Christians and Politics

-Disclaimer: I am not and will not claim to be an expert in political theory. I didn’t really want to approach this topic, but I feel like I need to. I am a pastoral theologian who sees it as my job to read, study, and pray so that I can help us as this local people think through how to live in this world God has created.

-As I’ve processed and thought through this issue I have been heavily influenced by 2 books, and a Podcast. Politics After Christendom, How the Nations Rage, Every Square Inch

-We’ve all lost friends and some have lost family to this issue. There’s been a sense of betrayal and for some of us a lot of questions and doubt because of the ways politics has been engaged in our world today. 

-For today, don’t let me be one of those friends you lose! I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: don’t jump to conclusions based on something I’m not saying as we navigate this issue. There are some areas where I’ll speak very strongly, and others less emphatically, which I think we need to do. We all have a tendency to take 1 issue as our only view and neglect other areas that we need to give special attention to

-Remember theological triage! Just as we need to give more significant attention to theological issues, we also need to give more significant attention to political issues, we need to have political triage too.

-We’re entering another Presidential election year, I think it’s important for us to think about this now so we’re not completely reactionary (which is where I think we in the church tend to be!)

-Politics has become too important in our world.

-For many people, as church engagement has waned, political engagement has taken its’ place. For many people, politics has become their religion! They give their time, money, and talents to furthering the cause of their side. They look to their elected leaders as their priests who will help them usher them into their idea of a “promised land.” There’s a language that you must adopt to be affiliated, a way of living that accompanies it, and if the election doesn’t go their way they become despondent, questioning their entire existence. That’s too far.

-At the root, this is a worship issue, as you’ll see when as we walk through today’s message. When people don’t worship God, they’ll worship anything. That’s at the root of so many of the issues in our world today! (Topic for another time!) 

-Also doing a class starting the 21^st looking at a number of these issues in much more detail (using How the Nations Rage as our textbook for it), so if you want to dialogue about this issue further, that’s the class for you!

-Lots of texts, view this as more of a lecture than a sermon because I think we need a biblical foundation to build on, then the last point will get to what this means for us today. But the phrase I want you to keep in the back of your mind throughout this whole message: FAITHFUL PRESENCE

READ/PRAY 

1. Politics is TEMPORARY

–Gen. 8:20-9:7

-God is a covenant making God, but there’s something unique about this covenant. God previously made a covenant with Adam, He’ll go on to make covenants with Abraham, Moses, David, and finally us in what’s often called the “New Covenant.” But there’s something different and unique about the Noahic covenant. It’s post-Fall, but it’s also universal in it’s scope. Every other covenant is geared toward a specific people group (holy, set apart, different from the world). Noah’s covenant doesn’t leave anyone or anything out. This is why we need to begin with this text to understand the role and purpose of government: it’s for all peoples of the earth. But there’s a couple other things that this text tells us. 

-Universal, preservative, and temporary.

-Preservative: first notice 8:21-22 – never will everything be wiped out, and the seasons will continue. Also in 9:1, 5-6 – families are commanded to multiply, and humans are to be treated honorably (death is opposed to God’s intent). God’s intent is for the preservation of His creation. Combine this with the Adamic covenant, we are commissioned by God to steward His creation, preserving it, working it, bringing food and flourishing from it.

-Finally, this is one that I hadn’t really noticed before, but this is temporary. Look at 8:22 “while the earth remains.” This world won’t remain forever. History is moving in a specific direction (which we’ll start studying next month in Revelation). This means that politics is only a temporary endeavor. It’s worth investing in, we’re actually commanded by other passages to remain engaged politically, but don’t treat politics as the ultimate solution to a broken world.

-The reason we need to remain engaged is because we are commanded to “be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth,” and if we’re going to pursue that, what do we need? Some kind of structures that will allow us to raise families. I found the language from Politics After Christendom helpful. I’m just going to mention them briefly, and then move on because if you want to engage further, come to the Equip Class! 

-familial: procreation and raising of children

-enterprise: as procreation takes place we need ways to feed and provide for the growing population (farming, building, technology)

-judicial: ensuring justice is just and reasonable. Provides a way to settle disputes among people

-3 things we see from Genesis: 1-God’s plan post-fall is for humans to expand, filling the earth. 2- To do that means we need some system or way of working together. 3- Governments role in that is preservative in nature, and these governmental structures are only as long as this earth endures. But then what that means for us today is:

• The CHURCH is Political (and not in the way you think!)

