Kingdom Tension - The One About Politics
Sometimes, when people come into church, they’re not looking for transformation but affirmation.
The church should be a place that leads with hope but challenges, encourages, and equips us to navigate the world's twists and turns while staying close to Jesus. Sometimes, that means we have to look in the mirror and be honest about what God reflects back to us.
As fallen human beings, we are all prone to certain things, even as Christians and followers of Jesus. We’re all prone to stumble, reconnect, and realign ourselves with Jesus's way.
So, how do we balance our Christian faith with our public (political) lives?
American politics has become a new civil religion in some ways. It has taken on all the trappings of a religion. There is a dynamic of something that needs saving from, and the savior who will do it.
“If you don’t elect me, this nation will be destroyed.”
“There are bad people (other political party) and only I can save you and this nation from them.”
It has the gravitational pull of a religion and appeals to the same spot that our faith in God and relationship with Jesus should occupy. This should make us weary.
Jesus lived in a complicated political dynamic. It was one that His followers wanted Him to weigh in on. He very frustratingly spent little time or concern on it. The people who were looking to Jesus to solve their political problems threw in the towel on Him and looked to other means. Not only the crowd but also Jesus’ closest followers.
John 18
1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” 5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people. 15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
17 “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” 18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. 19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.” 22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. 23 “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.” 26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” 30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” 38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
What we see here is the final collision between a political reality and Jesus.
So, how do we avoid going there if that’s where the original people around Jesus went, including His closest followers?
We are citizens of a nation, but first, we are citizens and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. An ambassador represents the way, purposes, and priorities of the kingdom.
We need to figure out the relationship of our national citizenship and our citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
This feels like tension and a relationship we need to clarify. It’s complicated, and to make it easier, we gravitate toward two simple but untrue ideas.
The Kingdom of God is the lens through which we see our entire lives, including our political lives. We are both citizens and ambassadors of that Kingdom, and Jesus is our king.
So why is this hard?
There’s always this relentless current of authority moving away from God to Self – to us being God. We have a hard time even conceiving a King, but this part of us also wants to be ruled. It’s part of our human nature to have someone who defines what reality is for us.
1 Samuel 8
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
When this is shifted off of God, it ends up being a constant dialogue between our own interests and those who would give us what we think we want in exchange for our allegiance.
This is a subtle shift, and it’s not that God is absent or that they have ceased to believe; it’s that God is no longer the defining reality—they are (we are). All of the things that usually occupy the space that God, religion, and faith did don’t go away. They end up getting distributed to other places and figures, especially politics.
Politics uniquely offers to give us some version of what we want for ourselves and fill our desire for a ruler. It becomes a natural answer to the question, but it’s flawed and tries to fill the place of Jesus in a couple of imperfect ways.
Matthew 16
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
But we’re going through a loss of cultural supremacy and power, and like any loss, we are grieving it. Grieving awakens many things within us—a sense of loss, anxiousness, uncertainty, anger, and sadness—a longing for the way things were or seem to be.
A lot of American Christians are in the anger-bargaining stages. This is an exchange with anyone who appears to give us back some of what we are seeking for something they’re asking. Some of us go back on some of the goodness or power we feel like we’ve lost.
We bargain in two ways, by compromising the way of Jesus or compromising the truth of Jesus.
We need to reorient ourselves to both the way of the kingdom and the king.
Be aware of and careful around anyone who tries to play the king in your life or seeks that role by promising to give you what you want or remove what you don’t want in exchange for your allegiance.
There’s a healthy role for politicians in our life, and then, there’s an unhealthy role. So, where are you trying to get the fruit of the kingdom without being ruled by the king?
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Want to play catch-up, or are you looking for a specific topic? Check out our collection of sermons here.
The church should be a place that leads with hope but challenges, encourages, and equips us to navigate the world's twists and turns while staying close to Jesus. Sometimes, that means we have to look in the mirror and be honest about what God reflects back to us.
As fallen human beings, we are all prone to certain things, even as Christians and followers of Jesus. We’re all prone to stumble, reconnect, and realign ourselves with Jesus's way.
So, how do we balance our Christian faith with our public (political) lives?
American politics has become a new civil religion in some ways. It has taken on all the trappings of a religion. There is a dynamic of something that needs saving from, and the savior who will do it.
“If you don’t elect me, this nation will be destroyed.”
“There are bad people (other political party) and only I can save you and this nation from them.”
It has the gravitational pull of a religion and appeals to the same spot that our faith in God and relationship with Jesus should occupy. This should make us weary.
