I am guessing that the moment you read the title of this column, you immediately responded with a rousing yes or no. The thought of politics lights a fire in some, while causing others to turn a cold shoulder. No doubt you have heard that politics and religion do not mix.
James Madison put it this way, “Religion and government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together.” On the other hand, in his Farewell Address in September of 1796, George Washington referred to religion as the source of morality and “a necessary spring of popular government.” John Adams noted that statesmen “may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.”
Today’s church is divided over how to navigate the treacherous waters of Christian engagement in the public sphere. Some Christian leaders believe we should be all in concerning politics, even to the point of declaring the United States a Christian nation while endorsing candidates from the pulpit. They believe the church should charge boldly into the political arena seeking to influence elected officials by questioning their commitment to Christ or praising them for their moral stand depending on the issue at hand.
Other Christian leaders believe any engagement in the realm of politics represents a foray into futility and an outright abandonment of the Great Commission. “Politics is dirty business,” they say. “The church should stay in their lane and never veer into the lane of politics.” Christian leaders who engage in politics in any form risk alienating those they should be seeking to reach with the gospel. Politics is just one more barrier that must be crossed before people will hear the truth.
Respectfully, I believe there is a biblical way Christians should view politics. We should become good Christian citizens who are sent into the world of politics as “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). I agree with Abraham Kuyper, who said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’ ” Politics is part of the “whole domain of our human existence.”
I think many Christian leaders would like to have a note from God excusing us from engaging in political discourse. But as a pastor friend of mine once said, in any area of public life “if you don’t have a seat at the table, you can be sure you are on the menu.”
Politics is the process by which legitimate power is granted by individuals to those who have a seat at the table where our laws are made. The laws that are made must be adhered to by everyone, and justice must be applied equally to everyone if our society is going to hold together. If Christians refuse to engage in the political process, their lack of engagement will not lead to a world characterized by less political discourse. It will lead to a world where political discourse is guided less by morality and truth and more by depravity and dishonesty.
In John 17, speaking about His followers, Jesus prayed to His Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” A few verses later, Jesus prayed, “As you sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” To be sent into the world by Jesus is to be sent into every square inch of the world to make a difference.
How do we make a difference? By hearing and adhering to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5, where He called us “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” The world of politics and public discourse needs the purifying, flavor-enhancing, thirst-creating, healing influence of salt. It needs to see the darkness rolled back, replaced by the light of Christian influence that is not hidden under a basket but set on a stand, where it lights up every dark corner of the public square and the political sphere.
The bottom line is, we need to be good Christian citizens neither driven by, nor devoid of, political influence. We should be informed, engaged influencers in the political process. We would do well to remember that life, sexuality, oppression of the poor, equal justice under the law, and many more contemporary issues were all moral, biblical issues long before they became political issues.
A good Christian citizen realizes that too much emphasis on politics will dilute our dependence on God and detract from our Christian witness. A good Christian citizen should also realize too little emphasis on politics will lead to the abandonment of a moral foundation for our laws, leaving us to live under laws reflecting the ways of fallen man, not the wisdom of a holy God.
We don’t have to be Christian political warriors or Christian political wallflowers. We can step into the space God intended for us to occupy as Christian citizens shaking the salt and shining the light without selling out our dependence on the sovereignty of God.