Christian

Mar 01

You Asked For It #8: Is Jesus the Only Way?

Here’s the audio from the message.

I had a unique experience on Thursday. I read a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article on-line about Pastor Mark Driscoll’s review of the movie Avatar. What shocked me was not Pastor Mark’s take on the movie… but the comments that followed. The story was posted at 4:57 pm on Wednesday, and 7 minutes later at 5:04 pm, the craziness started… three pages of comments of people who very clearly have a deep problem with Christianity, not to mention Pastor Mark. What was very clear from the comments that followed is that we live in a culture that has a significant disdain for any exclusive truth claims, especially religious or faith claims that say “this” is the absolute truth. We live in pluralistic, relativistic, syncretistic, individualistic culture, and it is into this culture and many others cultures that we are called to share the uniqueness of Jesus Christ and His good news. As we share the gospel with the people in our world, the question that often comes up is this… Is Jesus the only way?

So as we ask this final and possibly most important question in our YouAskedForIt series, we’re going to look at four themes: (1) the Philosophy of Religion, paying special attention to our culture’s take on exclusive religious truth claims; (2) the Plurality of Worldviews, giving us a quick snapshot of worldviews and religions that are vying for our attention and our hearts; (3) the Primacy of Christ, where we’ll discover what makes Jesus Christ unique and different from every other religion; and lastly we’ll end up with (4) the Priority of Mission, the call and command to share Jesus and His gospel in our world.

#1 Philosophy of Religion

We live in an incredibly pluralistic, relativistic, syncretistic, and individualistic culture. By pluralistic, we have many, many worldviews competing for airtime. By relativistic, we hear “what’s true for you is not necessarily true for me.” By syncretistic, we like to mix in a lot of different worldviews to create our own. And by individualistic, we believe “don’t tell me what to believe… I’ve got to figure it out myself.” So when we as followers of Jesus Christ come along and say that Jesus is the only way, here’s one of the most common responses that we hear…

“All religions are equally valid paths to God.” Another way to put this is “no one has the fully correct and exclusive viewpoint on God.” All of the different world religions are saying the same thing… all roads lead to God.

There’s a famous illustration based on an old Indian folktale that people use to help us see the “truthfulness” of their perspective that no one has the fully correct or exclusive vantage point on God (which is an exclusive truth claim in and of itself… but we’ll discuss that more in a moment).

Several blind men were walking along and came upon an elephant that allowed them to touch and feel it. “This creature is long and flexible like a snake,” said the first blind man, holding the elephant’s trunk. “Not at all—it is thick and round like a tree trunk,” said the second blind men, feeling the elephant’s leg. “No, it is large and flat,” said the third blind man, touching the elephant’s side. Each blind man could feel only part of the elephant—none could envision the entire elephant. In the same way, it is argued, the religions of the world each have a grasp on part of the truth about spiritual reality, but none can see the whole elephant or claim to have a comprehensive or exclusive vision of the truth.

Here’s the ultimate intellectual problem with the elephant illustration and the claim that “all religions are equally valid paths to God.” The only way you could know that the blind men only saw part of the elephant is to assume that you have the whole picture of the elephant, the whole truth which you are claiming no one has. When you are saying that no one has a superior or exclusive take on reality and God, you are actually making a superior and exclusive statement on reality and God. When you are saying that no one should make a listener convert to their view of reality and God, that’s exactly what you are demanding of other people: convert to your one “superior” and exclusive claim and view of reality and God. Here’s the way Tim Keller, who I’m deeply indebted for helping me figure this all out, explained it in his book The Reason for God:

By now the fatal flaw in this approach to religion in general and to Christianity in particular should be obvious. Skeptics believe that any exclusive claims to a superior knowledge of spiritual reality cannot be true. But this objection is itself a religious belief. It assumes God is unknowable, or that God is loving but not wrathful, or that God is an impersonal force rather than a person who speaks in Scripture. All of these are unprovable faith assumptions. In addition, their proponents believe they have a superior way to view things. They believe the world would be a better place if everyone dropped the traditional religions’ views of God and truth and adopted theirs. Therefore, their view is also an ‘exclusive’ claim about the nature of spiritual reality. If all such views are to be discouraged, this one should be as well. If it is not narrow to hold this view, then there is nothing inherently narrow about holding to traditional religious beliefs (12).

