The Church and Politics

Well, I have to tell you, in all my years as a pastor, there is no single issue that has caused more controversy, more hard feelings, more anger, or more Christians mad at one another or mad at me, than the issue we’re going to talk about.

We’ll talk about the Church and politics. All I want you to see is that when you start talking about the Church and politics you have two very distinct groups and most people in between.

You have some that are what I call “separatists.” In other words, those things should never be talked about or communicated ever in the Church when it’s gathered.” And there are others who would feel just the opposite or they’re activists that say, “You know what? This is the time to mobilize God’s people around these certain issues or candidates.”

So when someone comes to me and says, “How can you say that you love God yet talk about politics and the Church,” here’s what I want you to get. Here’s their position and then I want to give you the presuppositions. I want you to understand why people sincerely and passionately think that way.

The position is: Any subject or issue that is directly or indirectly political should never be talked about in the Church. Three presuppositions behind that thinking.

Number one, there’s a clear distinction between what’s sacred and secular. Faith is a privatized issue, there is a sacred moment of your relationship with God. Out there in the world, in politics and other things, is secular. Those things should not cross. You have some whole groups, actually, who will live completely apart. So they have no government involvement as much as they can.

The second presupposition is the confusion over our understanding of a pluralistic society versus pluralism. A pluralistic society basically is everyone has the right to champion our ideas, to say, “This is right, this is true, and let’s talk about them and the best ideas and the truth will win out.” That’s been the history of America, traditionally.

We’re moving more and more towards pluralism. Pluralism says that every idea has exactly equal value, and for you to say that one idea or one position is better than another is intolerant.

And so, especially in the Church, if someone says, “This is an issue and this is right and that is wrong,” well, my lands, that’s the most intolerant thing you could do. And so those things shouldn’t be talked about.

The third presupposition is what I call functional separatists. This is often the younger generation but some who are burned out and worn out. This is a group of people who say, “You know what? We’ve been through a lot of presidents or I’ve heard a lot of people talk. I’ve been through the local politics. Here’s what I know. All government is corrupt, when you peel back the onion I don’t care which party it is, it doesn’t do any good. My vote doesn’t matter, my participation doesn’t matter, I’m just going to live my life and I’m not involved completely. I’m totally disillusioned.” So, those are the reasons behind the position of never talk or deal with politics and the Church.

The second position is, “Well how can you say you love God and not take a stand on political issues in the Church?” Here’s the position.

The position is: The Church is a tool in the hand of God to turn a secular culture back to God. And as such it must exert vocal and active support for candidates, and issues, and laws that bring our government, and our culture, in line with biblical values.

Now there are three presuppositions behind that.

The first one is that America has a covenant relationship with God. Not just that there was a biblical worldview and there were some Christians and some Deists and this was the sense, but there’s actually a covenant relationship with God exactly like, or much like, Israel.

Therefore, the goal of the Church is to bring America back to God and what better place than in the Church to be a tool in God’s hands to do that.

The second presupposition is that moral and cultural change is the primary mandate of the Church and the political process is one of the primary ways to achieve it.

In other words, the goal of the Church is to change the culture. It’s to get people, and laws and things, in such a way that they reflect biblical values, and the political process is the primary means of doing that.

Therefore, use the bully pulpit. Use the Church, when it’s gathered, in a way to champion those causes.

The third presupposition is that when the Church, when I say the Church gathered, when we’re together as a group and what comes from the pulpit, the official teaching of the Church and individual Christians that the calling of those two things are exactly the same.

Now that’s going to be really critical later so remember that one. The idea that whatever we’re to do when we’re gathered, as an official position and focus and future of the Church, is the same calling as each individual Christian.

So what does the Bible say about the Church and politics? And then what does He say about the role of government in politics? And what’s He say about the role of individual believers?

And what I can tell you is I think the Scripture is really clear. There are four biblical absolutes that, before we get into the particulars about how that should be applied in this church, or how churches in general should, let’s just build kind of what I call a theological framework.

