“The Christian and Politics”
March 6, 2016
Exodus 18:13-26
“13 The next day Moses sat as usual to hear the people’s complaints against each other, from morning to evening.
14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw how much time this was taking, he said, “Why are you trying to do all this alone, with people standing here all day long to get your help?”
15-16 “Well, because the people come to me with their disputes, to ask for God’s decisions,” Moses told him. “I am their judge, deciding who is right and who is wrong, and instructing them in God’s ways. I apply the laws of God to their particular disputes.”
17 “It’s not right!” his father-in-law exclaimed. 18 “You’re going to wear yourself out—and if you do, what will happen to the people? Moses, this job is too heavy a burden for you to try to handle all by yourself. 19-20 Now listen, and let me give you a word of advice, and God will bless you: Be these people’s lawyer—their representative before God—bringing him their questions to decide; you will tell them his decisions, teaching them God’s laws, and showing them the principles of godly living.
21 “Find some capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes, and appoint them as judges, one judge for each 1000 people; he in turn will have ten judges under him, each in charge of a hundred; and under each of them will be two judges, each responsible for the affairs of fifty people; and each of these will have five judges beneath him, each counseling ten persons. 22 Let these men be responsible to serve the people with justice at all times. Anything that is too important or complicated can be brought to you. But the smaller matters they can take care of themselves. That way it will be easier for you because you will share the burden with them. 23 If you follow this advice, and if the Lord agrees, you will be able to endure the pressures, and there will be peace and harmony in the camp.”
24 Moses listened to his father-in-law’s advice and followed this suggestion. 25 He chose able men from all over Israel and made them judges over the people—thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26 They were constantly available to administer justice. They brought the hard cases to Moses but judged the smaller matters themselves.”
I don’t know many people who are as into politics as much as my father-in-law, Bob Wilden. At 95, this retired pastor, has the time to listen to every debate and every candidates spiel from every political party. I’ve listened to quite a few debates and investigated the candidate’s backgrounds and history and track records so I can make an intelligent decision when I vote, but I simply can’t listen to everything. For one thing, I can’t take all the negativity and lies and smears that most of them engage in. Unfortunately most Christians also find the process so distasteful that they hardly investigate the candidates or what they say. They often vote for someone who thinks for them. Often they vote for a candidate who have opposing views to theirs and is actually working against the values they hold dear.
I listen to my grandchildren when they come home from school. They ARE being taught in school. They are being influenced for one candidate over another. Listen to them to find out what is being pushed on them. It is disturbing to me. It is mostly very liberal. They aren’t being taught how to think for themselves or how to investigate how to find the best candidate. They are just being persuaded to support one (usually liberal) candidate over another and actually are persuaded to believe lies and mistruths about others (usually conservative) candidates.
This morning, I don’t want to tell you how to vote or what candidate to support. You are smart and intuitive and Spirit led and can figure that out for yourself. What I want to do is share some biblical principles with you regarding this very important topic.
In our Scripture we easily see the first point. The God inspired government was a representative form of government. Listen to it again.
“Be these people’s lawyer—their representative before God—bringing him their questions to decide; you will tell them his decisions, teaching them God’s laws, and showing them the principles of godly living.
“Find some capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes, and appoint them as judges, one judge for each 1000 people; he in turn will have ten judges under him, each in charge of a hundred; and under each of them will be two judges, each responsible for the affairs of fifty people; and each of these will have five judges beneath him, each counseling ten persons. Let these men be responsible to serve the people with justice at all times.” Exodus 18:20-22
Do you see the representative form of government? Every person had a voice. One representative only had 10 people to represent. That was doable. The individual was important. His voice and opinion was important. It was important that every person felt that they were represented and that their voice would be heard by the leaders of the country.
We don’t have that anymore. Our wise forefathers created our government with representation but it has changed over the years. Originally each county or area had an equal number of senators. The rural counties had equal representation with the cities. But the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren and a liberal court, took the representation away, along with prayer in school and a number of other unconstitutional things. He said rocks and trees can’t vote. One vote for each person was the new law.
That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? But we already had equal representation in the house. The senate was to represent equally rural areas. With that gone the power was solely in the cities where the most votes were. Now they could vote to shut down our lumber industry, mining and ranching and take our water for themselves. And that is what has happened.
Do you see the wisdom of the Bible? A representative form of government was much preferred over a democracy. And our forefathers knew this. Many of them called a democracy – a “mobocracy”. The mob ruled. This is what we have today and it is why many people are working to create a new state. The state of Jefferson is not just Northern California’s dream. It is happening all over the nation. People want representation.
A second thing I want you to notice about this Scripture in Exodus is the qualifications for leadership. Let’s read them again.
“Find some capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes, and appoint them as judges” Exodus 18:21
Did you get those qualifications? First of all they need to be capable. You need to be capable of leading a nation or leading people or whatever office you are running for. The Bible says,
“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men. Proverbs 22:29
Daniel and his three Hebrew companions were very influential in government, even though they were young and political prisoners. They were chosen to hold positions of power because they were skillful and wise.
“To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.
Daniel 1:17, 19-20
Pharaoh chose Joseph to be second in command in spite of the fact that he was a Hebrew, for whom the Egyptians had little regard –why? Because he manifested greater wisdom than any other man in Egypt. (Genesis 41:39)
A leader needs to be capable. Secondly they need to be godly. Last week we talked a little bit about what it means to be godly. 2 Peter 3:11 says,
“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.” 2 Peter 3:11
Then we asked, “How do you live a godly life? We said it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit and as He bears the fruit of his presence in our lives. The fruit of the Holy Spirit, Galatians, chapter 5, tells us is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
We concluded that no matter what is going on around us – whether the world is falling apart or entering into revival – our job is to live holy and godly lives. Holiness is that state of purity we have when we live in obedience to God. When we are forgiven all sin is gone. It is as it never happened to God. And when we live, not in rebellion, not willfully sinning against God, not giving in to temptation, but lovingly following Him, serving Him and obeying Him – that state is holiness.
