How should we, as Christians, engage in politics?

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Title:  How should we, as Christians, engage in politics?

Focus Statement:  

“The political message of the NT - No matter who is in charge, you pray that God’s justice will come upon them and then submit to their authority and then you use every resource and opportunity at your disposal to share the good news about the risen king Jesus - then we wait for the day that Jesus will return and set all wrongs right - and will deal justice out in ways we never can because of our biases” Tim Mackie

Function Statement:  

1. Participate in your community, seeking its prosperity - Jeremiah 29:7

2. Educate yourselves on the issues, prioritizing values over political parties - 1 Corinthians 3:3-4

3. Speak the truth with love and grace when confronted on political issues - Ephesians 4:15

4. Live with integrity, live as an example of the Kingdom life Jesus calls us to live - Philippians 3:20

5. Pray for guidance, wisdom, and discernment for our leaders - 1 Timothy 2:1-3

Tweetable Phrase:  

Main Text:  Romans 13:1-7 - Submission to Government

Supporting Text:  

Redemptive Closure (point to Jesus):  Matthew 22:17-21 - Jesus on Taxes

Benediction:  1 Peter 2:17

Questions to Review

Is the bottom line clear? Main point should be able to be said in a single sentence.

What’s the opening line? Not hello, start with a question or something to grab attention.

Is the transition from the introduction to main point clear?

What’s my main point? Make it short and memorable

Does it matter? Is the topic relevant to the congregation?

Where is the power in the text? What word or phrase highlights the tension?

How am I moving toward application?

What is my main to-do (application)? Be specific.

What does it matter? The WHY creates urgency.

How am I closing? Have a plan.

5 Things Each Sermon Must Do With the Biblical Text

Teach it: Cultural context, exegesis, what does it mean?

Illustrate it: Add emotion, illustrations, pictures, stories.

Apply it: How do we respond?

Distinguish it: How is this different? Invite the Holy Spirit in.

Portable-ize it: Make it RHYME (no WIN in COMPARISON), ALLITERATE it, make it ECHO (who are of infinite worth to the infinite God), use a METAPHORE (the Root of murder is anger...only God can uproot it from our hearts), or make it CONTRAST (a life devoted to self, leave you alone)

AI Image Creator: https://ideogram.ai/t/explore

WELCOME

Good morning!!! My name is Ryan Hanson, and I have the honor of serving here at The Light KC as the lead pastor. I’m so glad you’re here with us.

‌Welcome to those joining us online. We hope you're doing well and hope to see you in person in the coming weeks.

And a special welcome to those joining us for the first time. We’re so glad you chose to be here.

ME/INTRO - Tension

So, when I first came to The Light KC last October, I met with anyone who wanted to talk (something I am still happy to do). But when I met with people last fall, I put together a list of questions to help me get to know you, the church, the community, and where you felt God was leading the Church. One of the questions I asked was, “is there any topic that would create an issue within The Light KC’s congregation if I spoke about it on a Sunday”. I know that different communities have different pasts and some topics are considerably more sensitive than others. Trying to respect the culture that is here and avoid landmines, it felt like a reasonable question. Some people answered, “speak on whatever topic the Holy Spirits guides you to”. But...overwhelmingly most everyone I spoke to said, “do not talk about politics”.

I have heard stories from many of you how politics had created division in the past and the pain that had resulted. I deeply respect this community’s ability to hold vastly different political opinions and yet maintain solid friendships and ability to work together to achieve God’s plan for this church and this community.

Yet, the reality is that, even if we don’t talk about it, I have heard from many of you where you land on the political spectrum. I know that within this congregation we represent everything from the far left, to moderate, to the far right.

I found this graphic I found interesting about the various new outlets and their relative bias.

[Media Bias Picture]

I only really knew about MSNBC, CNN, BBC, and FOX NEWS. I had no idea there were so many different ways people can get their news. Back when I had cable, I used to find it entertaining to watch CNN and FOX NEWS at the same time. I’d click the “BACK” button on the remote and hear people talk about the same thing from vastly different perspectives to the point where you would think two separate things were happening. In a world with this vast of an array of news sources, it seems we live in a world where we can hear exactly what we want, get confirmation on what we already believe, avoid being challenged in our beliefs, and believe that we have the majority opinion on any subject.

This seems like a problem.

