We are privileged to share with you today a post by guest author, Dr. Kelly Randolph. Dr. Randolph is the pastor of Country Acres Baptist Church in Wichita, Kansas, where he has served since 1994. He is a native of Norman, Oklahoma. Dr. Randolph is a graduate of The Criswell College (B.A.), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv), and Bethel Theological Seminary (DMin). Kelly was married to Jamie (Sullaway) in 1983. They have four children. Prior to coming to Wichita, Kelly served as a pastor in Texas and North Dakota. He is also the owner of the blog, Ecclesiophilist: Thoughts on the church and church life from one who loves the church.
Whether it is Fred Phelps picketing the funerals of fallen soldiers with his “God Hates Fags” signs or Rev. Jeremiah Wright making outrageous statements about the US government inventing the HIV virus as a genocidal attack on people of color, one thing is certain, the union of the church and politics is always a perilous thing. There is a debate raging currently among evangelicals over what planks belong in the political platform of the movement. A new group is emerging which calls for the inclusion of environmental issues, poverty, AIDS, and fair wages. The old guard continues to focus on the issues of abortion, gay marriage, and family. With no consensus evangelical candidate in this election cycle, there is a scramble between Republicans and Democrats for the evangelical voting block. Controversial endorsements are creating troubles for candidates in both parties. Whether it is John McCain having to distance himself from the likes of John Hagee or Barack Obama having to deflect the statements of Jeremiah Wright, the union of church and politics is creating quite a stir.
Is the pressure to use the influence of the church for political power really a biblical mandate? I don’t think so. To be sure, there is an emphasis in the New Testament on the church making an impact on its culture. Jesus did talk about His people being salt and light. He did emphasize the fact that the church ought to penetrate culture and make a difference. The question is “how does the church influence culture?” The New Testament answer to this question says almost nothing about political clout as a method for influencing culture. In fact, the early church had absolutely no political clout. The early church had a much greater impact on its culture than we do. Yet, they did it with no candidates, no voting privileges, no lobby, and no opportunity for involvement in the political process.
The early church influenced its culture by bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. It is clear that the goal of the church in the New Testament was not getting their man into office. Rather, it was getting the life-changing news of Jesus Christ to sinners. The gospel reminds us that the world’s problems are not primarily about broken social structures or economic inequities. The primary problem begins on an individual level with human sin. Hearts darkened by sin and separated from God are the fountain of all sorts of moral corruption. This cannot be repaired by legislators, presidents, or even judges. Christ alone changes the sinful heart. Societal change begins with heart change.
It also appears that the early Christians understood that Christ’s agenda for them was not a political one. Following Jesus’ lead, they realized that the kingdom of God was not going to be realized through the political machinery of the world. Jesus refused to let the people of His day make Him their king. The church understood that the gospel transcends the political systems and philosophies of the world. Their task was to make disciples of all nations, regardless of political persuasions or governmental structures. Theirs was an evangelistic task, not a political one. Their priorities were gospel priorities, not governmental ones.
Adopting a political agenda in the church leads to the confusion of our priorities. Too often the value of theological clarity is pitted against the value of broad-based political cooperation. Think of the fact that evangelicals have been so eager to join forces with Roman Catholics on political issues while downplaying their deep theological differences. One can hardly imagine Calvin and Luther promoting a coalition with the Pope to win victories in public policy. The forces of political expediency put great pressure on the church to trim our message. Too often evangelicals have sold their theological birthright for a bowl of political clout porridge.
Any genuine Christian prefers righteousness over wickedness. Christians in the USA have a great privilege to vote and participate in the formation of public policy. These are worthy duties of Christian citizens. However, let us not forget that the King of the Universe does not need the platform of the Presidency to accomplish His agenda for the church (or the world for that matter). As I heard Phil Johnson say recently at a conference, “If the question of who wins the presidency changes your shepherding agenda, you don’t have a sound strategy.” Pastors need to get back to their calling of teaching people the Word of God and challenging their congregations to adopt Jesus’ agenda for the church. Salt and light are metaphors of gospel penetration not political pressure.
