–7). Submission to authority is never easy. Human nature tends toward
resistance and even rebellion, especially if government is imposed, incompetent, and/or corrupt.
But as we struggle with how to respond to the systems in which we live, this passage offers some
helpful perspectives:
1. God is the ultimate authority (Rom. 13:1). Government as an institution has been
established by God to serve His purposes. God raises up and does away with leaders.
2. Both followers and leaders are ultimately accountable to God (Rom. 13:2). Submission to
human authorities reflects our submission to God’s authority.
3. God uses governments to carry out His good purposes on earth (Rom. 13:3). Without
question, some governments sometimes persecute those who do good. Paul had firsthand
experience with that. But mainly, it’s the lawbreaker, not the law-abiding citizen, who has
something to fear from government.
4. Obedience is a matter of inner conviction as well as external law (Rom. 13:5). Our
motivation to obey must go beyond fear of punishment. As believers, we serve the highest of all
authorities, God Himself.
Pledging Allegiance
David spared Saul’s life twice—once in the cave at En Gedi (1 Sam. 24:1–7), and again in
the Wilderness of Ziph (1 Sam. 26:2, 7–12). Even though Saul was demented, unfit for office,
and bent on destroying David, David refused to take his life, because Saul was the Lord’s
anointed (1 Sam. 24:6).
In fact, David was troubled for having violated even the garment that Saul was wearing (1
Sam. 24:5). It’s similar to the way Americans “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
States… and to the republic for which it stands.” To David, the robe of Saul represented the king.
5
The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Da 3:13-19). Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
25
David’s respect for Saul’s position serves as model for the high respect that God’s people
today should have for government and its officials. Like David, we may not care for the people
in office or their actions, but we can at least respect the position, since government is ordained
by God.
In fact, all officeholders—whether or not they are Christians or even God-fearing people—
deserve our respect and prayers (1 Tim. 2:1–2). A governmental position invested by the prayers
of God’s people, anointed by God’s representative, and confirmed with an oath of office
invoking God’s help—such an office is undeniably God-ordained.
In a day when disrespect for government is in vogue, Christians have a challenge to adopt a
different attitude. David respected even a morally degraded, insanely driven Saul. How much
more ought believers today to honor duly elected public officials.
Paul indicated that even “secular” governments, such as the autocratic Roman Empire, are
God-ordained (see Rom. 13:1–7). Likewise, secular governments carry out God’s sovereign
purposes. For example, He called Cyrus, the pagan king of Persia, His shepherd and His anointed
(see Is. 44:28–45:1).
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. For a profile of a person
committed to God while working for a foreign, pagan government, see the Book of Daniel.
For more on this topic, see CHILDREN, “Protecting Your Heritage,” page 52.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
A Case of Civil Disobedience
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). That is, they held to the Lord’s command to respect and preserve human life
(Gen. 9:3–7; compare Ex. 20:13). Perhaps they also knew that God’s promise to make a great
nation from Abraham and to give them the land of Canaan literally rested in their hands (Gen.
12:1–2; 13:14–17). So when it came to a conflict between Pharaoh’s command and God’s
command, the midwives determined to obey God.
In our own time, thousands of children die every day as a direct or indirect result of political,
economic, social, or religious policies. Some of these policies are as cold and calculated as was
the command of Pharaoh, others are not. But either way, the outcome is the same: infanticide.
Children are still being killed by the harsh decisions of people who do not fear God.
As Christians, we have a model to follow in the example of the Hebrew midwives. When
asked to do something that goes against God’s ways, we can resist and even disobey. We may
not be as fortunate as the midwives to escape retribution. But we can rest in our conscience,
knowing that we have feared God who is our ultimate authority.
26
In a way, Pharaoh’s command to kill the Hebrew boys foreshadowed the last of the ten
plagues, in which God sent an angel of death to kill the Egyptian firstborn.
The edict also foreshadowed King Herod’s order to execute all the baby boys around
Bethlehem in an insane attempt to destroy the baby Jesus. Like the Exodus account, that story,
too, has social implications: it reminds city kids today that they need not die in vain.
(Almost) All the People
It is unrealistic to think that any of us will go through life without having to choose between
submission to a human authority and obedience to God. Sooner or later, we will likely be told by
someone in authority to do something opposed to God. When that happens, what should be our
response?
There is a great tension here for believers. The Bible tells us to obey those in authority (Rom.
13:1–7), yet it also gives us examples of godly people who resisted human authorities when their
commands violated the commands of God (Acts 4:13–22). There is no simple formula to relieve
this tension. In fact, it is this very tension that requires us to rely on God rather than some list of
dos and don’ts.
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).
Is this how Christians today should respond to laws and directives with which they disagree?
Again, there are no simple answers. Situations vary. Perhaps the following questions will be
useful as you wrestle with yours:
• Is this truly a matter of biblical principle, or just one of preference, taste, or style?
• Why exactly do I have problems with what I am being asked to do? Is it really an issue of
conscience and morality, or is it something else—perhaps a personality conflict, or just feelings
of discomfort?
• Have I made an effort to listen and understand exactly what the authority is asking me to do?
Have I checked out my perceptions by telling the authority what I think I heard?
• Do I really understand how what I am being asked to do conflicts with godly values? Have I
studied God’s Word diligently, prayed for His insight, and thought things through?
• Is this really an either/or situation, or are there alternatives that might satisfy everyone involved?
Daniel dealt with an issue of conscience by coming up with a creative alternative to his
superior’s command (Dan. 1:8–16). Can I think of a way to meet the authority’s needs while
preserving my own integrity?
Convicts with Conviction
In an unjust society, it is often the righteous who are imprisoned. A number of leaders in the
Bible, such as Hanani the seer (2 Chr. 16:10), spent time behind bars. Their loyalty to God’s
calling, to biblical convictions, and to genuine faith sometimes made them vulnerable to
persecution or required them to resist laws or rulers—which landed them in jail.
The Bible shows us many cases where imprisonment has been used to persecute the innocent.
Christ Himself, who was without sin, became a prisoner and was executed for our sakes.
But even in cases where wrongs have been committed, the fact remains that Christ’s good
news is for captives and prisoners too. Forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation are at the
heart of the message of the cross (Luke 4:18; Heb. 13:3).
“We Ought to Obey God Rather Than Men”
What should Christians do when faced with a conflict between human authority and God’s
authority? Notice what Peter and the other apostles did (Acts 5:22–32):
27
• 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 the authority of the
Jewish council in total.
• They approached the situation with a spirit of submissiveness toward both the council and God.
They did not harbor rebellious anger toward authority in general.
• They delivered a positive, factual message about God’s plan and power in loving truth. They did
not slander or show disrespect to their superiors.
• They accepted the cost of being loyal to the truth without rancor or bitterness.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Faith and Rights
“Human rights” is not a new concept. Nearly every social structure has at least some rules to
protect its members.
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). In Jerusalem, he insisted on due process rather than
endure unjust mob retaliation. He set the record straight so that the authorities could intervene
appropriately.
Rumor, anger, or distortion regarding the faith need to be met forthrightly, as Paul’s example
shows. There’s no need to allow discrimination to hinder one’s practice of Christianity in
society, particularly in one’s workplace. As believers we need a clear understanding of the laws
and rules and their application, and we need to ensure that they are applied fairly on behalf of
everyone—including ourselves.
Playing Favorites
Countless laws and legal battles have been and continue to be fought over civil rights and the
effort to end discrimination. James calls on the ultimate law, the “royal law” (James 2:8), to
speak out against discrimination in the one place it ought least to exist—the church. He
specifically condemns favoritism toward the rich and discrimination against the poor. When
believers discriminate on the basis of socioeconomic status, they violate the core of God’s law.
Yet it happens all the time, doesn’t it? How about where you work, or in your church or
community? Are only the wealthy considered likely candidates for church leadership? How do
you respond to customers at work, visitors at church, or shoppers at a grocery store who look
“down-and-out”?
On the other hand, does James’s stern warning against favoring the rich and dishonoring the
poor imply that we should favor the poor and dishonor the rich? Do you ever practice “reverse
discrimination”? Does your church condemn wealthy people for their wealth? Do you assume
that someone who has riches gained them by dishonesty or oppression, rather than by honest
work and service?
