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Introduction:
Politically, it has been a red-letter week. No doubt, some are
potentially excited about the new healthcare bill, while others
believe it would make the founding fathers roll over in their
graves. However, the chatter I’ve heard among Christians over
the past week has me increasingly concerned. I certainly don’t
have a problem with anyone having a political opinion. I don’t
have a problem, nor do I think does God, with someone voting or
being politically active because they believe in a certain cause.
What concerns me is Christians who are following the lead of
evangelical denominations in believing that this vote is somehow
either a defeat or a victory for Christianity and for Jesus. We
must not be led by the religious right or the religious left. We
must not be led by the political machines that many are turning
their churches and Christianity into. We must be led both
congregationally and individually by God’s word. Sadly, many
Christians seem to be following the lead of evangelicals and
ecumenicals alike, confusing the Constitution with the Bible and
politics with spirituality. I believe it is high time we started
getting back to the Bible in our approach to earthly citizenship.
With that in mind, we need to see some biblical principles that
help us navigate this very interesting time of politics. Discussion: I.
God allows, but does not command, political activity. A.
I have to start by making sure I am completely clear. I
believe Christians are allowed to have political opinions. I
believe Christians are allowed to be politically involved. I
believe Christians are allowed to be passionate about political
views. I believe Christians are allowed to spend time campaigning,
going to rallies, striving to convince others of their political
opinions. God has not forbidden political involvement. B.
When John the Baptist spoke to Herod, he did not condemn
him for political involvement, but for having his brother’s wife
(Mark 6:18). When John preached in Luke 3:12-14, he did not tell tax collectors or soldiers that they
needed to repent of their governmental involvement. He rather told
them to do their jobs based on proper principles. In fact, telling
the tax collectors to collect what was authorized and the soldiers
to be content with their wages was tacit approval of continuing
their occupations. C.
In Acts 24:10-21,
Paul preached before the Roman governor Felix. He did not rebuke
him for political involvement but rather stated his political
involvement was a reason he was glad to speak to Felix. In Acts
25, Paul spoke before the next governor, Festus, and did not
rebuke him for political involvement, but rather appealed to
Caesar using the political process to protect his life. In Acts
26, Paul was glad to present his defense to Herod Agrippa. He
did not rebuke Herod for political involvement. D.
Finally, both Romans
13:1 and I Peter 2:13-17 demonstrate that the governing authorities are
established by God. I can’t imagine how we could claim the
government is established by God but Christians are not allowed to
be part of that government or process. E.
When this lesson is finished, I hope you can distinguish
the difference between my points about God and politics and the
voices of those who claim Christians are not allowed to be part of
the political process. I believe that Christians are allowed to be
passionate about politics and government in the same way I believe
some are passionate about educating children and so became
teachers, like Jeanne Parham; in the same way the Liskes are
passionate about helping children with autism and have started the
Brown Center for Autism; in the same way some are passionate about
helping people so they become nurses, like Sara Hicks; in the same
way some are passionate about college football so they watch or go
to all the Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama or Auburn games (I
won’t even begin to name names about these). These are things
God allows but does not command. Our relationship with God should
govern our involvement with them, but they are not part of God’s
plan for saving souls or spreading the gospel. Sadly, while we
recognize being a sports fan, a teacher, a nurse, or an activist
for some cause is not part of God’s kingdom work, too many of us
think our politics and our vote is part of God’s kingdom work.
It is not. II.
God never asked us to establish a Christian nation. A.
We know that Israel was an actual, civil, political nation.
It had a king appointed by God. It had laws written by God. Its
judges were to judge based on God’s law. Somehow, we, who have
been among the staunchest advocates of a distinction between Old
and New Covenants, are allowing the Old Covenant to govern our
thinking about God’s nation than the New Covenant. B.
When God established the New Covenant, He did not establish
an earthly nation. In fact, He shook the earthly nation out of the
way (Hebrews 12:26-29) so that we could be part of a heavenly kingdom
that cannot be shaken. God did not intend Rome to be the new
Israel. Had He intended that, He could certainly have directed the
Christians in how to accomplish that. He did not intend the Holy
Roman Empire to be His kingdom. He did not intend England to be
the new Israel. He does not intend the United States of America to
be a new Israel. In John
18:36, Jesus made it very clear. His kingdom is not of this
world. If it were, His citizens would fight to protect Him. That
is, they would use political and governmental means to defend
their king and establish their nation. But His kingdom is not of
this world, so they don’t do that. C.
According to I Peter
2:9, we are a holy nation. But that is not because we are
Americans. That is because we are Christians, bought by the blood
of Jesus. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians
3:20). God has bought a heavenly nation with the blood of
Jesus. We need to remember that Jesus did not die to make America
a Christian nation. He did not die so a nation could have
Christian laws. He did not die so Christians would run countries.
He died so the lost could be saved. The saved make up His nation. III.
God has never asked us to spread the gospel through
political means. A.