So as you navigate this pluralistic, relativistic, syncretistic, individualistic culture that we live in, recognize some of the flaws in the arguments that are used against a Christian worldview when we claim that Jesus is the only way.

#2 Plurality of Worldviews

Here’s a very quick and far from comprehensive snapshot of the major worldviews and religions that we find in our culture and in our world.

Judaism. Christianity has its roots in Judaism, yet Jews reject Jesus Christ as God, Messiah, and Savior. In Judaism salvation is determined by moral behavior that’s in accordance with the Law. The Jews’ sacred book is the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, which is our Old Testament.
Islam. Islam was founded by the 7^th century AD prophet Muhammad. He’s viewed as the last prophet in a line that includes Abraham, Moses, the biblical prophets, and Jesus. Muslims worship Allah, and Christianity is rejected because of the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. Islam’s sacred book is the Koran, and salvation is dependent upon man’s obedience and actions, and the balance between good and bad deeds determines eternal destiny.
Hinduism. Hinduism is a polytheistic (many gods) religion with many different sects that has no one founder. Some people say Hinduism was founded between 1800-1000 BC and some will way that the Aryans, the same people group that developed Greek culture, conquered much of present day India and mixed their pantheon of gods with indigenous Indian traditions of meditation. There are many sacred writings in Hinduism, including the Vedas, a collection of ancient sacred texts. In Hinduism, God or Brahman is “The Absolute” and salvation is release from cycles of reincarnation and ultimate absorption or union with Brahman.
Buddhism. Buddhism arose out of atheistic strands of Hinduism in the 6^th century BC by Gautama or Buddha (“the awakened one” or “the enlightened one”). The Buddhist sacred writings are called the Tripitaka (“The Three Baskets”) as well the Mahayana Sutras. There is no absolute God in Buddhism and salvation and the goal of life is nirvana, a permanent, transcendent state where the individual ultimately eliminates desires and cravings, and in this way ultimately escapes suffering.
Atheism. Atheism is a worldview that states there is no God or gods or the absence of belief in any deity. Atheism has its roots in some Hindu, Buddhist, even Greek thought, but in Western culture its most famous proponents were people like Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche. There is a rise in the “new atheism” with writers like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. And I think that it is this new strain of atheism that fueled many of the comments in the Seattle PI article.
Syncretism. This last category is a “catch all.” Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate beliefs together and meld many beliefs and practices together. From a religious standpoint, people take a little from here and a little from there and create their own worldview because once again, we live in a highly individualistic and relativistic culture.

You can also see the BBC’s guide to world religions

See also Probe Ministries’ articles on world religions and cults as well as the article “A Short Look at Six World Religions”

#3 Primacy of Christ

Here’s the key question in this theme: What makes Jesus Christ unique and different from all of the other worldviews and world religions? In a syncretistic culture that is trying to find the commonality between all the worldviews and world religions, we need to understand what makes Jesus Christ and the gospel so different and unique. 1 John 4:1-6 will help us answer this question:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Once again, I am indebted to Pastor Tim Keller from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, NY and a message that he preached on this very topic as well as his book The Reason for God. Here are three truths that he presented that make Jesus Christ and the gospel unique and different.

The origin of salvation. Take a closer look at 1 John 4:2 “Jesus Christ has come…” He was somewhere else before He came to earth. Every other world religion’s founder is a human, but Christianity’s claim is that Jesus Christ, God Himself, has come into the world.
The purpose of salvation. Once again, look at v. 2. “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh…” There is something very important about Jesus Christ coming in the flesh – the incarnation. Every other world religion sees the primary purpose of salvation as liberation from the flesh and the physical world. In the Eastern religions, the physical world is an illusion and salvation is escaping the illusion. In the Western religions, the physical world is bad but you can escape it through morality and spiritual enlightenment and then go to heaven and leave the physical world. But in Christianity, Jesus Christ, God Himself, put on a body and the salvation of God is the ultimate redemption and renewal of this physical world… the “new heavens and the new earth.” God ultimately restores and fixes what was broken, which includes us and all of creation. Salvation in the Christian sense is the ultimate re-creation that we find so powerfully expressed at the end of the Bible in Revelation 21-22.
The method of salvation. This last truth about the uniqueness and difference of Jesus Christ is the most powerful and freeing. In all other religious systems, you have to perform truth. Love God and love people, and if God sees you doing all of the truths of your religion, he will bless and save you. So you’ve got to work hard for salvation. But here’s the Christian vision and method of salvation wonderfully encapsulated in 1 John 4:10: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God comes and sacrificially gives Himself for the people who do not love Him. Jesus is the Savior who lives the life we should have lived and who died the death we should have died in our place and pays the penalty we should have paid so that non-loving, non-virtuous people can be saved by radical grace. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!”