James says that favoritism is as much a transgression of the law as adultery or murder (James
2:10–11). Apparently God takes economic discrimination seriously!
6
Matthew 17:24-27 (NIV)
After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came
to Peter and asked, "Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?"
25
"Yes, he does," he replied.
6
Thomas Nelson Publishers. (2001). What does the Bible say about-- : The ultimate A to Z
resource fully illustrated. Nelson’s A to Z series (64). Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson.
28
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?"
he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or
from others?"
26
"From others," Peter answered.
"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27"But so that we may not offend them, go to
the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a
four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
17:24-27 As God’s people, we are foreigners on earth because our loyalty is always to our real
King—Jesus. Still we have to cooperate with the authorities and be responsible citizens. An
ambassador to another country keeps 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?
Romans 13:1 (NIV)
Everyone 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.
LAN –
Romans 13:1ff
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13:1 Are there times when we should not submit to the government? We should never allow
government to force us to disobey God. Jesus and his apostles never disobeyed the government
for personal reasons; when they disobeyed, it was in order to follow their higher loyalty to God.
Their disobedience was not cheap: they were threatened, beaten, thrown into jail, tortured, and
executed for their convictions. Like them, if we are compelled to disobey, we must be ready to
accept the consequences.
13:1ff Christians understand Romans 13 in different ways. All Christians agree that we are
to live at peace with the state as long as the state allows us to live by our religious
convictions. For hundreds of years, however, there have been at least three interpretations
of how we are to do this.
(1) Some Christians believe that the state is so corrupt that Christians should have as
little to do with it as possible. Although they should be good citizens as long as they can do
so without compromising their beliefs, they should not work for the government, vote in
elections, or serve in the military.
(2) Others believe that God has given the state authority in certain areas and the church
authority in others. Christians can be loyal to both and can work for either. They should
not, however, confuse the two. In this view, church and state are concerned with two totally
different spheres—the spiritual and the physical—and thus complement each other but do
not work together.
(3) Still others believe that Christians have a responsibility to make the state better.
They can do this politically, by electing Christian or other high-principled leaders. They
can also do this morally, by serving as an influence for good in society. In this view, church
and state ideally work together for the good of all.
None of these views advocate rebelling against or refusing to obey the government’s laws
or regulations unless those laws clearly require you to violate the moral standards revealed
by God. Wherever we find ourselves, we must be responsible citizens, as well as responsible
Christians.
29
Proverbs 14:35 (NLT)
A king rejoices in servants who know what they are doing; he is angry with those who cause
trouble.
Proverbs 22:11 (NLT)
Anyone who loves a pure heart and gracious speech is the king’s friend.
Proverbs 23:1-3 (NLT)
When dining with a ruler, pay attention to what is put before you. 2If you are a big eater, put a
knife to your throat, 3and don’t desire all the delicacies—deception may be involved.
Acts 16:37 (NLT)
But Paul replied, "They have publicly beaten us without trial and jailed us—and we are Roman
citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to
release us!"
Acts 19:36-39 (NLT)
Since this is an indisputable fact, you shouldn’t be disturbed, no matter what is said. Don’t do
anything rash. 37You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple
and have not spoken against our goddess. 38If Demetrius and the craftsmen have a case against
them, the courts are in session and the judges can take the case at once. Let them go through
legal channels. 39And if there are complaints about other matters, they can be settled in a legal
assembly.
Acts 22:25-29 (NLT)
As they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer standing there, "Is it legal for you
to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?"
26
The officer went to the commander and asked, "What are you doing? This man is a Roman
citizen!"
27
So the commander went over and asked Paul, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"
"Yes, I certainly am," Paul replied.
28
"I am, too," the commander muttered, "and it cost me plenty!"
"But I am a citizen by birth!"
29
The soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul quickly withdrew when they heard he was a
Roman citizen, and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and
whipped.
Acts 24:18-19 (NLT)
My accusers saw me in the Temple as I was completing a purification ritual. There was no
crowd around me and no rioting. 19But some Jews from the province of Asia were there—and
they ought to be here to bring charges if they have anything against me!
Acts 25:5 (NLT)
So he said, "Those of you in authority can return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong,
you can make your accusations."
Acts 25:10 (NLT)
30
But Paul replied, "No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You
know very well I am not guilty.
Acts 25:16 (NLT)
Of course, I quickly pointed out to them that Roman law does not convict people without a
trial. They are given an opportunity to defend themselves face to face with their accusers.
"Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven
and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to
figure ourselves what that life would be if these standards were removed. We would lose almost
all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards
towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves."
President Theodore Roosevelt in "Quotes From America’s Leaders,"
Reference
(Earstohear.net) [Accessed February 25, 2005]
In describing much of the media’s response to the church today, Charles Colson of Prison Fellowship
says: "The term separation of church and state was never even considered when the Constitution was
written. It was introduced fifteen years later by Thomas Jefferson. And the separation that the founders
talked about was keeping the state out of the church, not keeping the church out of the religious and moral
welfare of the country. They certainly never intended that religious influence be erased from our society.
"Indeed, the founding fathers based our country on Judeo-Christian beliefs and principles, and if you look
through the pages of American history, what a proud tradition we Christians have. Again, 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. Don’t tell me that religion doesn’t belong in
public life. You bet it does, because it’s been for the moral betterment of our country."
Charles Colson, Faith on the Line (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1994), 59-60.
"Aristotle reminds us that man is a political—not a social—animal. Bees, birds, animals are social
creatures, inhabiting households and villages (civil society, as we would say), providing shelter and
sustenance for themselves and their young. But 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 . . . The love of country: Montesquieu took
that to be the distinctive virtue of a republic. 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," www.empower.org [Copy on file.]
BREAKPOINT: Imperfect people: Voting and the Christian
Point of View
By CHARLES COLSON
BreakPoint
Published October 28, 2004
31
I have huge respect for Dr. Mark Noll. He’s a first-rate scholar, thinker, and historian. His
book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, written ten years ago, remains a tough-minded
challenge to develop a Christian worldview.
That’s why I’m so saddened by an essay he wrote titled, “None of the Above: Why I
Won’t Be Voting for President.” Noll writes, “As has been the case for the past few
presidential elections, on Election Day I will almost certainly cast my vote once again
for none of the above.”
He goes on to list seven issues and his convictions about those issues: race, the
value of life, taxes, trade, medicine, religious freedom, and the international rule of
law. Noll writes, “My position on each is related to how I understand the traditional
Christian faith that grounds my existence. Yet neither of the major parties is making a
serious effort to consider this particular combination of concerns or even anything
remotely resembling it.” And so, because both parties and their nominees are
flawed, Noll will vote for no one.
That position is dead wrong and damaging to democracy. It’s the utopian
notion which assumes divine perfection in fallen humans. His assumption that
we can support only candidates who have perfect scores according to our
reading of the Bible makes me wonder how he votes at all. And if that’s the
standard, all of us should stop voting.
But that’s exactly what the fundamentalist movement did in the early part of
the twentieth century, the movement Mark Noll so correctly criticizes. Their
error was allowing perfectionism to get in the way of their responsibility to act
for the common good. It’s an error we can’t afford to repeat—not this year, not
ever.
Voting is not an option for Christians. It’s a biblical duty, because by voting we
carry out God’s agency; we are His instruments for appointing leaders. Just
like Samuel in the Old Testament, we are commissioned to find the very best
people we can who are best able to lead us. Not to vote, or to turn down both
presidential candidates because they’re not perfect on a biblical score sheet, is
a dereliction of biblical responsibility.
Remember that the first job of a leader biblically is to preserve order, out of which
freedom flows, and then to restrain evil. Every thinking Christian has to look at both
candidates this year and decide for himself or herself which one can best keep and
preserve order and restrain evil. And remember also Jethro’s advice to Moses:
Choose men who love God and are able. And you have to look at other things with
candidates—their character and their stand on moral issues. And then once they’re
elected, we need to keep pressing them on those moral issues, lobbying for what is
right. Noll’s argument convinces me of the need for more, not less, political
involvement from Christians. And it all begins with voting.
I shudder to think what would happen in our culture if we fall into the disengagement
trap the Church fell into a century ago. It’s the reason that we lost our place in the
culture. It’s the reason people stopped taking Christianity seriously.
