Israel demanded a King when they could have had the theocratic rule of God over them. I’d much rather fall into the hands of God than human government, but Israel said, “Give us a king to rule over us!” They got what they wanted – unfortunately…
“And Samuel said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” ” (1 Samuel 8:11–18)
Introduction: It seems pretty clear that the government continues to increase in size and control while immorality rises proportionately. Much of this has to do with Christians who treat politics as a realm to be avoided rather than engaged.
Our country is polarized into two camps when it comes to politics. There are those who believe we need the moral foundation of the founding fathers given them by God in the Scriptures. However, there are also those who are energized by the prince and power of the air. These people drift in the secular, humanistic, relativistic culture around us. Surely, we are in the world; but we are not of it.
As Christians we must be involved in the decision-making on the highest level when it comes to national politics and economics. Wayne Grudem in a recent book titled Politics According to the Bible puts forth five wrong views when it comes to the Christian and politics:
1. Government should compel religion or force people to follow a certain religious viewpoint. This is wrong because God has given individuals the freedom to choose. You cannot force people to trust in Christ alone for eternal life.
2. Government should exclude religion from the public square. This contradicts the First Amendment which states in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” We have a God-given right and responsibility to express the demands of God and influence government for righteousness.
3. Government is evil and demonic; therefore, Christians should not be involved in politics. But Paul writes that government “…is God’s minister to you for good. ” (Romans 13:4a).
4. Christians should be involved in evangelism not politics. I gravitate toward this view, but realize I need to check myself. If I say that we ought to focus only on evangelism as a pastor, then what do I do with Joseph, Nehemiah, Mordacai, Esther, and Daniel – all of whom were instrumental in the influence of government. John the Baptist took it upon himself to rebuke King Herod. Paul disputed with the governor named Felix. Paul also wrote, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) It is a good work for a Christian to influence government for the good.
5. Christians should be involved in politics not evangelism. Having the right laws and the right candidates elected will not bring right hearts. People need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Government is not the Savior.
Why do so many Christians lean right in politics?
The answer to this question is fairly obvious. We align ourselves with conservative candidates because they more closely align with the Scriptures. Let me just cite a few examples that are important to us:
- They seek to protect unborn children.
- They affirm that marriage is between one man and one woman and that this should apply to the nation.
- They believe raising children takes parents not a village. If the education of children rests with the parents, parents should choose how they educated those children. Government should credit taxes back to parents that choose not to utilize the public school system. This is America; we should have a choice in education.
- They believe that property belongs to individuals not government. We cannot allow government officials the right to take property away from us.
In our opening passage in 1 Samuel, I read the words “He will take” over and over again. As our own government increases in size we need to beware of repeating the folly of Israel and allowing our leaders to continue to take, take, take.
· Economically, when we have a deficit over 1 billion dollars, each tax-paying citizen loses $6 of his or her freedom to use their earnings as they wish. When we have a deficit of 1 trillion dollars, we lose $6,000 of freedom. Do we really want to strap our children with that kind of debt because of our greed? By the way, greed is a bipartisan thing.
· Do we really want government building our homes and producing our cars and computers? Has government ever produced anything with any level of efficiency? Production belongs to the private sector not government. Government ought to improve infrastructure and provide protection with military and civil service. Government ought to provide courts and justice; but that’s really it!
· God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. Egypt represented an oppressive government. The Scripture points up our God-given right to be free of tyranny and oppression. God made us in His image. We have a responsibility and the freedom to choose between good and evil – we have or had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in America. May God grant us a generation in the future that will become influential in the political arena.
