*Note to reader: I’m doing a three part series on America and the gospel of Jesus. The first one on patriotism is here. You may or may not want to check that out before reading this one. Now back to our regularly scheduled blog…
One of the things that I love about studying Jesus in the Bible is that in all His interactions, He doesn’t seem to leave any stone unturned. All of His teachings and actions have huge impacts across all facets of society. His economic stance is that there’s enough for everyone, like with the loaves and fishes. His thoughts on race are that it doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or a hated Samaritan, or any other Gentile for that matter, He invites you into the Kingdom, like the woman at the well. As he teaches His family values in the sermon on the mount, He says that marriage is sacred and binding. And then there’s this other area of our society.
A bit more controversial I suppose is Christ’s view on government. I believe that Jesus and the Bible say a lot about government and politics. People tend to camp around different flags as to what they think a biblical view of government is. Some are apathetic, believing that Jesus wasn’t political at all. They think about the fact that He perpetually dodged the idea that the Messiah would come and set up an earthly government right away. Others belittle His interaction in American politics, relegating Him to little sayings like, “The Father is a Republican, Jesus is a Democrat and the Holy Spirit is Independent.” No matter what stance an individual takes, they are quite certain that God is on their political side.
As we try to become like Christ and model our lives after the principles that He teaches us in the Bible, we must maintain this solemn stance: God is holy. He’s entirely different and He doesn’t fit nicely into the little boxes that we’d like to put Him in. There are very clear mandates and principles throughout the Bible that we can bank on, but there are also areas that appear more gray that require a more discerning eye and a gracious understanding of His magnitude. When we try to say that God is on our side with our particular party, we should always remember this stance of humility.
Jesus gets after this idea of holiness in the verse that I’m primarily examining in this series. In Jesus’ conversation with Pilate before his crucifixion, He tells Pilate quite plainly “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). If Eugene Peterson wrote a slang Message it’d be like Jesus saying “You don’t even get it, man. That’s not how we roll in my hood.” The way that God does things is totally different. Pilate tried to pin Jesus into a corner and assume what being this type of king was like and Jesus just pointed out that he doesn‘t understand how it works. He doesn’t understand His kingdom, His government.
With that humble stance that He is totally other, we can begin to look at His life and what the Bible says about earthly governments and our interaction with them.
The first view of a godly government that we see in the Bible is the nation of Israel. This is the only true theocracy in the history of mankind as that was the only government that was based on the true God. The base of the Israelites’ government was the Torah, which means the Law or the Way of Life. God showed them the way to live in very specific ways. Much of the law was summed up in the Ten Commandments which showed them Who to worship and how to treat others. Beyond that, and this is equally relevant for us today, is God’s attention throughout the Torah to what we would call social justice. Moses goes to great pains throughout the Torah to show that God’s heart was for the oppressed and the law had them in mind as it was written. God cared about the widow, the orphan and the alien. He ingrained it into the very fabric of their government that they be taken care of and that is beautiful. The truth is that in life, things can go very bad and a good government protects its people. This law that God gave them always had that in mind for the oppressed. And it came with a reminder. The Israelites were the ones that were oppressed when they were under an evil government in Egypt. We can learn so much for our interaction with government when we observe the way that He ruled as the King of Israel.
And yet, that theocracy is not what Christians today experience. We are indeed members of a heavenly government that is not of this world and we have no physical home on this earth. So we turn to the New Testament. Paul talks in Romans 13 about submitting to government. This is sometimes a tough one for guys like me to swallow, because we see the follies in government and don’t want to submit to their authority. Nonetheless, we are to obey the law of the land and Paul is clear in why. The sovereign God is above all governments and while they may be wrong or unbiblical in some dealings, we do it in recognition of His omnipotence. This by no means is telling us to not stand against a government that would force sin upon us. The Roman Empire was far more oppressive to Christians than anything that we experience in the states and that‘s who Paul wrote to. And yet the subversive nature of pure Christianity brought that government to its knees. There is nothing that can stop a true movement of God’s people; we take stuff over like wild mustard seeds. That’s the kind of movement that we need in America as a matter of fact.
Jesus Himself interacted with the Roman government. In complete understanding of His own kingdom, he acted in righteousness. People were always trying to pin Jesus down and put Him in a bad spot, but He was far too clever for that. In one such instance, He told a questioner in relation to taxes to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). He recognized and even submitted to the Roman rule. But He brought it back to the important thing, and that’s God. In our submission to the government, we must have integrity and out of honor for God, we engage accordingly. But at the end of the day, its about the Lord. Its about the things that are His (psst… that means everything). There was never an earthly government stronger than the Rome, but while it has long passed away, the Lord and His government remain; its built on His very shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Indeed, the Bible speaks to things that regularly come up on our ballots in the states. I value and appreciate the American government and the democratic process. Its not a perfect system, but it could be a ton worse. The ability to vote and have even a small voice is something that many citizens of other governments only dream of. I thank God for that opportunity.