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Instead, let me urge you—and my friend Mark Noll—to look at the presidential
candidates and make a wise, informed choice. Choose men who love God and are
able to govern well.
Copyright © 2004 Prison Fellowship. Used with permission.
Ben Franklin believed that people volunteering together in a spirit of cooperation could accomplish great
things. Driven by a strong sense of civic duty, he involved himself in his community and his nation. Always
mindful of the “greater good,” Franklin helped establish or improve institutions such as circulating libraries,
public hospitals, mutual insurance companies, volunteer fire departments, agricultural colleges, and
intellectual societies.
A role model still today, Ben Franklin helped define “good citizenship.”
July 4th Retrospective
Exodus 20:1-17
It was just assumed that Christianity and American citizenship meshed perfectly, hand in
hand: that Christianity was the official religion and that faith was meant to bolster the
American enterprise; that biblical values were uniquely American values; that America
was created by God and founded by the signers of the Declaration of Independence to be a
Christian nation among nations and a light to the world; and our wealth and power were
proof that we are God’s chosen, favored nation.
So the church was meant to serve the state in spite of the First Amendment and the
inconvenient separation clause, which was never mentioned on the 4th . And Jesus seemed
to be the chaplain blessing it all. He could have been riding in one of those convertibles at
the end of the parade.
And I believed it all….
Sociologists call it civil religion. It is the use of religious language and symbols to support a
particular political ideology and to create unquestioning loyalty by in effect saying:
“See…this…us…our way…our national self interest…our tribe…is uniquely willed by
God. And to doubt it is to doubt God.”
And it was reinforced in my childhood at school, where we began each day by saying the
“Pledge of Allegiance” and singing, “God Bless America ,” which gives me goose bumps still
when I sing it.
And then the Principal would pray over the intercom, asking God to help us be kind, and do well,
and remember the Ten Commandments, and to continue to bless our most favored nation. “In the
name of Jesus Christ,” he would end the prayer.
33
And I didn’t think much about it then: what it meant to prayerfully assume we were God’s
special people, or why Christianity was assumed to be the official faith in an nation that
supposedly guaranteed the government’s neutrality when it came to religion.
And I didn’t get it back then, that there was a reason those writers of the Declaration of
Independence and the framers of the Constitution made no mention of Christ or Christianity in
those wonderful documents.
Nor did I understand then, that when the Principal prayed for us to remember the Ten
Commandments, that if I actually took the First Commandment seriously – “You shall have no
other gods before me” – I didn’t understand then, that it’s a fine line to walk, between
patriotism as responsible citizenship, and patriotism as worship and idolatry forbidden by
the Commandment.
Nor did it occur to me back then to ask Angela Howser, who was Jewish, how she felt about the
daily prayer that ended in the name of Jesus Christ.
It was just how it was on the 4th back then and every other day – patriotic fervor fit perfectly
with Christianity. There just was no tension or value conflict or dissonance between one’s faith
and all that was American….
But there was another kid in my class. I think his name was Adam, though I’m not sure. I do
remember that whenever there was a class birthday party and someone’s “mom” brought
cupcakes, Adam didn’t take one or sing “Happy Birthday.” And he couldn’t take part in the
school Christmas program, which was really a Christian pageant.
And he didn’t say the Pledge or sing “ America the Beautiful,” for which Adam was bullied on
the playground. “Adam the commie,” he was called.
You see, Adam was a Jehovah’s Witness and his faith wouldn’t allow him to participate in the
birthday parties and Pledge and pageant. For it would be idolatry for him to do so – a violation of
the Commandment – a putting of human things above God, and pledging to the flag a kind of
devotion that his faith taught should be given only to God.
Little wonder then, that before the Nazis started putting the Jews on the death trains, the Nazis
first rounded up the Jehovah’s Witnesses and sent them to the camps.
Well, one day on the playground some boys pushed Adam to the ground and screamed, “Why
don’t you love our country?”
And Adam sat up, looked them in the eye, and said, “I do love our country, but I love God and
follow Jesus first.”
Back then, I didn’t think much about what Adam said, but I have thought about it since and am
thinking more about it these days.
For what does it mean to love God first and follow Jesus these days?
Certainly, patriotism is important and love of country matters.
34
Yet, there is this Jesus whose love knew no boundary and who said, “Put away your
sword and love your enemies.”
This Jesus who told a parable about how people and nations should measure themselves
not by their power, not by their wealth or piles of stuff, but by their compassion for those
the world counts least.
Certainly, those values of democracy, and political and individual freedoms are cherished
and worth standing up for.
Yet, there is this Jesus who calls us to be in the world as peace makers and community
builders, and as those who can see a sister or brother in those not like us.
This Jesus who told us we are God’s beloved, but not God’s only beloved.
This Jesus who refused to equate God’s will with any ideology or politics or party or
nationality or interest group.
And, of course, we want our children to learn what it means to be responsible citizens and
patriots.
And yet…and yet…we are also called to serve and teach our children about the Kingdom God is
bringing to be – a Kingdom which is global and greater than nation.
A kingdom in which the death of any Iraqi citizen counts as much as the death of an American.
And a Kingdom in which all peoples and nations are judged finally by God’s will of love….
Well, last Tuesday the 4th , I did reread the Declaration of Independence whose words never
grow old or stale, especially that 2 nd paragraph: “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….”
And last Tuesday I watched the televised celebration from the great lawn in front of our nation’s
Capital. And I tapped my feet to the Sousa marches. And the sight of fireworks over the
Jefferson Memorial was stunning.
And I thought a lot about men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan – citizen soldiers caught up in
a morass of old history and religious hatred and sectarian cycles of vengeance, and now the
backlash of atrocities committed by some of them.
And I prayed for them, and for their families. Families trying to make do at 4th of July picnics
without them.
And the 4th of July still felt like a big deal, even as it was back in the town of my childhood.
But it’s not so simple and clear cut now – this matter of being both a citizen and a Christian. For
if one is
intentional about loving God, and following Jesus, and letting the Commandments speak anew,
and seeking first the Kingdom of God , which transcends every human boundary…well….
35
Well, that makes it much more complicated – doesn’t it?
Rev. Gregory Flint
A. III. Freedom must never be relinquished.
Galatians 5:1 (HCSB)
Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore
stand firm and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
I.
Man is meant for freedom.
A.
Christ came to give us freedom from ________________ and
___________________ (John 8:32, 36; Rom. 6:18, 22; 8:1-2;
2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:13).
B.
Just as that is true, man was also meant for _______________
freedom (Exod. 21:2; Lev. 25:10, 54; Deut. 15:12; Jer. 30:8;
34:8; Acts 22:28; 1 Cor. 7:21).
II.
Freedom demands effort.
A.
A Christian must keep a firm __________ on his freedom in
Christ (1 Cor. 15:58; 16:13; Eph. 4:14; 6:4; Phil. 1:27; 4:1;
36
Col. 1:23; 1 Thess. 3:8; 2 Thess. 2:2, 15; 1 Pet. 5:9, 12;
2 Pet. 3:17).
B.
Just as that is true, we must make every effort to see that we
do not lose the ____________ _____________ that we have.
Freedom not _______________ can be easily lost.
III. Freedom must never be relinquished.
A. A Christian must never ______________ his freedom
and
return to the old way of life (Gal. 3:1-14; 4:9-11;
The Cause of Freedom
Galatians 5:1
2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:18-20).
B.
Just as that is true, we must never _________________ the
freedom that we have as citizens of earthly realms.
C.
Examples of attempts to take away a person’s freedom of
___________________:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
37
_________________________________________________
Ten Things That Help Guard Freedom
1. Honor your citizenship.
2. Know your heritage.
3. Live your values.
4. Maintain your prayer life.
5. Voice your convictions.
6. Discipline your criticisms.
7. Analyze your zeal.
8. Protect your family
9. Extend your compassion.
10. Declare your hope.
Sermon & Bible Study Guide
Christian Citizenship: First Amendment
July 2005
Sermon Outline
The Cause of Freedom
Emphasis Passage: Galatians 5:1
Context
In Galatians 4:21-31, the Apostle Paul introduces an allegory to underscore the difference
between the Old Testament covenant under Abraham and the new covenant established through
Christ. Abraham’s two sons are representatives of those covenants—Ishmael representing the
law and Isaac representing grace. Galatians 5:1-6 is a continuation of Paul’s argument in favor of
the new covenant of grace. The verses in chapter 4 are more theological while those in chapter 5
are more practical application.
