Off Limits?!?

Whenever you get together with extended family for holidays, there is an unwritten rule that certain topics of discussion are off limits. When trying to make pleasant conversation within a larger group, you don’t talk about religion, and you stay away from politics. I must be crazy, because today I’m bringing up both of those subjects together. But let me tell you why. Over the past few months there have been several people have commented to me about how challenging and confusing it is to understand how Christians are supposed to be a part of the current political climate in this nation. We need help to understand how our faith should make a difference in the way we approach politics. And we won’t figure that out if we never talk about it.

This church is part of a denomination—the Christian Reformed Church. Our history, our theology, and our doctrine all affirm that we believe it is part of our creation mandate from God to be actively engaged and involved in God’s created world. This is the reason why our denomination has a long and developed history of establishing and supporting Christian schools around the world. We believe and teach that our faith intersects with every part of this world and our society. It’s not off limits for us to consider a Christian perspective on politics. But before this goes any further, or anyone gets up to stomp out of here, please let me lay down a few ground rules for how I am going to present this subject today.

In today’s message I will not be partisan, there will be no endorsing or criticizing any specific candidates, there will be no preferences toward individual issues or referendums that may be on the ballet. Our denomination—the Christian Reformed Church—does in fact have official positions on many issues that cross over into the political arena. But today it is not my intention today to argue any of those things. I am not here today to tell you how to vote or who to vote for.

What am I going to talk about then? Here is what I believe. I believe that the Word of God contains truth for our lives that is absolutely helpful in guiding our approach to how we live in this world, how we interact with this world, how we engage with society in this world. And that means our faith ought to help provide some kind of foundation for how we think about and involve ourselves in politics in general—not in specifics. We have a term for that: it’s called a Christian worldview. and it is this Christian worldview that I really want to talk about today—with an intentional eye towards applying our Christian worldview to the arena of politics and government.

About fifteen years ago NBC aired a popular television show called Fear Factor. It was a show in which contestants competed against each other through a series of crazy stunts that were meant to face and overcome fears. Sometimes they would have to bungee jump from tall heights. Sometimes they would have to sit in a tank filled with snakes, or something gross like that. But the premise of the show was to see the drama of people facing and conquering various fears. It was a show built on the condition that we all have fears of some kind.

I don’t know how it works in your home, but in my house, I seem to be the designated spider killer. There’s a tiny bug smaller than my fingertip; somebody call dad. Dad, I’m so glad you’re here; will you come take care of a spider? Laura asks me to periodically treat the house by putting down a bug spray around the foundation of the house and around the windows. But I have to admit, I don’t keep up with that. If I take away the need to kill spiders in the house, then I dramatically reduce the need for them to have me around in the first place. It’s job security.

It’s funny, but sadly the principle behind it is true in other places of our world. If we can keep people afraid, then we can maintain power and control of them by creating and instilling fear. We stockpile military arms, not because we necessarily intend to use them, but because the show of force itself can be enough to keep enemies too scared to pick a fight. Our political world right now is absolutely toxic with the way in which we prey upon people’s fears to advance political power. And it’s not confined to any one side of the political spectrum. There are so many campaign commercials on TV right now. I am struck by how many of these commercials don’t actually try to support a candidate based on their ideals and agenda, but rather try to make us afraid of what will happen if the other candidate is elected. I’m not picking a side here, because you see it on all sides of our current political climate. All candidates and all parties use fear to motivate their base and vilify their political opponents.

Surveys back this up. A survey of voters who participated in the 2016 election found that more than half of all voters cast their ballot not because they fully liked or endorsed the candidate they chose, but because they were voting against the other candidate. And the survey was evenly split down both sides of the political spectrum. More than half of the people who voted did not vote for a candidate they liked, they voted against a candidate they didn’t like. Our political culture endlessly tries to make us afraid of what will happen if the other candidate is elected.

Here’s the deal. Our world wants to convince us that our approach to politics, our foundation of what it means for us as Christians to be engaged and involved with politics should be based upon fear.

It’s toxic. Fear is toxic (poisonous) to the Christian life.

1 John 4:7–21 NIV

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

What fear does in me

Let’s talk a little bit more about fear and what fear does to us.

Fear creates paralysis

Sometimes fear creates paralysis. Our fears can create situations in which we feel completely stuck and cannot do anything. I get up front here week after week and talk to all of you. I work to prepare messages for Sunday morning. But I never sit here at 9:25am on a Sunday morning having to work up the nerve to actually stand up in front of all of you and speak. However, I’m told that for more than half of the population, standing up in front of others and having to speak creates fear. In fact, for some people, public speaking is such a great fear that they simply cannot do it. They are paralyzed by it.