With all these things in mind, I do my best to understand scripture and vote biblically. As I do that, I quickly realize that I don’t fit on any particular party platform. This last week as I was in Missouri, I came across many folks that believe God is a Republican; that’s not correct. And as much as that’s been played out, there is also this tide amongst younger Christians that hope in Obama and believe God is a Democrat. That’s not right either. In the 2008 election I was torn between candidates. Not because I liked different aspects of two candidates, but rather because these were mere men and my President is already sitting on a throne in Heaven. I believe the Bible values all life, even convicts and people in other countries (my next blog will be on war... so check back soon), so I couldn’t vote for McCain. At the same time, I believe the Bible values all life, even unborn children, so I couldn’t vote for Obama either. (I’ll just let you guess who I ended up voting for). Furthermore, the Bible speaks on social welfare, a definition of marriage, immigration rights, the qualifications of a godly leader and many other items that show up on American dockets. I believe as American Christians we are to engage our representative government by voting biblically. Nonetheless, we realize that such issues fall across all party lines and hence, it is difficult to navigate through.
Here's my Hope - Image via Wikipedia
And that brings me to the beauty of Jesus and His kingdom. Paul uses governmental terms when he says that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). The way that manifests itself during our brief stay on earth is that we are a part of a subversive, multiethnic Kingdom. We are to be spreading like that wild mustard seed. And such an expansion quickly spreads beyond man-made country lines. Its quite easy for me to have more patriotic camaraderie with a fellow disciple in India than a fellow non-disciple in America. Because my relationship with that Indian man is tied to a cause far greater, far more powerful and far more beautiful than anything the American government, or any other for that matter, has to offer. As it spreads, we remember His law, only now in the new covenant it is written on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10). For such a Kingdom there is no comparison.
He is worthy of this: to be our hope and to have our undivided allegiance. He is the base of our government. I leave with this exhortation from Ephesians 1:18-20 concerning our King and His Kingdom, “that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”
One of the things that I love about studying Jesus in the Bible is that in all His interactions, He doesn’t seem to leave any stone unturned. All of His teachings and actions have huge impacts across all facets of society. His economic stance is that there’s enough for everyone, like with the loaves and fishes. His thoughts on race are that it doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or a hated Samaritan, or any other Gentile for that matter, He invites you into the Kingdom, like the woman at the well. As he teaches His family values in the sermon on the mount, He says that marriage is sacred and binding. And then there’s this other area of our society.
A bit more controversial I suppose is Christ’s view on government. I believe that Jesus and the Bible say a lot about government and politics. People tend to camp around different flags as to what they think a biblical view of government is. Some are apathetic, believing that Jesus wasn’t political at all. They think about the fact that He perpetually dodged the idea that the Messiah would come and set up an earthly government right away. Others belittle His interaction in American politics, relegating Him to little sayings like, “The Father is a Republican, Jesus is a Democrat and the Holy Spirit is Independent.” No matter what stance an individual takes, they are quite certain that God is on their political side.
As we try to become like Christ and model our lives after the principles that He teaches us in the Bible, we must maintain this solemn stance: God is holy. He’s entirely different and He doesn’t fit nicely into the little boxes that we’d like to put Him in. There are very clear mandates and principles throughout the Bible that we can bank on, but there are also areas that appear more gray that require a more discerning eye and a gracious understanding of His magnitude. When we try to say that God is on our side with our particular party, we should always remember this stance of humility.
Jesus gets after this idea of holiness in the verse that I’m primarily examining in this series. In Jesus’ conversation with Pilate before his crucifixion, He tells Pilate quite plainly “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). If Eugene Peterson wrote a slang Message it’d be like Jesus saying “You don’t even get it, man. That’s not how we roll in my hood.” The way that God does things is totally different. Pilate tried to pin Jesus into a corner and assume what being this type of king was like and Jesus just pointed out that he doesn‘t understand how it works. He doesn’t understand His kingdom, His government.
With that humble stance that He is totally other, we can begin to look at His life and what the Bible says about earthly governments and our interaction with them.