Introduction
In the Old Testament book of Daniel are two stories with which many modern-day believers can
identify to some degree. One is the story of the three Hebrews—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-
nego—who were thrown into the furnace of the king of Babylon for their failure to bow down to
the king’s idol. These three men were guilty of being politically incorrect by standing against the
tide of popular opinion and morality. They ran the risk of losing their lives to stand for what they
believed was right in the sight of God. The words of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego ring
out as loud as a clap of thunder in their response to the king: “If the God we serve exists, then He
can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power of you, the
king. But even if He does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your
gods or worship the gold statue you set up” (Daniel 3:17-18, HCSB). They would rather be
burned alive than bow down at the altar of convenience.
The other is the story of Daniel himself, who also was thrown into the den of lions for his failure
to bow to the king’s idol. Daniel was the victim of a plot by a group of jealous Babylonian
princes who conspired together to have him removed from his position of influence with the king
(Daniel 6:4-11).
38
Those today who speak or act for the cause of freedom—who speak the truth based on the
Word of God or act in ways that cut across the grain of popular political and cultural opinion—
run the risk of being shunned, maligned, persecuted, or possibly hauled into court for defying
what is declared to be politically correct. Like our Lord and countless other biblical characters
before us, we must be willing to bear the cost of standing for what is right. After all, “It is
enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master” (Matthew 10:25).
The focus verse has to do with the spiritual freedom experienced by the citizens of God’s
kingdom because of the redemptive work of Christ. However, the principles that emanate
from this verse can be applied to our freedom as citizens of earth.
I. Man is meant for freedom. A. Christ came to give us freedom from death and sin
(John 8:32, 36; Rom. 6:18, 22; 8:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:13). [WS1, WS2, CC1] B. Just
as that is true, man was also meant for civic freedom (Exod. 21:2; Lev. 25:10, 54; Deut.
15:12; Jer. 30:8; 34:8; Acts 22:28; 1 Cor. 7:21). [OS2]
II. Freedom demands effort. A. A Christian must keep a firm hold on his freedom in
Christ (1 Cor. 15:58; 16:13; Eph. 4:14; 6:4; Phil. 1:27; 4:1; Col. 1:23; 1 Thess. 3:8; 2
Thess. 2:2,15; 1 Pet. 5:9,12; 2 Pet. 3:17). [WS3, WS4, CC2, CC3] B. Just as that is true,
we must make every effort to see that we do not lose the earthly freedom that we have.
Freedom not guarded can be easily lost. [OS1, OS4, OS6, OS7, OS8, OS9, OS10]
III. Freedom must never be relinquished. A. A Christian must never relinquish his
freedom and return to the old way of life (Gal. 3:1-14; 4:9-11; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2:18-
20). [WS5, WS6, CC4, CC5] B. Just as that is true, we must never relinquish the
freedom that we have as citizens of earthly realms. [OS3, OS4, OS5] C. Examples of
attempts to take away a person’s freedom of expression (see accompanying First
Amendment Fact Sheet).
Conclusion
As believers, we must never lose sight of the fact that our freedom, both spiritually and
politically, must be guarded carefully. There are always those who would seek to limit
that freedom. Following are ten things that each of us can do to help guard that freedom
(see OS11 for more detail on each point):
1. Honor Your Citizenship.
2. Know Your Heritage.
3. Live Your Values.
4. Maintain Your Prayer Life.
5. Voice Your Convictions.
6. Discipline Your Criticisms.
7. Analyze Your Zeal.
8. Protect Your Family.
9. Extend Your Compassion.
10. Declare Your Hope.
WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO?
1. Read our nation’s founding documents (U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and
Declaration of Independence) to learn what the founders of our nation did to gain
our liberty. These can be viewed at www.ushistory.org/documents.
2. Keep abreast of laws that are being passed in both the state and national levels
that could impact your freedom. Contact your state or national congressional
39
leaders to express your concern over any attempts to restrict or abolish the basic
freedoms that we enjoy.
3. Several conservative legal organizations have free daily or weekly email alerts
that can help you keep up with what is happening around the country with regard
to our freedom. Some to consider are: Alliance Defense Fund
(www.alliancedefensefund.org/main/welcome.aspx), American Center for Law
and Justice (www.aclj.org), Pacific Justice Institute
(www.pji.org/getinvolved/stayup/index.cfm), Liberty Council
(www.lc.org/libertyalert/lasubscribe.html), and Rutherford Institute
(www.rutherford.org).
Resources
Christian Citizenship: First Amendment
July 2005
Bible Translations
Holman Christian Standard: Christ has liberated us into freedom. Therefore stand firm
and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
King James: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
New King James: Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,
and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
New International Version: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm,
then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
New American Standard: It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep
standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
New Living Translation: So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay
free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
Other Helpful Scriptures
Bible verses about Christian Citizenship and Religious Liberty:
Ezra 7:13; Psalm 119:45; Jeremiah 34:8, 15, 17; Luke 4:18; Acts 26:26; Romans 8:21; 1
Corinthians 7:21-22; 1 Corinthians 8:9; 1 Corinthians 9:1, 19; 1 Corinthians 10:29;
1 Corinthians 12:26; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 4:22-23; Hebrews 13:3;
James 1:25; 2 Peter 2:19
Word Studies (WS)
WS1—freedom—“eleutheria—from
licentious, chiefly moral or ceremonial) :- liberty” [Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew
Dictionary (Austin, TX: WORDSearch 7 Electronic version, WORDSearch Corp.,
2005)].
WS2—freedom— “rendered ‘freedom’ in Gal. 5:1, ‘with freedom did Christ set us free.’
The combination of the noun with the verb stresses the completeness of the act, the aorist
40
(or point) tense indicating both its momentary and comprehensive character; it was done
once for all. The RV margin ‘for freedom’ gives perhaps the preferable meaning, i.e.,
‘not to bring us into another form of bondage did Christ liberate us from that in which we
were born, but in order to make us free from bondage’” [Vine’s Expository Dictionary of
Old and New Testament Words (Austin, TX: WORDSearch 7 Electronic version,
WORDSearch Corp., 2005)].
WS3—stand firm—“from the perfect tense of
(figurative) to persevere :- stand (fast)” [Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary
(Austin, TX: WORDSearch 7 Electronic version, WORDSearch Corp., 2005)].
WS4—stand firm—“a late present tense from hesteka, the perfect of histēmi, is used (a)
literally, Mark 3:31; Mark 11:25; John 1:26, in the best texts (in some texts Rev. 12:4);
(b) figuratively, Rom. 14:4, where the context indicates the meaning ‘standeth upright’
rather than that of acquittal; of ‘standing fast,’ 1 Cor. 16:13, ‘in the faith,’ i.e., by
adherence to it; Gal. 5:1, in freedom from legal bondage; Phil. 1:27, ‘in one spirit;’ Phil.
4:1; 1 Thess. 3:8, ‘in the Lord,’ i.e., in the willing subjection to His authority; 2 Thess.
2:15, in the Apostle’s teaching; some mss. have it in John 8:44, the most authentic have
histēmi, RV, ‘stood’ (AV, ‘abode’)” [Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New
Testament Words (Austin, TX: WORDSearch 7 Electronic version, WORDSearch Corp.,
2005)].
WS5—submit again—“from
ensnare; by implication to keep a grudge :- entangle with, have a quarrel against, urge”
[Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary (Austin, TX: WORDSearch 7 Electronic
version, WORDSearch Corp., 2005)].
WS6—submit again— “‘to hold in,’ is said of being ‘entangled’ in a yoke of bondage,
such as Judaism, Gal. 5:1” [Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament
Words (Austin, TX: WORDSearch 7 Electronic version, WORDSearch Corp., 2005)].
Commentary Citations (CC)
CC1—“We have the ringing declaration: For freedom Christ did set us free. For
nothing less . . . ‘for freedom’ he freed us . . . so that we should have, maintain, exercise,
enjoy this freedom” [R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the
Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians (Columbus, OH: The Wartburg Press,
1946), 250].