# 4 Priority of Mission

We’ve got to recognize and respond to the priority of mission… the priority of us giving our lives to share the wondrous uniqueness of Jesus Christ and His great gospel in our pluralistic, post-modern world… locally and globally. This is Jesus’ command and final marching orders to us in Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” In a passage that we know well, Jesus calls and commands us to “make disciples” – to invite the people of our world to Him and into His life-transforming community. And how we make disciples if we don’t “go” across the street and across the globe. And Paul gives us the same vision of the priority of mission in Romans 10:14-15: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”

Here are some ways to apply the priority of Jesus’ mission to our world.

Experience salvation through Jesus Christ. We’ve got to start here. For some of you today and for some of you listening, you need to come to Jesus. You need to know that there truly is a God in heaven who created you and loves you. But you’ve also got to be honest, recognize, and confess that you like to be in control. The Bible calls this sin. It’s a rebellion against the God who created you and loves you. But God loves us too much to keep us in this condition of rebellion and distance from Him, so He comes to us. Jesus Christ, God Himself put on flesh to come and rescue us. He died on a cross for our sin, dying a death we should have died, dying in our place as our substitute and therefore paying the penalty for our sin, rebellion, and treason against the Creator God. He was raised from the dead, the first glimpse of this re-creation of God. And He offers us reconciliation and life back with Him by believing in Him and giving our lives fully to Him.
Pray for the lost. If salvation really is a supernatural event, then shouldn’t we agree that it takes a supernatural power to change a heart to see Jesus for who He fully is and to understand what He has fully done for us? Prayer is how that supernatural power is released. There are a couple of things that we need to pray for. First, we must pray for compassion for the people in our world who don’t know Jesus. This is what softens our hearts to see peoples’ need for the gospel. And then second, we pray for the people of our world that their hearts might be softened to see their need for Jesus.
Share Jesus. And then we go to the people of our world, local and global, and share Jesus. We share the good news, the gospel, that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, in our place. And He is now the Risen Lord over all creation and we come to Him and give our lives to Him because He fully gave His life for us. We’ve got to continually look for and be ready for those opportunities to share Jesus with the people in our world. And this also includes sharing Jesus globally. We have numerous cross-cultural, global short-term trips this year where you’ll have the opportunity to share Jesus. Here are many different ways in which we can serve our world, locally and globally.

We live in a culture and world where many religious and non-religious ideologies clamor for our attention and our hearts. And in the midst of the many voices, I fully believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation… a salvation that changes our lives and fills them with grace right now but also a salvation that lasts into and for eternity. Christianity is the only religion where God has fully come to us… to rescue and renew us… with His sacrificial love even when we don’t love Him in return. What a powerful reality! We’ve been offered and given this great gift of life and salvation through Jesus, so let’s give Him away to our world with great passion and joy across the street and across the globe.

Feb 15

You Asked For It #6: What’s the Church’s Role in Politics?

Sermons, You Asked For It 3 Comments »

Here’s the audio for the message

This is the question that I have been the most “anxious” about in this whole YouAskedForIt series. This question frequently intersects our lives and has the potential of being divisive within Northshore and within the larger evangelical movement. Here’s the question: What’s the Church’s role in politics?

A lot of people sent me questions, rants, and mini-novels about how we as Christians and the Church are to respond to the pervasive ills in our culture and how we can address these through political means. So my goal is to give a theological, biblical, and pastoral framework on how we can address this big question. Now with all of that being said, what I am going to share is my personal and pastoral vantage point. Let me explain that a bit more…

Personal. I have an interesting background when it comes to the issue of politics. I served in the Army as an infantry officer, and we were expected to have an “a-political” mindset, which meant that the President was our commander-in-chief. We were to submit, drive on, and do our mission regardless of our political leanings. I know this is overly simplistic, but it formed and still forms some of my personal perspective.

Pastoral. I took over as senior pastor in 2008 during a perfect storm… one of the most heated Presidential elections among evangelicals and the worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression. Some of you thought I didn’t talk about the election enough, some of you thought I talked about it too much, and some of you thought I talked about it “just right.” I led us through that season with my personal, pastoral, biblical, and theological convictions.

