It’s Impossible for Christians to Be Apolitical
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
I have sworn and confirmed
That I will keep Your righteous judgments.
—Psalm 119:105-106—
A group that suggests the sinlessness of Jesus is debatable, claims that Christ had moments of insufficiency, or that Christ had worry and anxiety about the cross should be recipients of EVANGELISM, not evangelistic cooperation.
—Pastor Mike Stone, posting on Facebook his assessment of He Gets Us—
Key point: Leftist evangelicals are promoting anti-Christian values and polices in the name of Christianity. Don’t fall for their deceptive rhetoric!
Traveling this past week, I saw a billboard that declared, “Jesus was fed up with politics, too.” Certainly the same message could have appeared on a billboard in my own local area, so I’m not trying to make a statement about where I saw the message. Folks, I’ve got to tell you, the statement that Jesus was fed up with politics, too is more dangerous and poisonous because of its implications than it is because of the principle idea itself, even though the main idea is in desperate need of clarification, if indeed one is trying earnestly to uncover the authentic truth about Jesus.
The billboard is a part of the He Gets Us campaign; and, as it turns out, “Jesus was fed up with politics, too” is just one of a great many distortions the campaign is promoting, in order, those connected with it say, “to reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness. We believe his words, example, and life have relevance in our lives today and offer hope for a better future.” Here’s the problem: The people running He Gets Us don’t really get Him!
The people running He Gets Us don’t really get Him!
The campaign emphasizes Jesus’ humanity. Yes, Jesus was human, but He also was and is God. He’s always been God; He never ceased to be God when he lived on the earth; and He’s God now and forever (we explored some of Jesus’ claims to deity in this article and in this Bible study).
Unfortunately, as we have indicated, He Gets Us appears to be all about promoting the idea that Jesus was human, like us — and so “He gets us.” Here’s the reality: We will never encounter the real Jesus unless and until we understand that He also is God.
We will never encounter the real Jesus unless and until we understand that He also is God.
Scarlett, a blogger, understands this, and she has published an article in which she pushes back against the He Gets Us (HGU) campaign. Citing biblical scholars and theologians and noting the slick advertising associated with the HGU advertising effort, she emphasizes Christ’s deity and warns us not to be taken in by emotional rhetoric:
Jesus Christ was HUMAN TOO, but that’s not all he was. [Theologian and biblical scholar Dr. Stephen J.] Wellum, comments, “…from his earliest teaching and miracles to his final acts of eternal judgment and resurrection to eternal life, the man Jesus self-identified as God himself—he knew he was God the Son Incarnate.”1
God the Son assumed a human nature, while never ceasing to be fully God. This is what the ad campaign misses, in my view. But surely this is an estoteric doctrine; does it really matter?
The late theologian, J.I. Packer, offers a sobering warning: “Christology is the true hub round which the wheel of theology revolves, and to which its separate spokes must each be correctly anchored if the wheel is not to get bent.”2
Christology is the true hub round which the wheel of theology revolves, and to which its separate spokes must each be correctly anchored if the wheel is not to get bent.
—J. I. Packer—
From what I’ve seen so far, the team of marketers, videographers, digital strategists, etc. have done a masterful job of making Jesus the “Biggest Brand in Your City”, but they’ve bent a few spokes in the theological wheel in the process.
I agree with Scarlett on this, one hundred percent.
Fed Up With Politics
Perhaps in future posts we can explore more specifically some of the errors He Gets Us makes about who Jesus was and is regarding His humanity and His deity. For now (especially since we are on the cusp of an crucial mid-term election), I want to blow apart the implications of the He-Gets-Us article titled “Jesus was fed up with politics, too.” What are they trying to tell us, just before an important election in the United States? Actually, this question isn’t all that difficult to answer.
He Gets Us notes that during Jesus’ day, the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Zealots each had differing perspectives — political, but religious as well — and were vying to promote their own agendas against one another.
And so, the common farmer, fisherman, or craftsman’s family lived through a highly volatile political period. Overbearing religious leaders who despised and oppressed them, wealthy elites who ripped them off, racial and ethnic tension with neighbors, and sporadic violent outbreaks between an oppressive occupying army.
