If I were still an active pastor, I would present this to my Sunday morning Bible Class ahead of Election Day.
Jonathan Rupprecht
Well folks, we’ve got an issue to talk about this morning; one that we haven’t directly discussed before, but we’ve got to talk about it due to the times we’re living in.
We’re used to not mixing church and politics; that’s both a governmental and a Scriptural matter. Scripture shows us what we have long called “the two kingdoms”: 1) God’s rule of this world, and 2) His rule in our Christian hearts and lives. In summary, He rules in this world with His law, and He “rules” our Christian hearts and lives with His Gospel. In properly distinguishing between those two roles and rules we have historically left politics to God’s earthly kingdom. God does not say that they are unrelated; their separation is just what has seemed best to us in the past.
But “the times, they are a-changin’ ”, and not in a good way! What’s been getting more and more obvious and unavoidable is the fact that there has been a growing overlap with increasing interaction between these two kingdoms: what’s been called “politics” has been increasingly involving matters of Scriptural, Christian morality. The main and most obvious example is, on the one hand, the growing rejection of basic Christian moral values, most notably with the increasing defense and even promotion of sexual perversions of various kinds, with the legislation and our culture that favors this perversity. Then along with that there are the increasing threats to our ability as Christians to speak and live by God’s clear truth about these issues that are increasingly degrading our culture and aggressively attacking our precious Christian freedom to preach, teach, talk about and live by God’s holy Word!
THE SALT OF THE EARTH.
In that context we face elections. With the privilege and duty of casting our votes in this decaying culture, our function as “the salt of the earth” comes into play. Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). He speaks of salt in its preservative function, like how our early American settlers often ate “salt pork”, where salt’s preservative ability took the place of refrigeration in preserving meat in an edible form.
Our role as salt has that same intended preservative function on a moral level: preserving our world from God’s wrath by at least being an active antidote to the Godless rot around us. This role is also like our comprising the “ten in Sodom” that God looked for to keep from destroying those centers of sexual perversion and hatred of God.
We note that Jesus also warns us that if we “lose our saltiness” – that is, fail to function in this manner – we’re “no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and be trampled by men.” Yikes! This is serious stuff! Not something we dare to ignore! Since as Jesus’ children we are the salt of the earth, we need to function as what we are or face serious consequences. He is certainly with us when we function as His salt; but if we lose our saltiness – withdraw from the battle – we are good-for-nothings and can expect the pagan world around us to just trample us! Yikes again! That “trampling” is out there already: increasing ridicule of Christian truth and moral standards, and growing attacks on Christian freedoms throughout the once at least outwardly Christian cultures in Western civilization.
God enlists and equips us to fight a defensive war against this situation, for His sake and ours. Yes, the Christian church has historically thrived under persecution, but that does not undercut our duty to defend the faith in the process; more on this below.
STRONG ON DEFENSE.
We’re often told that outward moral and even legal pressure and political involvement from Christians will not of itself convert souls. This is of course true, yet that’s not what we’re dealing with here. In this scenario we’re first on the defense: fighting a defensive battle against the growing forces of evil; doing our part to prevent these forces from gaining power in elective office.
That is not only an example of being Jesus’ “salt of the earth”, but it involves putting on “the full armor of God” that St. Paul describes in Ephesians 6; “taking our stand against the devil’s schemes” and using “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. It’s also simply acting in accordance with what we could call the “defensive petitions” in the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation” and “Deliver us from evil”. We know that God often works through us in answering our prayers; here He does this by letting our voice be heard, having our salt exert its saltiness.
Along with these preventive and defensive efforts, our more positive outreach can also easily get involved when discussing with others the voting issues and our voting choices. Then we can proceed from being the preventive salt of the earth to what Jesus pairs with it, being the blessed light of the world: engaging in the full balance of Law and Gospel. Wow! What a great opening is thus made for us!
THE INFORMED CHRISTIAN.
Certainly our function as the salt of the earth has many broad applications in our daily lives; that has not changed. But how does this apply to voting, to the relation between church and “politics” today? It is clearly our responsibility to know what’s up when we vote! As American voters we’ve long been urged to “know the issues” before casting our ballots. As American Christian voters today, with so many “political” issues having become also moral issues, we need to be informed well enough to understand the choices from a Christian, Scriptural standpoint, and cast our votes accordingly.
