Weekend Rant 9.8.17

One of my pet peeves is when Christians align themselves too closely with politics. When it dominates our conversations, online posts, general focus; and especially when it is presented alongside Biblical texts from the pulpit.

This is not to say that politics are irrelevant and that Christians should not be involved in the political process. Quite the contrary! If we love God, we will by nature love what He loves: people. The second greatest commandment naturally flows from the first. If we truly love God we cannot help but love our neighbor as ourselves, and one of the many ways this manifests itself in the way that we vote and in our involvement in politics.

There are also several social issues that are Biblically mandated that we advocate for. God’s Word calls us to care for the widows, the orphans, and the oppressed (James 1:27). It calls us to treasure life and the sanctity of marriage as designed by God. In loving our neighbor as ourselves we should be very much concerned about the genuine needs of the many image bearers among us. This means that we as Christians should vote for things that help our neighbors and our unborn neighbors as well!

These are Biblical essentials that need to be promoted from both the pulpit and the layman’s mouth. But these essentials are different from snug alignments with political movements and secondary policy ideas. I cringe when I hear pastors promote Donald Trump from the pulpit or proclaim, “Make America Great Again” in support. Here is why:

1) Political change will never spark a revival. Throughout history, revivals have almost always started from the bottom up: from the prayers of God’s people, the proclamation of God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit moving as He pleases. Deep spiritual change cannot be orchestrated or legislated by law. Salvation is not achieved by votes.

2) Political alignment from the pulpit can communicate to both the saved and the lost a conflicted focus of ideology first: that the Bible is really a guise for our ultimate purpose of advancing our political agenda. I have heard this accusation several times: “You Christians do not really believe this Bible stuff, you do not really care about God—all you really want is your political success!” Even those in our churches can begin to assume through the preacher’s emphasis that both of these things are on the same level.

3) Political alignment from the pulpit hinges the entire ministry on the unstable successes or failures of a politician. Should Donald Trump do something terrible or shocking (could you imagine?), the church that promoted him from the pulpit will be judged by that outcome. Such close association will likely taint the eternal words with the dirt of politics and human failure.

4) Political alignment from the pulpit pushes those who do not agree with the promoted ideology away, thus unnecessarily dividing the flock. Not every Christian comes from the same tribe, and as such, many genuine brothers and sisters come from a diversity of political views. This is not to say that all views are equal and need to be unequivocally tolerated. There are some views that are quite evil and some that are generally better, even Biblical in their applications. The ones that the Bible explicitly speaks against (abortion, for instance) can be confronted with confidence from every mouthpiece we possess. However, wisdom says that those finer things which are not spoken to directly in the Scriptures should probably to be discussed in a more personal and gracious context—knowing that there can be room for political disagreement within the Body of Christ. This unity among brothers and sisters, even in policy disagreement, is an amazing testimony to a world that is so politically polarized.

5) Political alignment from the pulpit binds itself to the party it supports, making it difficult to speak to the failures of that party. Too often fierce supporters of political movements are so zealous for their perspective that they cannot see when it has gone too far, or when the other side has done something right for once. As difficult as it sounds we as Christians need to replace our political lenses with a severely Biblical one and strive to be above the mire of political factions—speaking against evil whenever it manifests itself.

Christians and Pastors alike need to focus on the essentials. Yes, you can vote for Donald Trump. Yes, you can support a free market system or less government interference. Yes, you can oppose unjust economic systems like socialism. But let’s not elevate these relatively minor political viewpoints to the level of the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ which alone has power to save souls from the wrath of God in hell. One thing is not like the others.

Ephesians 5:15-16 commands us: “Pay careful attention, then, how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” We are living in interesting times, of that there is no doubt. Our time here is short. The world is carefully watching how we speak and the causes we emphasize. May we therefore proclaim with boldness the things God speaks about in His Word, and keep the secondary things, secondary.