So where was Jesus in all of this? Did he align with the religious elites? With the wealthy and powerful? Or did he start an uprising to overthrow them?
None of the above.
He went from town to town, offering hope, new life, and modeling a different way to live and to change the world. Instead of pursuing power, money, or religious authority, he shared a loving and sacrificially generous way of living. He chose not to go along with the schemes others used to impact the world. Instead, he championed a better way.
And so, each of these political groups saw him as a threat. The Pharisees recognized his movement as an affront to their authority—exposing the hypocrisy of their practices. The Sadducees saw Jesus as a threat to their power and wealth because he exposed their money-making schemes. The Zealots violently rejected one of the essential themes of Jesus’ movement: love your enemy.
In the end, it took all three of these groups to have him killed.
Although this narrative acknowledges that Jesus exposed some of the corruption of the sects in Israel and made their members feel threatened, it also implies strongly that, generally speaking, He did so by essentially ignoring the various political and religious groups of His day. We’re led to believe that He basically “took the high road” and stayed “above the fray.” In other words, Jesus didn’t allow Himself to be tainted with “dirty politics.”
The real story is quite different. Jesus didn’t ignore these groups but went toe to toe against them, exposing their hypocrisy and besting them at every turn. He condemned them both explicitly and harshly (see Matt. 23:1-36; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 20:45-47). In fact, the New Testament records a significant number of exchanges between Jesus and members of the sects of His day, as well as warnings He issued about them to His followers. Take note: these events don’t indicate Jesus was neutral — not by a long shot. They are presented in the probable order of their occurrence.3
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- Matthew 9:1-8 (Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26) — Jesus forgives and miraculously heals a paralytic.
- Matthew 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32 — Jesus chooses Matthew, a tax collector, as one of His disciples.
- Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5 — Jesus makes it clear He is Lord of the Sabbath.
- Matthew 5:20 — Jesus highlights the counterfeit “righteousness” of the Pharisees.
- Matthew 11:11-19; Luke 7:28-35 — The Pharisees reject John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ messages.
- Matthew 12:22-26; Mark 3:20-26 — The Pharisees, illogically, claim Jesus’ miracles occurred as a result of satanic power.
- Matthew 15:1-11; Mark 7:1-16 — Jesus exposes the Pharisees’ hypocrisy as having form without substance.
- Matthew 16:1-12; Mark 8:10-15 — The Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus that His claims are true, but He gives them no additional sign; Jesus warns about the “leaven of the Pharisees.”
- John 8:1-11 — The hypocritical Pharisees try to trap Jesus by using a woman caught in adultery.
- John 8:12-59 — Jesus tells the Pharisees their father is the devil.
- John 9:1-41 — Jesus exposes the Pharisees’ blindness and accuses them of remaining in their sin, even while declaring themselves righteous.
- Luke 11:37-54 — Jesus condemns the Pharisees and others in a blistering series of “woes.”
- Luke 12:1-3 — Jesus warns again about the “leaven of the Pharisees.”
- Luke 14:1-6 — Jesus condemns the legalism of the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath.
- Luke 15:1-32 — Jesus exposes the self-righteousness of the Pharisees in the parable of the lost son.
- Luke 16:14-15 — Jesus condemns the hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the Pharisees.
- Luke 17:20-21 — Jesus answers the Pharisees’ question about the location of the kingdom of God and the timing of its coming.
- Luke 18:9-14 — Jesus exposes the self-righteous attitudes of the Pharisees in a parable.
- Matthew 19:1-9; Mark 10:1-9 — The Pharisees try to trap Jesus on the issues of marriage and divorce.
- Luke 19:39-40 — The Pharisees try to tell Jesus what to do — without success.
- Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19 — Jesus exposes the wicked scheming and pride of the Pharisees in another parable.
- Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26 — The Pharisees try to trap Jesus on the matter of taxes, to no avail.
- Matthew 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40 — Jesus exposes the errors of the Sadducees’ beliefs about the resurrection.
- Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44 — Who is Jesus? Jesus’ Himself challenges the thinking of His hearers with Scripture.
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“Religious Authority”
There’s more! Note that the He-Gets-Us article says this about Jesus: “He went from town to town, offering hope, new life, and modeling a different way to live and to change the world. Instead of pursuing power, money, or religious authority, he shared a loving and sacrificially generous way of living” (emphasis added).
What? What Bible are these people reading? Or perhaps they don’t understand, or they reject, what Scripture clearly teaches. Now, I do realize that the gospel, in a very real sense, isn’t about religion, but a relationship with God through Christ. I also understand that Jesus is the perfect example of sacrifice for the benefit of others, and that His sacrifice of Himself on the cross was unique, with eternal implications. In Mark 10:45 Jesus declared, “[T]he Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Finally, I realize that Jesus’ “kingdom is not of this world.” All of this notwithstanding, Christians still are to work to make the world a better place by applying biblical teachings in every arena of life. It’s called worldview Christianity.
It is extremely misleading to say that Jesus didn’t pursue (or make claims to) religious authority. He most certainly did! One brief Word Foundations article explores the question, “Did Jesus Claim to Be God?” Examining the evidence at face value, we must conclude that He did. Indeed, if we are honest, we cannot conclude otherwise.
Jesus’ own teachings and those of Christianity affirm that Jesus Himself — not a set of ethical or moral teachings — is central to the Christian faith. Religious authority? Jesus did indeed claim divine authority, and His miracles, especially His resurrection from the dead, proved His claims were and are accurate!
What About Politics?
Note the Bible passage we cited at the top of this post: Psalm 119:105-106 states,
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.
I have sworn and confirmed
That I will keep Your righteous judgments.
Being a Christian means more than believing in Jesus and relying on Him for salvation; it also means obeying biblical teachings. This doesn’t mean that one is saved by performing good works, but that good works result from one’s being saved (see Eph. 2:8-10). The good works we are to perform ought to include our acting as Christians and responsible citizens by bringing biblical principles to bear in the public policy arena.
A recent post at Discover Bedrock Truth highlights the life and the lasting positive influence of William Wilberforce, a Christian Member of Parliament in England who fought relentlessly against slavery. Largely because of Wilberforce’s work as a Member of Parliament, Great Britain ended the slave trade in 1807, and it ended slavery itself just days before Wilberforce’s death in 1833. The article concludes with this paragraph:
In light of evils occurring in our own day, the typical silence of the church in response to these evils, and against the backdrop of William Wilberforce’s amazing life and its remarkable, positive, and widespread influence, we are prompted to ask this penetrating question: At the point at which William Wilberforce began the quest that eventually would result in the end to the slave trade and slavery in Great Britain, what would England and the world have lost had he been convinced by a cacophony of voices belonging to pastors and other religious leaders that he must remain silent on the issue of slavery because it was “political”?
Christians Have No Excuse for Abandoning Politics
Hear these words from Eric Metaxas in Letter to the American Church:
Our responsibilities as Christians go beyond mere “evangelism.” We pretend we would have spoken out for the Jews in Bonhoeffer’s day, or that we would have spoken against the slave trade in Wilberforce’s day, but are we speaking out today on the issues that are no less important to God in our time? If not, we are deceiving ourselves. But God is not deceived.
On what issues are we ourselves being silent, and for what reasons? The unborn are being murdered and their body parts sold for profit. Are we not to mention this for fear of driving someone away from God? Or do we ourselves not quite believe or wish to believe it?
Very young children in schools are being fed pernicious ideas on the subject of sexuality—ideas with which their young minds are quite unable to cope, and to which their own parents object.
Older children are being so confused by sexual activists that they agree to have their bodies mutilated, so that they can never become the men and women God created them to be.
Socialistic and communistic ideas are being pushed everywhere. These will end up harming the poor more than anyone, although those pushing these ideas boldly spread the lie that any who oppose these wicked ideas secretly hate the poor.
