Religion and Politics

Politics always competes with religion (joining it, tolerating it when it must, and absorbing it when it can) in order to promise, if not a life beyond, then a new deal on this earth, and a leader smiling charismatically from the placards. (Erik Erikson)

"Reversed Thunder" by E Peterson, page 117

Don Ratzlaff wrote in the Christian Leader (Feb. 23, 1993), and was quoted in Christianity Today, February 7, 1994, p. 39.

If Jesus is Lord then he must also be Lord of our politics. That's an unarguable Christian truth that everybody argues about… Too many of us Christians confuse political convictions with spiritual convictions. Insecure with ambiguity, we assume people of one Lord, one faith and one baptism must also promote one political agenda. That assumption leads the church into trouble.

First, it prompts us to make judgments about people that ought to be left to God…

Second, when the church confuses spiritual and political convictions it is tempted to use political power to forward a "Spiritual" agenda.

This morning, we are going to talk about one of the most divisive topics we know in the western world today. Politics. I ask that you hang with me this morning and hear this out, I believe that if we are willing to do that the Holy Spirit will use this to help us look to bring unity instead of division, something that our world so desperately needs and the church of Jesus Christ desperately needs. I’m not going to talk about Republicans versus Democrats.

Instead of being focused on our earthly political parties, I want to throw out a different suggestion this morning. We are to focus on God’s Kingdom, entering into a different political world all together. It is counter-cultural. It will not line up with either political party. Guess what......we will find democrats and republicans with us in eternity!

Friends, as followers of Jesus, we must rethink how we approach politics. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom as believers, but often, I think we mix this up with the politics of our earthly kingdoms. For example, we start to believe that if we are to be a Christian, then that must mean we are from a certain political party, or believe a certain thing. However, I don’t find this anywhere in Scripture. In fact, I’m just going to get this out of the way now, if you look at the platforms of both of our major political parties in this country, neither completely line up with the Scriptures.

But as we know, it isn’t always as simple as I just made it sound. The reality is that we are dual citizens as followers of Jesus. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom and also citizens of a country, state, county, and city/town/village. The first is a Kingdom where God makes all things new. Where God’s name is hallowed and God’s will is done. It is life giving. The second are kingdoms that are temporary, often lead by people who are corruptible - and they are plenty of examples throughout human history of this type of kingdom.

Dr Boone writes, “one is God honoring, the other, self-sovereign. One is eternal; the other, fizzling out even as you read. We are called to be invested in the kingdom that is young, fresh, life giving and en route to us from the future. So we live in this world, while not being of this world, which is quite difficult to do.”

It is difficult to live this way! It’s often not rosy or easy or even pleasant. It is often hard, full of ridicule, strife, and any number of other things. However, I think the difference is where we place our hope. Do we place our hope in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who is eternal or in earthly powers that fade away - and they all have or will.

Dr. Boone reminds us that we are given the capacity to see what God is doing among us and to participate in it as followers of him. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us do so, to live in a way that is kingdom honoring, not aligned with the powers of this earthly world.

Let’s look at a few examples of earthly political arrangements that show six different types of governance that God’s people lived under. And just as a spoiler, none of them have brought the Kingdom of God to earth. (From Charitable Discourse by Dan Boone)

We’ve been slaves in Pharaoh’s Egypt. To be without voice, vote, or government representative is horrible. No one gave a rip about our well-being. From this setting, we learned to cry out to God on behalf of the powerless, asking that this enslaving government be brought to its knees before the power of God. Our memory of this time guides our thinking about unborn children, the poor, nations without rights, and ethnic cleansing.

We’ve been a loose federation of tribes with no central government. This story is found in Joshua and Judges and happened just after our entrance to the Promised Land.

The only time we needed a central government was in crisis or threat, which seems to suggest the less government the better.

When trouble came - Spirit of the Lord would fall on a leaders and he or she would unify the people to resist the threat

No King but God

Rule of a King - wanted to be like other nations - God wasn’t enough

We wanted to be like everyone else - anyone else sense the problem with this statement?

Needed a king to do so - and all that comes with it - palaces, armies, taxes, cabinets, courts, etc.

God didn’t want to give us a king, but relented when we wouldn’t quit whining.

Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Psalms.

Supposedly the king was God appointed and be hand in hand with God - however, we see a bunch of bad and evil rulers who did anything but honor God.

Exile - our King got defeated and we eneded up in exile in Babylon. We now had no power.

The Babylonians thought our God was a push-over since they defeated us. They thought Baal triumphed over Yahweh - see the problem when we try to align God and an earthly government?

Isaiah, Ezekiel, and other prophetic books

Challenge to keep the rituals, worship, and sacred memories alive when surrounded by pagans - it’s much easier to assimilate and keep what we can without causing too much discomfort.

Majority in our own land under Roman rule

Gospels

Pharisees refused to assimilate

Sadducees made concessions to Rom for the privilege of keeping reasonable peace.

Zealots ran an underground resistance

Jesus voted for none of them - instead he brought about a different looking Kingdom than anything people had ever seen.

We’ve been Christian minorities in cities and nations where we are citizens but under suspicion. This story is told in the letters of Paul, the letters to the churches of the New Testament, and the Revelation of Jesus to John. We did missionary work as the first known Christians. Sometimes we were a threat. Sometimes we were welcomed.

So where does that leave us? In reality, I think we are in a phase of our history where the church is so embedded in certain political stances in the western world that it no longer knows what the Kingdom of God we see called out in Scripture. It is so aligned with political ideals that Kingdom ideals are no longer in our vision. It has so much vilified anyone who thinks differently, that unity within God’s Kingdom seems impossible at times, in fact, at times it seems hopeless.

Let me say this - the kingdoms of this world will NOT embrace the Kingdom of God - none ever has and none ever truly will. It is a power struggle - and human beings like power and status just a bit too much. Our hope needs to be found in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone - not the Republicans or the Democrats or any other political party!

However, there is good news this morning, friends! God’s Kingdom is alive and well! God is still working among us. God is doing a new thing, we just aren’t looking for it.

Let’s take a look at some characteristics of followers of Jesus that we find in Matthew 5.

Matthew 5:3–10 NIV

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s take a look at some of the things we see about the Kingdom of God from Scripture:

John 18:36–37 NIV

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

Matthew 6:33 NIV

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 7:21–23 NIV

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Matthew 13:24–30 NIV

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”

Matthew 22:1–14 NIV

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless. 13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Conclusion:

We need to be involved in the world around us, just not let that become our primary citizenship and focus.

We MUST stay focused on God’s Kingdom - living counter-culturally - making disciples

We should be striving for peace, caring for the least of these and the downtrodden, helping the poor and powerless, justice....the things that Jesus cared about. Jesus had much to say about the Kingdom of God - if you need a refresher, read the gospels.

Remember that the people of God and God’s Kingdom are not owned or defined by a political party. Our God and God’s Kingdom are far above any earthly kingdom.

We have hope because our God is alive and well. If the Church starts to get back to the things that unify us and relearn how to have charitable discourse, the Church will have a much more loving witness to those around us.