A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF POLITICS

SUNDAY BULLETIN INSERT, 4/15/07 Back to Articles

PETER & PAUL ON THE AUTHORITIES

1 Peter 2:13-17

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, ¹⁴or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. ¹⁵For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. ¹⁶Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. ¹⁷Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Romans 13:1-8

¹Everyone 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.  ²Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. ⁴For he 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 is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

⁶This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

⁸Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. 

BIBLICAL POLITICAL HISTORY

Dictated by Charismatic Leaders – Moses, Joshua, Judges

Ruled by Kings – Saul, David, Solomon, Kings of Israel and Judah

In Exile in Babylon

Ruled by Foreign powers – Persia, Greece, Rome

Nation caught in dilemma between charismatic leaders and kings

Against kings – Hosea 8:1-7, 9:15, 10, 1 Samuel 8:10-22

In favor of kings – Judges 2:6-23, 21:25, scriptures on David

Nation judged by faithfulness to God and justice for the poor

Isaiah 3, 10, 11:1-5, 58:1-12

Jeremiah 22:13-17

Amos 2:6-8

Shepherds (leaders) must be faithful to God and to the people

Zechariah 11:4-17

John 10:1-13

CHURCH POLITICAL HISTORY

30-313 Persecuted by Rome

313-476 Official Religion of Rome

476-1500 Powerful among many nations

1500-1900 Reformation time – several Christian states

1776 United States – learning from the mistakes of Christian states

CHRIST AND CULTURE

CHRIST CHRIST

AGAINST OF

CULTURE CULTURE

Monks Civil religion

Amish

Mormon sects

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Pre-millennial emphasis Political/Environmental

PRINCIPLES FOR POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT

1. Be ____________ in the __________ process – you can make a ____________ for your _____________ and your _______________.

Genesis 1:28, Romans 12:18

2. Don’t take human _____________ too _________.

Deuteronomy 8:17, Judges 7:2, 2 Corinthians 4:18

3. Seek to __________________ those who are ___________________ from you.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

4. Let go of what ___ _____________, and seek what is ________ for _____________.

Philippians 2:4

5. Above all these _______________, put on ___________________.

Colossians 2:12-14, Romans 12:7-8

UPDATES AFTER THE SUNDAY WORSHIP

SUNDAY MESSAGE.

After taking a looooong time to talk about the Bible and politics, and the different ways that Christians have tried to balance living for Christ with living in the world, and sharing some of my own sordid background, being raised steeped in politics of many kinds, and being somewhat burned out by it now, I suggested these principles:

1. Be involved in the political process – you can make a difference for your community and your world.

Peter and Paul and other early Christians never had the opportunities to make an impact; their world was under the control of anti-Christian forces – no vote, no voice. But since Paul calls on us in Romans 12:18 to do whatever we can to be at peace with each other, and since God in Genesis 1:28 calls on us to have dominion over the earth, I tend to believe that Christ wants us to be involved because we have the opportunity to do so.

2. Don’t take human achievements too seriously.

There were many times I thought the right people would make all the difference, but I’ve been continually reminded that people still sin and mess things up. I have been at the point of feeling all burned out about politics, and neighborhoods, and churches. However, even though we mess it up, not that our work is useless, because the Spirit can make our efforts bear fruit, and often does. But when we start getting real serious about what we think we can do, it is helpful to remember 1 Corinthians 4:18 that we are focus not on the temporary but the eternal.

3. Seek to understand those who are different from you.

This seems to be hard advice for politicians, but it is Paul’s example for all of us, and not just for politics. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul states that he has become “all things to all men” so that he might save some. It’s that important to Christ; more important than any idea you hold dear. I try to remember that every idea that is different than mine usually has some grain of truth to it, otherwise it would not attract people. Sometimes it is the hardest thing to accept an idea from someone you don’t think highly of, but good ideas come from all over, and I am convinced that the Holy Spirit does that on purpose to confound us. I am far more concerned with WHAT is right than WHO is right. I remind myself that it is not good to always look to the same newspapers, radio programs, or TV shows for my news or anything else. Yes, I need to take some time to be encouraged by people who share my views, but I also need to remember that I have to try to understand those who are different.

4. Let go of what “I want,” and seek what is best for everyone.

This is our general call from Philippians 2:4, and it applies in political work as much as anything else. This does not mean we give up our passion for certain matters… but it does little good unless we can bring others to a common place. We can be complainers who can always feel right, or we can be faithful servants who get things done.

5. Above all these things, put on love (Colossians 2:12-14).

If I had more time, I could have said something about the United Methodist committee I was stuck on, and now am in charge… we are working at joining people from the churches in Ohio with their state (and eventually federal) legislators so that there will be more open communication between the legislature and the churches. While most of the people who wanted to do this wanted to be able to tell legislators where the United Methodist Church stands on certain issues – to me just as important (maybe more) is that this would be a two-way street. We tell them what’s important to us, but we also listen to our legislators, pray with them, and communicate back to the churches what they are going through. We often encourage faithful Christians to enter public office and then treat them like they’ve been infected after they get there. I long to see a community where more of us work together to solve problems; I believe this is what Christ expects of His people.

I did not identify myself on Sunday with any political party. That is not because this is private information, but I don’t see it as being helpful to anyone in the role I am called on to fill. I can say that I have been involved with both, and at times neither, and anytime I voted a straight ticket was a time I admitted that I had not studied up enough on the candidates to know the individual races.

OTHER PARTS OF THE SERVICE.

Thanks again to David Rowe, who led us in several worship songs. We invite your prayers that more will come forward to offer their gifts in worship.

We welcome back Winona Hicks, who has joined us now for the third week in a row (She has attended a few years ago). If you would like to send a card, make a phone call or a visit, please call the office for her information.

FURTHER SERVICES.

I appreciate the patience of everyone who sat through the long, general talk on politics this week. I am sorry that it took so long, but glad that I got to say that, and it will make much more sense as a lot of what I said will be applied in the next few weeks:

APR 22 – sexuality, APR 29 – abortion, MAY 6 – homosexuality

I have purposely grouped these together because I believe that the earlier issues need to be talked about before the later ones. My design is that some of what I say will make more sense later. However, it is far more important to me that Christ be given the highest glory over any human words, even mine. I know that I walk a fine line here in slipping my will over His: I need your prayers…

TRUSTEE NEWS.

The Trustees met recently and discussed, among other things, how to spend the money we now have available to spend. Some of that money is designated for parsonage work, so we will be determining what is the best use of it there. Small amounts of money are memorials, which can be used in any way the church sees fit. A couple of ideas include upgrading the paper signs at the doors to more official-looking signs, and also repairing the neon cross on the Avondale side of the building. We also have $5,500 from the sale of the vacant lot. That money can only be used for improvements to our property or buying additional property. The Trustees welcome any of your suggestions as to how best to use this money.

NEIGHBORHOOD NOTE.

In the next week or so, we will be “blitzing” the neighborhood… we have been asked to survey some of the neighbors, that is one thing, but also we will in groups of two, go door to door and offer people the following:

o To pray for their church if they have one, and talk about how they can make it stronger;

o To pray for them if they are staying home from their church, and talk about why they need to go back;

o To offer our church family to them if they do not have a church home.

We might bring more people back to other churches than ours, but if that is what He wills, so be it. All I know is that He is clear that it is time to get out there and talk with people, and pray that our church family will receive new people, invite them to their homes, get to know them as friends.

If you would like to help on this, contact me or the church office and we’ll arrange to go out together.

Yours in Christ,