CC2—“Stand fast therefore. Be firm and unwavering. This verse properly belongs to the
previous chapter, and should not be separated from it. The sense is, that they were to be
firm and unyielding in maintaining the great principles of Christian liberty. They had
been freed from the bondage of rights and ceremonies; and they should by no means, and
in any form, yield to them again” [Barnes Notes on the New Testament (Austin, TX:
WORDSearch 7 Electronic version, WORDSearch Corp., 2005)].
CC3—“For freedom Christ freed us! Shall this blessed act be annulled, this freedom be
lost? Never! Keep standing fast accordingly! Ever and always as the durative tense
implies. None can set themselves free; this is the work of the Liberator alone. But after
we are once set free and endowed with the spiritual power of that freedom, our Liberator
41
moves us to exercise that power. He is now doing that for the Galatians in these words of
power through his apostle” [R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to
the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians (Columbus, OH: The Wartburg
Press, 1946), 251].
CC4—“Keep standing firm is the positive, and do not be subject again (lit., ‘do not
subject yourselves’) is the negative warning for believers to persevere in freedom. Like
an animal loosed from pulling a plow we should not seek to be hooked up again” John
MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1987), 129].
CC5—“How this positive command is to be understood the accompanying negative
states: and stop enduring again a yoke of slavery. The verb is middle, ‘to hold up for
oneself,’ ‘to endure,’ . . . A yoke galls, and thus one endures it . . . The present imperative
is often used when an action has been begun and is to cease. That is the case here. The
Galatians had begun their Judaizing and were to stop enduring such a yoke.
“Note the absence of the articles: the Galatians are to tolerate no yoke of any kind of
slavery. They are to keep clear of anything of this nature” [R.C.H. Lenski, The
Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the
Philippians (Columbus, OH: The Wartburg Press, 1946), 251-252].
Other Sources (OS)
OS1—“If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the
animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor
your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly
upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen” [Samuel Adams,
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and cousin to President John Adams,
www.lucidcafe.com/library/95sep/adams.html].
OS2— “All temporal power is of God,
And the magistratal, His institution, laud,
To but advance a creaturely happiness aubaud:
Let us then affirm the Source of Liberty.
“Ever agreeable to the nature and will
Of the Supreme and Guardian of all yet still
Employed for our rights and freedom’s thrill:
Thus proves the only Source of Liberty.
“Though our civil joy is surely expressed
Through hearth, and home, and church manifest
Yet this too shall be a nation’s true test:
To acknowledge the divine Source of Liberty.”
[Samuel Adams, “The Divine Source of Liberty,” in George Grant, The Patriot’s
Handbook (Elkton, MD: Highland Books, 1996), 86]
OS3— “In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.”
[Julia Ward Howe, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory,” verse 4]
OS4—Stations on the Road to Freedom
Discipline
42
“If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things
to govern your soul and your senses, for fear that your passions
and longings may lead you away from the path you should follow.
Chaste be your mind and your body, and both in subjection,
obediently, steadfastly seeking the aim set before them;
only through discipline may a man learn to be free.
Action
“Daring to do what is right, not what fancy may tell you,
valiantly grasping occasions, not cravenly doubting—
freedom comes only through deeds, not through thoughts taking wing.
Faint not nor fear, but go out to the storm and the action,
Trusting in God whose commandment you faithfully follow;
Freedom, exultant, will welcome your spirit with joy.”
[Excerpted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1967), 194-195]
OS5—“So the Reformation’s preaching of the Gospel brought forth two things
which were secondary to the central message of the Gospel but nonetheless were
important: an interest in culture and a true basis for form and freedom in society
and government. The latter carries with it an important corollary, namely, 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? (Old
Tappan: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1976), 110].
OS6—“Liberty is the glory of a community, the most firm and unshaken basis of public
happiness. The want of this will abate the value of all the comforts of life. The
embittering circumstance of precarious property,—the grating reflection that life and all
its enjoyments lie at the mercy of a tyrant, and are liable every moment to be ravished by
the lawless hand of violence,—mars the relish of every gratification, and throws a
melancholy gloom upon all temporal enjoyments. But wherever public spirit prevails,
liberty is secure. There men may think freely for themselves, and publish their sentiments
without molestation or fear. For as liberty is the source of so much public happiness, he
who is a patriot, and wishes well to his country, must needs be a fast friend to it” [Noah
Welles, Election Sermon, 1764, in They Preached Liberty (Ft. Lauderdale: Coral Ridge
Ministries, n.d.), 69-70].
OS7—“Power, especially over-grown power, whets the ambition and sets all the wits to
work to enlarge it. Therefore, encroachments on the people’s liberties are not generally
made all at once, but so gradually as hardly to be perceived by the less watchful; and all
plaistered over, it may be, with such plausible pretenses, that before they are aware of the
snare, they are taken and cannot disentangle themselves” [Samuel Webster, Election
Sermon, 1777, in They Preached Liberty (Ft. Lauderdale: Coral Ridge Ministries, n.d.),
90-91].
OS8—“History affords no example of any nation, country, or people, long free, who did
not take some care of themselves; and endeavor to guard and secure their own liberties.
43
Power is of a grasping, encroaching nature, in all beings, except in Him to whom it
emphatically ‘belongeth’ . . . Power aims at extending itself, and operating according to
mere will, wherever it meets with no balance, check, control, or opposition of any kind.
For which reason it will always be necessary for those who would preserve and
perpetuate their liberties, to guard them with a wakeful attention” [Jonathan Mayhew,
“The Snare Broken,” 1766, in They Preached Liberty (Ft. Lauderdale: Coral Ridge
Ministries, n.d.), 107].
OS9—“Let us act as free! Let us stand up for our just rights; but consider ourselves at the
same time as servants of God, and submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.
Let us never use our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness” [John Tucker, Election Sermon,
1771, in They Preached Liberty (Ft. Lauderdale: Coral Ridge Ministries, n.d.), 137].
OS10—“Religious liberty is so blended with civil, that if one falls it is not to be expected
that the other will continue” [Charles Turner, Election Sermon, 1773, in They Preached
Liberty (Ft. Lauderdale: Coral Ridge Ministries, n.d.), 161].
OS11—Ten Commandments for citizen Christians
1. Honor Your Citizenship.
You and I do not deserve to be Americans, we are privileged to be
Americans. We have the right to see our faults, monitor our failures, speak our
piece, debate our point, grumble if we choose, challenge the positions of elected
officials, be angered by moral erosion, but it is not our right to dishonor our
country.
It is to the extent we cherish our privileges and exercise our role in
preserving national rudiments that we are responsible citizens. To love America
is to honor all that is good about her, while seeking to protect her from all that
would destroy her goodness.
2. Know Your Heritage.
Among the world’s nations, the United States of America may be young,
but our heritage is no less rich or distinctive. Unless we are watchful, however,
there are those who will methodically make a totally secular country of us
despite the great Judeo-Christian foundation underlying the birth of this nation.
The revisionists, with their humanist-secular agenda, should be constantly
impeded and challenged by those who know, and know they know, the
American story.
3. Live Your Values.
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!
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they
speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they
shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation (1 Pet. 2:12).
4. Maintain Your Prayer Life.
If you believe as I, in the Divine inspiration of the entire Word of God, you
must give as much reverence to 1 Timothy 2 as to John 3. We are to pray for
44
government officials. I believe we are to pray for their salvation. We are to pray
for 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.
5. Voice Your Convictions.
We are to do so through every legitimate channel given us, with a courteous
forthrightness. “For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men” (1 Pet. 2:15).
6. Discipline Your Criticisms.
Not everything about America is wrong. Not everything which takes place
in Congress, in the State House, or in City Council is in need of our protest.
Public officials and wholesome legislation, as well as positive influences, need
to be commended and encouraged by Christian citizens.
7. Analyze Your Zeal.
Needless to say, we cannot give equal time and effort to every noble
crusade in which Christians can be involved. Hence, a certain amount of
selectivity must be exercised. We must be honest, however, about what
motivates that selectivity. God forbid we would ever be selectively moral!
For us to be strong and vocal in our opposition to abortion, the homosexual
agenda, pornography, and the gambling lobby, while apparently suffering from
lockjaw on matters of racial injustice, may reveal we are more motivated by
personal appeal than by moral consistency.