Jesus lived in a complicated political dynamic. It was one that His followers wanted Him to weigh in on. He very frustratingly spent little time or concern on it. The people who were looking to Jesus to solve their political problems threw in the towel on Him and looked to other means. Not only the crowd but also Jesus’ closest followers.
John 18
1 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.
4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” 5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)
11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people. 15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in.
17 “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” 18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. 19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. 20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.” 22 When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. 23 “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.” 26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?” 30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.” 31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die. 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” 38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
What we see here is the final collision between a political reality and Jesus.
- The Sword.
- The denial of Peter.
- My Kingdom is not of this world.
- Give us Barabbas.
So, how do we avoid going there if that’s where the original people around Jesus went, including His closest followers?
We are citizens of a nation, but first, we are citizens and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. An ambassador represents the way, purposes, and priorities of the kingdom.
We need to figure out the relationship of our national citizenship and our citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
This feels like tension and a relationship we need to clarify. It’s complicated, and to make it easier, we gravitate toward two simple but untrue ideas.
- The political sphere is indistinguishable from the Christian (religious) one. One of the key indicators is when we use the Old Testament scripture to orient our political life, but with the United States swapped in place of the OT nation of Israel. OT Israel was the time in the Bible when politics and the Jewish religion were fully overlapped. The OT was written for us, but it was not written TO us. Israel retains a distinct identity in God’s sovereign will with which no current nation can overlap. The way to correctly orient ourselves to God’s OT promises is to clearly understand who the “people of God” were in the Old Covenant and in the New (Israel and the church).
- The sphere of our Christian faith is completely separate from daily public life, including our political lives. Our faith is a private matter with no bearing on our public lives. The Roman Empire, including Pilate, was totally fine with this. Do your religious thing, but don’t rock the political boat. Believe whatever you want to believe but keep it private. Both seem simpler. It resolves the complicated tension we feel between our two citizenships, but they are fallacies. They miss the kingdom tension we’re designed to feel.
The Kingdom of God is the lens through which we see our entire lives, including our political lives. We are both citizens and ambassadors of that Kingdom, and Jesus is our king.
So why is this hard?
There’s always this relentless current of authority moving away from God to Self – to us being God. We have a hard time even conceiving a King, but this part of us also wants to be ruled. It’s part of our human nature to have someone who defines what reality is for us.
1 Samuel 8
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
When this is shifted off of God, it ends up being a constant dialogue between our own interests and those who would give us what we think we want in exchange for our allegiance.
This is a subtle shift, and it’s not that God is absent or that they have ceased to believe; it’s that God is no longer the defining reality—they are (we are). All of the things that usually occupy the space that God, religion, and faith did don’t go away. They end up getting distributed to other places and figures, especially politics.
Politics uniquely offers to give us some version of what we want for ourselves and fill our desire for a ruler. It becomes a natural answer to the question, but it’s flawed and tries to fill the place of Jesus in a couple of imperfect ways.
- We want the kingdom without the king.
- We want the king without the kingdom.
Matthew 16
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
But we’re going through a loss of cultural supremacy and power, and like any loss, we are grieving it. Grieving awakens many things within us—a sense of loss, anxiousness, uncertainty, anger, and sadness—a longing for the way things were or seem to be.
A lot of American Christians are in the anger-bargaining stages. This is an exchange with anyone who appears to give us back some of what we are seeking for something they’re asking. Some of us go back on some of the goodness or power we feel like we’ve lost.
We bargain in two ways, by compromising the way of Jesus or compromising the truth of Jesus.
- King without the kingdom – We want someone who will give us enough of what we want, something more comfortable for our understanding. Some of the political scraps we seek or a world that’s familiar makes sense and is comfortable. But there’s always an exchange, compromise, and an implicit threat, “if you don’t get aboard with me, bad things and bad people will happen.”
- Kingdom without the king – This promises us utopia, an attempt to get the fruit of the kingdom without acknowledging the king, but there’s a bargain, too. There’s a compromise of Jesus' righteousness. He’s no longer the king; he’s just a good, moral teacher—or a mascot.
We need to reorient ourselves to both the way of the kingdom and the king.
Be aware of and careful around anyone who tries to play the king in your life or seeks that role by promising to give you what you want or remove what you don’t want in exchange for your allegiance.
There’s a healthy role for politicians in our life, and then, there’s an unhealthy role. So, where are you trying to get the fruit of the kingdom without being ruled by the king?
For more LHC content, subscribe to our newsletter below or follow us on Instagram.
Want to play catch-up, or are you looking for a specific topic? Check out our collection of sermons here.
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