The Christian and Government #3 ¡V
Allowing Christ to Rule Your Entire Life
Luke 10:27, Matthew 22:21
June 7, 2004
Introduction
(Note: you will need several items for the object lessons in this message:
Object Lesson 1:
„Ï 5 empty bowls, each labeled God (or Church), Family, Work, Recreation, and Politics.
„Ï 1 Pitcher filled with water, labeled God.
„Ï 1 Large container half-filled with water, also labeled God (needs to be big enough to hold the bowls inside, as well as take all the water from the pitcher ¡V the container will already have water, but you will be adding the water from the pitcher). Keep this container hidden until you need it for ¡§level three of the lesson.
Object Lesson 2:
„Ï One glass of milk (make sure the glass is clear).
„Ï Some Chocolate milk mix (preferably a powder because it dissolves quickly).
Keep all these things covered until needed in the message, especially the second lesson, because you may cause people to anticipate your point!
The original title of today¡¦s message was ¡§The Danger of Mixing Politics and Religion,¡¨ and my plan was to focus on how some people can only look at their Bibles through the eyes of the Founding Fathers of our country.
These people take their cues from whoever is the leading voice at the moment for the political wing of the evangelical church. I think that¡¦s dangerous.
And we see people like Dr. James Dobson and D. James Kennedy as political activists rather than men who love Jesus and want others to know and love Him as well. And I¡¦m convinced that that¡¦s who they really are.
Then I was going to title the message, ¡§The Danger of NOT Mixing Politics and Religion," because there are also those who feel that religion should not have any impact on your political outlook, and I think that is dangerous as well, for reasons I discussed at length the last two weeks.
Some pastors LOVE to talk about politics. I hate it. And my remarks today will be mercifully brief, and actually won¡¦t address politics in specific much.
But unfortunately, it needs to be done on occasion. Because the church of Jesus Christ has too often defaulted in this area, and now we have people in office who desire to stifle the free expression of faith in God, and who put political expediency above Biblical principle.
Just this week, two Senators have introduced a hate crimes bill similar to the one that has passed in Canada.
Now understand something ¡V I understand the motive of the bill. No one should be singled out for violence because of their skin, sex, or sexual preference, or their religion. But isn¡¦t every crime of violence actually a hate crime?
The bill has the very real potential to single out followers of Christ for telling what the Bible says about sin and sinful lifestyles, not to mention what it says about Jesus being the only, exclusive way to God.
So I hope you can understand why I feel so strongly that the church should be involved in electing godly men and women to public office.
The goal of today¡¦s message is this: to show you what the Bible says about how a relationship with Christ should impact every area of your life, including your politics.
And in doing that, I want to point out two verses of Scripture from Jesus Himself, and then look at how we can apply them, not just in our political involvement, but to our lives in general.
Now before we dive in let me just give you an indication of how much I like the whole area of politics. The word politics itself is a compound word ¡V ¡§poly,¡¨ which means ¡§many,¡¨ and ¡§ticks,¡¨ which of course means, ¡§blood-sucking insects.¡¨
And that¡¦s about my level of love for the political spectrum. But even though I don¡¦t like politics, I also realize that if I don¡¦t become involved in some form, then I am allowing those who don¡¦t love Christ to rule by default.
But I think that you will find that this message applies across the board, okay? So let¡¦s get going.
One of the verses, and the catalyst of what has sparked my comments today is Luke 10:27, and I would like it if you would read this aloud with me, all right?
He answered: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’
This is obviously a familiar passage to most people, and many of us could quote it in our sleep. The problem is that many Christians stop there. They can quote it, but they won¡¦t take a look at what that means in every day, seven-days a week, especially Monday through Saturday living.
If we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then what area of our life should we NOT love Him with?
Jesus said we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. What areas are we to exclude from that?
Are we to only be salt and light during Sunday morning and not the rest of the week? Or are we only to be salt and light at church, and not at work, and absolutely not at the ballot box? I don¡¦t think Jesus was implying anything other than that we are to give Him our entire allegiance all the time and in all areas.
I think there¡¦s a progression that has to take place if we want to become people who are people who love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, in all areas of our lives.
And I want to use some things here to help me with this.
You know, in my own personal walk with God, I am falling in love with Jesus more than I ever have before, and it¡¦s having an impact in my life that I never expected. Next week I¡¦m going to tell you about something I learned just this week that has already changed my life for Christ, as we talk about when Jesus called the disciples in Matthew.
But one of the things that has really struck me about Jesus was the way He taught, and one of the things He did was to use object lessons.
So often we think of object lessons as those nice little things we use when teaching children, but Jesus used them when talking to grown-ups.
So today, I¡¦m going to use two different object lessons. Here¡¦s the progression.
(Set-up: have 5 bowls, labeled God (or church), Work, Family, Recreation, and Politics. Place them at the front of the table with the labels showing. Have a pitcher)
Level one ¡V Compartments
Most people think of life in two main categories: sacred ¡V those things that have to do with church and God and such, and secular ¡V those things having to do with everything else not touching God and church.
We feel that they need to be separate, not touching each other, either because we don¡¦t think God would be interested in these things or because we¡¦re not comfortable allowing God to have a say in them.
And so we have categories like work, play, family, politics, and church. And we live life with these as separate portions of our lives, and if they ever connect, it¡¦s usually accidentally.
But if we stay that way, especially as Christians, then we shall always be shallow people with a shallow faith that makes no real significant impact on us, our families, or those around us.
There¡¦s a second level, and that is:
Level two ¡V Filling the Compartments with God.
This is when we look at these compartments and say, ¡§You know what? I need God in these things. I need God to fill each of these compartments for me, because I want God to be a part of each of these things.
(Begin filling each bowl with water.)