I want to commend the Christian Life Commission and others for leading
Southern Baptists at the 1995 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in
Atlanta to adopt the statement acknowledging our past failures in matters of
racial equality. And to the few who questioned the validity of apologizing for
the failures of previous generations, let me remind you that though we are not
guilty of Adam’s sin, we surely have to acknowledge his guilt and the ongoing
impact of it!
8. Protect Your Family.
There can be little question that at the bull’s eye of Satan’s strategy to take
America is our home and family life. Again we must stand against the
revisionists who seek to redefine the family to suit the corruptions they dare to
call family values for an enlightened America.
9. Extend Your Compassion.
Too often we assume our sole task in resisting social and moral evil is to
publicly condemn it! If we expect to be heard when we say our Lord hates the
sin but loves the sinner, we will have to be living proof texts with hands-on
ministries to those victimized by their own sin.
10. Declare Your Hope.
In all our strivings for that which is right for America, we must not place
the hope of it all in the lap of human response. 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
45
God, the Judge of earth, who will always do right! His side wins! [Charles G.
Fuller, “Ten Commandments for Citizen Christians,” in Richard D. Land & Lee
Holloway, eds., Christians in the Public Square: Faith in Practice (Nashville:
ERLC Publications, 1996), 26-28].
Bible Study Guide
Christian Citizenship: First Amendment
July 2005
This is a suggested Bible study for any size group. The accompanying sermon notes, fact
sheet, and PowerPoint presentation serve as resources as you prepare to lead this Bible
study. Answers are provided with the questions when appropriate, but do not be too quick
to give the answers. Allow the participants time to talk about the questions among
themselves and offer their own thoughts and reflections.
Before class: Using the accompanying fact sheet, select a few of the articles that you can
use to illustrate some of the points in the following discussion guide. Make copies of
What Can One Person Do? in the accompanying Sermon section of this guide to
distribute at the end of class.
Create Learning Readiness: Use the materials in the Context and Introduction in the
Sermon Outline section of this guide to set the background of this study and to create
interest. Be sure to point out that Galatians 5:1 is about spiritual liberty but the principles
can be applied to civic and political liberty.
Say: The history of America is one of a continuing fight for freedom. This country was
founded by people who were searching for a place where they could worship God as their
consciences dictated rather than being told they had to follow the guidelines set forth by a
state-run church. Once that freedom was established, this nation has stood for and fought
for not only our own freedom, but that of others around the world as well. The recent
actions in Afghanistan and Iraq are only two examples.
Ask: Can you name some other times that we have fought for freedom, either at home or
abroad?
Ask class participants to read Galatians 5:1 from as many different translations as there
are available. (See the Resources section of this guide for several translations.)
Say: The Apostle Paul said that man is meant for freedom. Christ came to give us
freedom from death and sin. He was speaking of spiritual freedom. (Ask class
participants to read as many of the following verses as time permits: John 8:32, 36; Rom.
6:18, 22; 8:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:13.) Read the comments on freedom in WS2.
Say: Just as it is true that mankind was meant for spiritual freedom, God also meant for
man to be free from servitude to other men. Man is meant for civic freedom. Several
passages of Scripture speak to this issue. (Have as many of the following verses read
aloud as time permits: Exod. 21:2; Lev. 25:10, 54; Deut. 15:12; Jer. 30:8; 34:8; Acts
22:28; 1 Cor. 7:21.) Read OS2 aloud.
Ask: Can you name any persons or groups of persons who are not free to express the
same basic freedoms that we enjoy in America? (Allow response time.) Why do you
think that these kinds of situations exist?
46
Say: The second point that Paul made is that freedom demands effort. A Christian must
keep a firm hold on his freedom in Christ. (Have as many of the following passages read
aloud as time permits: 1 Cor. 15:58; 16:13; Eph. 4:14; 6:4; Phil. 1:27; 4:1; Col. 1:23; 1
Thess. 3:8; 2 Thess. 2:2, 15; 1 Peter 5:9, 12; 2 Peter 3:17.) Read aloud CC2 and CC3.
Ask: What are some ways that we can keep a firm hold on our spiritual liberty?
Say: Once again, the principle applies to our civic and political freedom. To keep it
demands effort on our part. We must hold onto it firmly. (Select one or more of the
following to read aloud: OS1, OS4, OS6, OS7, OS8, OS9, OS10.)
Ask: What are some ways that we can keep a firm hold on our civic and political liberty?
Ask: What happens when we don’t guard the liberty that we have? (It becomes possible
to lose it.)
Say: In the last part of Galatians 5:1, Paul said that a Christian should never relinquish
the spiritual liberty that Christ came to give us to return to the old ways of life. (Ask three
or four class participants to read the following verses of Scripture aloud: Gal. 3:1-14; 4:9-
11; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Peter 2:18-20.) Read CC5 aloud.
Ask: Can you name anyone in the Bible that turned from the liberty they had in Christ to
the old ways of life? [Examples: some in the church in Galatia (Gal. 1:6-7) and Demas (2
Tim. 4:10).]
Say: Once again, the principle applies to our secular freedom. It must never be
relinquished. (Read aloud OS4 and OS5.)
Say: I want to read some examples of attempts to take away a person’s freedom of
expression. (Read selected examples taken from the accompanying Fact Sheet.)
Ask: Are you aware of other incidents in which someone’s freedom has been at risk? If
so, share them with the group if you are at liberty to do so.
Say: As believers, we must never lose sight of the fact that our freedom, both spiritually
and politically, must be guarded carefully. There are always those who would seek to
limit that freedom. Following are ten things that each of us can do to help guard that
freedom (See OS11 for more detail on each point.):
1. Honor Your Citizenship.
2. Know Your Heritage.
3. Live Your Values.
4. Maintain Your Prayer Life.
47
5. Voice Your Convictions.
6. Discipline Your Criticisms.
7. Analyze Your Zeal.
8. Protect Your Family.
9. Extend Your Compassion.
10. Declare Your Hope.
Say: As you leave, I want to give you a list of suggestions that you can do to be more informed
about this important topic. It is important that we understand what is happening in the area of
freedom so that we will be better equipped to deal with it as those who are “salt and light.”
Focal Text: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s (Matt. 22:21).
1. Seek God for your government
I urge then first of all that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for
kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge
of
the truth (1 Tim. 2:1-4). If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray
and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and
will heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14).
2. Support your government
A. Pay taxes to your government (Matt. 22:21).
Example: Matt. 17:24-27.
This is why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full
time to governing (Rom. 13:6).
B. Take pride in your government (Rom. 13:7; Ps. 137:5).
Give everyone what you owe him… if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Rom. 13:7
3. Submit to your government
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king
who is the supreme authority or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong
and to commend those who do right… Show proper respect to everyone…honor the King
(1 Pet. 2:13-14, 17; Rom. 13:2-5).
4. Stand up to your government
Examples: Exod. 2:15-21; Dan. 6:1-23; Rev. 2:8-10; 2:13; Acts 5:29
“How You Can Have Maximum
Impact as a Christian Citizen”
Matt. 22:15-21
July 4, 2004
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so! (Ps. 107:2). Shout it aloud! Do not hold back! Raise your voice
like a
trumpet! Declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins (Isa. 58:1).
Examples: Moses & Pharaoh; Nathan & David; Elijah & Ahab; Daniel & Nebuchadnezzar;
John the Baptist & Herod.
5. SELECT YOUR GOVERNMENT
Action Step 1: Register to Vote
Action Step 2: Register a Friend
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Action Step 3: Vote Your Values
When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan
(Proverbs 29:2).
> We Value...
1. Life
Example: Ps. 139:15-16; Scripture: Rescue those who are being led away to death; hold back those
staggering toward slaughter. (Proverbs 24:11); Statistics: 1.3 million Abortions per year; 25% of all
pregnancies end in Abortion.
2. Family
Example: Gen. 1-2
Federal Marriage Amendment: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man
and
a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be
construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried
couples or groups.” (The House and Senate versions [H.J. 56 & S.J. 30] are similar.)
3. Freedom
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Gal. 5:1)
Holman –
CITIZEN, CITIZENSHIP Officially recognized status in a political state bringing certain
rights and responsibilities as defined by the state. Paul raised the issue of citizenship in the Bible
by appealing to his right as a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37; Acts 22:26-28).