Some people are afraid of social interactions and crowds of people. There are people who turn off all the lights and hide whenever the doorbell rings, pretending that there’s nobody home. Some of you have done that, right? It is a fear that paralyzes some people. Instead of taking action, we stand by and do nothing because of our fears.

But look at this, politicians don’t want that to happen. They don’t want you to be paralyzed by fear—then you won’t show up and vote at all. And so they need to keep pushing that fear further and further until those fears convince us we need to act upon them.

Fear creates anger and hatred

This is where fear turns into anger and hatred. Wars begin this way. Because we are afraid of terrorism, we go beyond developing protection, but we also develop a hatred. We let fear of things that are different or unknown lead to anger and hatred. This is the kind of fear that turns into racism. Because we are afraid of people who may be different from us, it can become anger and hatred for other people. We see examples of this. We see people fanning the flames of fear; fear of Muslims, fear of immigrants, fear of minorities, fear of police and law enforcement. And how quickly those fears turn into anger. How quickly that anger turns into hatred.

Fear creates isolation and distance

Sometimes our fear leads to isolation and distance. I used to live in Highlands Ranch Colorado. There are no HUD housing or section eight housing allowed in that part of Douglas County outside of Denver. I lived in a place that did not allow any housing options for low income people. I lived in a place that isolated and distanced me from poverty. We do not want poor people around us or near us. Because we are afraid of everything that goes along with poverty, because we are afraid of people who are not like us, because of that we have created barriers of distance and separation. And then we take it even a step further. Even in a segregated and affluent suburb like Highlands Ranch Colorado there are gated communities. We create divisions because there are certain people that we just want to keep out. It is evident all over in our society that our experience of difference with other groups of people lead us to separate and isolate from one another.

We see an example of this early on in the Bible. In Genesis 11 we see the story of Babel. Humanities efforts to set themselves up as their own gods ultimately fails because their differences in language divide them, and separate them, and eventually scatter them across the earth. Our experience of the unknown, our experience of difference creates a fear that pushes us away from one another.

If perfect love drives out all fear, then is the opposite is also true? Does fear drive out love? When we are controlled by fear, when our lives are overcome with fears and anxieties and stress, does that short-circuit and cut off our ability to both express and receive love? Look again at what John has to say about it in this passage at the end of verse 18. “The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

What are you afraid of? As you think about our nation and our government and our society, what fears come to mind? Is your decision to vote driven by those fears? It seems to me that the Apostle John calls us out to account for that. If I am going to be someone who professes to follow Jesus, then there is no room for me to let fear drive and motivate my actions.

I want to be a discerning Christian who follows Jesus the best that I can. And so whenever I see attack ads on TV or on the internet that use fear to push me, it sends up an immediate red flag. I am a follower of Jesus. I will not allow fear drive and motivate my actions. Because when fear controls my actions, then I cannot love God and I cannot love others.

What God does in me

Love is what God does in me. And it is this love of God—not the love that he shows, or the love that he demonstrates, but the love that he is—it is this love of God that is made complete in us. This is what God does.

God makes his love complete in us

John is very intentional is this passage to use passive verbs. He does not say that we make God’s love complete in us. We are not the ones who have to figure this love thing out all on our own. God does not say, “okay, I’ve shown you the way for what love looks like, now go out there and show me you can make this happen.” We do not create love. Love is not our invention. We did not come up with it. We did not make it.

God is love. This is what God does. He makes his love complete in us. And this is more than what God does. This is, in fact, who God is. Whenever we see love anywhere in this world, we see God working. Someone might object, but what about the atheist, the nonbeliever, the one who denies God? Well, isn’t God big enough and powerful enough to work his love in this world whenever, however, and through whomever he chooses? Even through people who never realize or acknowledge that it is God. By the way, we have a term for that in Christian theology and doctrine. We call that common grace. That God is so very sovereign over his creation that he can work his love and grace for this world through believers and nonbelievers alike. This is what God does.

God awakens me to see his love in others

Sometimes I acknowledge God working his love through me and through my life. Sometimes I ignore it and am completely oblivious to what God is doing through me and through my life. And sometimes I find myself in the grips of fear actively resisting and pushing against God’s love finding its way through me and through my life.