So we invite God, through His Holy Spirit and His Word, to fill each of these things. We allow Biblical principles to direct us in our work, play, family, politics, and our church.
Did you know that you can have plenty of church without God? There¡¦s a story of a guy who was interested in attending a certain church that was known for its exclusive membership. To be a member of this church was considered something special.
But no matter what this guy did or tried, he could never get accepted. So one day he¡¦s praying to God, and he says, ¡§Lord, You know that I¡¦ve tried everything I can think of to get into this church, and I can¡¦t seem to get in.¡¨
And God replied, ¡§I know how you feel. I¡¦ve been trying for years and I can¡¦t seem to get in there, either.¡¨
Level two is a great thing. But I think that for real life-change in every area of life, we need to go to the third level, and that is¡K
Level three ¡V Immersing the Compartments
in God.
(Empty the bowls into the large container, then place the bowls themselves in the container, and then pour the rest of the water from the pitcher, if any, into the container)
This is where rather than asking God to fill the compartment, we just say that He can HAVE the compartment, and we find our identity not in the compartments ¡V how well we do our work, or how wonderful our family or church is ¡V but rather in Christ, and the compartments are now part of our identity in Christ.
God is no longer just a ¡§compartment¡¨ ¡V He¡¦s the ruler and sustainer of your life.
It¡¦s not that you don¡¦t operate in those areas, it¡¦s just that now you operate out of who you are in Christ, not just what you do, get it?
But for that to happen, you need a bigger God. You understand what I mean? You need a God who¡¦s big enough to cover every area of your life and then some.
Is your God big enough to handle your working life? Is your God big enough to handle your family life? Is your God big enough to cover your recreational life? Is your God big enough to handle your trials and disappointments in life?
Folks, the God of the Bible is big enough! And He invites you to let Him handle it! Listen to these words from Isaiah:
ISA 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
ISA 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
What an invitation to just jump in! What are you waiting for? Go for it!
If you have never made the jump from level two to level three, let me tell you that you have an awesome opportunity!
God delights in taking care of you ¡V every area of your life! I have been finding that true more and more, the more I let Him do it. And I marvel at how long I went in my relationship with Him before I would turn over various compartments of my life over to Him completely.
Where are you living? On level one, two, or three? If you¡¦re not in level three, don¡¦t put it off!
By the way, you can jump from level one to level three. You don¡¦t have to go through level two. It takes guts, but God Himself promises to see you through it and bless you for it.
Changing the essence:
This next object lesson is simple and very quick, and think you¡¦ll see the point very quickly.
(Uncover the milk and chocolate milk mix.)
The idea is that when we let Christ rule in our lives, to take control of every area of our life, to take control of every compartment, then not only do notice a radical change in our thinking, it does something to our very being.
Here¡¦s a glass of milk. Just an ordinary glass of milk. By the way, this is not the same glass of milk I used a few weeks ago, okay?
Now I¡¦m going to add some chocolate to this milk, and I¡¦m going to ask that the ladies in the congregation refrain from rushing the platform!
As I stir the chocolate into the milk, what happens? It becomes something different. It¡¦s not just milk with chocolate in it, it becomes chocolate milk. At what point did the change happen? When we caused the chocolate to invade and influence the milk by working it in with the spoon.
If you were to look into this glass, you would not be able to tell what parts of the milk is white, and what parts were chocolate. The chocolate has taken over the identity of the milk, if you will. The very essence of the milk has been effected.
But let me ask you some questions: Was the milk changed? Yes ¡V it is not the same as it once was ¡V it has been influenced in texture, flavor, etc. It has been undeniably changed. That¡¦s the first blank in your outline there.
Second, was the change hidden or visible? Obviously, it was visible. The chocolate milk is no longer white, but brown. The milk was changed visibly.
Third, can the milk now be changed back? No, at least not without some major chemical magic. It¡¦s chocolate milk now, not just milk, and it cannot be changed back. It has been changed permanently.
What¡¦s the point, Brian? Here it is. In order to become a person who loves the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you need to¡K
Allow Christ to change you undeniably, visibly, and permanently.
So what kind of Christian should you be? A compartment-immersed chocolate milk Christian, of course! Now how¡¦s that for cool?
Hey buddy, are you a Christian? Oh yeah¡K and not just any Christian. I¡¦m a chocolate milk Christian, man, not just a plain-ol¡¦ white milk kinda Christian. Cool¡K
Question: So what about mixing politics and religion?
Let me just answer that very quickly and say this:
Answers: You¡¦d better! ¡Kand¡KYou already do!
If your relationship with God allows you to vote and campaign for certain issues, whatever they are, then you are mixing politics and religion.
Everybody does it, even those who don¡¦t claim to follow God. They have a religious belief that allows them to vote and campaign in whatever way they feel like.
But for the Christian, I think this verse from Matthew 22 tells us something we can take home.
Matthew 22:21
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s."
If you belong to God, you don¡¦t belong to a political system or political party. And if you are a compartment-immersed, chocolate milk kind of a Christian, then it¡¦s so much easier to make the distinction between what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar.
When you are immersed in Christ, then everything about you becomes touched and affected by your relationship with Him.
Conclusion
Folks, I hope you can see that while what I¡¦ve talked about has political implications, it goes much farther.
We need to yield every area of our life to Christ. He deserves it all. He died for you, after all, securing a place in heaven for you because He loves you and knows what¡¦s best for you.
I know that¡¦s hard to believe sometimes, but it¡¦s true.
So let me finish by just making the invitation one more time. Dive in ¡V immerse your life in the Lord. Don¡¦t hold anything back. Let Him change your very essence.
Let Him make you a new person not just theologically, but practically ¡V in your work, family, recreation, your politics, and even your church life.
Go for it. It¡¦s worth it.
Let¡¦s pray.
