We've just gotten through, what to many people, was an emotional election season in our country. A lot could be written on the topic of Jesus and government, but I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts and observations.
We've probably all heard the old saying, "never discuss religion or politics in polite conversation", there is a reason why this phrase is so well known. People tend to become passionate about both religion and politics. Both of these areas represent a worldview, and very often they become so intertwined that in conversation with someone who has a differing opinion in one of these areas, the listener will assume they are hearing dissent to the other as well.
Why am I writing on a topic like this on the Lydia Blog? Well, the recent election has affected relationships of some people very dear to me. As I try to understand the reason that people who otherwise truly love one another, could be so unloving in attitude and action it makes me ponder the power of religion and politics. Perhaps you have experienced something similar.
It's interesting to me that both religion and government represent the promise of provision, comfort and protection. Both also have laws that if followed will promise rewards and if not followed result in punishment. In a way both religion and politics offer us a set of rules to live by. That is very appealing to us isn't it? After all, without rules there's anarchy, right? Well, almost right.
Before Christ came there were rules. There was the Law, the Ten Commandments. That was the basis for both the religion and the government for Jewish people. They needed this to keep them from anarchy, to help them to be holy, to keep them pure....how well did it work? When we read our Bibles we can plainly see that the Law was not sufficient. The people who were given the Law either weren't satisfied with it so they added more laws (Pharisees), or others felt burdened by it and went into rebellion and began adopting other laws (idol worship). People wanted the boundaries the Law provided, but constantly crossed those boundaries.
But as God's plan continued to unfold, at the right time the Law for humans became obsolete as the Law of God was perfectly fulfilled. Jesus came, He did not add to the Law and He did not rebel from the Law. He lived the law perfectly everyday of His life. Fulfilling the law as the only Son of God and also as a human being made Him able to take on all of our rebellion and all of our attempts at our own righteousness (also sin) and become guilty FOR us -- then take the punishment of death FOR us.
When Jesus died so did the need for Law-following die. He fulfilled the Law, for us, forever! But, does that mean that if a person is a Christian he or she can live in anarchy? Actually, it means the opposite. Being a Christian is not being a Law follower, it is a Christ follower. I am not in relationship to any Law, I am in relationship to a Person! A live, real and interactive Person...who did not stay dead, but who rose from the grave and who now lives in me!
It would be very foolish for me to run to Law when I have Jesus. It is very foolish for me to run to religion or politics when I have Jesus.
So how should we live in this day and in this country? Follow Jesus in this - love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. And who is your neighbor? Jesus made it very clear from His parable of the "Good Samaritan" that our neighbor is not defined by nationality. The neighbor that we are to love is anyone...parent, immigrant, co-worker, teacher, politician from the other party or even family member who doesn't agree with you.
Jesus died to set us free from the Law... let's not run back to that bondage. It can only lead to two avenues...one is the realization that we've failed to live up to the standards that we believe we ought to and we become downcast...the other is that we believe that we are doing all the right things in keeping with our standards and we become filled with pride. Neither of these extremes glorifies God and neither leads to growing in the freedom that Jesus died to give us.
In closing I want to stress to whomever is reading this that I know that I'm just as much in need of this message as anyone else. We are all in this mess together and following Christ in His freedom is both wonderful and scary -- but this is what Christ followers are called to do. So let's help each other along as we follow the only Leader who is worth following.