Godliness is a adjective. Godliness is doing. Holiness is a state. Godliness is an action. It is loving, and being faithful and joyful and kind and all the rest of those nine fruit.
So we need to elect only those men and women who are godly. In other words you can see evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. The first standard for a candidate is that they are godly. Are they kind? Are they gentle? Are they faithful, self-controlled, loving – and all the rest.
The third qualification kind of goes along with that. They need to be
honest. “Find some capable, godly, honest men who hate bribes, and appoint them as judges” Exodus 18:21
They need to be out to serve – not be served. They need to be givers – not takers. That is why when our government was formed all the Politicians were volunteer – not paid. Now they vote to line their own pockets at the expense of the people. They vote to give themselves raises and a huge retirement package for life. I don’t know if we can ever change that now – but at least when we vote we can look for honest people to vote for.
Those are some pretty high qualifications but they pale in comparison when compared to the New Testament. Listen to them.
“Now look around among yourselves, dear brothers, and select seven men, wise and full of the Holy Spirit, who are well thought of by everyone; and we will put them in charge of this business.” Acts 6:3
Did you get that? They need to be wise, filled with the Holy Spirit and well thought of by everyone. In other words they need to be wise and spiritually mature and if they are – they will be well thought of by everyone.
The Bible shows us what kind of government we should create – representative; it shows us the qualifications of the leaders and then it gives us, thirdly, some warnings and instruction. The Bible assumes that the purpose of government is to promote righteousness and that righteousness is for the good of the people. Listen,
“When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, And when the wicked perish, there is glad shouting. By the blessing of the righteous a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.” Proverbs 11:10-11
“Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.”
Proverbs 14:34
“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan.” Proverbs 29:2
The only way for a nation to be righteous is for the leaders to be righteous. The Bible says,
“A leader who is a great oppressor lacks understanding, But he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.” Proverbs 28:16
“If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne will be established forever.”
Proverbs 29:14
“Open your mouth for the dumb, For the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.
Proverbs 31:8-9
Do you see that the government is to secure the rights of all the people but especially for those who need help? People like the poor and needy and the afflicted and the unfortunate ones. Our government’s job is to do the things we can’t do for ourselves. Those who rule have an obligation to do the right thing. They need to be seekers of truth. The Bible says,
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” Proverbs 25:2
“Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the Lord understand all things.” Proverbs 28:5
The kind of leaders we want are those who seek the Lord. I want a President, Governor, Senator, or whatever – to seek the Lord and especially in prayer. They did when our country was founded. Read some of the wonderful prayers of men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (yes, he prayed in Jesus’ name), Lincoln and most of the others. Our leaders ought to be seekers of God. How do we know when they are or aren’t? When they attend church regularly, go to religious functions and pray publically and in private are clues. If they claim to be ‘silent witnesses’ or their religion is a ‘private’ matter or they don’t do these things – they have lost my vote.
Let me conclude with what the Christian’s duty is in politics. John Adams, the second president of the United States, wrote in 1789,
“Our Constitution was designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other… Free government rests upon public and private morality.”
Christians, when rightly informed and motivated, change the character of political debate. They bring the moral standards of God’s kingdom into the civic realm.
“Forgiveness of sins is the central message of the gospel,” says theologian Wayne Grudem. “That’s the only way people’s hearts are truly transformed.” God’s grace changes people, and as a result they change everything around them. Families are renewed. Schools are rejuvenated. Businesses rethink their mission and purpose. What’s more, the gospel of Christ, because it changes hearts, changes the course of civil government.
The Christian, first of all, has a duty to live a holy and godly life. It starts with us. The Christian is a ‘light’. He is ‘salt’. The Christian is an activist. Too many people do not want Christians involved in politics – but we MUST be. We must vote. Scripture tells us to pray for our governing leaders (2 Timothy 2:1-4) and to respect those in authority (Romans 13:1-7). Above that Christians need to be involved in the political arena. If we aren’t – then the godless will become out leaders – and that is exactly what has happened. When our country was founded, in many states you couldn’t hold public office unless you were a professing Christian.
“Any person chosen Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Counsellor, Senator, or Representative, and accepting the trust, shall, before he proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe the following declaration: “I do declare that I believe the Christian religion and have firm persuasion of its truth.” 1780 Massachusetts State Constitution
Consequently, our country prospered. But somewhere along the line the church in America swallowed the ‘separation of church and government’ line. Because most people did not know the context, never read the constitution or the Founding Fathers writings, they believed what they were told and Christians willingly surrendered their responsibilities to the ungodly. Abortion, homosexuality and anti-Christian values became a part of our society.
The state of our country is not the fault of the godless and the perverse – they are simply doing what they believe and what is natural for them. It is the Christian’s fault for not being involved and informed. We need to get prayed up, informed and get into the political arena if we are to become the godly nation we once were.
Let me close with this. If any Politian does not support and promote a representative form of government – don’t support him. Fulfill your duty of praying for your representatives. Elect only those people who meet the Biblical qualifications. And lastly, get involved and work to restore our former godly government.
Let’s end with a prayer for our nation.