CITIZENSHIP
Contents:
The History of Citizenship
The Secularization of Citizenship
Recovering Christian Citizenship
Citizens of Two Realms
References and Resources
To be a citizen is to hold a political office: not an elected office, to be sure, but an important office
of public responsibility nonetheless. But what is citizenship? Where does it come from? And what,
if anything, does it have to do with Christian faith? What is the connection between one’s earthly
citizenship and citizenship in God’s kingdom? Or is there none?
The History of Citizenship
The idea and practice of citizenship originated in ancient Greece, not in Israel. But biblical
religion had a big influence on the development of the meaning of citizenship in the West.
The citizen in certain Greek city-states was someone who had a voice in shaping the common
life of the community, especially in making its laws through a deliberative process. Most
people in those city-states were not citizens. Citizens gained their status by virtue of their
education, wealth or leadership prowess. The role of the citizen came to be distinguished
from other affiliations and classes of people, such as cultic officials, tradespeople, warriors,
farmers and slaves. Citizenship meant having the responsibility and privileges of
membership in what was thought to be the highest form of human community, namely, the
political community.
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The children of Israel exercised many responsibilities similar to those exercised by citizens of
Greek city-states and in early republican Rome. However, Israel was structured not as a city-state
but as the covenanted people of God, living under a legal order handed down by God to a nation
made up of many family clans. Human responsibility for the common laws that governed Israel as
a whole belonged to judges, arbiters, conciliators, courts and eventually kings. But everyone of the
children of Israel was a member of God’s covenanted people through whom God was revealing
his will for all nations. The community of which they were a part was more profound and
historically far-reaching than a Greek city-state.
Israel, as we know from the Bible, was conquered by Assyria and Babylon more than five
hundred years before Christ. Between about 400 B.C. and A.D. 300 the independent Greek city-
states and republican Rome also came to an end. Massive empires took their place and essentially
smothered the earlier meaning of citizenship and Israelite clan membership. Most people became
mere subjects, which is to say, they became subject to an imperial authority and were required
simply to obey.
Several important developments between about A.D. 300 and the Protestant Reformation
(which began in the 1500s) led to new understandings of citizenship. First, the early church, which
had no political authority in the first centuries after Christ, gradually grew to become the most
influential institution in the collapsing Roman Empire and in the feudal period that followed. The
Roman Catholic Church gained so much moral and legal authority that it succeeded in
subordinating political authority to the church and to the church’s canon law—a law that
functioned not merely as internal church law but in many respects as public international law for
all the lands where the church’s authority extended. Consequently, an important distinction was
drawn between higher ecclesiastical authority and lower political authorities.
For the most part, until the time of the Reformation, a top-down conception of political
authority dominated in this church-led culture, which reached its height in the twelfth through
fourteenth centuries, called the High Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Church absorbed the
hierarchical pattern from imperial Rome. The idea was that God granted authority to the
church (eventually to the leading church official—the bishop of Rome), and the church then
delegated political authority to lower, nonecclesiastical officials. However, beginning late in
the Middle Ages, a rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman documents led to a renewed
interest in the work of Aristotle, the Stoics and other ancient philosophers. One consequence
was a revival of the idea of citizenship.
Both inside the church and in wider political circles a number of people began to argue
for a bottom-up origin of authority. In one way or another, officials—whether in the church
or the empire—ought to be accountable to the people. From this point of view, God delegated
authority to the whole church, not just to priests, and to the body politic, not merely to the rulers.
Great battles ensued, both intellectual and military, between those claiming the divine right of
kings and those arguing for some kind of popular or national sovereignty. These battles
contributed to the breakup of the Holy Roman Empire and to the splintering of the church, neither
of which could withstand the impact of Reformation theology and the increasingly volatile
campaigns for national independence. By the 1700s new political entities had come into
existence—the first versions of modern states. In some cases these states refused to subordinate
themselves to the Catholic Church. And inside many of them, various efforts were made to
redefine the state as a limited, law-bound trust in which the rulers would have to be accountable to
the people.
One line of argument for citizenship in the new states was deeply rooted in Christian
faith. Its advocates continued to believe that God is the source of all authority on earth, but
they also believed that God’s grant of authority to governments, for example, should be
recognized as having the purpose of establishing justice rather than perpetuating autocracies
or monarchies. People should not merely be subject to authority but should be free to
50
participate in holding governments accountable to God. Furthermore, there is nothing
sacred about a monarchy, and there is no reason why political authorities should be
subordinate to church authorities. Different officeholders have different kinds of authority
from God, and each one should exercise that authority in a way that is accountable to the
people—whether those people are members of the church or citizens in the state.
The Secularization of Citizenship
At the same time that many Christians were trying to rethink (and reform) politics away from the
hierarchical patterns that had dominated the church and most lower governments, another stream
of thought was also emerging. Many thinkers during the Renaissance and on through the
eighteenth-century Enlightenment wanted to recover political authority entirely for “the
people.” From this point of view, God and the church were part of the problem, not part of
the solution. Political freedom and responsibility of citizens would be impossible to achieve
as long as people appealed to God or the church for help. Citizenship would have to arise from
the people themselves. Sovereignty would have to be grounded originally in the people and then
delegated in limited amounts to the rulers chosen by citizens. Rulers—governments—would have
to be subject to citizens, not the other way around.
It should be clear to anyone in our day that this line of argument for citizenship won out over
the milder form of argument proposed by many Christian reformers. Today, in most democracies
and modern states, the belief is that political sovereignty originates with the people, that rulers are
subject to the people and that citizenship is an entirely secular affair, unrelated to God. Even in
the United States, which was greatly influenced by Puritan and other Christian immigrants,
the Constitution grounded political authority in the people. The Declaration of
Independence may trace our inalienable rights and freedoms back to the Creator, but the
American system makes government entirely accountable to the people, not to God.
Recovering Christian Citizenship
What then shall we say, from a Christian point of view, about the meaning of citizenship today?
First, I would urge Christians to try to understand all of life as directly accountable to God.
Perhaps most of our employers, government officials and leaders in science, art and the
media will not agree with this judgment, but there is no alternative from a Christian point of
view. Not only does the apostle Paul say that governments are ordained by God (Romans 13), but
the whole of biblical teaching makes this clear. It is not just the church, the people of God, who
are dependent on God; the entire creation depends on the Creator, and all human authority comes
from God.
Some Christians interpret the passage about Caesar in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 12:13-17) to
suggest that Jesus was separating human civic obligations from the obligations owed to God. But
when Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:17),
he does not say that what belongs to Caesar does not belong to God. Instead, we should
interpret this passage as we would the passage in Ephesians where Paul writes, “Children, obey
your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephes. 6:1). Children should obey their parents, but
obedience to parents is part of what children owe to God. So also in political life: citizens owe
honor and taxes to government (Caesar), but they do so as part of their total obligation to
God. Or, to put it another way, Caesar deserves taxes from citizens, but both Caesar and the
citizens together owe all of their political/governmental responsibilities to God. Caesar
deserves taxes, but God deserves everything, including the dutiful service we render to
Caesar when we pay Caesar our taxes. This is why the apostles were bold, when push came to
shove, to say, “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29), even when some of those men
happened to be government officials.
51
The error of modern secularism, therefore, is not in affirming the distinction between
church and state, but rather in trying to disconnect ordinary life from God. The error is not in
the revival of citizenship and the demise of top-down hierarchicalism. Rather, the mistake is in
believing that government’s accountability to citizens can be sustained only if both government
and citizens disconnect themselves from God.
Staying in tune with biblical revelation about God’s diversified creation (including diverse
kinds of human responsibility in marriage, family, agriculture, government, industry, commerce,
the arts and more), Christians have every reason to accept the differentiation of modern society.
Family life may legitimately be distinguished from various professions, as may science from art,
politics from church life and so forth. This great diversity of social life holds together under God
as a single creation from God; it need not be organized hierarchically under an all-powerful
emperor or church. Citizenship is different from parenting or engineering or pastoral ministry.
Christians may accept the distinct, distinguishable responsibility of citizenship without imagining
that it must be disconnected from the all-embracing allegiance owed to God.
Citizens of Two Realms
Citizenship in two realms is where the important connection between earthly citizenship and
citizenship in God’s kingdom comes in. Another analogy might be helpful. Christians should
have no difficulty recognizing that a family member—a child in the Smith family, for
example—can at the same time be a child in God’s family. The two are not incompatible. In
fact, biblically speaking, the earthly family is supposed to be an image of the family of God.
