Since the day President Obama was elected, I have heard nothing good about him or his administration. Apparently he’s directly responsible for the continued war effort in the middle east, the oil rig explosion, and gas prices going up when someone in the middle east blows someone up, blows themselves up, or happens to sneeze on a rainy day with the wind blowing in the right direction.
I fully expect there to be political party differences between the right wing, the left wing, and the self-declared independents, who must be French because they never want to choose sides either. I fully expect pastors to preach to their congregations about Christian ethics and responsibilities concerning governmental affairs (and if they’re not, they should be), so that the gospel might be lived out through us in our political system. What I don’t understand, though, is why we have lay people, or those who are simply part of the congregation, sitting around bad mouthing the President over chicken wings and beer, or for the fundamentalists out there who think beer is of the devil, chicken wings and coke. Though I would also refer you to James 1:16-17.
I’m not condemning people simply talking politics by any means. I can’t really imagine why anyone would want to, but I’m sure there are people who can’t imagine why I write blogs about the Bible, so we’ll call that even. What concerns me is that the conversations I’ve heard haven’t been edifying at all, and have only served to attempt to tear down the President. Is this really how we, as Christians, are supposed to act?
1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV
[13] Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, [14] or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. [15] For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. [16] Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. [17] Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Alright, I realize that for most people the concept of honoring President Obama goes down about as easy as turpentine laced coffee brewed without a filter. What does the Bible say though? Do it when it feels good? Do it when it seems fair, or when the economy is booming, or when gas prices are under a dollar? Nope. The Bible tells us to honor the authority that God has placed over us to lead us in the direction that God wants this nation to go. Now, here is where many people would object saying that there isn’t any way God would want this “Christian nation” to go like this. First, I’d challenge you to prove that we’re actually acting like a Christian nation. Second, how many times did God scatter Israel in the Old Testament or lead them into bondage or slavery under kings who openly rejected God and were unashamedly pagan?
None of this makes any sense though, why do it?
Peter gives us two reasons:
1) For “the Lord’s sake”, or for God’s glory and His renown.
2) So that we might “put to silence the ignorance of foolish people”.
These two are inextricably linked though. When we do good by honoring the President when it doesn’t make sense, we bring glory to God AND we silence the fools who would speak out against God because of the actions of His people. There should absolutely be room for political reform and for respectfully voicing political disagreements, but as Christians that isn’t and shouldn’t be our primary goal. Our primary goal is the advancement of the gospel through evangelism and discipleship with our lips, and being the image of Christ with our lives. So when we see political parties or people come to power that we feel are ungodly, we need to do two things. 1) Realize that THEY ARE!, and 2) Respond like we would toward ANY ungodly person, pray that God would save them, and pray that God would give us patience and grace toward that person.
When we look at Daniel, and his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we see how this plays out. Daniel resolved that he would defile himself with the meat and wine of the king, and so he ASKED the pagan steward in charge of him for permission to only have vegetables and water (Dan. 1:8-16). Daniel submitted to his ungodly authority, and God gave him favor. Then when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, they fully acknowledged that God gave the king the power to throw them into the fire. They didn’t say “You can’t do this, we’re God’s people” or the more common “We have rights” of today. They trusted that God was in authority over the king, and that nothing would happen to them which He did not see fit to have happen. They didn’t bow down to the idol, but they didn’t dishonor the king either (Dan. 3:1-30).
This doesn’t just apply to authorities though. Take the WBC picketing the soldiers’ funerals. Most people get outraged because they are picketing someone who fought for our country. I’m not saying a measure of that is unreasonable, but as Christians we must realize that we could very easily be the WBC. The WBC has broken, sinful people doing broken, sinful things. So, what would happen if other churches showed up to pay their respects to the family, honor the death of a soldier protecting our freedoms, and apologize for the people who have somehow twisted the gospel into a message of political hate? Would God’s name not be glorified in that? Would those who would ignorantly speak out against God and His people be silenced?
“Those ‘Christians’ just have it out for us, they don’t even respect the burial of a hero…”
“Ummm, actually, there was another church there who actually portrayed the gospel and showed they loved and cared for us as they claim Jesus does.”
“Oh, well…”
You don’t silence a fool by trying to shout louder. Live for God, honor the President, love the broken, advance the gospel.