Go here to access an article titled “Nine Biblical Principles that Expose the Social Justice Movement and Marxism as Contrary to Authentic Christianity,” and here to access a companion Bible study that explores the same principles.
Are we really to keep silent about all of these things? Is it not possible that those whom we wish to evangelize are looking to us in the Church—who claim to have no fear bout of God—to speak boldly on these things and fight for the truth as we see it while there is yet time? Is this not perhaps the very thing that will lead these souls to the God we worship, if we obviously so love Him that we are willing to live in this way?4
Go here to explore “Nine Arenas that Represent the Front Lines of Spiritual Warfare in America Today.”
When Christians abandon efforts to influence the public policy arena, they refuse to bring Jesus’ teachings to bear in society and the culture. We as believers have just as much right as everyone else to participate in the debates occurring in the marketplace of ideas. To fail to do so — and in particular to fail to do something as easy as voting — is dereliction of duty for the Christian. Mark it down. There is no such thing as being apolitical. No, we do not look to a political party to save our country. Only God can do that. But we do understand that we must work in and through the political process, along with a variety of other avenues, to bring salt and light into the culture, to influence it.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16,
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
He further said in Matthew 22:21, “Render…to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
What Would Jesus Say to the Evangelical Left?
Noting where the Democrats stand on the issues of the day, it must be said that in light of biblical teachings, a Christian cannot in good conscience support or vote for a Democrat. Democrats are destroying life, marriage, the family, property right, and religious liberty.
They are trampling over other unalienable rights as well. Not being free to support the Democrats does not necessarily mean that one must support or work to elect Republicans, but the stark reality is that our choices are limited.
The implication of the He Gets Us campaign, including the article titled “Jesus was fed up with politics, too,” is that the arena of politics and public policy doesn’t matter. But it actually does, doesn’t it? If we could, we would ask a slave who was freed in Great Britain because of William Wilberforce’s hard work. How would that individual answer this question?
Might Jesus say to the evangelical left, including He Gets Us, “Woe to you, for, in the name of Christianity, you promote the very principles and policies that oppose it. Hypocrites! You proudly uphold ‘social justice,’ — a counterfeit ‘justice’ that actually works against authentic biblical justice. Further, you apply a veneer of religion to your actions, and you even use My name in doing it. Yet underneath that veneer is wickedness and evil.”
Another implication of the article is that it’s fine for a Christian to vote for a Democrat, despite the Democrats’ obsessions with promoting abortion and same-sex marriage, along with other ominous laws and policies. This is not a Christian stance, no matter how much it pretends to be. I just wonder: Might Jesus say to the evangelical left, including He Gets Us, “Woe to you, for, in the name of Christianity, you promote the very principles and policies that oppose it. Hypocrites! You proudly promote “social justice,” — a counterfeit “justice” that actually works against authentic biblical justice. Further, you apply a veneer of religion to your actions, and you even use My name in doing it. Yet underneath that veneer is wickedness and evil.” These sentiments, of course, align nearly perfectly with Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisees of His own day in Matthew 23.
How can we combat the lies of the evangelical left about Jesus and politics? First, make sure you have a biblical perspective on who Jesus is. Such a perspective will make a world of difference in your life and in the lives of those you influence. Then do these things:
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- Pray.
- Become informed about the candidates.
- Vote according to biblical values.
- Stand up and speak up.
- Finally, work to hold elected officials accountable.
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In other words, don’t listen to leftist rhetoric. Exercise worldview Christianity, and do your part in transforming America and the world.
Copyright © 2022 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
top image credit: Lightstock
Notes:
1Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway) 155; cited by Scarlett.
2J.I. Packer, “Uniqueness of Jesus Christ,” Churchman , 92/2 (1978), 110; cited by Scarlett.
3Steven L. Cox and Kendell H. Easley, Harmony of the Gospels (using the Holman Christian Standard Bible), (Nashville: Holman, 2007). This volume relies on A. T. Robertson’s 1922 edition of Harmony of the Gospels.
4Eric Metaxas, Letter to the American Church (Washington, DC: Salem Books, 2022), 84.
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