At the church where I serve, we are in the midst of
a sermon series entitled “Vote for Jesus”. During this series, our hope and our
prayer is to accomplish three specific goals. First, our hope and our prayer is
to demonstrate that Jesus is not a republican and Jesus is not a democrat.
Instead, Jesus is God and as God Jesus is the one that we are to place our hope
in, not a political party. Second, our hope and our prayer is to equip and
empower us to think critically and Biblically when it comes to the issues that
our culture is faced with that often express themselves in the political
process. And third, our hope and prayer is to provide a framework from the
message and teachings of Jesus when it comes to how we as followers of Jesus
are to engage in the government and in the political process in way that
reveals and reflects Jesus to those around us.
My goal is not to tell you how you should vote on
any particular ballot measure. In addition, I am not going to endorse any
political candidate. Instead, I am going
to strive to present the political platform that Jesus would run on if Jesus was
running for political office. This week, I would like for us to address and
answer the question of how followers of Jesus should view the role that
government has and how we are to engage government as followers of Jesus.
To answer these questions, we are going to spend
part of our time looking at the various positions that followers of Jesus have
advocated for when it comes to how followers of Jesus are to view the role that
government has and how followers of Jesus are to engage government. We will
then look at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament
of the Bible that I believe provides a timeless and true answer to how
followers of Jesus are to view the role of government and engage government.
So, with all that in mind, I would like to begin by
looking at the different ways that followers of Jesus have tended to view to
role that government has and how followers of Jesus are to engage government. I
would like for us to view these different views on a continuum, or spectrum, so
to speak.
On one end of the continuum or spectrum would be
those who would advocate for what could be described as the view that
government should compel religion. Proponents of this view would advocate that
civil government should promote or compel its citizens to support or follow one
particular religion. What is fascinating about this view is that the idea that
government should compel its citizens to support or follow one particular
religion is what led to the pilgrims to travel to America and found the United
States of America.
In Europe in the 15, 16, and 1700’s, countries had a
state sponsored church that its citizens were called to attend. For example, in
England, the state church was the Church of England, which is also known as the
Anglican Church. In Germany, the state church was the Catholic or Lutheran
church. In Switzerland, the state church
was the Catholic or the Reformed church.
The pilgrims left Europe to come to what we know
today as the United States so that they could experience freedom of religion
where communities could have Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Reformed, and
Catholic churches in each community. The idea of separation of church and
state, for the founders of the United States, was that there would be no such
thing as a government sponsored church. Instead people would have the freedom
to worship God without government required sponsorship.
In addition to the argument that the founders of our
country had against the view that government should compel religion, there is
the argument that Jesus Himself made against government promoting or compelling
religion. In a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the
gospel of Matthew, Matthew records for us an event from history where a group
of self righteous religious people attempted to trap Jesus with the question
“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” In Matthew 22:18-21 Jesus answered this
question with the statement “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God
what is God’s”.
As Wayne Grudem points out, what is significant
about this statement is that Jesus reveals for us the reality that there are to
be two different spheres of influence, one for the government and one for the
religious life of the people of God. Some things, such as taxes, belong to the
civil government “the things that are Caesar’s”, which implies that the church
should not try to control these things.
On the other hand, some things belong to people’s religious
life “the things that are God’s”, which implies that the civil government
should not try to control those things. In addition, when we read the accounts
of Jesus life that are recorded for us in the Bible, we repeatedly discover that
Jesus refused to try to compel people to believe in Him. Jesus repeatedly gave
people the freedom to reject Him and repeatedly let people walk away from Him
as they rejected Him. And because of this reality, as followers of Jesus we
should support freedom of religion and oppose any government attempt to force
people to follow or believe in one particular religion.
Now, with this idea of a continuum or spectrum in
mind, if we were to take a step to the left on this continuum or spectrum, we
would find those who would advocate for Christians to flood the political and
government arenas as a means to bring political and cultural change. Wayne
Grudem refers to this view as the “Do politics not evangelism” position.
This position maintains that if Christians were able
to be in positions of political and government power, they would be able to
advocate for the passage of legislation that place Christian principles and
practices into the forefront of culture in a way that would bring cultural
change. This position was popularized in the 70’s and 80’s in the moral
majority movement led by Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and others. The belief
behind this view is that with the right political candidate, Christians would
be able to begin to bring the light of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Similarly, the social gospel movement has attempted to address societal and
cultural issues through legislation and political action without sharing the
claims of Christ and the message of the gospel.
However, I believe that those who advocated for
Christians to flood the political and government arenas as a means to bring
cultural change with the “Do politics not evangelism” position missed two major
Biblical themes. First, has the concept of legislating morality ever worked?
How did legislating morality work for the Jewish people in the Old Testament?
Did the laws, principles, and practices of the Old Testament bring change to
the Jewish people? You see, legislation can never change the human heart.
Government legislation can promote good for people and punish the evil of
people, but government legislation does not make evil people good people.
Second, many who advocated for Christians to flood
the political and government arenas as a means to bring cultural change with
the “Do politics not evangelism” position ended up placing their hope in
politics. However, the message and teachings of Jesus make it abundantly clear
that there is only one object that we are to place our hope in; and that object
is not politics or government, that object is Jesus.
And unfortunately, the misplaced hope of the moral
majority movement and others like it in the 70’s through the 90’s turned off an
entire generation to the idea of church. An entire generation has been turned
off to the idea of church because they view Christians and the church more
interested in fighting the culture wars than in telling them about Jesus. An
entire generation has been turned off to the idea of church because they view
Christians as only interested in telling them what they are against, not what
they are for.
Tomorrow, we will look at the other end of the
spectrum, or continuum of views when it comes to how followers of Jesus have
tended to view to role that government has and how followers of Jesus are to
engage government…
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