As you all know, on November 7th millions of people will be going to the polls to elect a new President. And so, this excruciatingly long process, these seemingly endless political campaigns, will finally be over. No more debates, no more ‘attack ads’, no more speculation over vice-presidential picks, no more appearances on ‘Letterman’ or ‘Oprah’ or ‘Regis’ or ‘Rosie O’Donnell, no more speeches, no more campaign rallies, no more conventions. It will all be just be a fading memory.
In just two days, we’ll cast our ballots, the election officials will count them up, and we’ll be done. We will have decided, as a nation, which of these two men will become the leader of the free world, perhaps the most powerful human being on the planet, and which of them will become a footnote in the history books, the answer to a question on ‘Jeopardy’.
Probably most of you are planning to cast a ballot on Tuesday. You may still be uncertain who to vote for. Or, you may have decided, but you may have made the wrong decision. So let me tell you how you should vote. I’d been hoping that Larry King would ask me to come on his show to reveal my endorsement, as he did with Ross Perot, but the call hasn’t come yet. So, I’ll just share it with you. After all, what’s a pastor for, if not to help people with decisions like this? Here it is: when you go to the polls on Tuesday, I urge every one of you to vote for – George Gore. I mean Al Bush. Did I say Bush? I meant Ralph Buchanan.
No, I’m not going to issue an endorsement [although many ministers have done so, at least implicitly – amazing how God could be on both sides like that]. I’m not going to do it because it would have several bad effects. It would render your financial contributions non-tax-exempt. It would make probably half of you mad at me. [Not that I’m opposed to that on principle, I’d just rather save it for something really important]. But the most important reason that I am not endorsing a Presidential candidate, and will never endorse any candidate for public office from the pulpit, is that it would be wrong. It would be an abuse of my position, it would be an illegitimate exercise of spiritual authority.
Because it would imply that there is only one possible “Christian” choice; that the question of who should be our next President has only one right answer for a believer in Christ. It would say that to vote for one of these men is an act of faithfulness and obedience and devotion to Christ, while a vote for the other is a sin. And that’s just not true. A Christian, in good conscience and for good Biblical reasons, could vote for either Al Gore or George Bush (or for Nader or Buchanan, for that matter).
I’m not saying there are no differences. There are deep philosophical and personal differences among the candidates. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter who is elected. It matters tremendously to our country, and to the world, who the President is. And I won’t pretend that I don’t have strong personal feelings on the matter. But it would be wrong for me, or anyone, to say that my preferences are necessarily God’s preferences, and that therefore if you’re a Christian you should vote like me.
So you can make a case for your guy, from a political point of view, or a moral point of view, or a social, or historical, or a theological, or Biblical point of view who you think would better serve the office. Talk about Medicare, or supreme court appointments, or character, or Social Security, or tax policy, or prescription drugs, or military preparedness, or Buddhist temple fundraisers. Just don’t claim that there is only one “Christian” way to vote.
All right, if I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, what am I going to do? I’m going to give you two principles to help you think about this whole process in a Christian way, to help give you a Biblical view of government and politics. Then you’ll be better equipped, not just to vote in this election, but to live as both disciples of Christ and citizens of this nation.
God is in control of governments and governors
Here’s the first point: God is in control of both the government and the governors.
As you look at our Federal government with its huge bureaucracy, sometimes it’s hard to believe that anyone is in control. For instance, did you know that part of your taxes go to support the 548 members of the Panama Canal Commission? (http://www.opm.gov/feddata/demograp/table1mw.pdf) Didn’t we give that canal back to Panama? You’ve probably heard of the Environmental Protection Agency (19,187 employees) or the Small Business Administration (4,536). But did you know you were also paying the salaries of the 51 federal employees of the “American Battle Monuments Commission” or the 25 members of the “John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board”? Or the 1,367 employees of the National Cemetery System?
And it’s not just the size of the government. It’s the actions of the government that give us cause for concern. I don’t need to give any examples. You can all think of examples of government officials acting in ways that call into question whether anyone is in control, especially God.
But the Bible says that however things may look, however badly those in authority may act, whether they realize it or not, whether they acknowledge it or not, God is in control. God is sovereign over this government, and every government on the face of the earth. God is in authority over the President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, and every employee of every federal agency. God is in control. They can do nothing, good or bad, without His permission. He put them there in the first place, and He can remove them whenever he pleases.
“He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them.” – Daniel 2:21 (NIV)
“…the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.” – Daniel 4:17 (NIV)
“For [God] says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
–Romans 9:17 (NIV)
“… there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” – Romans 13:1 (NIV)
As we go to the polls on Tuesday, as we evaluate the results on Wednesday, we need to remember that ultimately, God chooses the President. God works through the free choices of millions of people, with no coercion, each person making a decision based on what he or she thinks is best. Many of those people have no desire to serve God. But somehow, all of those individual free choices end up accomplishing God’s purpose to place in office the one whom He chooses. How does that work? I don’t know. But it’s true.
Does that mean the best man always wins? [Defining “best” anyway you want – most qualified, best suited to the task, most honorable, most intelligent – whatever] No. Of course not. Every time there is an election, we have a large percentage of people who are convinced the wrong person won. But it means that God always chooses the one who is best suited to accomplish His purposes, whatever those may be. For instance, Pharaoh was an evil man who oppressed and abused God’s people as slaves in Egypt. Yet the Bible says that in spite of this, or actually because of it, God raised Him up – He made Him Pharaoh. God did this so that He could accomplish His purpose, which was to display His power by overcoming Pharaoh by force.