Kind of a grid. And say, “This is what the Bible says. Now, let’s look at those individual things.” And I think, actually, it gets pretty clear.

So are you ready? Roll up your sleeves. If you have a pen pull it out and then turn in your Bibles, if you will, to John chapter 18 and here’s

absolute number one. There are two kingdoms in conflict. That’s the first thing you need to know.

There are two kingdoms in conflict. There is a spiritual, eternal kingdom that Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, came to the earth and is championing and still champions. And there is a temporal, concrete kingdom that we live in.

So notice, as we pick up the story in John chapter 18, we have Jesus on trial before Pilate and He’s being interviewed. Verse 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is from another place.”

And Pilate looks at Him and says, “You are a king, then?” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of the truth listens to Me.”

And so He’s being interviewed, and He’s been accused, and He’s been turned over by the Jews to Pilate, who is the official government of the day, and basically He says there’s a different kingdom. And My kingdom isn’t of this world. My kingdom is rooted in truth.

Now the story is going to go on. Flip the page, just go over to Chapter 19, because Pilate is going through some internal issues about, “Where is this guy coming from?” And “He says he’s a king.” And we know a little bit more about the story. He gets a note from his wife and so we pick up the story in chapter 19 and Pilate is frustrated.

He says to Jesus, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Don’t You realize I have power either to free You or to crucify You? Don’t You understand I hold the sovereignty and the power over Your life?”

And listen to Jesus’ response. Jesus answered, “You would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

And here’s all I want you to get: You and I, as followers of Christ, are living in two kingdoms that are butting heads. There’s an eternal, spiritual kingdom and there is a temporal, physical kingdom and they’re at odds.

And the summary of Jesus is that He’s building a spiritual kingdom of love and justice that will ultimately be consummated when He returns but until then human institutions and governments will continually be at odds with His spiritual kingdom.

So it raises the question: How do you live in two kingdoms? I mean there are some values and issues of following Jesus, but I live in the United States, or some of you actually are citizens of other countries.

Absolute number two: Every believer has dual citizenship.

Every believer has dual citizenship. You might jot in your notes Philippians chapter 3 verse 20. The apostle Paul says, “Your citizenship,” if you’re a born-again believer, a follower of Jesus, your citizenship is in heaven.

And what we’re going to learn is you have dual citizenship both in heaven and a responsibility to the world and the government that you live in. If you will, in your Bible, flip back just a book or two to Mark. And this is a very interesting story.

Jesus’ popularity is mushrooming. He’s threatening the religious leaders. So, in fact, two groups of people that don’t like each other… this was the far left and the far right, theologically, okay? They don’t like each other.

But what they now have is a common enemy and the common enemy is this Jesus and throngs are following Him and His teaching and His power and they get a, they realize their position is going to get usurped, we got to get rid of this guy.

And they’re very intelligent people so they come together and say, “You know what? We’ve got our differences but…” Sort of in the back room somewhere they came up with the great way to trap Him so that no matter what He says we’re going to discredit Him.

We pick up the story in Mark chapter 12 verse 13. “Later then some of the Pharisees,” right wingers, “and the Herodians,” left wingers, theologically, “came to Jesus to catch Him in His words. “They came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, we know that You’re a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men because You pay no attention to who they are, but You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And so we have a question. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay, or shouldn’t we?’”

And you can picture the crowd. And by the way, they don’t care how He answers. I mean, we gotcha. If you say we should pay to Caesar the Jews are now against you. If you say, “No, we shouldn’t pay to Caesar,” now you’re going against the government. So we don’t care how you answer. We’ve got you.

Notice Jesus’ response. Because aren’t those two kingdoms in conflict? There’s the Jewish view and there’s the political view.