Listening to the chatter online, you would think every page
of the Bible taught that God wants us to make sure our President
and congress pass laws that uphold biblical morals. I would like
to issue you a challenge. Please find one verse that says that? It
seems that some time ago, the evangelical mainstream and the
liberal ecumenicals decided God’s plan found in the Bible needed
our political help. They’ve turned church buildings into town
halls, congregations into political platforms, legislative battles
into spiritual wars. Sadly, Christians are falling in lockstep
behind them. B.
Does God want people to obey Him? Certainly. Does God want
the borders of His kingdom spread throughout the world?
Absolutely. But not once does He ask us to do that through
political means—not once. Our vote, our president, our
nation’s laws are not part of God’s plan to save souls by
Jesus Christ. God has never asked us to spread the gospel through
political means. C.
He has asked us to teach people the gospel. Matthew
28:19-20 does not ask us to make all nations Christian. It
asks us to make people disciples in all nations. Mark
16:15-16 does not ask us to go into all the world and campaign
for Christian laws. It asks us to go into the entire world and
preach the gospel. Romans
10:15 does not say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who
run nations in a Christian way.” It does not say, “How
beautiful are the feet of those who vote a certain way.” It
says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good
news!” Paul did not tell Timothy to preserve the Christian
legacy by pursuing political ends in II
Timothy 2:2. Rather, he told him to teach others who would
faithfully teach others. In II Peter 1:12-15, Peter did not claim he would remind Christians of
God’s will or preserve God’s law by enacting empirial
legislation, but through the teaching and writing of God’s word. D.
Feel free to have political opinions. Feel free to vote
your conscience. Certainly, your relationship with God should
govern anything you do, including any political involvement you
have. But do not confuse political work with God’s kingdom work.
He hasn’t asked us to spread His soul-saving gospel message
through political means. IV.
The Constitution is not the Bible, Part 2. A.
I’ve heard a lot this week about our God-given rights.
This is spoken in context of our nation’s “Declaration of
Independence” and the Constitution. According to the
Declaration, we have been endowed by our Creator with the
unalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.” The Founding Fathers could not get the Constitution
ratified without the addition of the Bill of Rights, which, among
other things, protects our rights to practice religion as we want,
have free speech, bear arms, have speedy and fair trials, and to
avoid cruel and unusual punishments or excessive bails. These
“rights” are government given, not God-given. Find one Bible
verse that says any of us actually have any of these rights? B.
One of the greatest debates of our nation is how to
interpret these national documents and what it means to defend
these national documents against those who would misuse them.
Brothers and sisters, I love our national documents. I believe
they are important in governing our nation. However, we need to
understand these documents were not divine. They were not divinely
inspired. They do not enumerate God given rights. The Bible is
God’s book. You can read the Bible from front to back and not
learn one single thing about how the Constitution of the United
States should be read or interpreted, or even if it is the
document that should be used to govern any nation. C.
Some will claim that Romans
13:1 demonstrates that our government is from God and
therefore what it says is from God and should be preserved in that
way. But that is a very myopic view. That passage actually says
that every governing authority is from God. That means Nero’s
government, Hitler’s government, Stalin’s government, and
Castro’s government were all from God as well. Could they claim
that their laws were established by divine providence and should,
therefore, be protected? Of course not. Paul’s point in Romans
13:1 is not that every government that actually has power is
God’s form of government or that their laws, rights, or
responsibilities are the right ones that must be protected and
defended by Christians as part of their service to God. Paul’s
point is that we should submit to whatever government we are
under. D.
The fact is, we could totally dispense with the
Constitution, establish a completely different form of government,
change the way the whole thing works and God would not care. God
has not divinely given us our Constitution. I like the
Constitution. I have opinions about how it should be read so our
country will be like what the Founding Fathers envisioned. We can
debate that if you wish, but we will not be having a spiritual
debate that God remotely cares about. We need to quit acting like
when we are arguing about the Constitution we are arguing about
God’s will. We aren’t. V.
God only expressed one political opinion in the New
Testament. A.
There are myriads of political issues on the table these
days: taxes, immigration, healthcare, marriage, homosexuality,
abortion, homeland security, defense, trade, the environment, etc.
We may have opinions on what is the best way to run our country in
all these areas. However, God has not one single time expressed a
political opinion on any one of these issues. Further, He has not
one single time expressed that we should have spiritual concern
about the political climate in any of these areas. In fact, to my
knowledge, God has only expressed concern for one political issue
in the entire New Testament. B.
I
Timothy 2:1-2
says, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings
and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and
quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” Rome was not a
godly government. Homosexuality was commonplace. Abortion was
frequent. Idolatry was rampant. Emperor worship was common. Of all
the things God could have told the Christians to be worried about,
up in arms about, politically active over, and even praying about,
the only thing He picked was that the government would allow
Christians to live the life God wanted them to. Further, the only
thing God asked them to do was pray about it. C.
Christians today get bent out of shape about voting because
of all kinds of issues. We need to understand this, there is not a
single law that has been passed by our governments that were a
victory for Christ and His kingdom or a defeat. The weapons of our
warfare are not physical, they are not political, they are not
governmental; they are spiritual (II
Corinthians 10:3-7). The fact that abortion is legal, while
personally sad to me, is not a defeat for Christ or His kingdom.