Given the diversity of political opinion within our congregation, I find it interesting that, when I asked for questions to be submitted for this sermon series, the first one submitted was today’s question on politics.

So...at the risk of stepping on a huge landmine today, here we go.

We are in week 5 of our sermon series titled HOT ONEs, based on the internet celebrity interview show where the celebrities answer questions while eating hot wings. Our goal is live into the values that we set for ourselves. To be the F.A.M.I.L.Y. of God, and be able to have hard conversations about difficult topics, so we can all take the steps down the path of discipleship that God has called us to walk.

This week we’re putting our values to the test.

But before we start a few disclaimers...

This is not an advertisement for any political party

At no point am I going to tell any of you what to believe about any political issue

But...this is an attempt to discern how God wants us to interact with politics in general, and with each other when political topics come up in conversation

WE - Tension

When preparing for this week, I was a little concerned about how the topic of politics would fit within a FAMILY SUNDAY.

But...if we look up a very basic definition of politics; politics a very broad subject. It is defined as follows:

Politics is the process by which groups of people, like a nation or organization, make decisions and manage their affairs. It involves power relations, the distribution of resources, and the establishment of rules and agreements to facilitate collective living. In essence, politics is about how groups organize themselves and how decisions are made within those structures. 

I think we all know that there are politics in almost every aspect of our lives and has been since the we were young.

Friends - How our friend groups organize, form a hierarchy, and collectively decide upon rules for members of the group to follow

Sports - How the teams recruit, divvy up play time, and how the coaches allocate their time and attention with each player.

Companies, or departments within companies, operate - How supervisors treat employees, and the game everyone is expected to play to get promoted.

Housing associations - How they set expectations for house maintenance and upkeep in an effort to keep overall property values up.

City / State / Federal Governments - How they make decisions to keep us safe, encourage growth, and provide a community with a quality of life that people want to be a part of.

We’ve all had to learn over the years how to navigate all these groups, their rules, and deal with the people within the group that are trying to gain power within the groups.

I don’t know what your experience is with the politics in your life.

I grew up going to an extended relative’s house every year for Thanksgiving. They were very invested in a certain political party and since the elections always ended right before Thanksgiving that is all they wanted to talk about. They’d try to get people to tell them how they voted, try to get you to switch over to their party for the next election cycle and after I became voting age they even started sending me political propaganda in the mail throughout the year. I refused to engage.

On the opposite side of the spectrum...I grew up playing travel hockey and the politics of getting on certain teams, getting playtime on those teams, and getting attention during practices from coaches so you could improve was intense. Some seasons it was hard to consider it a TEAM, it was more of a collection of individuals infighting for better spots on the roster. I just did my best and let things fall where they may, but stayed as far from the politics as I could.

But, even with my natural proclivity to retreat from political situations, we all know there are other responses.

Some love getting in the fray. Engaging in the drama and advocating for their positions at all costs.

So I ask you...

How do you naturally respond to the politics in your life?

Do you fight for how you think things should be?

Do you flee from conflict and let your voice remain unheard?

Do you freeze, uncertain what to do, do nothing, but find yourself troubled by the resulting decisions?

And more importantly, and conveniently, the HOT ONEs question of the day, “How should we, as Christians, engage in politics?”

How does the Bible call us to interact with the groups, organizations, and governments we are a part of?

That is the question we’re going to try to answer today. You can see our heat level is now “RED”. These last two weeks are going to be SPICY.

So let’s dig in and see what God has for us today, as we tackle this difficult topic.

This week we’ll be looking at scripture from throughout the Bible.

As always, we’ll have the scripture on the screen, but if you have a Bible with you, or Bible app on your phone, I’d encourage you to turn to the passage and follow along. There is nothing that replaces having God’s word in your hand.

AND... if you don’t have a Bible, we have Bibles under the seats. If you don’t have a bible and would like one, please come see me after the service and I’ll get you one you can keep.

Let's dive in.

GOD - Text

As I was researching this topic, I found that there are consistently 4 options that we have when responding to political situations of any kind. These apply to friend groups, organization, governments, or any other group that has structure.

4 Responses to Politics

1. Submit to all authority no matter how godless they might be

2. Submit only to God’s authority and withdraw from all groups and their rules

3. Submit only to authority you believe to be God ordained, and act against authority you haven’t discerned to be God ordained

4. Submit to those in authority where God has placed you, obeying their rules as long as they don’t conflict with the commands of God, and willingly pay the penalty for not following the rules you disobey because you believe they are in conflict with God’s law.

