It is true that Jesus told the governing official of his day, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). Yes, it is true that the authority of God’s people—the Church—does not lie in the control of state power to punish with the sword, or the power to legally force laws upon a nation. The Church, better than anyone, should know from our own texts that a law is only an outward imposition on behavior that doesn’t guarantee a transformation of the heart—the more important battle is for the mind and heart of the people. Yes, it is true that when political power is used to impose ecclesial domination, a strange monster emerges in which power has contaminated religion, and religion then uses power to consolidate its new strange influence. All that is true.
Yet, God’s people are called to be salt and light on the earth. And the gospel is more than just a gospel of salvation to a heavenly kingdom removed from any earthly application. Jesus came to do his Father’s will on earth. And the gospel is the good news of freedom for the captive. Healing to the oppressed. The transformation of individuals and societies into virtuous people with Biblical mores and moral laws. This begins from man’s spirituality but also shapes culture, law, and politics. God was just as interested in the economic liberation of his Jewish nation from the monopolization of financial capital as he was in the appropriate incense offered at the temple. He cared as much for the protection of disinherited classes of people: the poor, the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners, as he did about Israel remembering to tithe their money.
The Israelites were explicitly commanded to teach their children how to exercise God’s Word and his “ways” in the home and out along public, commercial roads and marketplaces, fields, and family. Yahweh was, and still is, Lord over all.
Similarly, Christ has been named King over kings. He is firstborn over all creation. There is no inch of this planet that Christ doesn’t now say, “this belongs to me,” including our social and political spheres. As his disciples, we carry his life and his values inside of us everywhere we go; these shape everything we do. We are his ambassadors. We are his salt and his light influencing the world—economically, socially, politically, culturally. etc. The truths of God don’t stop at someone’s front door. You can’t leave God’s love for honesty, integrity, or justice at home in your living room. You can’t lock a slave in your car as you step out into the free public city street.
We are to bring God’s truth-telling and his values everywhere we go. The “called-out-ones” are the moral conscience of the nation. We serve as God’s preservative salt that is constantly speaking correction and challenge to degenerative influences. The Church is tasked with, as were the ancient prophets, speaking the truth, no matter what the cost, to whoever needs to hear it. We aren’t beholden to any particular interest group or political agenda. We stand for the preservation of God’s values in the general political process, above and outside of any particular group (though that necessitates partnering with specific groups in various ways at different times). Jesus promised that his truth would be divisive. Families would turn against each other—how much more so nations and communities, and political interest groups.
The prophet Nathan serves as an example for us. He was a counselor to King David. At times Nathan affirmed the king, like when David wanted to build God a temple. Nathan encouraged David’s good work yet also counseled him to modify his vision. At another time, Nathan confronted David for his immorality and abuse of state privileges for his own rapacious benefit. Nathan was “meddling” with politics and societal affairs precisely because he was challenging them to steer within the guidelines of God’s values. We need God-fearing and godly leaders who take their values into the public marketplace, into politics, into the classroom, or the boardroom. Remember, the “whole earth will be covered with the glory of the Lord,” and the “Word of the Lord will go forth from Zion” to the ends of the earth. God wants to disciple nations, and he does that through the truths in his Word. Our ultimate goal isn’t to be controlling or manipulative but always to serve God and serve our communities.
I don’t believe that God is trying to micromanage our human affairs. He gives a wide latitude of liberty for us to practice freedom of expression and personality. He gives mankind autonomy to govern themselves and to do so with prudence. But as our governance bumps into moral issues: thievery, embezzlement, abuse of others, the consolidation of power, deceit, protecting human life, sexual exploitation, protecting property, the securing of truth, and keeping speech free and honest, protecting families and marriages (the foundational community societies are built upon)—these morals will determine the rise and fall of nations. Moral nations with moral laws will have integrity and fortitude. Corruption, ideological prejudice, the decomposition of trust, and the abuse of authority—nations decompose from such cancerous rot. God’s people are involved in society and politics precisely because we love people and care about the preservation of our society.
Over the coming weeks and months, the authors of the Petra Blog are intending to address cultural and political issues with more frequency. I’m giving our readers a ‘head’s up.’ I want you to hear our heart in this matter. We realize many of these issues are complex and sophisticated and require a great deal of information, argumentation, humility, moderation, and honesty. But these shouldn’t stop us from becoming more informed and involved in nuanced and measured ways of influencing our nation and culture with the God’s transformative truths.
Tags: values, church, culture, word, light, lord, sovereign, politics, influence, salt, society, morals, laws, separation of church and state