This is a great comfort to the Christian. You may consider George Bush to be an amiable dunce, a frat boy who only got where he is by virtue of his name and his connections. You may consider Al Gore to be much better qualified, more knowledgeable, more experienced. If George Bush wins, you don’t have to change your opinion. You can continue to believe that Al Gore is better qualified. But you can take comfort in knowing that God has a purpose for installing George Bush in that office.
Let’s speculate: Perhaps there is one critical decision, two years into his term, that the next President will have to make, a decision involving nuclear war, for instance. Perhaps in 99.5% of the cases, Al Gore would make a better decision than George Bush. But in this one, critical case, for whatever reason, George Bush would make the right decision and Al Gore the wrong one. And for that reason, God chooses to install George Bush into office. On the other hand, God might raise up a leader for the purpose of bringing judgment on a nation, rather than blessing it. He might want to bring affliction and suffering on a people in order to cause them to repent of their sin and bring them back to Himself. [Or if nothing else, maybe God wants Him in just for the entertainment value of hearing him mangle the English language for four years.]
Or take Al Gore. Perhaps you think he’s disqualified for the office because of poor character. You think that his policies would be a disaster for the country. But if he wins, you can take comfort in knowing that God didn’t drop the ball. He didn’t make a mistake. He chose the man he wanted, in order to accomplish His purposes. And since we don’t know God’s specific purposes, we aren’t good judges of whether His choice is a good one. We need to trust that He know what He’s doing.
Whatever you think of Bill Clinton, he is in office today, and has been for the last eight years, because God wanted him there. God could have removed him at any time, but He chose not to do so. Ultimately, he’s not still there because a handful of Senators voted not to convict on the articles of impeachment. He’s there because He’s fulfilling God’s purpose. Some people feel that God’s purpose in placing Bill Clinton in office was blessing; some feel it was judgment. But either way, he is there because God put and kept him there.
Does that mean we can’t criticize, or expose error or wrongdoing, or oppose policies we consider to be harmful? No! We don’t have to change any of our opinions, nor do we have to just passively accept whatever the next President may try to do. But ultimately, we can take comfort in knowing that God put him there for his own purposes, and those purposes will be accomplished, whether or not the man He places in the office acknowledges it or desires it. God is in control.
“The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” – Psalm 103:19 (NIV)
Our trust must be in God, not politicians or governments
As you watch the rallies for George Bush on television, you see huge crowds full of people who obviously have a great desire for him to be our next President. In an article for the American Spectator, one writer (Byron York) called them ‘broken glass Republicans,’ because they would do virtually anything to see GW elected, even crawl across a field of broken glass. Whether it’s because they hate Clinton and Gore so much, or because they love George Bush so much, they are overjoyed at the prospect of their party finally regaining the White House. They see Bush as almost a messiah figure – someone who will deliver them from eight years of Democratic rule. When this story came out about the drunk driving conviction, they shrugged it off. I have a feeling they would overlook anything short of murder if it meant getting their guy in office. And there are Democrats who feel the same way about Gore. He’s the one who’s going to save Social Security, and keep the Republicans from squandering the surplus and leading us back into deficits and inflation and unemployment.
But we can’t fall into that trap. We can’t put our trust in any man, even a great man. Our trust has to be in God. Our hopes for the future have to be placed in God’s hands, not George Bush’s or Al Gore’s. If our nation is going to be blessed; if there is going to be a return to God and a spiritual awakening; if we are going to prosper economically and enjoy times of peace, it will be because God brought it about.
“It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in princes.” - Psalm 118:8-9 (NIV)
“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” – Psalm 146:3-5 (NIV)
It may be difficult to remember now the political climate the prevailed in the early 80’s when Ronald Reagan became President. The religious right was strong, organizations like the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition were bragging about how they had gotten Reagan elected. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and James Dobson were powerful national figures. And the general feeling among the religious right was that now they had someone in office who was sympathetic to their cause, someone who would advance their cause, someone who would finally restore America to its Christian roots. They were almost giddy with anticipation. Prayer would be returned to the schools, abortion would be made illegal again, homosexuals driven back into their closets – but what happened? Nothing. Virtually none of their social agenda was accomplished, even with a President who was supposedly sympathetic to their cause. The result was a great deal of disappointment and disillusionment. The problem was that they put their hopes too much in a man – Ronald Reagan. They looked to Reagan as a political Savior, and took their eyes off the only true Savior, Jesus Christ. And so when their replacement Savior didn’t come through, they were confused and discouraged. Was their agenda the right one? That’s not the point. The point is that we need to look to God for the blessings we seek for our country, and not to any man; not George Bush and not Al Gore. If God does bless us as a nation, He may do it through one of these men, but He will not be doing it because of them. He will be doing it because of his great love, and mercy, and grace toward us.
Another reason to trust in God rather than men is that the actions of men are under His control. So whoever is in office, God will use him to accomplish His purposes. If your guy doesn’t get elected, it’s OK to be a little disappointed. But it isn’t a disaster. Our trust is in God, not men. God is sovereign, and He will bring about His good, and wise, and loving purposes through whomever wins the election.
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” – Proverbs 21:1 (NIV)
The decisions, and opinions, and plans and purposes, of the President are in God’s hands, and He will turn them however He wants.
Conclusion
“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.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NIV)
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