Paul weighs in on the subject in Romans 13:1-7 where he is advising the Christians in Rome how they should submit to government authorities.

He writes.

Romans 13:1–7 NIV

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Paul pretty clearly advocates for our 4th option. We are called to submit to the authorities that God has placed us with, obey the rules, and if we break any of the rules because of our beliefs, we are called to accept whatever consequences we’re given.

[show 4 responses to politics slide again with #4 highlighted]

But...to end there would be a bit of a cop-out to this properly answering this question.

I think we need to take a few steps back and get a bigger picture of how God views politics.

God’s Politics

So, what are the politics of God?

If we step back and look at the Bible as a whole, some have made the argument that the Bible is a political document.

Based on our definition of politics, the Bible tells us God’s plan for how we were designed to make decisions and manage our affairs. It instructs us proper power relationships, distribution of resources, and the Bible establishes rules to facilitate collective living.

I was listening to a talk that Tim Mackie (the creative writer for the Bible Project) gave on the politics of God. I thought he had quite an interesting take on the Bible as a political document. His outline is as follows:

God is the Creator and Ruler

God not only created everything, is ruler over everything, but setup His political system such that He invites humanity to join Him in ruling over and taking care of His creation. In the politics of God, He partners with humanity to achieve the goals and outcomes that He sets as the highest authority within the group.

Tim Mackie sums it up this way...

“God uses his power and authority to create order out of chaos and to create an environment so life can flourish. Then he plants his image (humanity) in that environment to do the same thing on his behalf” Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

Israel Rebelled

But humanity didn’t live up to their end of the shared agreement. Instead of partnering with God and submitting to His ultimate authority, humanity rebelled.

Tim Mackie sums it up this way...

“The biblical drama is about God creating a world he wants to rule through human beings. But human being have declared independence and redefine right and wrong within the context of their own personal (or tribal) interests.” Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

Jesus teaches us the Kingdom of God is here

But, God doesn’t give up on humanity. God send Jesus, His son, to set things right, to re-define the politics of the world that He created. Jesus, outlines an “upside-down” kingdom from what the world knows. The politics of God’s kingdom include giving up power, submitting to authority, and selflessly serving others.

Tim Mackie sums it up this way...

“Paul is saying the kingdom of God, through Jesus, exerts it’s power by giving up power, exerts it’s authority by coming under the authority of others and using every ounce of leverage and energy and resource and opportunity to serve the most hurting and vulnerable - that is the upside-down kingdom” Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

Jesus commissions disciples to spread the Good News

And just like God did with Adam and Eve, Jesus partners with humanity to spread His message that the Kingdom of God is here.

Tim Mackie sums it up this way...

“The political message of the NT - No matter who is in charge, you pray that God’s justice will come upon them and then submit to their authority and then you use every resource and opportunity at your disposal to share the good news about the risen king Jesus - then we wait for the day that Jesus will return and set all wrongs right - and will deal justice out in ways we never can because of our biases” Tim Mackie (The Bible Project)

Jesus gave us the example for how we are to operate within this very political world. He clearly defines

God as the ultimate authority we are accountable to, while telling us to submit to the human authority structures God places us within

How we are to distribute resources by sharing your wealth and serving those who are in need

Outlines the rules that we are to use to operate within the political landscapes we find ourselves

YOU - Takeaway

How we are called to be involved in politics

So given God’s view on politics how do we, as Christians, engage in the politics of our lives?

1. Participate in your community, seeking its prosperity - Jeremiah 29:7

Jeremiah 29:7 NIV

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

I have been going about this all wrong. Instead of retreating, we’re called to engage. Participate in the groups, organizations, and governments that we are parts of and do everything we can to help them succeed.

2. Educate yourselves on the issues, prioritizing values over political parties - 1 Corinthians 3:3-4

1 Corinthians 3:3–4 NIV

You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?

I think we’d all agree, even if they claim to be, no group perfectly lines up with the values of scripture. Each group, organization, or political party does some things very well and honors God with the choices they make, and do other things very poorly and goes against God and the wisdom of scripture.