Nope, couldn’t find it…I could not find one sentence that I cannot say Amen to in this post. Man that’s lame :) You said that we have deep theological differences with Rome, you’re right, justification is a pretty deep issue. And I see few Christians willing to take a loving stand against this man made religion.
One sentence that no-one could say Amen to is the reference to Luther and Calvin not joining force with Rome to win victories on public policy.
They as certainly believed in influencing public policy as any Pope has done.
Have you noticed how almost every New Testament figure ends up addressing councils and characters in leading politics? And that the Book of Acts ends with w reference not to church growth but to someone’s household?
John,
Amen!
Alex,
Really? You expect Calvin & Luther to join forces with one they deemed the anti-christ…even if he were to agree with them on an issue of social significance?
SOLA GRATIA!
Well said.
Brother Kelley,
It is difficult to make it much clearer…. “The gospel reminds us that the world’s problems are not primarily about broken social structures or economic inequities. The primary problem begins on an individual level with human sin. Hearts darkened by sin and separated from God are the fountain of all sorts of moral corruption. This cannot be repaired by legislators, presidents, or even judges. Christ alone changes the sinful heart.”
Thank you for your commitment to your congregation and for sharing some important news here.
Blessings,
Chris
Hardly a day goes by that I don’t receive some type of political email demonizing Obama and holding up McCain as the only hope of real Christians. In fact I received one this morning that made it sound as if God was only on McCain’s side because Obama wouldn’t wear a flag pin, put his hand over his heart at the national anthem or repeat the pledge. It was a call to prayer so that God would save America through the election of John McCain.
Let me make some things very clear before I go any further. I believe that we as believers should be engaged in national politics. I believe there is a right and a wrong way to govern our nation. I hate abortion, the legalization of sin, the tolerance of immorality, the assault on our families and injustice of any kind. I will not vote for Obama for more reasons than I can list here. But neither am I comfortable with voting for McCain. No matter who his running mate is, there is just something about the man that I do not trust. There are too many sides to him – and it depends on who he is speaking to as to which side you get.
Neither of these men are our nation’s Savior. In fact, the more I pray and seek to listen to God – and the more I watch of our national eruption into sin, the more I am convinced that either one of them may be exactly the opposite of Savior. God used the brutality of the Babylonians and the Assyrians to judge the sins of His people. He is the One who rises up nations and then destroys those same nations– according to HIS purpose. Our nation has sinned against God and there is no “escape clause” to His sentence of judgment. As believers we have become increasingly guilty of exchanging the glory of God for the cisterns of human politics.
Here is a question I have been struggling with. As our nation has sinned against God – could it be that Obama is in fact God’s purpose for our nation at this time – to bring His righteous judgment against our sin?
I too would issue a call for the people of God to pray for our nation. But before God will listen to our prayers, we must humble ourselves, seek HIM above all else (including political agendas) and repent of the sins WE are guilty of (Jer. 2:11; Ps. 20:7).
Do you remember Joshua’s encounter with the Man outside of Jericho (Jos. 5:13-15)? The question for us today is not whether God is for the democrats or republicans. The question is: are God’s people for HIM – or for their own agendas?
Grace,
Wes
Wes: Can you break down one statement for me? Are you in favor of making sin illegal?
Bill,
The point of my post is that too many Christians have traded spiritual power for political clout. This has weakened our witness – which is the gospel, not a particular political party. To make that trade we have, both left and right, aligned ourselves withsome very shady people.
To answer your question, however, let me ask you this: are you in favor of legalizing homosexual marrage or keeping abortion legal? We could kick this back and forth I’m sure, but I think my point is pretty clear.
Grace,
Wes
Also, Bill, true social change does not come through votes, but through the gospel.
Grace,
Wes
Wes: I agree with you, I think. I just wanted a clarification because if we make “sin” illegal then we all end up in jail.
For too long the evangelical Christian church has been wedded to the Republican party. My point is not that we should be Democrats. It’s that the Republican party is not the political wing of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think that Christians have deluded themselves for years that Republican politicians are somehow on “our side”. I don’t believe that any longer. We cannot, absolutely cannot transform the culture through the political process, even though I think we should vote our conscience.
