Or, Politics for Peaceful and Quiet Lives
Scripture: 1 Timothy 2:1-2
Date: October 20, 2024
Speaker: Sean Higgins
We’ve got this series going called “Build and Battle in the Negative World.” It’s a view-of-the-world series. It’s a what-pleases-the-Lord series. It’s a Golden-Rule-Applied-with-Kuyperian-Thumbs-Extended series.
Tonight it seemed timely to talk about the world of politics, using the upcoming presidential election as a door into the discussion. Here’s a numbered list, four introductory get-to-the-points.
There’s more to say.
I did say “Never Trump” in 2016. In the past I’ve also said that fiction was a waste of time, that mothering was not ministry, and that scotch was gross. I’ve been wrong before.
In 2016 I wrote in Ben Sasse. (Come on, you didn’t think I was so out of it as to want Hillary?!) I thought Trump was selfish and self-centered, a serial adulterer and compulsive liar, a male-diva who transitioned to the Republican party because Hillary was a more deeply entrenched Democrat diva, a buffoon whose list of concrete conservative accomplishments was thinner than his spray tan. I still think all of that, except when he won he surprisingly did a decent amount of non-woke work which really irritated the right people. Christians lived more peaceably when he was President (which is good), even if that meant some Christians lived more passively (which is never good).
So I voted for Trump in 2020, and really can barely believe Biden beat him with cheating; if you were going to cheat isn’t there someone more alive, someone more likable? I will vote for Trump again now, and also I really can believe why he repulses so many people, Christians included. I’m not trying to counter-signal or pull punches or act superior, just trying to acknowledge the jam we’re in. I’ve said before, Trump isn’t teflon, he’s more like cast iron: the more grease the better he cooks. That’s not a vote for his character, though I can see some good done by some of his policies.
Why not sit this one out? Why not write in, and add to the number voices that are dissatisfied with the System? Whether or not an individual vote counts, aren’t they all going to burn in the end anyway? If we’re going to hell in a hand-basket, why not accelerate the apocalypse?
That mindset is Destruction masquerading as Piety . At best it’s “battling” from the bunker, driven more by fear than by faith. It’s a simplistic avoidance of how we should take responsibility to bless others. I’ve spent time thinking Christians could be “above it all.” But that thinking is not just pessimism, it’s disobediencism. To be clear: I am not saying it’s disobedient if a Christian doesn’t vote for Trump, I am saying it’s disobedient if all a Christian does is complain.
Paul told Timothy,
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
We are not to bow out, but to bow our knees before God with politics on our minds. The Psalms lead us sing-pray for judgment on wicked rulers. Some of the inspired lyrics even let us learn to laugh with the Lord toward all those who resist the Anointed One’s rule. We should pray that the kings and presidents of the earth would be wise, serve the Lord with fear, kiss the Son, and be blessed as they take refuge in Him (see Psalm 2:10-12).
If we pray according to 1 Timothy 2, we are praying for Christian kings, or at least for kings who let Christians be. The former is better, for us and them, the latter still has a place. We pray for politicians to use their power for the prosperity of our lives as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we pray for is what we should want, and if it’s good to want, then it’s good to work for given the opportunity.
Look at the fourfold description of the “good life” in political terms. We pray for rulers that will not infringe on our liberty to live in a way that is:
This is the life our “kings” should promote, or at least protect. Kamala Harris, and Klaus Schwab/World Economic Forum and George Soros/Open Society Foundations and the two Bills (Gates and Clinton) and Barak and the other Democratic Dollar Daddies, hate life. Wars are better for business; peace is their enemy. Getting people to fight with each other works for better control; quiet leads to too many questions. Godly? Commies hate God and His Christians. Dignified? Like Pride parades?
To battle by ballot against such ungodly rulers is the very least we could do. At this moment in the presidential election, the only ballot that successfully hits a target is for Trump.
In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:15ff), different servants had the same responsibility. They didn’t all start with the same amount (one got 5 talents, one 2, another 1), but they were supposed to do the same thing: invest and turn a profit.
The talents Jesus talked about were a unit of money, and it turns out that in English the word talents refers more broadly to endowments, we could talk about talents as units of aptitude/ability. In a country like ours, the citizens have various “talents” to invest in the political process in order to make a political profit for the Master. Votes, yeah, which everyone gets one of, though in some states votes swing more weight.
The servant who buried his talent because he thought the master was harsh was the only one criticized; “you wicked and slothful servant!” (Matthew 25:26). He should have done something, tried something. Failure would have been better than inactivity.
You can vote. You can talk to your niece who thinks she’s a lesbian because liberals love rainbow flags in her elementary school. You can do something outside of your head. You definitely should pray.
A “Jesus juke” is when you take one topic and then turn it to something way more serious, more “holy,” often with the intent to make people feel guilty for even entertaining the less important topic. I do have a connected concern, but not in order to downplay the first.
In Matthew 23:23-24 Jesus pronounced Woe on the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites because they tithed their spices and “neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.” Tithing was right, but it was light, at least in comparison. So it wasn’t a simple either/or, “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”
The presidential election is like straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. We should not neglect it, but we must not miss the bigger ichthus.
It’s been on my mind—and we should be working toward a capacity for caring about more than one thing at a time, even if it’s a good one—that Christians are too petty toward one another let alone unified on the Gospel, and so, duh, even Christians don’t agree on a Presidential choice.
It’s easy for social media to help us communicate (thank You, Lord!) and for social media to distract us (forgive us, Lord). The amount of attention in an election year circus doesn’t just tempt us to neglect eternal rewards, it tempts us to forget additional good things on earth.
Judgment begins with the household of God per 1 Peter 4:17. The unity at TEC is hard enough, and what are we? The unity of the churches in our city, our county, what would that take? When we make our requests known to God, we shouldn’t be anxious and we should bring everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).
I am not using these names as types, I’m just borrowing them for an analogy since we’ve recently considered them in Habakkuk and Ezra. If they were on the ballot, I’d vote for Cyrus over Nebuchadnezzar, and not just because the King of David isn’t on the ballot, but because the King of David is coming back. It’s not that I think Cyrus loves us or is obviously a true convert, but there’s more optionality under Cyrus (and his pluralism, which isn’t the best good, but it might allow other good). I’m not voting for persecution, though if the Lord sends it, may He also send us courage.
One side is at least lying like they like freedom of speech, honest elections, border and immigration standards, some limits on abortion and LGBTQ+ issues at least. There’s a more reasonable hope to think we might persuade them to move in an even better direction. There’s EVERY reason to think the other side is totally telling the truth about their opposition to all those things. Plus the Democrats have shown their love of money laundering into foreign wars and lawfare toward those who disagree with them.
If we get Nebuchadnezzar, it’ll be deserved.
But “Evangelicals for Nebukamala”? Really?
I’m going to vote for Trump because it’s entertaining, but more importantly, because I think it’s one small investment toward more politics that allow Christians to live and worship. I hope he wins, and I pray Christians don’t shrink back or get comfy either way.
Our political concerns include life and death, and fun, by faith, for such a time as this. Building and battling for blessing, with disagreements about strategies, but opting out of political responsibility isn’t on the ballot given us by our Master.