We could campaign, vote, and be politically active until we are
blue in the face and finally get abortion outlawed, but who would
be saved by that? Not one person. Sadly, Christians have bought
Satan’s lie that if we get abortion outlawed we will have
accomplished some major victory for Christ. That is simply not
true. If you want victories for Christ, get the gospel to another
person who may be impacted by it and decide not to have an
abortion no matter what the law says. D.
Think about it this way. Is it a victory for Christ’s
kingdom that murder and stealing are outlawed in our nation? No.
I’m thankful these things are illegal. But we haven’t done our
job on murder and theft because it is illegal. We still have to
get the gospel message to people so that they will surrender to
God for His sake, not simply for the sake of man’s laws. VI.
God expects us to unite around principles greater than
politics. A.
I’m often amazed at the conglomeration of people Jesus
pooled together as His apostles. But I’m never more surprised
than when I think about bringing together Matthew the tax
collector (Matthew 9:9;
10:3) and Simon the Zealot (Luke
6:15; Acts 1:13). A tax collector was practically a Roman
collaborator, sympathetic with the Romans. A Zealot was someone
for ousting the Romans, even willing to get involved in
insurrection. I wonder what kind of political discussions those
two men had. B.
What is interesting to me is there is no indication that
becoming Jesus’ disciples meant they changed their political
views about Roman occupation. Matthew didn’t have to become a
Zealot and Simon didn’t have to become a Roman sympathizer.
Rather, they learned to unite around something that was far more
important than politics. They learned that far more important than
one’s outlook on the Roman occupation of Judea was looking to
Jesus as everyone’s Savior. C.
Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean putting aside your
political views to go to a different party. Being a Christian
doesn’t mean being a Republican or a Democrat or one of the
third parties. The fact is, being a Christian doesn’t mean you
have to believe in democracy over socialism. Someone can
politically and economically believe in socialism and still be a
great servant of God. Not a single one of the apostles were
believers in democracy. Yet, they made pretty good Christians. D.
Being a Christian means uniting around Jesus Christ, which
is greater than any political party or principle. I think Satan is
having a hey-day. He is happy to get us to divide in any way he
can. We get a democracy, which gives us political parties and ever
since people who believe in Jesus have been arguing with each
other and accusing each other of not really being Christians
because of a political view. The fact is, God doesn’t care what
college you went to or like. A Christian can root for Tennessee,
Vanderbilt, Alabama, or Auburn. But Satan is happy to get us to
divide over that and think less of each other because of it. God
doesn’t care what kind of car you drive. A Christian can drive
Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Toyota, or Honda. A Christian can drive
American made or foreign manufactured cars. But Satan is happy to
divide us over things like this and cause us to think less of each
other. God doesn’t care what kind of computer you use.
Christians can be PCs or Macs. But Satan is happy to get us to
divide or think less of each other over this. In the same way, I
don’t think God cares what political party you are. A Christian
can be a Republican, Democrat, Socialist, Libertarian,
Constitutionalist or whatever party is out there. But Satan is
happy to get us to divide over politics or to think less of each
other because of it. E.
Jesus didn’t die to change our politics. Jesus died to
save our souls. He died to provide a uniting force that is greater
than our politics. Let’s get politics off our spiritual tables.
Let’s quit assuming Christians have to agree with us
politically. Let’s quit worrying if they disagree. If you want
to talk politics, that’s fine. If you disagree, that’s fine.
But when that discussion is over, don’t walk away saying, “How
can that person be a Christian if they disagree with me
politically?” Christianity is not about dividing over politics,
it’s about uniting around Christ, who, by the way, was not a
political figure. Conclusion:
We’ve all got different opinions about the political
climate of the day. That’s okay. We’ve all got different
degrees of concern about political matters. That’s okay. What is
not okay is to think our political opinions are somehow part of
our work in God’s kingdom. What is not okay is to think that
what is going on in Washington is a victory or a defeat for
Jesus’ cause. What is not okay is to think we have done God’s
will by voting instead of talking to people about Jesus. What is
not okay is to equate American ideals with God’s will. We are a
chosen nation because we are in Christ, not because we are in
America. Our greatest citizenship is in heaven and no political
maneuvering is going to change that. America is not God’s
nation. We don’t have to protect it in order to protect God’s
people. The Constitution is not God’s document. We don’t have
to protect it to protect God’s will. We must make sure above all
to remember why Jesus died. He did not die to make people
Republicans or Democrats. He did not die to make sure nations
followed capitalism or socialism. He did not die to make people
Americans. He died to save all souls, whether American, European,
Russian, or Arab. He did not die to get people into a political
party. He died to redeem all people whether Republicans,
Democrats, Socialists, or Libertarians. He did not die to make
sure healthcare was privatized or nationalized. He died to make
sure our souls were cared for. May we always remember why Jesus died and what is our responsibility because of his death.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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