-In order to have politics (structure for a society) you need: laws, regulations, leadership of some sort. And what’s crazy is the church has all that! Let’s start in the OT:

-Jer. 31:31-34

-Notice the covenantal language here. God is providing a framework for His people to exist in the world, which means this is the way God wants politics to work. But this covenant is different from the covenant with Noah. Who does this apply to? “The house of Israel” aka God’s people. 

-Unlike every other nation, this time the laws won’t be on stone tablets, or long legal documents, or a constitution, or a monarchy, or tradition. This time the laws will be on our hearts, which means people’s orientation, drive, desire will be correct. It’s not that everyone will be guided by their hearts to do whatever they feel is right, but that we will always only want to do what pleases Him.

-We also see that God will be our ultimate ruler, which means there’s no need for anyone else to tell us how to live. A true theocracy where Jesus it the King!

-Lastly there’s no need for judicial courts. Since everyone is being led by the Lord, and because it’s a theocracy, sin has already been dealt with. There’s justice, but only because God has dealt with it when he took the penalty for everyone’s sin on the cross.

-This is true today! In the church. The church is meant to be a counter-kingdom to the kingdoms of this world. And Jesus gives us some pictures of what that looks like:

-Matt. 5:2-12

-Do you see Jesus tells you how to enter the everlasting kingdom of heaven: being poor in spirit – that is understanding that we aren’t self-sufficient, that we can’t save ourselves and that we need the help of someone else.

-A contrary ethic to the world. I read a blog once that flipped these around to describe the world, and unfortunately some worldly churches. If you want to see what the kingdom of earth looks like, it’s like this. 

-But if you want to be a part of the kingdom of heaven, it looks different. How do stop someone who is meek, merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker? You could kill them, which is what Jesus says! But these means of living are meant to describe us in EVERY situation (including political discussions). Are you meek in those talks? Are you merciful (extending charity toward others), pure in heart (assuming the best of others even when they disagree), peacemaker (instead of constantly fighting and bickering).

-Expect persecution! THIS WORLD ISN’T OUR HOME! NO NATION IS MEANT TO BE OUR HOME! We are sojourners, strangers, aliens. We also see this in the way Jesus taught us to pray:

-Matt. 6:9-13

-“Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

-The goal is for earth to look like heaven. But it doesn’t and it won’t because earth doesn’t recognize who the true ruler is (yet!)

-The way Jesus literally commands us to pray is to begin with a recognition that this world and its’ rulers will pass away. Did you know (we’ll get to it in Revelation) the kings of the world will bring the glory they developed into heaven? Rev. 21:26 “They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations.” How cool is that? The technological advances will be purified such that they will no longer be used as objects to sin, but ways to better and further glorify God! 

-What I want you to take away from these 2 passages is the church is meant to be a counter-kingdom to the kingdoms of this world. There are different expectations, different hopes, different leaders, and there’s an eternal direction to them. That means that instead of operating as the world tries to get us to operate, we’re now citizens of heaven! But how do we engage as we’re also still citizens of earth?

-Rom. 13:1-7

-The Bible is explicit in a couple places about the role and function of government, and it’s one that people often run to before they’ve done any of this other work to get there! AND there was a whole HOST of debates about this very text when COVID was going on!

-Begins with a reminder that every earthly ruler is ultimately accountable to God (remember, we saw the basic instructions for earthly rulers back in Gen. 9), which means the default for Christians is to look for opportunities to obey the government. Yes, there are times and places where disobedience is required (think of our brothers and sisters in N Korea, China, Iraq), but the default should be obedience. Christians should be the best citizens! This was true in the early church. Letter to Diognetus, AD 130. 

-Would this be true of you today?

-Do good and not bad, be good citizens! 

-1 Peter 2:13-17

-“Punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.” I love that description! Now I don’t have time today to get into situations where the government is praising evil and punishing those who do good, come to my class if you want to talk more about that!

-Part of the reason we’re called to be good citizens is vs. 15. Think of that letter I just read – if we’re living as God has commanded us our very lives should be the primary explanation and example for what it means to follow Jesus. Remember, if He is our Lord and King (which He is) that has implications in how we should live here and now.