No, I don’t think abortion should be legal. But making it illegal is not the same as stopping it. The only real answer to abortion is to transform the culture through the Gospel, as you said.
In a democracy, where to some significant extent we are the government, I wonder whether we don’t have some greater responsibility before God for the nature of our politics than did Paul in the Roman empire or than do Christians in totalitarian China?
But Bart, we don’t live in a democracy – we live in a republic. 8-) you are correct that we owe a gospel debt to this nation, but I am convinced that we have traded the power for the politics.
Bill, you are absolutly right. The greatest impact the church can have on our nation is the gospel. Everything else is a secondary issue at best.
Grace,
Wes
I read a book “Blinded by Might” a while back – made many of the same points you make. I thought it was a great book.
The point they made was that politics is about power – gaining and maintaining political power. Christianity is about truth – proclaiming the truth regardless of the outcome or consequences.
There is a natural conflict between political goals – compromise and manipulation to gain and maintain power – and spiritual goals.
Christians can and should be politically involved, but when the church is too politically focused, it begins to adopt the ways and means of politics.
There is ample evidence that when the church aligns itself with political parties or candidates, the politicians prosper and the church usually ends up with egg on its face.
Wes,
My point is simply this: I’m not sure that we can wash our hands entirely of the political realm of this particular nation and say that we’re going to focus solely on “spiritual” matters while leaving “political” matters to others.
In our system, political power is not something that we are seeking, so much as it is something that we have already, by virtue of the fact that we are voters. The question is not, therefore, whether we are clamoring wrongly for political power, but whether, having it as we do, we owe any debt to God for our stewardship of it.
If we desire to have a voice in anything political we could begin by paying our property taxes. A tithing congregation could render unto Caesar and still be able to minster to their local community.
Brother John,
Do you think that the Government is recognizing the value of religious and/or other service organizations that benefit the good of the people as better than payment of taxes? It seems that the lawmakers of our government have seen fit to induce or to reward certain people groups that render gracious acts to people as more value than taxes being paid.
There is a lot of wisdom in that kind of thinking….
It seems that the government is happy to have certain groups not pay taxes, because it is of greater benefit to the nation that they exist, not to pay taxes, but to render gracious acts.
Blessings,
Chris
Bart,
You are absolutely right in stating that we as Christians have a divine stewardship of the political power that we have been given in our “one man, one vote” system of government. I agree with you 100%. However, I don’t agree with you that there are not those within evangelicalism seeking political clout. You mentioned Dr. Kennedy in your post over at your place (I too admired him greatly). We could add to his name men such as Dr. Falwell too. Might I also mention my opinion that one of the reasons Southern Baptists has been so reluctant to biblically address our membership numbers is the goal of “political clout” (i.e., ‘look at us, we’re 16 million strong!’).
I am not saying that Believers should abstain from politics. I am saying that Believers have a greater message than any – ANY – politician. That is the message of grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bart, I seriously have a problem voting for either of the men running for President this year. I don’t see a vote for McCain necessarily as a vote for righteousness; not any more than one for Obama. They are both men of the world and I am sick and tired of having to vote for the lesser of two evils. So McCain has a conservative voting record – that does not make him the right man for our nation at this time. Had the men of Jerusalem been given the stewardship to vote for or against Nebuchadnezzar or Zedekiah, who do you think they would have voted for? We know that Nebuchadnezzar was God’s choice because of the sins of the nation. I hope and pray that I am not sounding angry or offensive on this issue. I seriously have grave concerns for our nation – and particularly the church in America that has become so intermingled with one party or the other that we are losing our prophetic voice. For example, now we have a woman running for Vice President who is the mother of five – one of which is a four month old who has Downs Syndrome and another who is 17 years old, unmarried and pregnant. Of course the evangelical right is jumping with joy because she is pro-life – but what about her biblical responsibilities to her family? I am not “against” her, but I am concerned for her and her family – the responsibilities she has there and the responsibilities she will have as the Vice President. I do not look forward to this November and the responsibilities of my “voting stewardship.” This year, I see it in too much of a conflict with my “gospel stewardship.”
