What do Christians do now?

No matter what your personal feelings are about our recent election results, we cannot deny that in our nation frustrations abound, emotions are confused and conflicted, confusion is rampant, and division is evident. Facebook is full of individuals trying to express to the world how they feel, one way or another. Peaceful demonstrations and rioting are happening in many cities throughout the US. America is divided by the celebration of some and deep fear and anger of others. And, Christians might be wondering, "What do we do? How do we respond?"

Well, I cannot tell you everything that you need to do to respond, but here are several biblical guidelines to help us process what is running through our heads and help those around us in our sphere of influence.

Pray for our nation, President-elect, and other government officials: Christians are called to be in submission to the governments under which we live and to pray for our leaders. As difficult as it may be for some to hear this right now, that is what we are called to do by God, and no matter your feelings about this election, you cannot deny that we are a deeply divided nation and prayer is desperately needed. You may be confused, you may be hurting, you may be angry, or you may be celebrating but none of that exempts us from the call to prayer. If you do not know how to pray for our nation, I would recommend reading this article by my senior pastor on eleven ways to pray for the new President-elect and the nation. Pay particular attention to the last way. And, note also that, while in this article he does express some of his emotions about our current situation, he does so in a way that fears God and is honoring to our leaders (see below), as well as brings us back to praying for the good of our leaders and nation.

Take seriously God's Word through Paul and Peter in Ro. 13:1-7 and 1 Pt. 2:12-17: Christian, this may be hard to hear for you right now or it might be too easy for you to hear, but we are called to be subject to and honor the governing authorities. Please take a moment and reread Paul and Peter's words in these passages, and, in fact, if you do that and do not come back to this post: fine, for they will do you more good than anything else I can say. I want to highlight in particular Peter's final command in that section in v. 17: "Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor." We need to take that very seriously, for as Peter says in the beginning of the passage, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." So, what does that verse mean? Well, let's look at the couplets:

• "Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood." First, this means in our interactions in person or on social media, we need to honor everyone, even if we disagree with them. We may feel compelled to speak truth, but we should always speak the truth in love, which means at least that we are "quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger"; we do not berate; we do not mock; we do not antagonize; we do not resort to name-calling; we do not gloat; and we also seek peace, not quarrels. The tongue is a dangerous tool that sets ablaze a world of unrighteousness, and we can do that by gloating or by being angry. Second, this means we need to be especially careful with how we interact with other believers. All of the above still applies, and we need to remember that the world knows we are Christians by our love for one another. The other side of that is that when the world sees us fighting among ourselves, the gospel and cause of Christ is maligned. Please, remember we are to glorify God in all we do and not give unnecessary offense.
• "Fear God. Honor the emperor." First, remember that both Paul and Peter wrote under the rule of Nero when they composed these works of God's Word, and both remind us that we should honor the rulers. I know for some that is hard to hear right now, but we need to bring our emotions into submission to God's Word and honor the rulers who are taking office. That means that we can disagree with them and we can even point out their immorality (we will get to that in just a moment), but, like above, we do not berate, we do not mock, we do not resort to name-calling, we speak in love and not anger, and we do not join with those who do. We show them the respect and honor their office is due. Second, do not gloss over the command to fear God. Fearing God means being subject to authorities, but it does not mean covering up their sins, making light of their sins, or defending their sins. Sin is sin, and Christians are never to cover up, condone, make light of, or defend sinfulness. We are "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [our] God." Part of honoring our leaders and everyone is not letting sinfulness and injustice prevail and loving those who are needy, persecuted, and have no voice.

Remember that God is in control of all this: Christian, we know something that the non-believers in this world do not: God is in sovereign control of all that is happening right now, the leaders are in His hands and He does with them as He wishes, all kingship truly belongs to Him, and He has placed all authorities in their places. And, even though we may not be able to figure out why, we can know He has done it for the good of His people. These are His promises from His Word, so we need to keep them close to heart and walk by faith; not by sight in times of confusion, pain, and fear. And, even in times of celebration, we are not to place our faith in our leaders, for they are just tools of God; not any time of savior for this nation.  

Remember that this nation is not our true home or our true hope: Christian, while yours and my earthly home may be in America and we may even be citizens of this nation, our true citizenship is in heaven because when we were united to Christ, He transferred us from kingdoms of this world into His eternal Kingdom. Now we are spiritual exiles in our physical homes. So, while we do want our nation to prosper (see below), we can also know that this nation is not really our home or our hope, and the like the great "cloud of witnesses" of Christians past, we are looking forward to a heavenly city "whose designer and builder is God." We do care about our nation, its people, and we grieve injustice, division, and conflict, but our hope should never be here or in any nation for all of this will one day pass away. Our hope should be in the new heavens and new earth that Jesus has secured for us. The world desperately needs to see that hope right now because it is what causes them to ask questions and gives us the chance the share the gospel. 

