If you knew me in high school or college, I was really into politics. I'm not anymore. If you wondered why that side of me seemed to fall off so drastically, this blog post is your answer.
This blog post also took a long time, because I felt my notes needed to do the sermon series justice. But then I realized that if I kept trying to write "perfect" notes, this would just never get done. So I encourage you to listen to the sermons if you're interested AT ALL about the relationship between Christianity and politics. I did the best I could with my notes, to keep it short (lol yeah right), but to convey all the information it needed to. In the future, I'll probably be revising these notes constantly anyways.
The Cross and the Sword: Sermon Series
What Kingdom Are We Fighting For?
There is a difference between the "Kingdom of the World" and "the Kingdom of God." And it makes all the difference, and since most Christians don't make a distinction, it has tragic consequences to the people the church are trying to reach AND the church itself.
Kingdom of the World (the Sword) - This is a "Power-Over" type of kingdom. In order to function, it conforms the behavior of its' citizens via threats ("don't break this law, or you'll go to jail"). It ultimately isn't concerned with motives, only behaviors. In other words: the state does not care that I hate my neighbor, it only cares that I do not murder him. Also by nature, it is tribal: it protects a certain group of people from other groups of people that may choose to harm it. It looks out for its' own citizens, they're the #1 priority ("bring jobs back to America!" is a common political sentiment)
Kingdom of God (the Cross) - This is a "Power-Under" type of kingdom. In order to function, it aims at serving its' citizens. This radical love and service will transform the heart of its' citizens, which will lead to changed behaviors, because they are changed people. They'll love because they first received love (1 John 4:19). It's all about the heart. If you hate your neighbor, you have murdered him (1 John 3:15.) By nature, it is also universal: there are no tribal restrictions as to who is allowed to enter the Kingdom of God. Americans aren't the #1 priority: all of humanity is. (Galatians 3:28)
Christians tend to mix these 2 Kingdoms up, and this usually manifests itself in trying to acquire political power. It's usually marked with rallying cries of "Win America back for God!", and other such sentiments. However it seems quite clear that Jesus himself was disinterested in acquiring political power, but at the same time, he seemed all-in on advancing the Kingdom of God. So there's a distinction, and this distinction appears to be grossly overlooked amongst your average evangelical Christian these days. Christians are concerning themselves with the wrong Kingdom - trying to win over a "Kingdom of the World", instead of focusing on the "Kingdom of God."
In fact, Jesus straight up makes the distinction himself:
"Jesus said, “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, NIV) - this is Jesus's response to Pontius Pilate, after Pontius Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king.Furthermore, Christians should already be suspicious of all of the kingdoms of the world in the first place. The Bible says that "the whole world lies under the power of the evil one." (1 John 9:15, paraphrased). This can also be seen when Satan tempts Jesus. Satan has all the kingdoms of the world and offers them over to Jesus, if Jesus would worship him. Notably, Jesus does NOT dispute Satan has possession of the kingdoms of the world, he only rejects the offer. (Matthew 4)
Politics is Ambiguous Anyway
When posed with a highly charged political question about paying an imperial tax to Caesar, Jesus responds with "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." This is highly political question because Jesus is essentially asked to either support paying taxes to a unfair oppressive government, or to support lawlessness. There's no clear-cut godly answer to it. Jesus intentionally answers a political question in a nonpolitical way, telling them to focus on the Kingdom of God, and let the Kingdom of the World be what it is. He rejects their 2 options, and gives a 3rd way.
As Greg Boyd puts it:
"The kingdom of the world sets up the issue, sets up the proposed solutions, fights over it, and the church then accepts that way of looking at the problem. And the problem is that in the kingdom of the world, most of the conflicts are unresolvable, if you mean by "resolvable", that good hearted well-intentioned people can agree on it. You can't agree on it. The way the world sets up the terms of debate is that the best solutions are ambiguous, meaning that reasonable, good-hearted people can disagree with them. The way that the kingdom of the world sets up the issue is always because it's a power-over kingdom, it's a win-lose equation, rather than a win-win equation. So people don't work together for the common good, they rather fight each other over their solutions about the common good. And they polarize, and now the goal is to win. And to win means you [the opponent] gotta lose. And in certain context, we will use bombs or bullets. In other context, we will use words, slogans and propaganda. Cuz you gotta rally the troops, you gotta infuse them with emotion. So you demonize your enemies, we're the right ones, they're the wrong ones. We're the righteous, they're the unrighteous. And when the church buys into that, we accept that unresolvablility, and we polarize. And the devil laughs all the way to the bank."