-Both recognition of the legitimacy of the emperor, but he is supposed to be treated differently than God. Peter uses the same word towards the emperor as everyone else, thus affirming the sole Lordship of God and the emperor’s place in our allegiance.

• How CHRISTIANS Should Be Political

-Church has tended to experience either persecution or power. We’ve seen this swing throughout history, and the church has struggled with both of these extremes.

-The Christian church as a political party isn’t the ideal. America is unique in that: protects from persecution, but doesn’t give the church power. 

-That means that imperfections in our society are manifested in a partisan way: everyone plays partisan games, church is tempted to the same idea and ends up fighting the same “wars.” The trend is when the church is exempt from persecution and power to become partisan, that is identified solely with one political party. Politicians LOVE this! Because it means they can claim hold to an entire demographic of people. I onetime heard someone say: politicians are going to politic, we should expect no less. 

-“Jesus is political, but He is not partisan. The kingdom of God has political implications, but it is not a political kingdom.”  Cunningham, ESI

–Jer. 29:4-7

-Seek the welfare of the city “for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” We must remain engaged as a faithful presence in the world. Jesus describes us a salt, that is a preservative. We’re looking to preserve the things of earth that are signposts of heaven. So if God calls you into politics, do so with a different approach than the world. It’s not for power, but for presence. If God calls you to just be a good citizen, be the best citizen you can be, not for power but to be a faithful presence. (the church as an embassy?)

–Matt. 22:15-22

-Christian political vision: 

-Government legislates morality. Christians aren’t the only one who push their morality, everyone does. Intersection of faith and politics is unavoidable. 

-Jews heavily tax. Rome had “head” tax (a quarter), a reminder of their oppression, on the coin “Caesar, the son of god, the great high priest.” Let Caesar have his silly little tax, politicians prey on this. Jesus has no problem operating in the political realm, but He also operates above them.

-What belongs to God? Everything! Every kingdom is subject to Him. “Give Caesar his little coin, give Rome to God.” We cannot be indifferent or apathetic. My presence belongs in the culture, because the culture belongs to God. Our ambition is a world made right. 

-What is our strategy? We have God’s image on us, so therefore we need to give ourselves to God. His people, as citizens of His kingdom, rendering their lives unto the purposes of His kingdom. Seemed completely indifferent to the politics of the day, because it wasn’t worth His time. Partisan politicians can’t solve the world’s problems!

-We build a rival kingdom! How do you stop the politics of Jesus? If it’s partisan, just vote against Him. We don’t play that game. We don’t pursue power, we don’t ask permission, we don’t care what people say, how do you stop beatitudes, sermon on the Mount, love? Jesus is impervious to worldly games of power.

–Eph. 1:19-23

-Jesus as head of the nations, but especially the church. The church is the only political institution that is going to last into eternity, and it’s the only institution that has a ruler who can’t be outvoted, who can’t be outlasted, and whose entire ethic is one of love.

-Which gets us to this last passage.

–Rev. 19:11-16

-We always have hope, not in the nation states of earth, but because of the nation state when heaven comes down to earth. When Jesus comes to right every wrong and user in His perfect rule and reign.

-We just came off a week where we reflected in Isa. 9 which prophecies that His government will never stop expanding! 

-I want my government to reflect my worldview, but the way our government is built leads to competition. How do we do politics without falling into political idolatry?

1-Though our faith is political, it is not partisan. You can hold strongly, but don’t act as if Jesus fits perfectly in either partisan camp. Both sides try to claim Him, but neither can perfectly represent Him. 

-Consistency (attack both sides equally) & Commonality (more in common with religious convictions or political convictions?)

2-Deemphasize federal politics, high concern for local politics. Life of our local community is has the most on our local lives. Treat federal more like a TV show: county before country political approach.

3-Be the change you long to see, see the limits of political sovereignty. Can’t run a church like a business, can’t run a family like a school. Can’t run the church like the state. We ask the politicians to be the change we long to see, politicians love that! We must make use of our liberties to enact positive changes in our world.

4-Be gracious in conversations with others that disagree with you who are a part of the kingdom of God. We can have disagreements (strongly!) and still be brothers and sisters in Christ. Keep things in perspective, don’t let earthly politics become your entire worldview, let everything you do be done in love (1 Cor. 16:14)