And Jesus says this: “Knowing their hypocrisy, ‘Why are you trying to trap Me? Bring a denarius and let Me look at it.’ And they brought Him the coin and He asked them, ‘Whose portrait is on this and whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’”

It’s interesting, when they used this word, Greek, there’s a Greek word where, “Who should we pay?” it means, “just give something.” To pay. Jesus, in His answer, uses a different Greek word for “pay” that means, “to fulfill a debt.”

And so He says, “You actually have an absolute debt or obligation to the government, Caesar, to give him whatever,” and we’ll learn about that in a minute, “and you have an equal and more important obligation to give to God whatever He asks of you.”

And so what He wants you to know when you think of the Church and politics is, number one, there are two kingdoms in conflict. And every single follower of Jesus, you have dual citizenship. And so you are to be faithful to your citizenship in heaven and faithful to your citizenship here on earth with the government that’s there.

Which raises another question. How can you be faithful to an evil government? How can you be faithful when there’s such corruption and difficulty?

He answers that question in absolute number three. Human governments are ordained by God to restrain evil.

Now I want, as I ask you now to flip over a couple books to Romans chapter 13, I want you to know that this is a difficult time for the Church.

The Church is persecuted, I mean, you talk about corruption in government, you talk about injustice, you talk about laws that are just, I mean infanticide is just a normal part, women are bought and sold, slavery. Anything you can think of. Immorality is an all-time high.

And so the apostle Paul is going to get some instruction to followers who live in these dual kingdoms. This is how you respond to the kingdom on earth. This is how you respond to the government.

Follow along as I read. Romans 13 beginning at verse 1. “Everyone must submit himself 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, he who 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 the fear of one in authority? Then do what is right and he’ll commend you.”

Now listen to how the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, describes the government from God’s sovereign perspective. “For he, the government, is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He, the government, is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on wrongdoing.

“Therefore,” here’s the application, “it’s necessary to submit to authorities not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.” In other words, you do it as an act of worship and obedience to God. He’s saying God has sovereignly either allowed or placed this government at this time, in this country, where you live. Now think about being a believer in Communist China. Think about being a believer in one of the states of a harsh dictator. Forget that, think about what it was like when you received this as a Christian in Rome.

Okay, I need to follow and obey God but he’s saying that I’m actually supposed to submit to the rules, as far as they don’t violate God’s Word, of this government?

In fact, he goes on to say, “This is also why you pay taxes for the authorities are God’s servants who give you their full time to govern. Give to everyone what you owe them. If you owe them taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, revenue. If respect, respect. And if honor, honor.”

Here’s what you need to understand. The role of government, from Scripture, is very simple. It’s to restrain evil. The government doesn’t have the power to change people’s hearts, the government doesn’t have the power to make cultures shift in directions.

We can create laws that limit evil but the government doesn’t have the power to bring about major cultural change. God says the role is to restrain evil.

Which raises another question. If the government doesn’t have the power to bring about the kind of world that we believe God wants and the kind of relationships where there’s justice for people, and love, and equality, and real concern, how’s that ever going to happen?

Well, now we learn what He says about the Church. Absolute number four: The Church is ordained by God to make disciples.

I mean, we’re talking about people throughout human history that have given their life, that have submitted to absolutely evil and terrible governments but lived such supernatural, amazing, winsome lives that they fed the poor, or during the times of the plagues were the people that picked up the bodies and pushed them on carts.

And people who, despite all the problems and ills in the society what they were were little Jesuses, they were salt, and light, and leaven. And you say, “Well that’s overwhelming.” Well when Jesus sent them out there was only a hundred and twenty and he says to them, “All power or all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me.”

Now here’s the assignment, “As you go I want you to make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything that I taught you. Teach them to obey.

“And by the way, when it gets crazy, and when you’re afraid, and when you think it’s impossible, and when you’re worn out, remember, ‘Lo, I am with you always to the end of the age.’”

The making of a disciple, think of that rather than of some class that you’ve had, or some little thing that happens. He says, “I want you to be the kind of people that it’s like, Jesus living inside your body, in your arena of influence at home, at work, in the private, in the public, in the government. And I want you to penetrate and infiltrate in ways.”