Back to our question, “What’s the Church’s role in politics?” Here’s how we’re going to address this question: 3 Passages, 2 Kingdoms, 1 Conclusion

3 Passages

I have intentionally chosen to focus on three passages within the New Testament… and specifically, three passages from epistles or letters that were written to churches and Christians living under the rule of the Roman Empire: Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-17, and 1 Timothy 2:1-2. There are many passages I could have chosen from the Bible, but I have a couple of reasons for focusing on these three. First, in the Old Testament, Israel was a theocracy. This means they were the chosen people of God, and even though they had a king, their ultimate national Leader was God. So, in the Old Testament, even though there are great things we can learn about just, righteous laws and “politics,” I believe that Israel’s relationship with God is fundamentally different than the U.S. and even the Church. Even though I do believe that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and ethics, we as citizens of the United States are not the “people of God” as a national entity. And the Church is a worldwide multi-ethic, multi-cultural movement of people who confess Jesus Christ to be Savior, Lord, and King. The second reason why I’ve chosen three passages from the NT epistles is that the cultural context we find ourselves in has great similarity to the cultural contexts of Paul and Peter’s day.

Background to 3 Passages. In all three of these passages, the Roman emperor was Nero who reigned AD 54-68. Romans was written somewhere around AD 55-57, 1 Peter was written somewhere around AD 64, and 1 Timothy likely around AD 66-67. And here’s some background on the Roman Emperor Nero. Nero is one of the most infamous Roman emperors. He is best known for murdering his entire family, including his mother, stepbrother, and both of his wives. In AD 64, an enormous fire destroyed most of Rome and it was rumored (but never proven) that Nero set the fire. In order to deflect suspicion, he is said to have blamed the Christians in Rome for the fire, and he as a result, many Christians were tortured and executed. Tacitus (A.D. 56-117), a Roman senator and historian who lived during this time, wrote this about the torture and execution of Christians during Nero’s reign in Annals XV.44:

In their deaths they were made the subjects of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights.

So Nero was not a nice guy… and all three of these passages that we’ll address were written while he was emperor. Now it is true that we live in a democracy which is a fundamentally different form of government, but what these passages address and how they address it still have bearing on our lives as followers of Jesus even though we live in the United States some 2000 years later.

Passage #1: Romans 13:1-7. In v. 1, Paul commands “every person is to be in subjection (or “submit”) to the governing authorities.” And here is why, “For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” And remember, who is the governing authority when Paul is writing this? Nero. So this applies to all rulers and governing authorities, whether they are good or bad. I believe that Paul is writing this passage in such a sweeping, unqualified way because he wanted the Roman Emperor Nero to get the message that God is over him and that there is a God-given moral law above the laws of the states and states are to act this way. That’s what Paul means in v. 4 – “for it [the governing authority] is a minister [or servant] of God to you for good.”

Now this begs the question, “what if the government is not acting in a manner which is contrary to the moral law of God?” When is civil disobedience appropriate and allowed? John Piper in his exposition of this passage has been hugely helpful in this area (see below for links to the 4-part series). Here’s how he explained the possible grounds for civil disobedience:

1. The grievousness of the action sanctioned by law. How atrocious is it? Is it a traffic pattern that you think is dumb? Or is the law sanctioning killing?

2. The extent of the unjust law’s effect. Is it a person affected here or there? Or is it millions?

3. The potential of civil disobedience for clear and effective witness to the truth. This is the question of strategy, and there will certainly be room here for differing judgments about whether a particular act of civil disobedience will be a clear and effective statement of what is just.

4. There is a movement of the spirit of courage and conviction from God in people’s lives that indicates the time is right. Historically, there appears to be a flash point of moral indignation. An evil exists for years, or perhaps generations, and then something strange happens. One person, and then tens of thousands of people, can no longer just get up and go to work and say, “I wish it weren’t this way.” A flash point is reached, and what had hung in the air for years as tolerable evil explodes with an overwhelming sense that this state of affairs simply can no longer be!

So this is where we have a different political freedom than the Christians of Paul’s day. They lived in a totalitarian regime under Nero, and we live in a democracy. We, as Christians can and should be involved in helping to overturn unjust laws. And I’ll qualify this more as the message progresses. But I want to remind that there is no authority except that which is from God.