Sometimes I acknowledge seeing the presence of God’s love working through others. Sometimes I am oblivious to God working his love through others. And sometimes—here’s the rub—I must admit that I burn with anger at the very thought of God working his love through people with whom I struggle to agree. Yet this is who God is. His love does not leave us alone. He constantly works with grace through this world.

That’s important to note today. In this week when we have a mid-term election and it feels like so much is riding on the outcome and control of our government, it is good to remember that God is ultimately in control and can work his sovereign will through any circumstances. It is good for us to regularly take a step back and honestly seek when and where God is at work in our world. Sometimes God is at work through the people and institutions with whom we align ourselves. And sometimes God is at work through people and institutions with whom we disagree.

What love does in me

But we cannot leave it there. John does not leave it there either. We’ve spent time today naming all the things that fear does to us. Now we need to follow along with John through this passage and consider all the things that love does in us.

Love creates unity

If fear causes isolation and distance, then love brings harmony and community. What fear breaks down and tears apart between people, love builds up and puts back together. If the ultimate example of this isolation and distance took place at Babel in Genesis 11, then the ultimate example of Babel’s undoing is Pentecost in Acts 2. If Babel shows us division of people because God confused their language, then Pentecost shows us community because—at Pentecost—each person heard the gospel proclamation in his own language. If Babel is what separated people against each other, then Pentecost is the gift of the Holy Spirit bringing God’s people back together again from all across the earth. Fear separates and isolates people into their various tribes. Love see through the differences to recognize that all people are created and loved by God. Love brings people together and creates community.

Love creates reconciliation

If fear causes anger and hatred and destruction of relationships, then love causes reconciliation. What fear destroys, love repairs. Where fear leaves us in the grips of anger and hatred towards others around us, love brings us to places of forgiveness and restoration towards others around us. Where fear leaves us in bitterness and resentment, love brings redemption. And it’s physical—we can feel it. Fear leaves us tense. We clench our fists and our jaws. We grind our teeth. We press and we push. Love relieves tension. Love allows us relaxation. Love assures us of God’s peace and his joy.

Love creates shalom (flourishing)

If fear causes paralysis, then love causes action. Particularly, love causes the action of what the Hebrews call shalom. I talk about shalom quite a bit because I believe it is so critical to the gospel message. Typically shalom is translated into our English Bibles as the word peace. Nicholas Wolterstorff and others have rightly suggested that a better word for shalom is flourish.

Shalom flourishing is an active love at work from God through his people to leans towards everything God intends his good creation to be. God created this world and created people to flourish and thrive and develop. You know those moments—maybe sitting on the beach during the perfect vacation on a perfectly beautiful day—those moments when you think to yourself that absolutely everything is right in the world as it should be? That is a glimpse of shalom. God’s love points us in directions of flourishing as he created and intends for us to do. God’s love places us on a path in which this shalom flourishing extends through his people and reaches out to others and creates shalom flourishing in their lives too.

Fear kills that. Do you see this? Fear absolutely kills shalom.

My worldview needs to reject fear and seek shalom flourishing

When I think about all the brokenness in our world and see all the dysfunction in our society, it leaves me seeking out a path towards shalom. I look at the political mud-slinging. I see all the negativity. And I do the best that I can to thoughtfully discern which political ideals and political agendas lend best to the shalom flourishing of people in our society.

That’s hard to do. It’s hard to look through all the backstabbing of partisan politics and see a clear path towards policies and candidates who will promote the shalom flourishing of those who have been beaten down by fear and anger and hatred. Which candidates do this best? Which policies promote the best shalom flourishing? It is not my place from the church pulpit to give you those answers. You must discern those questions for yourselves. Those are not easy questions to answer. But it is so worthwhile, because the alternative is so toxic. I will absolutely do the hard work of seeking God’s shalom flourishing through my political involvement. And I absolutely refuse to let fear be in the driver’s seat instead.

And because the topic is so complicated, because the answers are so hard to discern, we often find ourselves in various differences of political opinions. But that’s okay. We can all be part of God’s church together even within some political differences as long as we remain rooted in a foundation of love, and not giving ourselves over to a politics of fear.

Midterm elections are coming. A Christian perspective on politics does not give us a definitive answer on who we should vote for, or which issues we should support. But a Christian perspective on politics does give us a definitive guideline. It is a guideline that is built upon our Christian worldview. A worldview that declares consistently and with solidarity that we are not swayed by a politics of fear. But rather, we are seekers of God’s shalom flourishing in our world. And we will align ourselves with God’s life-giving love in order to make a positive difference in our communities and in our society.