God, Government and the Big Issues

Last night saw the second of our series looking at politics and faith in light of the impending election, here are the notes and questions we used to stimulate discussion.  Due to time constraints we are only able to sketch out some outline biblical thinking on each of the issues, but hopefully it was, and will prove, helpful.

1. What is the purpose of government?

2. What are the issues you care most passionately about as you think about voting?

3. How is individualism driving the political parties and their promises? How does it influence your thinking?

4. How are Christians to be distinctive in the way we engage in politics and think about voting?

What is the purpose of government? That’s a great place to start. What should we be expecting whoever gets power on May 8th to do? What’s the goal we have in mind for whoever we vote for? Or maybe to turn the question on its head, how is the ultimate goal of government going to affect who we vote for? We’ll hopefully be better able to answer that at the end of this evening, as we explore who we are called to be and having looked at that look at 4 big issues; the economy, welfare, immigration and the environment, before we consider, briefly, how we live under government where we don't agree with everything that it does.

We are to be children who look just like our Father

We saw last time that God is sovereign, God institutes government, and therefore we should pray, find out about our candidates, be realistic, be thankful and vote. But with that in place how does the bible shape our thinking?

What matters most to us as Christians? Is it moral issues? The poor? The NHS? Immigration? The economy? The Bible starts with character not issues. God’s values are rooted in his character, in fact you could say God’s character is his values. And God’s people are to be just like their Father, bearing the family likeness in character and values.

So what is God like? We’ve only got time to scratch the surface. But let me highlight a few things:

God is holy. (Lev 19:2, 1 Peter 1:15-16) Holiness is part of God’s nature, it’s his otherness, his power, glory, splendour, uniqueness, purity, love, justice. And in Leviticus 19:2 God calls his people to be holy because he is holy, it occurs in the middle of the holiness codes of Leviticus 17-22, which shows the lives God’s people are to live in their Father’s image: holiness in worship, holiness in love for neighbour, holiness in seeking justice and rooting out injustice.

God is love. (I John 4v7-8) God has always been love, there’s never been a time when God wasn’t love. God the Father has always loved Son and Spirit, God the Son has always loved and delighted in the Father and the Spirit, and God the Spirit has always loved and delighted in the Son and Father. Love is at the very core of God’s being all that he is and does.

It’s love that causes God to create so others can share in this outgoing joy and love. It’s love that marks out God’s rule and reign, his judgement and his wrath against sin. God is love and so those who are born of God, who carry God’s DNA, who are his sons and daughters.

We see it demonstrated visibly in Jesus, God in love come, and God in love acting to alleviate suffering, and God in love making God known. And calling a people to himself who he teaches to love their neighbour, extending that term to mean everyone even traditional enemies, as well as brothers.

As children of our heavenly Father our character will be his character our values his values. We’ll seek to be holy and to love.

There are lots of other characteristics of God, Exodus 33 and 34 show us we’re just scratching the surface. But those two characteristics are helpful for us. Especially because as we know God is love and is holy, as we look to be likewise we find that his word is our guide to his character. What God speaks reveals his character for us, working out those two principles. So the moral code, God’s laws, aren’t a dictators barbed wire but a loving Father’s fences, not restricting freedom but enabling wellbeing for the world.

In Matthew 23:23 when Jesus confronts the Pharisees for their bad rule it is because they’ve neglected justice, mercy and faithfulness which are enshrined in and at the core of all of God’s law. So how does that help us as we think about some of the big issues at the election? We will seek justice, mercy and faithfulness, as we are holy and love, and we will find them in the Bible and what it teaches about life.

The Economy

This seems to be the biggest issue in 2015. Everything else seems to hang on this.

Answer this question: What’s the purpose of the economy?
Economic activity isn’t an end in itself. And chasing profitability, growing GDP as if that will answer all of societies needs is idolatry. In the bible economic activity wasn’t an end in itself but work was a good gift from God as were things to enjoy in their right place. In the law economic activity isn’t about consumption, individualism or capitalist one up man ship. Read Leviticus 25 and you see Israel’s economy was designed to foster love for neighbours, strong family relationships and a caring connected community. The question we have to answer is which parties economic policies best reflect God's values?

We can’t avoid the deficit when talking about the economy. The Bible is clear in it’s radical teaching on debt and default. Enormous levels of debt are unbiblical, both personally and nationally. Default isn’t an option. Rather it exhorts us to live within our mean and use our gifts productively. How we deal with the debt provides a challenge for us as Christians as we think about who to vote for.

Welfare

Welfare is another hot potato especially as the discussion becomes loaded with the rhetoric of ‘scroungers, skivers and shirkers’ used by the media. But reality is somewhat different, of the £256.6 billion spent on benefits £144.1 billion is pensions. And a significant chunk of the remaining £112.5 billion is paid not to the unemployed but those in work or raising children.