Grace,
Wes
PS., who keeps picking these “anti-spam” words. Every time I post my word is “gentleness.” Are you trying to tell me something???? 8->
Brother John…had some additional thoughts,
Paul and Christ are not trying to tell people to pay taxes for democracy sake. They were telling those in Jerusalem and the Roman congregation to not owe anything to anyone….so that they will not be burdened as they love and share the gospel of God.
It’s interesting that the U.S. Government has enacted laws to provide for tax relief. So we must have to ask the question….why? Our lawmakers are wise to understand that the people should govern themselves and taxes (at least in the beginning of the country) were only there to pay bills. Meaning, ….that the citizens had already paid the bill, yet were simply imposing taxes to offset an already incurred transaction. Unfortunately, we have made a good system of bills and taxation and have convinced a people that taxes are democratically driven for the benefit of the people. That could not be further from the truth. We would do well to have sharp men and women of God to populate the government to lend better understanding to bills and taxation…..so that… what is rendered unto Caesar (U.S. Government) is not frivolously demanded.
In the meantime, we pay what is law… whether frivolous or not, because we are joined to this people. And in some cases Caesar likes to provide relief for what he deems is worthy (i.e. property taxes for religious institutions)
Thanks for your patience,…Blessings,
Chris
John,
Have you ever heard of a city, county, state and other taxing bodies giving tax breaks to businesses coming into their areas? They do this to encourage the business who they expect to economically impact/ benefit, their community. As Chris points out, many churches do have a very positive impact on their communities – such as food pantries, clothes closets and other benevolent services. Yes, the church could pay taxes and still perform these services, but the government recognizes these services and assists in them by not taxing them.
Don’t get too comfortable in not paying taxes, though. I don’t think it will be much longer before incorporated churches will be paying higher taxes than most business.
Grace,
Wes
Chris you have posted some excellent thoughts on politics and religion. This is a good representation of what we as Southern Baptists have professed to believe since our founding but have often failed at with our actions. You spoke of the importance of the church influencing culture. It seems to me that too often it is the political culture that influences the church. For example, many of the leaders of the SBC over the last several years have been very active in the Council on National Policy (CNP). This semi-secret group is largely funded and influenced by such groups as the Sun Myung Moon Cult, the Coors family beer empire, the Reconstructionist heresy and a few other right wing groups. Paul Pressler served as president at one time. Paige Patterson, Jerry Falwell, Coy Privette, Tim LaHaye, Jesse Helms and other prominent Southern Baptists have been active members. They state that they meet to share the best information available on national and world problems, know one another on a personal basis, and collaborate in achieving their shared goals. This organization has had an influence on the direction of our convention over the last 30 years.
At the same time we were welcoming Jerry Falwell into the SBC family he was taking part regularly in Sun Myung Moon political rallies. He felt Moon was a valuable political ally.
I hope your article will be widely read and taken to heart by Southern Baptists.
I am enjoying the good discussion here. I am not advocating abandonment of the political process for Christians. We have the privilege of participating in our government in a way that the early Christians could not. I do believe it is part of sound citizenship to be informed and to vote.
I am suggesting that politics is not the mission of the church. It never has been. Participation in the political process is not necessary to the advancement of God’s kingdom. The mission of the church is not societal transformation via political influence. The gospel changes people and changed people influence culture.
Human governments do have a role in society. They can be a deterrent against unchecked wickedness. Legislation can help the governing power fulfill its role in society of commending the good and punishing the evil (Rom. 13). Yet, legislation cannot change a stony heart into a heart of flesh or give dead sinners life.
My point is that the church must not abdicate its God-ordained role to settle for a lesser aim of political influence.
Brother Kelley,
You are absolutely correct IMHO. There is a great and needed distinction between the gospel/church and political/government, that all ministers of the gospel must not be ashamed to articulate.
Politics seems to build the ego and influence of a man, while the gospel makes a man realize he must lose his life to save it.
Luke 17:33 “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Blessings,
Chris
Pingback: Recent Links Tagged With "virus" - JabberTags