The Church (....Government?) as Guardians of Social Morality: Ugly Mix of the Kingdoms
Often, what happens when we start mixing the 2 Kingdoms, and trying to be the guardians of social morality, we pick our own "pet sins" (usually, they're the sins that we ourselves aren't guilty of), and highlight those. We hold the line on gay marriage, but we don't push with the same force against divorce. Greed/Not helping the poor is one of the most discussed sins in the Bible (quite a bit more than homosexuality), and we don't give that too much attention either. It's very hypocritical and is a terrible witness to the world.
The results have been shown across history. Boyd points out that Europe is a place where Christians seemingly successfully instituted a "Kingdom of God" in the past... but look at the church in Europe now. Not much of a church anymore. When you institute a real Kingdom of God like Jesus did, even tax collectors and prostitutes are attracted to it. When you put a Kingdom of the World in a Kingdom of God disguise, even the Christians run away from it! (Americans leaving England for religious independence).
It's still happening today. Consider that America has the highest levels of professed religion (people saying they believe), but at the same time, some of the highest levels of immorality (as judged on what people would do if they could get away with it). Jesus pervades a lot of American dialogue, but it is doing absolutely no good. We have a civic religion that is doing nothing, and all the nonbelievers can see the plank in our eyes when we argue against gay marriage while signing our own divorce papers. We're uneven in our morality judgments and we end up focusing on the wrong target anyway (behaviors instead of hearts). We're trying to spit-shine our crap (trust the Sword to force the behavior), instead of getting rid of the crap (trust the Cross to burn away the heart of the behavior).
Furthermore, this isn't how the Apostle Paul approached the situation either. Paul directly says that it's not his business to judge outsiders of the church (1 Corinthians 5:12-13), and when he discusses with Greek pagans, he evangelizes by telling them about their "unknown god" (Acts 17:16-33). There is a completely different standard in treating those inside the church versus how you treat those outside. At least, Paul seemed to think so.
Also, this often leads to straight-up idolatry. There is a lot of political rhetoric that puts us square into idolatry, and we don't even realize it most of the time. "America is the light/hope of the world." I've heard that said a bunch of times in the political arena, and it hit me hard to finally see that for what it really is. That's textbook idolatry. America isn't the hope of the world, guys. Jesus is.
The Church's Real Goals: To Spread the Kingdom of God by Serving Others
Note that Jesus often exclaims that the "Kingdom is at hand!" most often when he is healing the sick and loving the unlovable.
Jesus tells his disciples what is valued in the Kingdom of God:
"Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 20: 25-28, NIV).
Jesus exemplified this Kingdom virtue by washing the feet of his disciples, hours before he was going to be betrayed by them. He told his disciples to do the same. He also tells them "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13). Considering these things, it seems apparent that the distinctive mark of the church, as idealized by Jesus, is that it is known primarily for love and service of others. God leverages everything on the church's ability to love. They will know us by our love!
Yet another verse:
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." (Colossians 3: 12-14, NIV)
Hell in a Handbasket
The most given objection is usually: "But if Christians don't stand up for our rights... we might lose. We might end up being oppressed. America (and the world) would be going to Hell in a handbasket!"
The response is: Have more faith. Trust the way of the Cross, even when it looks like Jesus is being arrested. Even when it looks like he is being crucified as a common criminal. Trust that love wins. And if we end up with the same fate (as the early Christians often did, being martyred left and right), that still could be OK. The early church exploded from that type of radical witnessing. As Boyd says : "Maybe some persecution [against Christians] is just what the doctor ordered!" The church routinely flourishes in places where it's persecuted: I'm not sure about the particulars of the situation, but it sounds to me like this is what is happening in China right now.
The most important thing: the church will win. And it will win by being the church. It will not win by trusting the Sword to have our way, to force our ways, to tell others what to do. It will win when it reflects the Cross, the type of self-sacrificial, serving love that Jesus exemplified and urged us to be. It will win when we wash the feet of others, when we serve, and we love others at great cost to ourselves.
I'm all about that Kingdom. That's the one I want to see reign.
Other notes, tidbits
Jesus's disciples spanned the political spectrum. Simon is a zealot Jew ready to overthrow the government and Matthew is a tax collector, a profession which is seen as a puppet of the government. It's basically an extreme liberal and an extreme conservative. These political differences never seem to make a lick of difference in Jesus's ministry.
Even if reforming a "Kingdom of the World" to be a "Kingdom of God" approach was correct, America is not a good option for that kingdom. America has an ugly history; go ahead and ask the African Americans and Native Americans if they ever thought America exemplified a Kingdom of God. If Jesus did not lead the only true theocracy to political triumph (as the Jews were expecting... and are still expecting of the Messiah, actually), then what gives us the right to think that he wants us to do that with our current country?
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