For a great 4-part exposition of Romans 13:1-7 by Pastor John Piper titled “Subjection to God & Subjection to the State”

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Passage #2: 1 Peter 2:13-17. Once again, Peter, who is writing around AD 64-65, quite possibly after Nero has burned Rome and is now torturing and executing Christians, still tells us to “submit [ourselves] for the Lord’s sake to every human institution… whether to the king… or to governors.” His inclusion of “for the Lord’s sake” echoes Paul’s command since the Lord has established their rule but it also adds the element of our witness. How we respond impacts our witness of Jesus Christ in our world. In v. 17, this is where Peter concludes his passage: “honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.” The word “honor” means “to respect.” It’s the same word that is used in “honoring parents” and “honoring the Lord.” I think we need to keep this in mind as Christians, even when some of you don’t like or don’t agree with our President. Some of you might say, “he’s not the king,” but you know what Peter is saying… respect and honor those in authority. I have heard comments and read emails where Christians, of all people, are disrespectful towards the President. I’ve heard some Christians even quote Psalm 109:8 – “Let his days be few; Let another take his office.” Read the next verse, “Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.” This kind of disrespectful behavior is dishonoring and is out of bounds regardless of whether we agree with our leaders’ political positions or not. We completely have the freedom to disagree with political leaders, but we do not have the freedom in Christ to do it in a dishonoring, disrespectful way. Exercise your freedoms to vote people in and out of office, but once they are in there, be respectful and honoring, even if you disagree with them.

Passage #3: 1 Timothy 2:1-2. In our third passage, we are commanded to pray for our leaders. We are to pray for wisdom for them and for God to move their hearts so that they might recognize His authority over and in all things. Paul says that we are to pray so that “we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” Once again, this letter to Timothy is written around AD 67 and Christians are experiencing persecution, torture, and execution at the hands of the state. And our lives and how we even respond to the state are to be with all godliness and “dignity” (behavior that is respectful).

2 Kingdoms

The biblical and theological reality is that we live in the midst of two kingdoms… the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. So let’s take a moment to focus on these two kingdoms.

The Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of God over all time, space, and history. This is the kingdom that Jesus came to proclaim and invite us into (see John 18:36). The centerpiece of the kingdom of God is the person and work of Jesus Christ… the salvation and redemption of humanity through His death and resurrection so that we might be brought back into relationship with the God who created us and love us for His greatest glory and for our greatest good. We are to seek first this kingdom. This is a statement of priorities… we are first and foremost as Christians and as the church always to be centered upon the kingdom of God. This kingdom is our first allegiance. We are first and foremost citizens of this kingdom. Here’s the way Paul puts this in Philippians 3:20 – “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” We are citizens of the Kingdom of God.

The kingdom of the world. In contrast to the Kingdom of God is the kingdom of the world. It’s not a simple contrast between good and evil… as we’ve seen in our passages, God gives the governments of the kingdom of the world power to carry out the service of law-keeping and order in a fallen world. But the contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world is fundamentally two different ways of doing life… to different mindsets and belief systems. The kingdom of the world trusts in the power of the sword and seeks to control behavior, while the kingdom of God trusts in the power of the cross and seeks to transform lives from the inside out.

Charles Coulson in his Kingdoms in Conflict explains the difference between the two kingdoms like this:

Nothing distinguishes the kingdoms of man from the Kingdom of God more than their diametrically opposed views of the exercise of power. One seeks to control people, the other to serve people; one promotes self; the other prostrates self; one seeks prestige and position, the other lifts up the lowly and despised. It is crucial for Christians to understand the difference (274).

Once again, we are citizens of a different kingdom while still being citizens of our country. But the way in which we engage our world is to reflect the Kingdom of God much more than the kingdom of the world. And whenever the church and Christians try to wed the two together, history tells us that the values of the kingdom of the world tend to eclipse the values of the Kingdom of God… power and prestige tend to corrupt us. As we talked about in The Story of God series when I presented 2000 Years of Church History in 40 Minutes, in my interpretation of Church history, whenever the church cozies up too closely with the reigning societal, cultural, and political powers, we lose our ability to clearly and powerfully see and speak Jesus into that societal, cultural, and political landscape. Let’s just be honest, we like power. As fallen humans who like to build our own kingdoms, and in doing so, we are drawn to power and prestige… and in doing so, we look much more like the kingdom of the world than the Kingdom of God. So in this we must be very careful.

