God's Politics Part IV: When Kingdoms Collide

GOD'S POLITICS? PART IV

WHEN KINGDOMS COLLIDE

Last week we closed our devotions by stressing the distinctions between the Two Kingdoms: The Kingdom of God and The Kingdom of Man. The Kingdom of God ruled by Jesus Christ is entirely based on mercy, grace and faith. It does not dispense blessings to us because we are good, but rather because Jesus is Good. This Kingdom advances not by sword, but by the preaching of the Gospel. This kingdom takes slaps on the cheek and turns the other, walking the extra mile in service to the enemy. This Kingdom, as Jesus said, is not of this world. Therefore, Paul can pronounce that while we're here still in the body, we are "strangers and aliens" on earth, citizens of a new country (Phil. 3:20, Hebrews 11).

And yet, we are still in the body and are a part of the Kingdom of man as well. Our primary citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, but we hold dual citizenship as members of the human community. We are (at least everyone in this audience) citizens of this country, the United States of America. In this country, as citizens, we have the privilege (responsibility) to vote for our elected leaders, advocate for certain policies (which may mean peaceful protest), and to follow the laws laid down in the land. As Americans we have certain inalienable rights. We have a system in place that is designed to protect those rights (Bill of Rights and Constitution). This kingdom is to be led by justice, not mercy, according to Romans 13. It punishes and rewards based on motive and behavior.

Now throughout history in the Church, one of our Achilles heels has been to seek power in the Kingdom of Man by merging both the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of Man. This has NEVER (let me say that again in case you missed it: NEVER) worked out well. I don't have time or space to delineate all the ways in which the Church, being caught up in "building the kingdom of God on earth" has utterly failed! The Crusades, the Inquisition, most of the Middle Ages are all examples of the Church and the State being co-mingled. What has been the result? No religious freedom, forced conversions at the sword, and a turning of Christ's kingdom on it's head.

There are two dangers with the Church being so mingled with the State:

1. No Justice- If the Church seeks to carry out the ethic of The Sermon on the Mount (Turn the other cheek, love your enemy, etc.) through Government, than any sort of Justice system really can't work. After all the Judge needs to "not condemn" and "turn the other cheek." So then government no longer can enforce law. We've seen this when Judges grant clemency to someone who is clearly guilty of a crime. We are rightly outraged, because Justice is not served. As a society, we must have justice. But the reality is, the Church's temptation when getting into the seat of political power has never been to enact a system of grace anyway. They weren't consistent with their own doctrine. No, no, no, the next danger is in actuality what happens...

2. No Grace- Our default mode as humans is to believe that everything in life (even heaven and hell) is dependent upon our works. Therefore, when the Kingdom of God becomes the Kingdom of Man, it almost always defaults toward punishment and justice as it's tool. The commands from Jesus about turning the cheek are almost completely ignored. As the two kingdoms collide, the Church becomes confused about it's message and pretty soon is only preaching morality, justice, and behavior modification.

This temptation to merge the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of Man still goes on today from the Left and the Right. Jim Wallis and his Sojourners magazine just Christianizes the latest theory of the Left on how to build a heavenly place here on earth. Last weekend from the Right, a Mormon led hundreds of thousands of Christians in a revival tent meeting! I can't think of a single news outlet I read that made sure to tell us that Beck was a Mormon, rather he was deemed the "new leader of the Conservative Christian movement." (This by the way is a direct quote from a CNN story found here.) We need to be very careful here: Working with Mormons to end abortion is good; working with Mormons to "bring spiritual revival" is bad, since, well, we worship two different gods.

Russel Moore in an article about Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" conference states it this way:

Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah.

I urge you to read the rest of this article, because it deals with our strong temptation to mingle the Two Kingdoms (which was on full display at the Restoring Honor conference). Folks, America is not the Promised Land, it never was and it never will be. The Promised Land is outside of this world, where Christ is building a "place for us." I love America, and I still think by far it's the greatest country in the world, but the Kingdom of God it is not! We need to do our best to try and distinguish between what our role as a Citizen of America is, and what our role as a Christian in the Kingdom of God is. The Church must never baptize any political party, particular policy or particular person as being God's party, policy or person. We live in two different worlds at the same time; we are "in...but no of"...

More on this topic tomorrow, as we discuss how a Christian should view culture, and yes, as I keep on promising, a delineation of when it's okay to practice civil disobedience...

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Erick