This is the second and last in a series surrounding the question “Should Christians be involved in politics?”
What Are Christians Instructed To Do?
Christians Keep Government Accountable: Romans (13:4) tells us that government authority exists for our good. But how can good occur in government if there is no one to explain what God expects? In Peter (1 Peter 2:14) explains that government is to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. Throughout history, God has called His people to counsel secular rulers. In the Old Testament, Daniel counseled King Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph counseled Pharaoh, Moses confronted Egypt’s pharaoh, Queen Esther was influential to King Ahasuerus. In the New Testament, John the Baptist confronted officials, Paul spoke to the Roman governor.
Christians Bring Moral Values: Over time there has been a steady devaluation of values to the point under current law it is often difficult to distinguish what’s just and what’s unjust. Without a set of clear, transcendent, moral values, there is no method of governing of how we are to live together. Once God is removed from civic life, there’s no mediating structure to create moral values. When religion is banished, the vacuum will be filled with something counterfeit to our core values. Christianity not only provide for individual concerns, but for the ordering of a society with liberty and justice for all. Christianity alone, as taught in Scripture and announced in the kingdom context by Jesus, provides both a transcendent moral influence and a transcendent ordering of society without an oppressive theocratic system.
Christians Provide a Restraining Influence: The church is more than a model. By its presence in the culture it is a restraint on worldly influence. When the state steps beyond the bounds of its intended authority, the Church becomes an “effective source of moral resistance.” The Church doesn’t resist for its own sake, nor to gather power or broaden its own following. It resists for the common good.
Christians Are Instructed to Get Involved: The scripture references in Romans and 1 Peter aren’t in the Bible for our personal edification, they’re there to equip us and teach us how to speak to government officials, to explain how God views government’s roles and responsibilities. Effective government is pivotal in the pursuit of justice. Without justice there can be no community, no shared values, and no common ideals. God’s people must address moral issues, they must measure public actions by biblical standards of justice and righteousness, and they must inform leaders when they — councilmen, mayors, governors, and presidents — stray from God’s intended path.
Here is the First Prayer in Congress on September 7, 1774 (Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia):
O LORD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, high and mighty King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who dost from Thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth, and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires and governments; look down in mercy we beseech Thee, on these American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor, and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring henceforth to be dependent only on Thee; to Thee they have appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support which Thou alone canst give; take them, therefore, Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in council and valor in the field; defeat the malicious design of our cruel adversaries; convince them of the unrighteousness of their cause; and if they persist in their sanguinary purpose, O let the voice of Thy own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle! Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the counsels of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation, that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety prevail and flourish among Thy people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them, and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Savior. Amen.
Here is the Prayer for the 114th Congress (January 7, 2015):
Loving God, we give You thanks for giving us another day. We thank You for the joy, excitement, and ceremony of yesterday when the 114th Congress convened. It was a celebration of the ongoing American experiment of participatory democracy. Today begins, if not in full force, the work of the Congress when the difficulties facing our Nation, and some communities especially, come into focus. We ask again an abundance of Your wisdom for the Members of the people’s House. May we be forever grateful for the blessings our Nation enjoys and appropriately generous with what we have to help those among us who are in need. May all that is done this day be for Your greater honor and glory. Amen.
Oh my, what a difference 241 years can make!
Tagged: Bible stories, Christians in culture, scripture
