On Jesus, His Church, and the Government

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you. 

Jesus, We belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Romans 13:4–5 (NIV)

Today’s text should convince us that while Nero may have been the emperor of the day, he had not yet delved into the insanity he would come to be known for. How do we know? Because Paul would likely not have written the following about that Nero. To get a load of those days see Revelation 13 (and see this video for possible interpretations of that text).

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.

Now that we have that settled, let’s also be clear that Rome was not a friendly government. Rome was an equal opportunity oppressor, especially to Christians. The declaration, “Jesus is Lord,” would have been heard as a decisively political statement and interpreted as insurrectionist at best. While I indicated, Paul has not set out to give us a treatise on church and government/state relations, he does give us some clear theological thinking on the matter here. 

To say “Jesus is Lord,” does not mean Jesus is in the state and government business. It does mean he is in authority over the business of government and state. Take a look at how Paul puts it in his circular to the Ephesians:

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Eph. 1:19–23)

Notice the precise wording. It does not say that God appointed the church to be head over everything for Jesus. No, it says something quite different, even opposite:

God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church. 

Jesus is Lord. It means he is the head of the church and he is the authority over the government. The great mistake repeatedly made through the centuries is to make the ill-fated leap to installing the church as the authority over the government and to do it in Jesus’s name.¹ The effect of this is to create a national church. It is a very short step from there to the effort to nationalize the Christian faith through the mechanisms of the government. While this is an ever-present seduction both for Christian politicians and despotic demagogues, it always results in a disaster both for the church and the government and especially the people. 

Now, it is a long way from ancient Rome to modern America, but there is a fascinating connective subtext as relates to the matters at hand. One of the truly brilliant strokes of genius of the founders of America was what is known as the establishment clause in the Constitution. It is in the first amendment of what we know as the Bill of Rights. 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 

These are the first words of the first amendment (before free speech, free press, peaceable assembly, and petitioning the government with grievances). I believe they reveal something of the theological mind of the founders—at least those who were Christians. They were not setting out to create a Christian nation as much as they were attempting to create a nation where people could freely be Christians—unhindered by the government. I have some experience and some learning on these matters but I am not an expert. Based on my limited experience and understanding (and at the risk of gross oversimplification), here is what I believe the Bible points to concerning the relationship between church and state, and hence, what I surmise was in the minds of the founders of this country as they charted our course on the matter.  

1. Jesus is Lord; which means
2. Jesus is the head of the church, and 
3. Jesus is Lord over all earthly governments, but
4. The church is not the head of the government for Jesus.
5. Jesus is the head of the government for the church. (It is a separate reporting relationship.)
6. Christians can and must provide leadership in the government but this is for the sake of righteous leadership, merciful laws, and just courts rather than religious indoctrination. 
7. In other words, we do not need or want a “Christian government”  any more than we would want an “Islamic government.” We do want Christians serving in government (as well as others) to the end of a merciful and just and virtuous society. 
8. It is not the role of the government to create a Christian nation. It is the role of the government to create a nation in which people can freely become and faithfully live as Christians, or live otherwise according to the dictates of their own conscience. It is the role of the church to sow the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom across this land and every other until the final trumpet sounds and “the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever (see Revelation 11:15).

Again, this is insanely complex and well beyond my pay grade to even comment, but as a pastor who happens to be a citizen living in this particularly troubled American context, I consider it my duty to speak from the limited wisdom I possess—exercising both courage and restraint and yes, to prepare for a beating. ;0)²

THE PRAYER

Abba Father! It gives us great pleasure and is our deepest privilege to declare, Jesus is Lord! Forgive us for trying to keep Jesus in a private religious compartment in our lives and in the world around us. Forgive us also for trying to impose Jesus on the world around us through the structures and strictures of the government. Holy Spirit, teach us and train us on our humble yet sacred place and role as your church in this world. Grant us wisdom . . . grant us courage . . . for the facing of this hour. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen. 

THE QUESTION

How are you challenged by the ideas put forth in today’s entry? Do you find yourself resonating or objecting? Say more. What is your theory on the case?

THE HYMN

Yes, grant us wisdom and grant us courage for the facing of this hour. Let’s sing the old hymn, “God of Grace and God of Glory.” It is hymn 45 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.  

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

Notes for Further Reflection

1. The other equally devastating mistake we see throughout history and particularly modern history is to separate faith from public life; as though the government and the public sector (and all the other sectors) were somehow off-limits to the exercise of faith, biblical wisdom, and religious conviction. This furthers the mistaken notion that there is a dividing line between things secular and things sacred; that faith and religion should keep to their place, which is private and personal; leaving the matters of politics, government, and practically everything else to the hands of secular leaders driven by secular value systems. This perhaps best explains the demise of our own country. I love the quip from the poet Wendell Berry who said something to the effect of this: There is no such thing as a division between secular and sacred. There is only sacred and desecrated. We are living in an age of vapid desecration. It will not be solved by the government or trying to institute a Christian government. Nor will it be solved by a national and nationalizing church. It will only be solved by Jesus Christ and the church he is building which is comprised of every nation, tribe, and tongue now gathered and gathering around the throne of God, declaring “Jesus is Lord” and scattering into all creation to sow the love of God for the sake of a great awakening. 
2. People often warn me to “stay out of politics” in my work with the Wake-Up Call and in the church. I agree and yet I disagree too. A Christian cannot stay out of politics. “Jesus is Lord,” is perhaps the most political thing a person can say and attempt to live out. The thing we must become increasingly leery of is partisan politics. Jesus was fiercely political—never partisan. Jesus was not a Republican or a Democrat. Does this mean we should not be involved with Republicans or Democrats?  The issue is the manner in which we are involved or aligned with these political parties. At present, these alignments are not leading us toward any meaningful or productive unity. If one wants to become a better Democrat or Republican, the only way is to become a closer follower of Jesus. The way forward is not more and more compromise but deeper and deeper consecration. I personally do not align as a Democrat or a Republican. I am attempting to live in a place of allegiance to Jesus, anchored in the Word and Spirit, which I believe transcends partisan politics. Far from opting out of the political fray, the effort is to evaluate and make decisions from a different point of reference—a theological point of reference rather than merely a political one. I am far more interested in thinking theologically about things political rather than thinking politically about things theological (which is one of the dangerous trends afoot these days in America). To proceed in this manner could be a great gift of the church to the amazing American experiment. 

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