And the way you do that, your role with the government is you submit. You realize God has sovereignly put this Communist ruler, or this dictator, or He has sovereignly placed you in a place, by the way, America is not a democracy. That shows up nowhere. We’re a republic. Democracies just mean the majority rules. Republics have a clear constitution of participation that says, “These are the values and the core behind what rules and why.”

And God says, “In the midst of that I want you to be used by Me in ways beyond your wildest dreams.”
Four absolutes. Quick review. We live in two kingdoms that are in conflict; every one of us that are followers of Jesus, what do we have? We have dual citizenship. So what’s the role of the government? The role of the government is to restrain evil. What’s the role of the Church? Is to make disciples, internal transformation. The government is external control.

Next question, simply put, is this: How do you move from a theological framework to the specific application of these principles in real life?

And I’m going to suggest there are three principles that flow out of these four absolutes.

And here’s the key: If you understand the role and the responsibility of the Church, and when I say “the Church,” gathered, the role and the responsibility of government, and the role and the responsibility of us as individual Christians, when you clarify that from those four absolutes all of a sudden you will be able to make the kind of decisions, in all the specific areas about anything from voting, personally, to what the Church should do, what the government could do, and what we should do.

So with that let’s talk about first the role of the Church.

Principle number one: Let the Church be the Church. The Church’s highest calling, the Church’s purpose for living, is to fulfill the spiritual, eternal, invisible kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Church’s goal is to exalt Christ and to preach, teach, and model the message of redemption, over and above, and more important, than anything else.

That’s the goal of the Church. So let the Church be the Church. Well what’s that look like?

How does the Church be the Church when it comes to the area of politics?

Three specific ways Scripture says.

First way, are you ready for this? Is to pray. The Church, when we’re gathered together, is to pray.

I Timothy 2:1 says, “I urge you, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and those in authority that we may live,” notice the purpose for the prayers for political powers and people that be, “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases our God and Savior who wants all men to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

See the Church’s first priority is we pray for the government, not so the economy gets better. We pray for the government, and for candidates, not so our lives are happier or easier. We pray, first and foremost, for those in authority so that there would be peace in the land so the gospel could go forth by what we, not just say, but the freedom to live in a way that people could see the reality of Christ.

Now I’m going to have a little experiment here, are you ready? Put your pencil down just for a second.

I want you to think of the candidate, that if you were pressed for this next presidential campaign, that you’re most excited about and let that name pop into your mind. Okay.

Now I want you to think of the candidate, in this next presidential election that you have the most distaste for. I’d like you to have that person come to your mind. Have you got it?

Now what I can tell you, in Christians all across America, those would be two different faces.

With that said, are you ready for this? For every time, let’s go to the person that you distaste, that you think is the wrong person, that you’re very, very concerned about, could become the next president.

For every time that you have spoken, criticized, written, or said something negative about this person to another believer or someone else at work or in your community, how often have you prayed for that person?

Just flat out convicting, isn’t it?

What the Bible says is that person, whoever they’re going to be, will be established by God. And that the requirement of the Church gathered and for individual believers is to pray for them. Christians tend to be often the most negative, critical people who blog, and email, and send little things to one another that you open with these little ads toward one another on both directions.

And I just wonder what would happen if we prayed, and cared about the souls of those people, and asked ourselves, first and foremost, if there’s a kingdom of heaven that’s spiritual and eternal and my allegiance is first to Christ, maybe that ought to be my priority first and foremost.

Especially, as we’re gathered together.

The second priority, when the Church is gathered, let the Church be the Church, is to preach and teach the truth of God’s Word, so that God’s people would be informed and have a biblical worldview about His values.

I have news for you! God is not looking for a democratic vote or a republican vote. In fact, I have news for you! God is neither a Democrat or a Republican. Shocking. And when He wants you to vote a little bit later on and we talk about your individual responsibility, He’s not looking for you to say, “Well this is the, my republican or my democratic…” He’s looking for a kingdom vote.

