Taboo | Politics: Loving Across the Aisle (John 18)

We live in a country of extremes. How many of us have seen online posts that rip apart those with opposing political views? We tend to avoid politics in conversations because we know how fast such a topic can cause anger to flare quickly, even between Christians. But what would it look like if we loved across the aisle? What if our focus was less about proving our political points and more about proclaiming the Savior who faced the ultimate injustice so he could make us citizens of his kingdom? This week, we explore how God's grace is the answer in our culture of divisive partisanship.

Transcript

Not that I’m a betting man, but there is a strong probability during our conversation today that there will be a moment or two when you’ll get a little upset, regardless of what your hue on the political color spectrum is! I say that because studying what the Bible has to say about politics definitely convicted me and forced me to think deeply. Last week we talked about identity and it’s natural to follow that with talking about politics and I think you can see the connection too. Our culture is so overly political that now a person’s identity is often wrapped in politics. How many of us have had friendships crushed because we disagree politically? How often have we seen on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram the bickering and name-calling? Is the answer to retreat from everything political, sticking our heads in the sand? Is it wise to go all-in to the political arena as our best hope for social change and the establishing of a biblical worldview? Can it really be possible for Christians to be Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, or Independents? The beginning of answering any and all of those questions comes down to why God established government in the first place.

From the beginning of Genesis, God made clear that humanity was to govern the created world. Look at Genesis 1:28, God says, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God established the idea of governance for social stability. Mike Novotny in his book Taboo, writes, “You might be like me, so sick of the unchristian bickering that you don’t do what Paul says. You and I don’t pray. We don’t appreciate the hard work of governing. We don’t see what a gift even flawed rulers are to our country and families. We naively think that if all the politicians disappeared, America would be better. But it wouldn’t. It would be a nightmare. It would be a jungle where the gang with the greatest firepower would rule the streets and rape our sisters. Being ungrateful is no better than being too political. We need God’s help, don’t we?” Amen! So why did God establish government? Because he loves us. Because he wants to bless us with social order. But that begs the question doesn’t it? Okay so government has been established by God as Romans 13 says straight-up, “The authorities that exist have been established by God.” How are we to approach the political arena as Christians?

The first acknowledgment is that there is no God-ordained political party, and the second is to realize that the Christian worldview does not fit neatly into any political ideological box. It always surpasses and supercedes it. Timothy Keller in an excellent New York Times article wrote, “This emphasis on package deals puts pressure on Christians in politics. For example, following both the Bible and the early church, Christians should be committed to racial justice and the poor, but also to the understanding that sex is only for marriage and for nurturing family. One of those views seems liberal and the other looks oppressively conservative. The historical Christian positions on social issues do not fit into contemporary political alignments. So Christians are pushed toward two main options. One is to withdraw and try to be apolitical. The second is to assimilate and fully adopt one party’s whole package in order to have your place at the table. Neither of these options is valid.” And at the base of extreme understanding of political views is something our sinful nature struggles with. We like to think if we were in control, things would be better. If we could pass legislation that would force a biblical worldview on our culture, that would solve all our problems. There’s just one little (note sarcasm) problem with that. Only the Bible can change a person’s heart and as we know above all things God wants the heart. 

So what’s particularly fascinating about the Christian view of government is that it challenges conventional human wisdom which says, “If you have control, you make the changes you seek happen.” To the contrary, we see a portrait of God seeming entirely out of control and powerless, and yet through that weakness and shame came about the greatest kingdom, movement, and love this world will ever know. To discover this, we must stand below Pilate’s judgment seat with Jesus. 
It’s there we see this beautiful irony that Jesus gives us wisdom in the political arena, by standing in the most divisive arena in human history. The famous painting “What is Truth?” displays the scene: Pilate on the judgment seat, Jesus with a crown of thorns and scarlet robe, could he really be the king? The crowd is about to burst into a violent mob, a riot. The majority view was that this man was causing too many problems. Social upheaval is about to take place, anarchy in the streets, Pilate would have none of it. He has a conversation with Jesus. “Are you the king of the Jews?”, he asks point blank and Jesus responds immediately, “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me? … My kingdom is not of this world…My kingdom is from another place …In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate had to have been dumb-founded. “Really? You’re a king? You have authority? Come on, I’m the one on the judgment seat! You have been mocked, shamed, abused…You a king, what?!

As crazy as it may sound at first, I wonder if we as Christians feel the same way today. We stand before the judgment seat of our culture and we are seen more and more in the minority. The temptation in us is to think if we can grab hold of political power, if we can incite the mob, we can be the ones to have power, and then we can transform our culture. That’s utterly and completely wrong. Yes it is true we as Christians have always looked to the world like nothing, disgraced, ashamed, humiliated, just like our Savior Jesus. We look out of control, insignificant, nobodies, but the answer is not wielding political power. The answer is exactly what our Savior said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Could it be that our overly political culture needs to overly hear of his kingdom, to overly experience gospel compassion, of course they do. Could it be that all our stress and anxiety about who’s in office and who’s in power could all come to rest when we realize who’s in control of it all?