Seek the welfare of our nation: Christian, while this nation is not our home and we really are citizens of God's Kingdom, we are still here right now, and He calls us to seek the welfare of this nation. In fact, the passage to which I just alluded deserves full quotation:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Our spiritual exile currently in whatever nation we occupy is mirrored in the physical exile that Israel experienced in Babylon, and that is actually why Peter calls us exiles in the first place in 1 Pt. 1:1, so God's commands to them apply to us as well. We need to conduct ourselves, live our lives, use social media, work our jobs, communicate with politicians and leaders, and do whatever else we do in this life in such a way that it contributes to the welfare of our nation. It does not matter how we feel about our nation or the government, we are called to seek its welfare. As Paul says in Ro. 13:2, "Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." Now, that does not mean we cannot peacefully protest or call out the sins and injustice of our leaders, for those can be ways of actually seeking the welfare of our nation, but we should not be involved in or condone activity that undermines peace, safety, justice, and the welfare of our nation. We also need to do it in such a way that we continue to honor our leaders, as mentioned above.

Be careful how you conduct yourself at times like this: Christian, there are a lot of emotions rolling around right now. Some are celebrating, and others are hurting, angry, and fearful. When such emotional ups and downs run unchecked, it creates conflict, division, and even some violence, as the recent news has shown. Christians are ambassadors for Christ, are called to be instruments of reconciliation, should have gracious speech, and need to be careful never to add to that strife, unrest, division, or quarreling in the way we conduct ourselves in our conversations and especially on social media. (Here is a great post about general rules for posting on social media.) Let me try to give some guidelines that might be helpful:

• If you are angry, confused, or even celebrating, take that to the Lord first, just as the psalmists did with life's ups and downs. If you are celebrating, remember that no mere man is a savior who will solve your problems. We have only one Savior and Shepherd who can solve our problems, and it is Jesus Christ. All other men are fallen and will disappoint us, so keep your celebration moderate, always looking to God alone for your peace, hope, and confidence. If you are angry, hurting, or confused, again, take those to God first, using the psalms of lament as your guide. A few examples are Ps. 44; 60; 74, and note in particular that, while these psalms express deep feelings of pain to God, they never accuse God of wrong-doing and they move to praise for His goodness even in the midst of hardship. That should be our pattern. 
• If you have spent time in prayer, and you still need "to get it out," start with personal conversations with friends or family first, please! This will help you process whatever you are feeling and get a handle on your emotions.
• If, after all that, you still feel like you need to say something publicly on social media or in some other fashion, speak only the truth and do it in love and let "your speech always be gracious." If you are celebrating (and with how much pain there is out there right now, I honestly cannot imagine a good reason to celebrate publicly but perhaps you have one), do not "rub it in," especially when you know others are hurting, for that is provoking and pride at its ugliest, and, again, do not elevate a mere man to the position of a savior. Jesus is our only Savior, and all our leaders in this world are fallen instruments in the hands of God. If you are hurting, make sure that your grief is not the grief of a world that has no hope but the grief of a Christian who has certain hope in Christ. And, if you are angry too, be angry but do not sin, as Paul commands us. An example of sinful anger might be if we do not follow the above guidelines from Paul and Peter about honoring our leaders and everyone, as well as not loving our brothers and sisters and Christ as we should. Hopefully, if you have expressed your pain and anger to God first and close friends and/or family second, by the time you get here, you will be ready to be angry without sin. 
• No matter how you feel about this election, remember that we are called to "weep with those who weep." If you are celebrating, the Christ-like and loving thing to do would be to set aside your celebration and acknowledge that there are those who are hurting around you, validate that, and weep with them. In that pain, you can offer them the hope of the gospel, but validate their pain, enter into it, and uphold them through it. If you are hurting too, it seems hardly needful to tell you to weep with those who weep, but perhaps you need to hear that in your weeping, you need to weep as one who has hope in the gospel and pass that on to others. Sometimes in our emotions, we can forget that our hope is not in this world or in the leaders of this world but in God's sovereign control of it (see above) and in the new heavens and new earth (see above). Remember that and lead others who are mourning to that hope.

