As you go to the polls today, I want to encourage you to remember the following things - from my sermon series, Christians in Politics and Public Life.
Far as the Curse is Found
We serve a King who is Lord of everything and nothing is beyond his reach. Christ is relevant to every sphere of life - public and private; secular and sacred. As Abraham Kuyper says, “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, “This is mine. This belongs to me.”
The reach of God’s kingdom extends “as far as the curse is found.” Therefore as followers of Christ we seek to apply the work of Christ in every arena of life – personal, relational, societal, institutional and yes political.
Love Your Enemies
We live in an upside down kingdom, which requires us to love our enemies! Christ died for democrats and republicans. At the end of the day, winner and loser alike must be treated with respect and love and that goes for their supporters.
Understand Biblical Values
Philippians 1:27 reads, “Live out your citizenship in a manner worthy of the gospel.”
Our citizenship is measured by our faithfulness to the gospel not our loyalty to a political party.
We are committed to a biblical agenda that seeks to identify the core issues of the Bible and to engage politically, guided by those values. A cursory study of the Bible tells us that these values at least include the sanctity of human life – born and unborn, compassion for the needy, social justice, peace among all peoples, protection for the powerless and the removal of divisions. Your own list might be a little different but what matters is that you have developed one from the Bible and attempt to consistently live and vote by it.
Remember, we must apply these biblical values in a fallen world. Life is messy and our candidates, like us, are imperfect. It is unlikely that you will ever get to vote for a candidate that embraces all the biblical values to your satisfaction. So you will have to choose. You must weigh the values and decide in this election which is most important to you, to our country, to the world and to God. It is inevitable that true Christians will decide differently.
And we also must admit that Biblical Values won’t give us the answers to everything. There are political ideologies and values that are not inherently Christian or unchristian. Things such as top down or bottom up economics, big business or big government, public or private education, gun ownership, federal Vs state rights, and private or national health insurance. Christians will find themselves divided over these issues.
We Are a Colony on Earth
But in the end, as citizens of heaven our greatest obligation and responsibility is to represent the colony of heaven and to challenge everything that contradicts it. Anyone can be a Democrat or a Republican. Only God’s people can be the church – a colony of heaven that embodies the life of the future here on earth now. This isn’t easy. In fact, the hardest thing to do as an alien is to keep your identity and yet live it gracefully within the dominant culture. But our country needs us to maintain this colony existence and to be a sign to the truth and a prophetic voice in our day.
