...When I say Christians shouldn’t be “caught up in it,” what I mean is that we shouldn’t “absolutize” politics. It is not of highest value or importance, and those who find success in the political world are not demigods or philosopher-kings. To the contrary, they are flawed and fallen individuals in whom we should place no more hope than we do our next-door neighbor. If you’re getting your favorite politician’s face tattooed on your chest, fainting at the sound of their voice, or chucking your child’s college tuition money at their campaigns, that’s a pretty good sign you’ve got an emotional attachment that is bordering on unhealthy.
And it’s this kind of emotive investment in the realm of politics that can be very dangerous for Christians. We can easily find ourselves forgetting our citizenship in heaven and replacing our true King with an earthly one. We stop looking strangely and bizarrely at those pagans among us who deify earthly leaders, ordaining them with ornamental robes and gold-crusted crowns, and begin imitating them with our own “chosen one.” We soon find ourselves less concerned with the Word of God and more concerned with pop culture sloganeering that calls us to be “on the right side of history.”
What an utterly moronic concept. What is history, after all? C.S. Lewis said it best:
“All that we call human history – money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery – is the long, terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”[i]
Given such a proper definition of human history, it’s fair to say that there is no “right side” to it in the first place. No, being on the “right side of history” isn’t anything Christians concern themselves with because we recognize history isn’t God. God is God. History isn’t our Judge. God alone is Judge. And therefore, our behavior must conform to His standards, not history’s; His expectations, not historian’s; His will, not those who would deign to be history makers’.
This then is the focal point of the Christian life. Loving a God who loved us first despite all our shortcomings, we joyfully (there are no unhappy saints) seek to influence this world towards Him. This action is motivated by our love of God, not a love of power.
When this becomes your proper focus, do you know what you quickly realize? Any attempt to influence others crosses freely into the realm of politics. Properly understood, politics, like every other area of the Christian life (education, literature, entertainment, music, science) is an avenue to transmit Truth. And just like in each of those other areas, Christians are to use the field of politics to glorify God, not self. Meaning, regardless of whether it’s popular or mainstream, regardless of whether it profits us, we will always oppose any effort or cause that denies the Natural Law and Moral Order of the Real King, that denies the dignity and worth of life made in His image, or that denies the individual or corporate freedom of man to worship his Creator.
Is it likely that opposing such things will lead us as Christians into political conflict? Of course! Look at modern American culture for proof. When the enduring truth of marriage is being stripped of its meaning in the name of sexual anarchy, the Moral Order of God is certainly being undermined. When medical professionals are delivering healthy children before snipping their little spinal cords with scissors and discarding these babies with medical waste, the dignity and worth of life made in God’s image is being trampled. When churches and individual believers are facing fines and punishment from the government over their allegiance to Biblical standards of sexual morality, the individual and corporate freedom of man to worship is being challenged.
As Christians, we are to boldly and confidently engage those conflicts, flavoring the debate with the salt of truth. We must always remember our purpose in such conflict is not vanity or personal aggrandizement, but rather to bring glory to God. Sadly, God’s people are too often bullied into silence (even by their own), being told things like, “The church’s responsibility is to lead sinners to Christ, not to engage issues of rights and public policy.” Biblically, those two responsibilities are not mutually exclusive. You needn’t give up your testimony to Christ’s salvation to defend defenseless babies. And you needn’t give up your stand for religious liberty to lead someone to Jesus.
If Jesus was right when He told the Roman Governor Pilate that all earthly authority comes only by the will of God,[ii] then surely it is ludicrous to suggest that God’s truth should not be heard in matters of earthy authority. But if it should be heard, precisely who will voice it if His followers do not?
Remember the account of Paul addressing the court of Festus in Acts 25, where he challenges the authorities:
“If the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”[iii]
What is happening here? Those opposed to the spread of the gospel of Christ were attempting to silence Paul’s testimony to the truth of God’s word. And notice Paul didn’t retreat into the cultural shadows. He didn’t slink back home and say, “I think God is trying to tell me to influence people through simple acts of kindness, generosity and friendship…just by ‘showing the love of Jesus.’” No, Paul didn’t acquiesce and withdraw his public testimony to the privacy of the local church.
He knew the law, used the law, and demanded to plead for his rights in the highest courts of Caesar. But notice why he did – notice his purpose. It was not to consolidate power for himself or his friends. It was to further expand the proclamation of the message of Jesus. That is Christian political engagement as God intends. Engaged for the purpose of glorifying Him and spreading His truth to the world.
