Seeking Godly Rulers In Ungodly People

How Should the Church Speak Prophetically Towards Holiness in Its Rulers

Howdy!

Here we sit two weeks out from the most important election of our lifetimes, at least until the next one. There is a certain blessing which comes from living in an elected republic where we take a minute once every two-to-four years to cast a ballot (or not) for who will receive the next set of cash transactions from a lobbyist. I didn’t mean to make it sound that cynical, but lived experience is what it is. In today’s prayer and worship help as we continue to think through the Christian’s relationship to politics we keep running into this question of moral culpability and what we should expect from those in power over us. Are we voting for a minister or not? That’s the question we are going to consider and meditate on today as we redeem the time.

According to Romans 13, everyone’s go-to passage for what the New Testament has to say about these issues the answer is, yes, yes we are placing a man into a position where he is God’s “. . . minister to you for good.”, with the kicker, “. . . For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”  We know from Judas that just because someone is placed in a certain position by the Lord that does not mean He necessarily therefore approves of the actions that individual takes. Nero was appointed by God as much as Jefferson Davis. John F. Kennedy as much as King Henry VIII. We’d all agree that there are degrees of obedience to the Lord in that set of men. One of the judgments promised to sinful Israel was that if they chose to follow their wicked hearts God would give them women and children as their rulers. (Isaiah 3:4, 12). However, if they obeyed His word the reward of a godly leader would match (Prov. 29:2). The point here is that morally upright presidents, mayors, and governors are born, not made. In other words the culture creates the sovereigns it wants.

As with most times the problem with pointing the finger at someone else, as your grandma probably told you, is that you have three fingers pointing back at you. There is an entire cottage industry of churchmen who spend all their day making sure everyone knows how bad a certain set of politicians are. They send out voluminous amounts of content decrying evil in every nook and cranny of Washington. To be fair, they are not necessarily wrong. The District of Columbia is a hive of scum and villany. Yet, the issues as you might imagine are far deeper than that. I presume that the world is better when certain folks are away from the levers of power. Yet, as we talked about a couple weeks ago not as bad as person x is not a stable way to seek contentment in the political realm. We should desire more for those in authority. How though do we do that?

The Church has been given a unique permission by God that we often do not use, at least not to its fullest extent. When the wicked gain ground it is often because the pious snore, to paraphrase the Second Helvetic Confession. John the Baptist when confronted with the adulterous lechery of  Herod did not say to himself, “. . . well, I know he’s loose with the women, but at least he’s not Caeser.” No, he spoke up, confronted the supposed leader of the Jews, and called him to account for his sin. The people of the Book ought to speaking prophetically to the leaders of all parties and without fear of ending up like John the Baptist. Who “won” in the end? It was the headless prophet who saw judgment appear on the enemy of righteousness. The Church is to be prophetic.

There is a danger to using pragmatics when considering how and when we should reach the evidently lost for Christ. This is especially true of men of stature. Believers have a tendency to make deals with themselves which end up working out like the scorpion and the frog. I adore our Covenanter forefathers, but there is little doubt that the politicians sold them out like a cheap suit in the seventeenth century. How many times have we heard those seeking our vote make promise after promise about their personal holiness only for it later to be revealed that they were shacking up with the help? While at one level we shouldn’t be shocked with revelations that sinners sin, it falls on Christians to hold men to account for it. Public shame used to be sufficient, but even that seems to have lost its sting. It is more important than ever that the Church speak boldly against the wickedness which pervades our governmental systems in the United States. Call them to account and make those in authority fear God more than man. Their very lives depend on it.

Warning men of the judgment to come is a keen part of evangelizing. Fleeing from the wrath of God is a wise thing for all to do, but most especially those who are given the privilege of being Romans 13 ministers of Jehovah. Proverbs 16:12 tells us, “It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness.” Who is it an abomination to? Well, ironically for our purposes today it is Jehoshaphat, a king of Judah who helps us answer this question when he says to the judges he is appointing:

“. . . and [he] said to the judges, ‘Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.’”

In closing, we often receive the authorities we do because we desire not to have better. As believers in Jesus Christ our calling is to bring His word to bear on every nation, tribe, tongue, and people in the world. Last I checked presidents and kings were people. A country’s leaders will reflect the country, and a country will reflect their leaders. Even more so a church which is unconcerned with personal holiness in itself will no doubt not seek leaders which reflect the type of life Christ expects of all men. Putting up with sin has a leprous effect on the body politic as much as the body of the church. Expect more from the ministers of God for our good, that we might live peaceable lives in this world wrought with sin and misery.

Another word:

https://purelypresbyterian.com/2015/07/10/what-is-national-covenanting/

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church