In the Bible poverty is viewed more holistically than in politics. It sees financial poverty as a symptom of relational poverty, and its solution doesn’t stop at financial handouts. The overriding aim is to draw the vulnerable into the community and back into relationship. Leviticus 25 puts in place – interest free loans, temporary sale of property, and indentured labour as means of provision, all the while setting an end point on such things. Then there are the laws on tithing and gleaning rights. These laws focused on provision within community and maintaining and developing existing supportive relationships.  A great case study of this is the story of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz where we see God's values, his holiness and love, enfleshed in Boaz as he provides for Ruth and Naomi abundantly, reconnecting with community, creating relationships of provision and secure their future place as active members of society.  This should't have been an exception in Israel but the norm.  When we look at welfare policies we should be looking for this relational focus.

How much have you bought into the rhetoric of scroungers, skivers and shirkers?

How can we better invest in relationships with those in need? What challenges does this pose for us individually and as a church?

Immigration

After the economy this seems to have become the biggest issue talked about at this election. Again the debate is unhelpfully polarised into two extremes with inaccurate language, and spun statistics making the real picture hard to see.

The bible has two categories of immigrants and Israel’s response was to be determined by their circumstances and attitudes.

The ger, sojourner or resident alien were dependent foreigners (e.g. Ruth, Rahab). They were to be treated with love and generosity because of their vulnerability. The other group was the nokri, a true foreigner whose loyalties lay with his country of birth, who visited temporarily and was economically independent. Their presence is allowed but the threat economically and to faith was recognised.

In Israel all immigrants were welcome, whether vulnerable and dependent or independent. They were invited to integrate, including in faith and were treated equally when they did so. But the reality that a nokri’s allegiance lay elsewhere meant measures were taken to protect Israel from exploitation by those who did not care for Israel and her people’s well being.  As we think about immigration as a policy we want to share God's values.

How has immigration affected you personally?

How does the Bibles teaching affect your thinking on immigration?

Environment

Sustainability and the environment are matters of justice. The creation mandate calls on us to care for God’s world, and the command to love our neighbours means doing so in a way that enables the welfare of all. Our use of the environment is indicative of how we think of God and others, God’s concern is our distant neighbour in countries far away and those generations as yet unborn who will live with the consequences of our consumption now.

How important are green issues to you? Are green issues playing a part in this election?

What will it mean to you personally to care for creation and pursue justice in the way you use the world’s resources?
Q&A time

God the Government and moral issues

1 Peter 2v11-17. (11-12)give us principles for us to live by as God’s people living for his kingdom but in the world. You can summarise them like this: Fight sin, do good, call sinners. Peter then fleshes those principles out in a number of areas one of which is our relationship with the government. The government is there to determine fair and just laws for the good and wellbeing of all its citizens. So believers are to obey the law. But we are to go further than simple obedience we are to (15)do good within society, the church and individual believers contribute positively to society.

But what about when there’s a conflict between obeying God and government? Peter describes believers as God’s slaves, we obey the government for the Lord’s sake, not theirs or ours. We respect everyone but fear only God. God is first and foremost who we serve. So when obeying the state conflicts with obeying God we will fight sin, do good and call sinners.

It doesn’t just mean keeping the law – we will – but it means actively doing good. We will be concerned not with our rights but with government being for the good of all, advancing the wellbeing of all, speaking out against undue influence by certain groups or unfair policies against others. We are not self-interested in our politics.

It also means when we disagree on an issue with government we will contact our MP, carefully and politely explaining our view and thanking them for their time and any response. It means when they stand on a moral issue we ought to take as much time to thank them.

You can track your MP’s record using the Christian Institute website. But a word of caution we can’t do the same with other candidates who are standing. The challenge is to find out what they stand for and against too.

But we mustn't just engage with politics for a month before the General election.  God's call for us to be holy and to love isn't limited in application to our crosses on a ballot paper.  We need to be praying regularly for our leaders.  We also need to be developing good relationships with our local MP over the next 5 years.  To be known as a church and a people that love and are different, that fight sin and do good, not who only stand for their own interests.

Q&A

God, government and me

On Tuesday we spent the first of 3 gospel groups thinking about our faith, politics an the general election.  The most interesting part was the discussion beforehand and afterwards.  But for what it's worth here are the notes of the 10 min talk that we used as stimulus for our discussion:

Discuss
1. How cynical are you about government, MPs and politics? What has made you like that?

2. What are your feelings about the election? What questions do you have as you think about voting?

3. What issues have you heard talked about in the media?

4. What issues do you think matter most in this election and why?

What is politics? Groucho Marx said; "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." Someone else has said poly means many and a tic is a bloodsucking parasite, so politics is.... I guess those two tongue in cheek definitions sum up the cynicism that is so much part of our culture when it comes to politics and politicians.

That may be the way our society thinks about it but how are we, as christians, to think. Tonight I want to address that issue of cynicism and see how the bible can help us avoid it by not expecting too much or too little from our politicians but having a right view of them.

God is Sovereign

We need to remember that as we come to vote. On May 8th there will be a new government and God is sovereign over who will come to power. Turn to Daniel 6v25-28. These verses are the centrepiece of the book. It’s the lesson every ruler of every kingdom has had to learn in Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar learned it repeatedly; at the fiery furnace, in his dream, humiliation and restoration, and Belshazzar learns it through the writing on the wall. Now Darius has learnt it through God’s rescue of Daniel from the lions. The same lesson holds for the apocalyptic visions that follow in Ch7-12.