Keep the first things first: Christian, at the end of the day, we are called to be salt and light in this world, make disciples of Christ, work our jobs as to Christ, love God and our neighbors, worship together, etc.; all so the gospel can spread because God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." And, Christian, we can do that no matter what government we have. As Paul says in 1 Co. 15:3-5, what is of absolute first importance is the good news of Christ's death and resurrection. At this time and at all times, the world needs the gospel more than anything else. Please, bring the world back to that over and over again. There is only one Savior, one Lord, one Master, and one Hope, and that is Jesus Christ. The world needs to see Him always but especially in hard times. Display that hope before the world, keep the gospel central, and then be ready to explain that hope to those who see it in you.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Eternal Perspective and Elections

"²⁹This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, ³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, ³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away." ~ 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

This past Sunday I preached a sermon at East Lanier Community Church, which I titled "Eternal Perspective Now." And, I am going to preach it again this coming Sunday at East Cobb Presbyterian Church (spoiler alert for my friends who attend E. Cobb). It is not as if I did not have enough time to write another sermon, but since I knew I would be preaching at two different churches the two weeks prior to the election, I felt I could not just ignore the weight of this important civic time. (For those of you who read my previous post, it should be clear that when I say that, I am not talking about making a political statement from the pulpit.) I wanted to remind believers of the bigger perspective that Scripture gives us about our dealings with this world and the things in it. After considering several passages and praying about it, I landed on the above brief passage from 1 Corinthians. If you are interested in hearing the sermon, you can listen to the recording from E. Lanier, or you can read my transcript.

I pray that if you are a child of God, this sermon would encourage you as you think about the future of this country, your life, and all that you have. I pray that it would remind you of the eternal perspective Scripture gives us about our life in this world. I pray that it would remind you that this world is not your home. And, I pray that it would heighten your awareness of the transience of this world and our need to make much of Christ before the unbelieving world.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Politics From the Pulpit?

"Should pastors speak about in the pulpit about contemporary issues? [sic] Yes, but only when the texts of Scripture clearly articulate it. They shouldn't bow to any party's talking points. They shouldn't slant their sermons to fit a political profile. They shouldn't become wannabee pundits in the pulpit. They should preach the Word and let it do it's work in the hearts of the people, who will then go influence their communities." ~ Daniel Darling, "Three Reasons Not to Preach Politics in the Pulpit"

I really like this article (shared by a friend of mine on Facebook) and the above quote. Very few things bug me more than the pulpit being used as a political soap box or puppet. In summary, his three reasons to not preach politics from the pulpit are:

• Our text must be the Word of God
• The Bible cuts both ways
• We must never dilute the message of the gospel

These are all good points, and I recommend going to Christianity.com and reading Daniel's article. Go read it and then I would like to add what I think is an important fourth point.

Now that you have read Daniel's excellent article, I would like to add one more that I think is very important. It is the issue of conscience. I follow the Reformed tradition and am a preacher in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). In our tradition, we have a statement of faith called the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF). It is an excellent document from the seventeenth century that summarizes biblical doctrine well. It is not infallible and is no way to be held on the same level (or even close to it) as Scripture, but it is wise and I think very biblical for the most part. In it, there is a great statement that addresses the issue of conscience, "God alone is Lord of the conscience (Js. 4:12; Ro. 14:4), and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to His Word; or beside it, in matters of faith or worship (Mt. 15:9; 23:8-10; Ac. 4:19; 5:29; 1 Co. 7:23; 2 Co. 1:24)." (WCF 20.2) God alone is Lord of the conscience. Pastors should preach on the issues of contemporary culture that Scripture addresses, but how we apply that truth in our individual social-political lives is a matter of conscience. No Christian has the right to say to another Christian that they have the "Christian way" of doing something unless it is prescribed in the Bible or may be deduced from it by good and necessary consequence. I believe voting and candidate choice falls in the category of conscience. If we say, "Christians must support Mr. So-in-So in the election," we have bound the consciences of Christians in a way Scripture has not commanded and that is wrong. We have no right to say it is "un-Christian" to vote a certain way unless Scripture tells us that Christians must always vote Republican or Democrat, and I am pretty sure it does not say that anywhere.

I recently read an excellent book on Christians and culture. It is Living in God's Two Kingdoms: A Biblical Vision for Christianity and Culture by David VanDrunen. I do not agree with everything in it, but it is overall an excellent work and I do not mind recommending it. (I plan to write a review of it soon, when I get the time.) In it, he has an excellent statement on this issue of conscience:

In my judgment, the general rule is that the church must teach—and Christians may hold one another accountable for believing—all that Scripture says about such topics as moral issues but should be silent about such topics as concrete political or public policy issues. The biblical teaching on these topics clearly has political ramifications. In nearly every case when a moral issue becomes a concrete political or public policy issue, however, believers must make discretionary judgments in order to decide how to apply the clear biblical teaching to the particular situation. And whenever the application of biblical teaching is a matter of discretion and not specified by Scripture itself, the church must be silent and Christians may not impose their own discretionary judgments upon the consciences of other Christians. (pp. 199-200)