For more discussion and critique on the 2 Kingdoms view, see “Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperians” (Kevin DeYoung)

1 Conclusion

Let me tell you up front, what I am about to say is the conclusion that I personally and pastorally arrive at when it comes to the Church’s role in politics. Some of you might not agree with me and some of you might… but here’s my one conclusion: There is a difference between what the Church should do as an “institution” and what Christians should do as responsible citizens. Let me explain it by what roles I believe that we should take as we engage our culture, which includes politics.

The Church. Here’s what I believe the church’s role to be as we engage our world in the cultural and political arena.

1. Prophetic Voice. As the Church we must always keep ourselves free of anything that compromises our ability to clearly, powerfully, and prophetically speak Jesus Christ and His life-transforming gospel into all areas of society, culture, and politics. Let me explain “prophetic” by the next role…

2. Proclaim Truth. The role of the Church (and therefore my role as a pastor in the church) is to preach, teach, and speak God’s Word and God’s Truth. I have said this numerous times from the pulpit… I will never tell you how to vote, but I will always proclaim the Truth of God’s word about what He has to say about the issues, which present themselves in our culture. As the Church, we are not to promote any political agenda… we are to promote the truth of God and His Word.

3. Point to Jesus. Going back to the reality of two kingdoms, everything that the Church is called to do is to point to Jesus Christ and His Cross. Our mission as the Church is to preach Christ crucified and risen so that lives are transformed from the inside out for God’s glory. That is our focus. We are to be on a mission to broken world, calling people to repent of building their own kingdoms and come to the God who changes lives through the power of His kingdom.

The Christian. Now it is true that we as Christians, as followers of Christ, make up the Church. While I truly and wholeheartedly believe that the Church is prophetically proclaim truth in our world and therefore never to be aligned with a political party or movement, I do believe that as followers of Jesus who live in a democratic society, we should exercise our liberties to make a difference when and how we can. Here are a couple of things for you to keep in mind as you engage in the political process.

1. Be Gracious & Respectful. As you have conversations with people of different political persuasions, be gracious and respectful. We do not live in a Christian culture, especially in the Northwest, and if we are going to have any audience and influence upon people, we first need to listen to other people, and then we need to present our vantage point with grace and respect. That grace and respect communicates that we actually care about the other person. And if you don’t care about the other person, then you’ll tend to lack grace and you’ll come across as disrespectful and you will have no influence for Jesus or for His Kingdom.

2. Think Biblically. Think through the issues biblically. The Bible does not address every cultural and political issue that we face, but the Bible does teach us the heart, character, and nature of God and as we pray to see our world and the issues we face through His eyes and with His heart, then our vantage point on issue will have a greater grounding in God’s Word. There are issues I believe that the Bible is very clear on and there are issues that aren’t so clear in the Bible. Have the wisdom and the humility to know the difference.

3. Think Holistically. Think through all of the issues… there are numerous issues in our culture that God really cares about. And yes, those do include the killing of the innocent in abortion and euthanasia, as well as racial genocide. And God cares also about how we take care of the poor locally, nationally, and internationally. God cares about how we take of His creation (we are called to be stewards after all). God cares about how we engage in foreign policy and wars. So we need to think through all of the issues biblically and holistically. In this way, as followers of Jesus, we can interact, influence, and vote how the Holy Spirit leads us.

Let me close with a final admonition… keep Jesus Christ and His gospel central in all you do. I make it my one aim to keep Jesus central at Northshore… in everything we do. It will only be through His gospel, His power, and His grace that lives, nations, and the world change. He uses His people to be and bring the change as we live Him out in our unique callings in our world. We are all called to be influencers and ambassadors for Jesus… in our families, our neighborhoods, our schools, our communities, our workplaces, our cities, our state, our nation, and our world. And we do that best as we keep Jesus Christ and His gospel central in all that we are and in all that we do… as we allow His Holy Spirit to transform our lives and lead us… for His glory and for our good and the good of a broken world that badly needs Him.

For some additional resources on the interaction between the Church, culture, and politics, read:

(Disclaimer: Although I find these resources helpful, I do not agree with everything within them. As you read, read critically, biblically, and theologically)

“How can Christians Have a Positive Influence on American Politics” (Pastor John Piper)

“The Church and Politics in America” (Pastor Mark Roberts)

unChristian (David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons) – especially Chapter 7 “Too Political”

God’s Politics (Jim Wallis)

Tagged with: Christian • church • God • Jesus • Politics