When it comes down to it, God in his infinite grace set up government, why? It wasn’t to save the world. He established government to provide peace and order so that the gospel could go out. Yet, the crazy thing about God’s sovereignty is that even when governments aren’t peaceful and orderly, the gospel still goes out. It burns in peoples’ hearts and reveals to them the greatest citizenship of the greatest country. You can’t stop the gospel! So what if we stopped spending so much time and mental energy on politics? Think of this last election, how many hours did you spend watching coverage? Analyzing it? Worrying over it? All the scenarios? What if we spent that time far differently that if we really want our culture to change, if we really want to change the world, legislation isn’t going to do it, the right president isn’t going to do it, our King Jesus has already done it, and how? That’s the beauty of it, isn’t it. The King gave up his throne, he laid down his very life, setting them down in the most disgraceful way of all time and in that way, brought about a kingdom that will never be destroyed, a kingdom that will reign forever, the kingdom you belong to. This is the ruling principle of our Savior-King! Think of what the gospel means…Dying to self! To trust the gospel is to say that we can let go of our political obsessions, but to trust the gospel is not to say that the Bible is calling us to be apolitical, to go find a monastery, build our Christian bomb shelter community and just hole up there until kingdom come, escape from the world! NO! Jesus calls we us to be in the world, but to see it through the lens of where you truly belong, your Christian worldview impacting everything you do, and as you talk with people who may have the absolute opposite political opinion, and yes it is possible to happen among Christians with the same exact biblical worldview, different ideas when it comes to social change, it’s very real and possible. In fact if we went around this sanctuary you would find all sorts of political shades here. But imagine talking to someone who is on the opposite side, not just politically but biblically, you standing in the kingdom of God who rules in your heart of faith, they standing outside the heavenly border, what good is it to argue so they will take your political view? (Which if social media has proven anything, trying to argue someone to your political side is about as ridiculous as trying to convince a toddler that broccoli tastes better than ice cream.)

I love what Daniel Deutschlander says about this very situation in his book Civil Government, “The Church harms her mission when she is diverted from it…Now what if the local church set out to publicly campaign against abortion? A woman in the neighborhood hears of the campaign…She had an abortion and is racked with guilt about it, and she should be. Will she or her family ever come to that congregation to hear the gospel? Probably not. What must come first? She must first learn of the Savior.”

Are you sensing the answer to the political tension of our time? It comes down to how you view the relationships you have. At the expense of the relationship, that in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter whether or not you are a true-blue Democrat or a red-blooded Republican, but that your primary heavenly citizenship comes first? You are a blood-bought child of God. What if instead of bantering, you said, “I see where you’re coming from. I might not agree, but can I share with you where I turn to when our country seems to going in the wrong direction, and the government is failing, can I share with you the ultimate hope I have that Jesus is really in control and he’s moving heaven and earth to make sure his family comes home? That’s it. As Pastor Jon Bauer wrote, “We take up our work in Christ’s two kingdoms in a deservedly unbalanced way. As much as we care about what happens during the upcoming days for our nation, we care more about maintaining the clarity of our gospel witness during those days and the people who need it.”

It’s to see Jesus before Pilate, to the world he looks like a nobody, nothing, often Christianity is viewed that way: “You Christians can’t do anything, then you go political and we have Christian nationalism and liberation theology which leads to more and more problems!” What if we shocked our culture, shocked the people God’s placed before us to love by standing next to Jesus in shame but knowing it’s real glory to be at his side? What if we “shamed” people by how much we love them? What if we aren’t so quick to defend our political points as much as we are to redirect them to the true King himself? What if we truly were unoffendable, to stand on the Scriptures? What if we stopped trying to convince people what to think and just let God do the talking? Because the thing is… All the most intensive culture war issues: abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism (which we’re going to talk about next week), all these super divisive issues need the same Word of truth. What if we instead of focusing merely on those specific issues, we spent our energy on the issue behind the issue? For anyone to understand and cherish what the Bible says about these things, the first thing they must know is the gospel. Until a person has by grace the identity as a child of God, nothing changes. But when the Holy Spirit works through his Word, when that heart burns with faith, when another dear child of God is brought into his kingdom, the willingness to submit everything to follow him, all those things follow suit. None of those opinions change until they know the King they truly belong to. And what a King He is! As the old hymn says, “The King of love my Shepherd is, whose goodness fails me never; I nothing lack if I am his, and he is mine forever.” Rejoice in King Jesus dear citizens of God’s country! Amen.