For example, let's look at one of the more relevant issues: abortion. It is clear that Scripture is against abortion. I think that Scripture is pretty clear that life begins at the earliest days of pregnancy. (It may be debatable whether or not life begins at conception or implantation, though I think the arguments for the former are strong than those for the latter, but I believe it is not debatable, from a biblical perspective, any later in pregnancy.) However, does Scripture say how we should apply this in our social-political lives? No, and to say otherwise is to bind the conscience of a fellow Christian, which is wrong. Christians find themselves in a fallen world in which many people (with whom we might otherwise agree) advocate abortion rights, the issue is social and political, candidates and judges hold a variety of stances on it, and in which a black market would probably be formed if it were made illegal. The application of our stance on the issue is thus very complicated. There are some who could never vote for a pro-choice candidate because of their consciences, and I completely understand that. Others may weigh all the views of a pro-choice candidate and find those other views tip the scale in a political environment where all candidates are imperfect. Some may look at the possibilities of affecting abortion policy in a particular political environment and find it is unlikely that it will affected one way or another. Others might choose to fight abortion by a strategy that is more "grass roots" and write pieces for local news outlets, picket clinics, serve at crisis pregnancy centers, or raise awareness in some other local way. The point is that two Christians with equal commitment to the biblical teaching on abortion may evaluate the political landscape differently and make different decisions about what will serve the long-term good of American society and the world at large. We may debate with each other about the "best" or "wisest" way to fight abortion, but no Christian can look at another Christian and say they have the "Christian way" of doing it. God has left the Christian's conscience free from the doctrines and commandments of men.

So, let's preach on the issues from the pulpit when the Bible addresses them, and then let's trust the Holy Spirit (remember all believers have Him too!) to guide each believer to vote in the way their consciences believe is most wise. Let's not violate the Word of God by adding to it, let's not dilute the gospel by saying more than Scripture allows, and let's not bind the consciences of other believers by commanding what God has not commanded. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Ga. 5:1) Praise Jesus for our freedom!

By His Grace,
Taylor

Economical Numbers

"There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers." ~ Richard Feynman

No real deep thoughts here though, this one is just for fun--a great quote from one of the most brilliant physicists of our time. Considering the recent spending this is even more true now than it was when Feynman penned these words about 30 years ago. The most recent bailout bill is 7.9 million times greater than the diameter of our galaxy (in light-years) or 315,000 times greater than the distance to the our neighbor galaxy Andromeda (in light-years). I think we should create a bailout scale. We could then say the known universe is only 0.2 bailout-light-years in diameter. Does not sound too big then...

By His Grace,
Taylor

Racial Politics

"The idea of black politics now tilts away from leadership based on voicing grievance, and identity politics based on victimization and anger... The Jesse Jacksons, Al Sharptons and Rev. Jeremiah Wrights remain. But their influence and power fade to a form of nostalgia... The market has irrevocably shrunk for Sharpton-style tirades against 'the man' and 'the system.' The emphasis on racial threats and extortion-like demands -- all aimed at maximizing white guilt as leverage for getting government and corporate money -- has lost its moment. How does anyone waste time on racial fantasies like reparations for slavery when there is a black man who earned his way into the White House?" ~ Juan Williams, "What Obama's Victory Means for Racial Politics"

Juan Williams is news analyst for NPR, Fox, and writes for a several other news magazines. He is not one that I would often agree with politically, but I like this particular editorial. I am not one who really enjoys political arguments like some (I much prefer a theological or scientific debate) but this caught my eye because I hope what Mr. Williams is predicting pours over into reality. I agree that racial politics has often been one of attempting to maximize guilt and play the victim and it is something that has frustrated me. It is not as if all people one one side or another do this, however, the ones who talk the loudest seem to be the ones that play the victim card the most. I think that Mr. Williams' perspective on how racial politics can/should move forward is refreshing.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Sovereignty

"There are losses. We mourn. But not as those who have no hope. We vote and we lose, or we vote and we win. In either case, we win or lose as if we were not winning or losing. Our expectations and frustrations are modest. The best this world can offer is short and small. The worst it can offer has been predicted in the book of Revelation. And no vote will hold it back." ~ John Piper, "Let Christians Vote As Though They Were Not Voting"

As the voting comes to an end and the results are flowing in this statement by Piper comes to my mind. When we vote we do our civic duty as citizens of the city of the world, but as we vote we must also remember that we are citizens of the City of God (allusions from Augustine's The City of God). While the city of the world is important and we have a duty to it (Romans 13), it will pass away and the City of God will remain. We may feel we are losing in the short term, but in the long term we win--the City of God remains.

Piper's article is linked above. It is worth reading. I will leave you with this: "The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He will." (Proverbs 21:1)

By His Grace,
Taylor