We live in a very highly politicized culture currently. Probably more so now than ever before it seems. The news networks appear to be seeking to do everything possible to get us to take sides and further the partisan divide of the country. Our Facebooks, X accounts, and other social media are constantly bombarded by the political opinions and feelings of our friends or those who we may be following. We have people saying that the President can do nothing right and those on the other hand who always defend him from having ever done anything wrong. It is so easy, if we are not careful, to get sucked into all the political infighting and lose sight of how we are to conduct ourselves as Christ’s ambassadors whose citizenship ultimately lies in heaven, not here on earth. My hope in this month’s article is to encourage us to maintain the proper perspective in our politics as we seek to best represent Christ during our time on this earth and, specifically, in this great country the Lord in His sovereignty has placed us to live in for such a time as this.
In
everything we do on this earth, we must not forget that we are to view
ourselves as being “strangers and exiles” here. Peter reminded the Christian
readers of his first letter that this was true of them when he wrote, “Beloved,
I urge you AS SOJOURNERS AND EXILES to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage
war against the soul” (2:11). We always need to keep in mind that this earth is
not our ultimate home. None of us will be living in the United States forever.
As Paul told the Philippians, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which
also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform
the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His
working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself”
(3:20-21). Now, this doesn’t mean that we have nothing to do with the politics
of this world or in our nation. Only that our involvement in it is to be in
light of our temporary status here with the constant mindset that what matters
even more is preparing ourselves and others for our eternal home. As I have
said before, I believe that Jeremiah’s instruction to the Jews as they were
being taken into exile in Babylon fits well for us in our current exile so to
speak in the modern day Babylon we find ourselves in at the moment. He told
them to basically build houses in the land and raise families there as well as
“seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to
Yahweh on its behalf; for in its peace you will have peace” (Jeremiah 29:5-7). Of
course, they were to do that all the while maintaining their identity as being
God’s people and remembering that such a land was not where they would stay
indefinitely. Daniel and his three friends serve as a good model for us with
this. They certainly were aware and involved in the politics of the day as seen
with them serving as the king’s advisors. However, they never compromised their
“Christian” identity nor lost sight of the fact that their true and more
lasting home did not lie there but elsewhere. This is why they refused to eat
and drink the king’s choice food and wine (Daniel 1:8), join everyone else in
bowing down to the king’s idolatrous statue (3:12), pray to the king (6:10-13),
and continued to pray towards the city of Jerusalem during the times of the
sacrifices (6:10; 9:21) even though they weren’t presently there and the temple
had been destroyed. Maintaining such a perspective of us being strangers and
exiles here helps keep us from getting overly involved in politics and buying into
the lie that whatever X, Y, or Z politician does or doesn’t do is of ultimate
consequence and that we need to fight tooth and nail either for it or against
it or else.
Concerning
the President, to borrow something a dear friend of mine from my seminary
days has said, he should not be seen or treated as either Satan or the Savior. As
either evil incarnate himself or the perfect one who can save this country and
fix all of its problems. We clearly see both caricatures of him on both sides
politically right now. But when it comes down to it, he is no different than we
are. Just another sinner in need of salvation. We ought to criticize his
actions when they deserve such as he is not perfect and makes his share of
mistakes like the rest of us. Only, his mistakes are known much more widely and
can have far greater consequences than most of ours. We absolutely should
commend him when he does well. And, in these past three months in office, we
can find plenty of both. The duties Scripture gives us towards the president
are threefold. We are to submit to his authority over us
as long as such does not require us to go against what God has commanded
(Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13-14; Daniel 1:8; 3:12-18; 6:10; Acts 4:18-20). We are to honor and
respect our leaders due to the nature of the office they hold (Romans 13:7; 1
Peter 2:17). Keep in mind that Paul and Peter wrote that when Nero was the
emperor of Rome; certainly not a good righteous leader and no friend to
Christians. (In fact, he is the one to later have both of them executed for
their faith and intentionally caught the city of Rome on fire and blamed the
Christians for it.) And, most importantly, we are to pray for our leaders, with
our greatest concern being for their salvation (1 Timothy 2:1-6). To neglect
any of these, regardless whether the leader may have an “R” or a “D” next to
their name is to ignore or disregard God’s word in this matter.
And,
finally, when it comes to the Christian’s involvement in politics, we need
always to keep the main thing the main thing. Paul points out in 2 Corinthians
5:20-21 that our primary role which underlies everything else we do is to be an
“ambassador for Christ,” pleading with people to be reconciled to God through
the work of Christ on behalf of all of those who by grace believe in Him. This
means that our greater concern with our family, friends, and neighbors are not
with what political party they may be registered with or who they voted for in
the last election but more so whether or not they know Jesus and where they are
going to spend eternity. We should not view someone with a different political
persuasion than us as being our enemy, but rather, if they don’t know the Lord,
see them as part of our mission field. I fear that all too often we wind up
joining in with those of the world mocking and deriding those on the other side
of the political aisle and share the memes on Facebook making fun of them or
portraying those with a certain view in a very negative light leading to a wall
being put up between us and them for them never to give us a hearing of the
gospel. Something that could lead to a shutting off of any further potential
conversation with them about Someone far greater than the President and matters
which transcend politics in importance. The only offense we should desire to
give to others is that of the gospel. Not their political perspective or what
they may think about the President and what he does. The more I ponder this
matter, the more I find myself in agreement with D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’
perspective articulated a century ago. He said, "We hear so much today about defending western
civilization from attack. That is all wrong. As a Christian, I am not primarily
concerned about western civilization. I am interested in the kingdom of God.
And I am as anxious that men and women behind the iron curtain should be saved
as men on this cement on this side of the iron curtain should be saved. We must
not take up a position of antagonism towards those who we want to win to
Christ."
So, as we have to deal with the ongoing onslaught of political information and banter, let’s be sure that we are known to handle these things much differently than those in the world. In a way that reflects a mindset of being “strangers and exiles,” with prayer for and honor and respect towards the President and his cabinet, and as an ambassador of Christ seeking to win people to Christ before winning them over to our political party or candidate.
With My Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee
