The Christian voice in politics

….is often the hardest voice for me to listen to. Some of you will read that title and not want to read what follows. We shy away from these conversations because they never seem to go well. Someone usually leaves offended or hurt or confused. So, I’ll say upfront, that this isn’t really a post about politics. But it’s the political conversation that has me praying and searching for truth. Seeking God for his heart in it all, rather than what just seems right. God’s truth is steadfast and eternal. But he is a living and active presence in this world. So it’s important for his people to continually seek his will as we engage those around us. I don’t expect to change the way you think about anything. But I do hope my words speak graciously to you. And I hope you gain a fuller understanding of an alternative Christian perspective on how to respond and live as the body of Christ among an unbelieving society. What I’m not going to do is talk about the specific issues heavy on our hearts as we prepare to vote in the person we think will best lead this nation. Instead, I want to look at the story of Israel, God’s chosen people, delivered from captivity and taken to a promised land of freedom….but this greatly anticipated new home had people already living in it. People who thought different, worshiped different. People who lived and behaved contrary to who God was calling his people to be. This story is our story. May it help us {re}interpret our expectations of the world, and the call we have to live faithfully among those who don’t believe. After God delivered Israel, he led them through a land deplete of resources so they would discover him as Provider, the one who satisfies and sustains. And this people, who had only known captivity, never hope, began to trust in the one who set them free. God had a purpose for this people. He wanted to tell his story through them. His story of freedom after captivity, redemption after brokenness, forgiveness after infidelity, welcome after wandering. It’s the greatest story ever known, and he used people to tell it, to live it. God wanted to create an identity in his people, one that would set them a part from all others. An identity that would reveal who he is and what he planned to do with his sinful creation. So after establishing a trust relationship, he laid before his people his will, his intentions for them to live a fruitful life. What he gave them was a law. But they weren’t a bunch of rules. They were God’s wisdom spoken into individual and relational behaviors. Wisdom that would lead to prosperity and health and intimacy…if it was followed. Through Moses, God revealed the law, and the blessings that would come upon the people if they followed them. Prosperity, victory over their enemies, fruitful wombs, health, long life. You can read them all in Deuteronomy 27. This wasn’t “do what I say and I will reward you with these blessings.” It was more like “living in this way produces these blessings.” Moses spoke these words to the Israelites: The LORD your God will establish you as a holy people if you keep his commands and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD and they will fear you. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. After he revealed the blessings, Moses went over a few curses…you know, if they don’t follow the commands. For choosing against the wisdom of God brings disease, broken relationships and death. And so God says through Moses: I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land. God gave the law to his people before they entered the promised land. And this is what they were to do with the it: Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that I swore to your forefathers. If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow–to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him…no man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go. (Deuteronomy 11) Over and over again it is repeated for the people to listen and obey. Follow these decrees. Do as I say. Observe these commands. The way to preserving God’s will was through his people living it out and teaching it to their children. God also warned the Israelites about the nations they would encounter in the promise land. He desired purity among his people, but he was about to take them to an impure place. This is what he tells them: You must not do as they do in Egypt where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. Keep my laws and decrees, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD. (Leviticus 18) You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. (Deuteronomy 12) The sinful acts of the unbelieving world are between God and those people. God never told his called community to set their neighbors straight or change their ways. He never instructed the Israelites to tell those people they were doing wrong. He never even said to go in and save those dying children. He simply told them not to follow their practices, or worship as they do. The church has always, and will always, live in a sinful world. And its corrupt ways and processes will surround us, tempt us, disgust us, and frustrate us. This was true for Israel among the nations, and it is true for the church today. Like God, we can hate the sinful acts and name them detestable. But God has not given us the responsibility to tell the world they are sinful. Or to tell them how to live. Or to make sure national laws are created to uphold “family values” or “Godly principles.” Because God’s law was never for the world, it was only for his chosen and holy people, for those who would believe. God makes clear what our responsibility is. He repeats it over and over again (and so I will too!): To live according to his ways, and to refrain from the practices of those who don’t believe. We must trust that his way is better. That conserving marriage between a man and a woman, happens by the church living faithfully in the covenants we make. And conserving good education happens by teaching truth and knowledge to our children when we sit at home and when we walk. That conserving life happens by respecting the living environment God created, raising our children in the ways of the Lord, and being available to people and situations where life is being hindered. And the fruit of our lifestyle will be a blessing to our life and a testimony of God to all who witness. Isn’t this what we really want? As the story of Israel unfolds into Jesus, and into the birth of the church, we witness God’s living Word teaching and convicting. But to hear and understand the words of Jesus, we must realize who he was speaking to. The ministry and teachings of Jesus were directed toward those who knew God and those who were seeking Him. Jesus did not promote moral standards to people with no concept of who he was. He did not lobby the Roman senate to adopt Jewish laws. And he definitely did not position himself against a people group. To the lost and to the sinful and even to those against him, we find Jesus loving them, speaking to God on their behalf, and dying for them. Do you not see, Church, how this life on earth isn’t about us? It’s about Him….and them. The ones ending those tiny lives. The ones deep in captivity. The ones who’ve found love outside His intention. The ones living in the dark. The ones sleeping in shame. It’s about the ones who are still lost, the ones he is still searching for. And the sooner the church realizes this – really realizes that it’s not about us – the ones who already know the Truth, the ones who believe in the promise — we will begin to embrace the hospitable life we’ve been called to in Jesus. It is because of this story that I feel compelled to challenge the way Christians want to use government to legalize the ways God called the church to live. That method won’t produce life in those who don’t believe. For there is a better way than law. And God knew it. Even Israel struggled to obey the laws written on tablets. The only way to change the hearts of men is through love. So that’s who God sent. Love is powerful. It has and will do mighty things in this world. So let it be love that we are known by. Let love be the way we engage the issues we are passionate about. Let love be what we offer to the people who choose death. Let love be the way we conserve the wisdom of God. Let love be our Christian voice in politics.