The first view of a godly government that we see in the Bible is the nation of Israel. This is the only true theocracy in the history of mankind as that was the only government that was based on the true God. The base of the Israelites’ government was the Torah, which means the Law or the Way of Life. God showed them the way to live in very specific ways. Much of the law was summed up in the Ten Commandments which showed them Who to worship and how to treat others. Beyond that, and this is equally relevant for us today, is God’s attention throughout the Torah to what we would call social justice. Moses goes to great pains throughout the Torah to show that God’s heart was for the oppressed and the law had them in mind as it was written. God cared about the widow, the orphan and the alien. He ingrained it into the very fabric of their government that they be taken care of and that is beautiful. The truth is that in life, things can go very bad and a good government protects its people. This law that God gave them always had that in mind for the oppressed. And it came with a reminder. The Israelites were the ones that were oppressed when they were under an evil government in Egypt. We can learn so much for our interaction with government when we observe the way that He ruled as the King of Israel.
And yet, that theocracy is not what Christians today experience. We are indeed members of a heavenly government that is not of this world and we have no physical home on this earth. So we turn to the New Testament. Paul talks in Romans 13 about submitting to government. This is sometimes a tough one for guys like me to swallow, because we see the follies in government and don’t want to submit to their authority. Nonetheless, we are to obey the law of the land and Paul is clear in why. The sovereign God is above all governments and while they may be wrong or unbiblical in some dealings, we do it in recognition of His omnipotence. This by no means is telling us to not stand against a government that would force sin upon us. The Roman Empire was far more oppressive to Christians than anything that we experience in the states and that‘s who Paul wrote to. And yet the subversive nature of pure Christianity brought that government to its knees. There is nothing that can stop a true movement of God’s people; we take stuff over like wild mustard seeds. That’s the kind of movement that we need in America as a matter of fact.
Jesus Himself interacted with the Roman government. In complete understanding of His own kingdom, he acted in righteousness. People were always trying to pin Jesus down and put Him in a bad spot, but He was far too clever for that. In one such instance, He told a questioner in relation to taxes to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). He recognized and even submitted to the Roman rule. But He brought it back to the important thing, and that’s God. In our submission to the government, we must have integrity and out of honor for God, we engage accordingly. But at the end of the day, its about the Lord. Its about the things that are His (psst… that means everything). There was never an earthly government stronger than the Rome, but while it has long passed away, the Lord and His government remain; its built on His very shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Indeed, the Bible speaks to things that regularly come up on our ballots in the states. I value and appreciate the American government and the democratic process. Its not a perfect system, but it could be a ton worse. The ability to vote and have even a small voice is something that many citizens of other governments only dream of. I thank God for that opportunity.
With all these things in mind, I do my best to understand scripture and vote biblically. As I do that, I quickly realize that I don’t fit on any particular party platform. This last week as I was in Missouri, I came across many folks that believe God is a Republican; that’s not correct. And as much as that’s been played out, there is also this tide amongst younger Christians that hope in Obama and believe God is a Democrat. That’s not right either. In the 2008 election I was torn between candidates. Not because I liked different aspects of two candidates, but rather because these were mere men and my President is already sitting on a throne in Heaven. I believe the Bible values all life, even convicts and people in other countries (my next blog will be on war... so check back soon), so I couldn’t vote for McCain. At the same time, I believe the Bible values all life, even unborn children, so I couldn’t vote for Obama either. (I’ll just let you guess who I ended up voting for). Furthermore, the Bible speaks on social welfare, a definition of marriage, immigration rights, the qualifications of a godly leader and many other items that show up on American dockets. I believe as American Christians we are to engage our representative government by voting biblically. Nonetheless, we realize that such issues fall across all party lines and hence, it is difficult to navigate through.
Here's my Hope - Image via WikipediaAnd that brings me to the beauty of Jesus and His kingdom. Paul uses governmental terms when he says that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). The way that manifests itself during our brief stay on earth is that we are a part of a subversive, multiethnic Kingdom. We are to be spreading like that wild mustard seed. And such an expansion quickly spreads beyond man-made country lines. Its quite easy for me to have more patriotic camaraderie with a fellow disciple in India than a fellow non-disciple in America. Because my relationship with that Indian man is tied to a cause far greater, far more powerful and far more beautiful than anything the American government, or any other for that matter, has to offer. As it spreads, we remember His law, only now in the new covenant it is written on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10). For such a Kingdom there is no comparison.
He is worthy of this: to be our hope and to have our undivided allegiance. He is the base of our government. I leave with this exhortation from Ephesians 1:18-20 concerning our King and His Kingdom, “that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”
No comments:
Post a Comment