He’s looking for the children of God, who understand these worlds will always be in conflict, and you have dual citizenship and the government doesn’t have the power to change the world but only restrain evil. But you have the power, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to make a difference.

Oh, God, I am your child. I am your son or your daughter before I’m a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent. What do You want me to do, what do You want me to say, and how do You want me to vote on these issues and these people that would honor You?

So how can Christians know what those issues are unless we teach? That’s the role of the Church gathered.

Did you notice when Jesus was talking to Pilate He said what? “Everyone who listens to the truth listens to Me.”
You notice when they came to catch Jesus and what He says, “We know you’re a man of integrity because You live according to the truth.”

So the question is, is there absolute or relative truth? What’s the truth about human sexuality? What’s the truth about homosexuality? What’s the truth about abortion? What’s the truth about the environment?

That’s the job of the Church gathered. After we pray, this our best understanding of the truth.

Now we’re going to learn in just a minute you have a moral responsibility to participate, to know the facts, to examine, and say, “I want to be a kingdom voter. And my first allegiance is first and foremost not to what I think will make life more comfortable. Not even do I think it’s going to have more or less impact depending on what I do. But it’s to be faithful to God.”

And so prayer is number one, preaching and teaching, and the third is modeling. The Church is to model truth, and justice, and righteousness.

The world changed because of the Acts 2 verses 40 through 47. That picture of those people, how did they live? They lived in a corrupt culture, with a corrupt government, where there was tremendous injustice, amazing immorality, and all kind of gods and they came together and they loved each other and they followed Jesus and they made sacrifices and they met the deepest needs in the community.

So that’s what we do. You help runaway teens, and you figure ministry is to help sex trafficking, and help people that are HIV positive, regardless of how they got it. You don’t judge. You care. You feed the poor. You live in community. You don’t talk negatively. You don’t gossip.

When Christians live like Christians you’re the most winsome, powerful group on the face of the earth.

Second principle: Don’t expect the government to achieve what only the Church can accomplish.

See that’s, so often, it’s subtle. If we could just get the right guy in the office, whoever “we” is. By the way, the “we” when we say “Christian” could be very, very different politically. Very, very broad.

This is another “a-ha.” I think God, since He’s not a Republican or a Democrat, is absolutely committed to having born again, kingdom-minded servants of His in both parties.

And that they’re commitment to the King would superimpose any shallower commitments to their political parties. And yet, over time, we’ve thought somehow, it’s a subtle presupposition, “If we could just get the right guy and then the Senate, and then the Congress, and then the Supreme Court justices, and then the governors, and…”

We unconsciously believe that the political process has the power to change the culture and to change people’s hearts and make, quote, the world the way many Christians believe the world ought to be.

That’s a deeply held view. The Bible says the government doesn’t have that power. So it has the power to restrain evil. Now when you make certain laws that punish unrighteous things, God says the, what’s the foundation of God’s throne? Justice and righteousness.

What exalts a people? What exalts a nation? Righteousness. Governments can’t create righteousness. Only individual people can.

Well then you should be asking, “Well then where is our hope?” The role of the Church: Pray, preach and teach the truth, model and live this out in radical ways.

Principle number three: Don’t expect the Church to accomplish what only individual believers can achieve.

See what a lot of people want to do is say, “If you would do this, if you preach on this, if we do that, if we interview candidates, if we do that, if we take a stand on proposition 1, 4, 7, 9, 2, 13, if we have flyers, if we have voting guides, if we do…”

Don’t ask the Church to accomplish what only an individual believer can achieve. All those things are too low and too small a priority of the overarching message of exalting Christ and the message of redemption, when we’re gathered.

However, the Scripture is clear, believers have dual citizenship and we’ll be held accountable before God for faithfulness in both arenas. Separation is not the answer. Activism in the Church gathered is not the answer. The answer is one word. Are you ready for this?