The same can be said about citizenship in the United States of America or in any other
country. Fulfilling one’s earthly civic responsibilities is a duty owed to God as well as to
fellow citizens. Believers who recognize God’s supreme rule in Jesus Christ and, by faith,
thereby accept citizenship in God’s kingdom are people who must learn to perform their
civic duties as unto the Lord.
There are correct ways and wrong ways to act as a citizen, just as there are good and bad ways
to act as a child in one’s home. Christians must be willing to obey God rather than earthly
rulers if the rulers seek to compel an obedience that radically conflicts with obedience to
God. But very often the challenge to believers is to perform their civic responsibilities
constructively in ways that demonstrate their obedience as citizens in God’s kingdom. God
has called us in Christ to pursue justice, to seek to live at peace with all people and to love our
neighbors. In a complex society such as ours, one of the most important ways to live by this faith
as a citizen in God’s kingdom is to pursue justice for all neighbors in the political community in
which we hold citizenship.
If we now turn to examine the nature of citizenship in the country in which we live, we will
discover all kinds of important resources in the biblical tradition to help us. Part of what is good
about most constitutional governments today is that they were created over centuries by citizens
who were trying to define them as limited authorities. Thankfully, Christians do not stand alone
in rejecting totalitarian government, but Christians should recognize that every form of
earthly totalitarianism is a mistake because God alone holds total authority over the earth.
As soon as citizens seek to define government’s limits, they ought to confront the question
about the nature of other types of human authority, outside government. This is often a difficult
task for those who reject biblical revelation. Most often they recognize only the authority of
individuals and the state. Christians can hold a high view of citizenship in the state while also
recognizing that family life, business, church life and other arenas of human responsibility are not
reducible to either individual autonomy or a department of state.
When it comes to trying to hold government accountable to its own calling before God,
citizenship in a modern state becomes an extremely important calling for the average
Christian citizen. Certainly one important way to hold government accountable is through
voting in regular elections. Another is to make sure that governments are held accountable to a
52
basic law, a constitution, which government may not abrogate autocratically. The fact that these
means of accountability have been built into most democratic states should be accepted with
thankfulness, and we should recognize that Christian influences had something to do with their
implementation.
Christians should be at the forefront of citizen actions that seek to secure accountable
governments through constitutional limits and protections and through regular elections and court
reviews. They should also take their civic responsibilities much further than this. Not every
Christian is called to be a full-time political activist or government official. But the office of
citizen gives one important responsibility nonetheless. Part of that responsibility is somewhat
passive: stopping at stoplights, paying taxes and essentially heeding the laws that exist. But
good citizenship, from a Christian point of view, must go beyond mere obedience to the law.
Laws are not always just; times change, and reforms are required even of good laws. To
serve God with heart, soul, strength and mind means to offer up all of life, including one’s
civic responsibility, to God in service. To do that, Christians must do more than merely go
along with the expectations and demands of fellow citizens (even the majority of fellow
citizens). Instead, Christians should pursue justice by seeking to influence government
through elections and other means, by seeking to revise unjust laws and by helping governments
make the proper distinctions among state, church, family, school, business enterprises and other
institutions responsible to God. Citizenship is one of the important callings Christians have in a
highly differentiated social order, which in its entirety is called to accountability before God.
» See also: LAW
» See also: LOBBYING
» See also: POLITICS
» See also: PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS
» See also: STATES/PROVINCES
» See also: TAXES
» See also: VOTING
References and Resources
R. Beiner, ed., Theorizing Citizenship (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994); The
Public Justice Report, published six times a year by the Center for Public Justice, Washington,
D.C., seeks to develop mature Christian insight into the responsibility of citizens; T. R. Sherratt
and R. P. Mahurin, Saints as Citizens: A Guide to Public Responsibilities for Christians (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 1995); J. W. Skillen, Recharging the American Experiment: Principled Pluralism
for Genuine Civic Community (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994); J. W. Skillen, The Scattered Voice:
Christians at Odds in the Public Square (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).
—James W. Skillen
Voting
In regards to politics the popular vote was a long time in coming. Not until the twentieth century
did women win the right to vote (the franchise) 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.
Candidates faith should not be sole criteria… a Christian who can’t farm, shouldn’t try to
fulfill farmers role.
53
Ideally the Christian voter would expect that Christian candidates should have the best political
program, but that is not automatically the case. Imagine, for example, that I as a Christian were to
go into farming because I wanted to be a good steward of plants, animals and other resources in
order to produce food for people. The problem is that I am not qualified to be a farmer. I know
nothing about farming. Just because I am a Christian, I will not necessarily do what is right as a
farmer—or as an artist, scientist or public official. Christian voters, in other words, must ask about
more than the faith orientation of a candidate for public office; they have to ask how a candidate’s
faith orientation is related to his or her qualifications for the job as judged by experience, wisdom,
political philosophy, an understanding of many different issues and more. If we had a different
kind of electoral system, it would be easier for citizens to compare and judge each party, knowing
that the candidates in each party would be bound by that party’s platform and philosophy.
2033. What England Did For One Subject
The King of Abyssinia once took a British subject named Cameron prisoner and incarcerated
him in the high fortress of Magdala. No cause was assigned for his confinement. When Great
Britain found out, she demanded an immediate release for her citizen. King Theodore refused.
Within ten days after the refusal was received, ten thousand British soldiers were sailing down
the coast headed for Magdala. Then marching across an unfriendly country for seven hundred
miles, they went up the mountains to where the prisoner was being held. They gave battle, tearing
the gates of the fortress down and reached the depths of the dungeon. They lifted that one British
subject out, placed him on their shoulders and carried him down the mountains to the coast where
a big ocean vessel soon sped him safely home.
That expedition took several months and cost the English government twenty-five million
dollars. The entire resources of the government were made available in the rescue of only one
citizen. Every child of God has this privilege and birthright in Christ.
3403. One World In Future
The Reader’s Digest once contained this statement:
“God grant that not only the love of liberty but a thorough knowledge of the Rights of
Man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that a philosopher may set his foot
anywhere on its surface and say, ‘This is my country.’ ”
That day is coming!
Matthew 17:24-27 (NIV)
After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came
to Peter and asked, "Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?"
25
"Yes, he does," he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he
asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or from
others?"
26
"From others," Peter answered.
"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27"But so that we may not offend them, go to the
lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-
drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
17:24-27 As God’s people, we are foreigners on earth because our loyalty is always to our real
King—Jesus. Still we have to cooperate with the authorities and be responsible citizens.
It’s a relationship that is at the heart of this nation from it’s beginning…
54
"Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven
and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to
figure ourselves what that life would be if these standards were removed. We would lose almost
all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards
which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves."
President Theodore Roosevelt in "Quotes From America’s Leaders,"
Reference
(Earstohear.net)
Christians understand Romans 13 in different ways. All Christians agree that we are to live at
peace with the state as long as the state allows us to live by our religious convictions. For
hundreds of years, however, there have been at least three interpretations of how we are to do this.
(1) Some Christians believe that the state is so corrupt that Christians should have as little
to do with it as possible. Although they should be good citizens as long as they can do so without
compromising their beliefs, they should not work for the government, vote in elections, or serve in
the military.
(2) Others believe that God has given the state authority in certain areas and the church
authority in others. Christians can be loyal to both and can work for either. They should not,
however, confuse the two. In this view, church and state are concerned with two totally
different spheres—the spiritual and the physical—and thus complement each other but do not
work together.
(3) Still others believe that Christians have a responsibility to make the state better. They
can do this politically, by electing Christian or other high-principled leaders. They can also do this
morally, by serving as an influence for good in society. In this view, church and state ideally
work together for the good of all.
None of these views advocate rebelling against or refusing to obey the government’s laws or
regulations unless those laws clearly require you to violate the moral standards revealed by God.
Wherever we find ourselves, we must be responsible citizens, as well as responsible Christians.
Candidates faith should not be sole criteria… a Christian who can’t farm, shouldn’t try to
fulfill farmers role.
All human institutions are deeply flawed.
Humans are sorely tempted to trust in their own collective strength.
Despite their flaws, human institutions play key roles in God’s plan.
Civil society can be a dangerous place, but Christians are needed there.