God rules, his kingdom will never be destroyed, and his purposes will come to pass even though people oppose them.

As we think about the election God is sovereign. That’s the bedrock.

But also in Daniel we see that those who rule are accountable to God. That’s why Nebuchadnezzar is struck down, because of his arrogant belief in his own power. That’s why Belshazzar is overthrown. That’s what Darius learns here. Those who govern, who have power will be held accountable by God for what they do with that power.

God is sovereign, he rules. And those who rule are accountable to him. As Christians that should mean that we pray for those in authority over us. At times we will pray for courage for them to stand with their convictions, at other times we might pray that they repent and have a change of heart. But we will pray for them.

God’s vision of government

In Genesis 1 and 2 we see God establish the world and within that world give humanity the responsibility to govern the world well. Man is a creature under the creator’s authority but he is to govern the world on God’s behalf. Human leadership is to express God’s own rule.

We’re going to think a lot more about this next week but God created mankind to express his rule on the earth. The Bible is positive about the idea of governance and not just in the Old Testament where the governance of Israel is in theory under God, but also in the New Testament when under Roman rule.  In Mark 12 Jesus tells people to pay taxes, Romans 13 Paul tells christians to be subject to the authorities, and in 1 Peter 2 Peter calls for believers to submit to the authorities. Believers are encouraged to honour those who govern them, respect them and obey them. Even though those who govern are fallen, just as we are, even though they make mistakes, just as we do. Government is necessary and it is a good thing.

It’s vital that we see that God is for good government. That government is not a necessary evil. Our society is cynical about our MPs, and I think most of us have probably breathed in that air of cynicism and now breathe it out without thinking too much about it. For some of us that might mean we find ourselves thinking I can’t be bothered to vote, they’re all the same, it won’t make a difference which party gets in and so on. But as Christians we are called to be different from the world.

We are to respect those in authority over us. And we are given a say in who governs us. I don’t want to get into whether democracy is the Bible’s vision of government. It certainly isn’t the antidote to corruption that some make it out to be, nor is it the answer to the world’s problems it is sometimes painted as, only the gospel is. But we are privileged to have a say in who governs us. God is sovereign over who governs, but we are also responsible to God for how we vote. Our vote is part of how God exercises his rule, it’s also part of our serving God.

That means first and foremost that as Christians we must vote. But how should we vote?

God’s character and the political parties.

We need to recognise that choosing who to vote for is not an easy decision. We can’t simply sit and think ‘which political party would Jesus be in?’ As we explore the character of God in more detail next week and look at the society God sets up which shares his values and passions we will see that God cares more passionately about justice than the political right and more passionately for the poor than the political left.

We’ll see that there are other issues than just the ones that the political parties are making the most noise about. We’ll see that there are issues which God cares about which we might not even know what the parties think about.

But as God’s people, in God’s world, we are to vote trusting in God’s sovereignty and serving him as we place our cross in whichever box we decide to vote for. In our political system we vote for a local politician who represents us. Leaders debates are all very well but they shouldn’t sway us too much because we don’t elect a Prime Minister. We elect a local politician to represent us as one of 650 constituency politicians in Parliament. We need to elect the person who will be represent us and the issues God cares about.

That means we must do a number of things:

a. Pray about how we will vote

b. Be educated about those who we may vote for – remember we vote for a local candidate not a Presidential candidate. That means we need to get hold of information about local candidates and read it. Maybe even attending local hustings to ask questions and seek answers. Practically you can find out about your local candidates at www.yournextmp.com, we need to read what they provide and use things like their Facebook page, twitter feed or personal website to see what they care about.

c. Be voting – We need to actually vote. Whether that is choosing a candidate or registering our lack of faith in any candidate by spoiling the ballot paper.

d. Be realistic – no candidate or party is going to fit precisely what we are looking for. There is also a limit on what politicians can do. We need to be realistic and look for candidates who are realistic. We also need to be realistic and not encourage candidates to over promise in order to win our vote.

e. Be thankful – God is sovereign, even as we serve God as we exercise our vote, God rules. We can go to sleep trusting in his care and sovereignty and his goodness. Knowing that “he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed and his dominion shall be to the end.”

Q&A
What do you know about candidates for your constituency?

How do you intend to find out about them?

What sorts of questions do you think we should be asking in order to find out whether they will represent us well?

We need to be more aware

Are you aware of what is happening in Great Britain in terms of Christianity and the law? What about in terms of the governments attitude towards evangelism and community involvement?

At an event I was speaking at over the weekend I was talking to someone involved in this area and became aware that I know next to nothing about what parliaments attitude towards Christians is. I read the Times most days and one days when I don't read the online version and little of this comes up. I have therefore bookmarked the following website www.ccfon.org Christian Concern For Our Nation and signed up to feeds so that I know what is going on.

It will also keep me informed so that I can write to my MP about relevant legislation and debates coming up in the House of Commons. Some of what you find there is disturbing.