Resisting the Politicizing of My Pulpit: Part 4

Alan Dunn

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD’S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men [Psa 11:3-4].

As Christians, we live in the redeeming monarchy of King Jesus, the enthroned Lord of glory. In submission to Him, we seek to preserve the foundations on which He has established His kingdom: the foundations of creation and redemption. We need to think clearly about those foundations so that we can live in the fear of God in thankful subjection to His throne of grace.

This is the fourth and final article in which I am attempting to explain why I resist the politicizing of my pulpit. Thus far we have considered the foundational relevance of creation, sin, and salvation. Now we conclude with the relevance of eschatology.

The Relevance of Eschatology

Consider this: one of Satan’s most successful ploys is to offer men a truncated eschatology. Satan, through the doctrines of demons attacks man at the point of his creaturely goodness [1 Tim. 4:1-5]. Idolatrous worldviews siphon off man’s innate religious propensities, redirecting him away from God, deceiving him into worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator [Rom. 1:15b]. One strategy is to present men with hope, with an eschatology, that is bounded within the realm of this age, this creation. One of the primary powers and principalities Satan uses to accomplish this deception is politics. When you combine the politics of the state with the endorsement of religion, you have a formidable theocratic beast [see Rev. 13]. The eschatology of the state is “saeculum:” limited and contained within this present age. Whatever is promised by the state is conditioned by God’s common grace and common curse. The best man can hope for in this age is a Tower-of-Babel-like utopia, and we know how that turns out.

Political eschatologies counterfeit some aspect of what we have as Christ’s church comprised of men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation [Rev. 5:9] united in the bonds of genuine love, and what we are promised in glory when God Himself will wipe away every tear and there will no longer be any death, mourning, crying, or pain [Rev. 21:4]. Men, made in the image of God are designed to be like God and to live with God in His Sabbath Rest. We innately aspire to eschatological utopias. But Satan’s saeculum utopias offer an unachievable hope without Christ, the cross, or the resurrection. In Cain’s city, there is no doctrine of resurrection, only the lie: you shall not surely die [Gen 3:4]. But, you will die. Yet, with faith in the innate goodness of man and confidence that more knowledge will yet be acquired, men hope for that which can never be: a utopian saeculum society – if only we could implement the correct political programs.

Test this hypothesis in your own experience. Is not eschatology the driving force of history and the crux of men’s political agenda’s? If so, are we not all the more obligated to keep the focus of the pulpit on Christ’s eschatological agenda? Isn’t part of the blessing of the Lord’s Day our respite from the impositions of the thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities of this age? Shouldn’t the ministry of the Word reinvigorate us in the love of our resurrected Savior and reorient us to the hope of the resurrection? Where else will we be refreshed in the life of our Father’s love for us in Christ, except in His presence as His gathered church?

Our primary body politic is the church which is an eschatological society of regenerated disciples learning to love each other in obedience to Jesus and learning to love Jesus by giving Him biblically regulated, Spirit invigorated, worship. As a church we learn to live in Jesus’ kingdom of redeeming grace, and then as disciples, we live among our fellowmen bearing witness to Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, interpreting this “good news” according to Scripture. We move through our lives keeping a Sabbatical cadence of corporate worship, all the while looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. We fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ [Tit. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:13].

Am I Being Selectively Resistant?

I mentioned that in these days leading up to the presidential election, I’ve received numerous communications informing me how to get our church more politically involved. Evangelical blog articles, pamphlets, books and conferences pervasively presume that I, as a pastor of a Protestant Church, would be all about the politics of the day. I’m generally able, without much ado, to delete or discard such communiques. One, however, caused me to pause. The author asked, “If you can address Christians from the pulpit on matters touching their marriage, parenting, work-ethic, and their stewardship of their material things, then can you not give them directives as to who to elect and what political platforms and policies best align with biblical truth.” I thought, “Hmmm, that’s a good question.” I then heard myself demand that I try to give it a good answer.

It’s not that I totally ignore the fact that we live in our present politicized and highly polarized day. I urge obedience to passages like Matthew 22:21, Romans 13:1ff, and 1 Peter 2:13ff. Scripture does speak to how we are to obey Christ in our submission to God-constituted human civil authorities. Such is the biblical directive for brethren living in our federal republic, and for brethren living in socialistic, communistic, Islamic, monarchial, or tribal countries. I readily preach such passages to the people of God gathered on the Lord’s Day for corporate worship. But I resist politicizing my pulpit. Were I compelled to delve into an analysis of political philosophies, I would not do so in my pulpit in the context of corporate worship. Yet I would preach on the family and the integrity of our work-ethic in the work-place. Why is that? Am I being derelict in declaring the whole purpose of God [Acts 20:27]?

One reason for selectivity resisting the politicizing of my pulpit is due to such passages as Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 and 4 which instruct us on those specific topics, all of which pertain to us as Christians regardless of the system of government in which Providence has placed us. These topics are immediately connected to the “creation ordinances” that form the foundation for human living in this present age regardless of the specifics of one’s political environment. To call Christians to live lives of integrity in compliance with the creation ordinances is different than instructing them in political policies. I hope that having biblically informed consciences, the disciples could then discern and decide on which political projects best align with Scripture. I think the best way to help Christians to be good citizens in the city of Cain, is to urge their fealty to their heavenly King and fortify their citizenship in the city of Christ.

As an individual disciple, I am encouraged to construct a biblically informed critique of my political environment, and I am at liberty to participate in the politics of my earthly polis to the extent that I desire while keeping a good conscience before God and men. But as a pastor, especially in the context of corporate worship, I am bound to The Book. I’m unaware of a text that I could preach and then apply to the New Covenant church in order to urge the flock to go forth and change the culture by prescribing political policies for the citizens of the city of Cain. Again, this is not to say that one political system or economic system cannot be assessed as being more “biblical” than another. And, in the proper context, it is legitimate for Christians to be taught how to discern among such systems. But am I wrong to think that it is possible to have a biblically informed economic system and yet not be livingly, vitally, joined to the risen King Himself? I find it interesting that the slogan that encapsulates Marxism is taken from Acts 2:45 and 4:32-35. I desire my pulpit to emphasize our union with Christ. To that end, I resist the intrusion of agendas and topics that could distract us from cultivating vital communion with Him.

I realize that I can fall short in my adherence to my own principles. In this matter I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord [1 Cor 4:4]. I’m also aware that many good and godly pastors might disagree with me. Who am I to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand [Rom 14:4]. We each build on that foundation which is Christ and each man must be careful how he builds on it… the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work [1 Cor. 3:9-15]. Whatever I preach to the church in America should, in its biblical content and interpretation, be the same that I preach to the church in Pakistan, or the Philippines, or Zambia, or Britain and, the same that I would preach had I lived in the time of the ancient church, or the Enlightenment of the 18^th century, rather than the Postmodernism of the 21^st century. Granted, at the point of application, those circumstantial variables would factor into our practical obedience to Christ Jesus. How a preacher would apply Ephesians 6:16 making the most of your time because the days are evil, would have culturalisms that would not be applicable to all men at all times and in all places. Having presented a biblical interpretation of time and evil, an application urging less screen-time would have limited relevance to specific times and places in history and may not be relevant to us in a few years!

I resist what I fear might distract me from that message which only the church is authorized to proclaim.

⁴⁴ Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

⁴⁵ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

⁴⁶ and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,

⁴⁷ and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.” [Luke 24:44-48].

I’m convinced that the Lord insists that I persist in this and so I resist the politicizing of my pulpit.

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