At the end of the day, we want the government to change things, we want the Church gathered to change things, and here’s what Jesus would say: “You are the light. You are the salt. And you are the leaven.”

Changing in laws, changing in Boards of Education, changings in values, changing in the greatest needs, that’s not the Church gathered, that’s you and me, individually, saying, “You know what? I’m going to be informed. You know what? I’m going to vote. You know what? I’m going to find a calling on my life to meet the deepest needs and I’m going to engage. I’m going to get off of talk radio and blogging about stuff and I’m going to get out and do stuff that brings about real, concrete change in hurting people’s lives, in laws that need to be changed.

“I’m not going to ask the Church to do that. I’m not going to just be a mouth that talks about, ‘We ought to do this and we ought to do that and can you believe how terrible things are?’”

I love what my friend, Tony Evans, he wrote a tiny, little book called How Should Christians Vote? And he has one chapter, I loved it, it’s on, “Is God a Democrat or a Republican?” Classic.

And what he says in this is probably different than you could ever imagine. It’s very insightful.

Tony writes, “The Scripture clearly states the role of the believer, in the midst of society,” and then he quotes a very famous authority on what our role in society, individually, should be.

“You are the salt of the earth but if the salt becomes tasteless how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under-foot by men. You are the light of the world. You are a city set on a hill, a city that can’t be hidden. Nor does anyone take a light or a lamp and put it under a basket but they put it on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house. “So let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Does anyone recognize that authority? It’s Jesus. He’s quoting Matthew 5. And then I love the paragraph: “Our job as Christians is to infiltrate where the bacteria of unrighteousness and darkness have permeated and made themselves at home. It is our job to act as salt and light in both parties and offer the kingdom’s point of view. One way you do that in a constitutional republic is through your vote.”

See at the end of the day I think what’s happened is that many of us want someone else to accomplish what God says is your job. My job. What’s your calling?

Now for all of us – informed. All of us – registered to vote and vote. Are you ready for this?

The research I did on very specific propositions, on very specific judges, on very specific candidates, often the swing of who wins is by a few hundred or a few thousand votes. Two thirds of all the people say, “I love Jesus with all my heart,” and listen to talk radio, and probably blog about how terrible things are. Two thirds of them don’t participate. See, I think you’ll be held personally accountable, and I’ll be held personally accountable.

Now, if I was in Communist China I don’t get to vote. I get to be a citizen, I get to live out my faith, and the moment they tell me I can’t do something that God says I have to do, then I exercise civil disobedience.

So I might be a Daniel and say, “You know, I’m sorry, you know something? You can tell me I can’t pray. I’m going to pray. You put me in jail, you put me in jail.”

But there’s a role for participation. And then there’s a calling. There are some people in this room that you ought to be on a Board of Education. There are people in this room that you ought to be leading the precinct in your party.

There are people in this room that are probably younger, you should be asking yourself, “Does God want me to be the governor of this state?” For some of your kids you ought to be training them saying, “You know what? We’re going to need a godly, Christian president someday.” And maybe one of your sons or one of your daughters…

We’ve retreated and we’ve said, “The government solves the problems or get the Church to be a big political bully.” Both of those are wrong. The government can restrain evil and the Church can make disciples and we are the salt and the light and the leaven.

I have a word to the separatist. Do not ask others to do the work that God has called you to do. Okay? You have dual citizenship. Don’t you say, “Well I don’t want any involvement in politics in any way, someone else take care of that.” Sorry. That’s not one of the options.

And my word to the activist: Please don’t demand that your personal calling and your personal passion in your views, politically, become one that all of us have to share and be promoted from the Church gathered.

They’ll know us, according to Jesus, by our love, not our political activity. Should you have political activity? Absolutely. But that’s your personal calling. Do what God shows you to do. Don’t demand that when we’re gathered that that becomes the agenda.