It is very dangerous to align ourselves so fully with one group, organization, or political party. Instead, we are called to advocate for the values that God desires and work with everyone to achieve those ends.

3. Speak the truth with love and grace when confronted on political issues - Ephesians 4:15

Ephesians 4:15 NIV

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

We need to stop the arguing. I have never seen anyone change their mind because of a rant. We are called to speak truth to power, but we need to be very careful how we do it. No matter who we are talking to, as Christians, we are called to speak truth with Love and Grace.

4. Live with integrity, live as an example of the Kingdom life Jesus calls us to live - Philippians 3:20

Philippians 3:20 NIV

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

We know that God is the ultimate authority and that our primary allegiance is with God as citizens of His kingdom. That being said, we need to start living the Kingdom life now. We need to be living examples of the upside-down kingdom that Jesus describes.

Instead of hoarding power, we need to seek to give it away by helping raise others up

Instead of amassing wealth and comfort, we are to use what we have to serve others

We are called to offer our lives as the living sacrifice Paul describes in Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

5. Pray for guidance, wisdom, and discernment for our leaders - 1 Timothy 2:1-3

1 Timothy 2:1–3 NIV

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,

God appointed those in leadership to where they are. If we agree with them or not, we are called to pray for them. We need to regularly be praying they hear the voice of God, accurately discern His wishes, and lead in a way that honors God and serves those under their authority.

WE / JESUS - Redemptive Close - Call to Action

Jesus boils the entire question of politics down to a very simple phrase.

In Matthew 22, Jesus is confronted by Pharisees (the Jewish ruling elite) regarding how one should submit to the authority of Rome (their government).

Matthew 22:15–21 NIV

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

To Jesus this was an issue, not over taxes, or submitting to any particular rule, but an issue over who we are going to give our Ultimate Allegiance.

So as we wrap up, the question we all have to answer at some point or another is...

Who are you going to give you ultimate allegiance?

To a group, to an organization, to a political party...or to the God that gave everything for you.

Joshua 24:15 NIV

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

So if I was to answer today’s HOT ONEs question of the week, “How should we, as Christians, engage in politics?” as concisely as possible, this is how I would do it

As Christians, we are called to engage in the political spheres God places us in; social groups, organizations, corporations, or government. We are to pray for those with earthly authority over us and do everything we can to help them and their organizations prosper. While serving the groups and organizations we are a part of, we must remain steadfast in giving our ultimate allegiance to God, knowing that our primary citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. As such, when those with earthly authority over us act contrary to the values of God, we speak truth with love and grace. We refuse to do anything that goes against God’s law and willingly accept any consequences for doing so.

PRAYER 

Will you join me in prayer...

SONG 

As we enter into our final song, I want to open the steps up front as an altar to anyone who needs God this week. The steps are open for you to pray to the God who is with you, who loves you, you wants to give you His peace.

‌

You may feel a hand on your shoulder as I or one of the elders join you in prayer.

BENEDICTION 

1 Peter 2:17 NIV

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

This week...

Let’s live as citizens of God’s Kingdom first. Living by and championing His values before all else.

Let’s engage in the political systems we find ourselves in, praying for those with earthly authority, speaking truth in love and with grace, and doing all we can to help them succeed.

Let’s put aside our differences and focus on what binds us, the God who died on the cross so that ALL of us could be saved.

Quick reminder...

Picnic at Strang Park - 12-2 at the gazebo.

10 AM worship starting July 6th

Church Garage Sale - August 1-2

If you’re new, please stop by our info desk, or see me. We’d love to say “hi” and get you know you a bit better.

I hope you have a great week.

Go in peace.

You are dismissed.

DISCIPLESHIP QUESTIONS (download into APP)

How can we embody the principle of submitting to governing authorities in our daily lives?

In what ways can we actively participate in our community's prosperity as instructed in Jeremiah 29:7?

How does prioritizing our values over political parties change our approach to political discussions?

What practical steps can we take to speak truth with love and grace in politically charged conversations?

How can we ensure that our actions reflect our primary citizenship in the Kingdom of God?

What are some ways we can get involved in our communities to promote peace and prosperity?

How can understanding the diversity of political opinions in our community help us to be more empathetic?

How can we use social media responsibly to discuss political issues without creating division?

What does it mean to live with integrity, especially when it comes to discussing our political views?

How can we practice grace and respect when encountering differing political opinions among friends?