Now yes, that can sound like an overly simplistic explanation, so let’s take a closer look. I like to avoid labels, since they can be too general, misleading, misunderstood, disappointing, and create needless division. Yet in discussions like this, labels are hard to avoid completely. So please understand my use of labels with that disclaimer.
The point is not to say that you must always or must never vote along certain political party lines or that you must or must not vote for any specific political candidate. For one thing, I do believe that our government still prohibits pastors from being that politically specific. Also, there are elections to lesser, often local, offices where the larger moral issues cited here are not likely to play a part. But in most elections, we dare not miss the larger point, because it’s the issues themselves more than the parties or persons involved that are the essential focus. And the issues today that involve Scriptural, Christian morality are especially what I summarized earlier: sexual immorality and perversion, and threats to our ability to preach, teach, discuss and live by what God says in His holy Word.
This is where our involvement comes in. I’m old enough to remember – and no doubt many of you are also – when people would say, “It hardly matters whether you vote Republican or Democrat, the end result is pretty much the same either way.” Those days are long gone, at least with these issues. And while the point is not to simply say that you must not vote Democrat, the fact remains that the endorsing and normalizing of sexual perversions, as well as the legislative threats to our Christian freedoms, emanate primarily from Democrat office holders and candidates. And many have observed that when someone runs on a Democrat ticket these days, they thus signal an endorsement of this increasingly prevalent characteristic of the Democrat party; and to resist those anti-Christian trends from within an office in the Democrat party would often by now be political suicide. So while we have the American right to vote Democrat, we also have the Christian duty to be very careful and well-aware of the candidate’s positions before doing so.
Of course this is not a blanket endorsement of the Republican party or Republican candidates in general; there is plenty of our cultural cancer that has become accepted also by Republican candidates. So again, we have to be informed and beware of what the various candidates endorse or are likely to go along with.
QUALIFICATIONS.
Caveats remain. 50 years ago when political support for abortion was a hot-button issue, it was pointed out that a candidate who supports abortion rights may be way better qualified in the other main political categories and viewpoints than an anti-abortion candidate who is otherwise seriously weak on many basic political issues. And thus voting for the former candidate was reluctantly approved.
Today the situation is just so much more severe and serious that it has become a matter of degree. Not to minimize the evils of abortion, but when you add to it today’s promoted perversity, the surging moral anarchy, plus the growing threats to our Christian liberty, and the fact that in the Democrat party all this has increasingly become a “package deal”, we’re past the point of simply holding our nose at the ballot box. Finding “the lesser of two evils” can be challenging, but we can learn as much as possible and then seek God’s help in our voting decisions.
Also, the book of Proverbs repeatedly emphasizes that true wisdom is more likely to come from a Christian, or at least one who supports Christian ideals, whereas the wisdom of this world – outwardly impressive though it may be – typically flies in the face of common sense and is a house built on sand. See Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27 as well as St. Paul in I Corinthians 1:18 – 2:16.
Paul also wrote to the Romans, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:21&22) Yes, Christian politicians have also supported foolish legislation at times, and unbelieving politicians don’t always demonstrate their inner spiritual foolishness. But we as Christian voters can vote for the candidate who seems most likely to reflect and support basic Christian wisdom and morality, or least likely to oppose it.
This of course leads to the fact that finding true Christians on the ballot can be difficult if not impossible. But since we’re talking here about outward civic morality and Christian freedom, there remain even non-Christian politicians who still support basic Christian moral standards and are less likely to undermine our basic Christian freedom. And since here we are on an outwardly defensive, preventive mission, we can vote for such candidates rather than for those seemingly less inclined in that direction.
YOU’RE IN THE ARMY NOW!
Now of course it’s God who is ultimately behind the course of events, including socio-political events. So can’t we just leave it all up to God, pray, and stay out of this political mess? That would lose sight of the fact that God works through us, His children; He intends for us to be involved as His servants! That’s why He tells us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. That includes more than just voting, of course, but our vote is definitely included in that job description.
We are urged to “fight the good fight of the faith” (I Timothy 6:12); we’re told to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (Jude 3) This is not only fighting and contending for the truth of God’s Word against false teachings and teachers; it also describes being the salt of the earth in many ways throughout our Christian lives on this earth. “Let go and let God” is not a Bible verse; it’s good advice when we are worried; troubled, fearful, but since we’re also soldiers of the cross, we are expected to fight and contend for God’s ways wherever the battles present themselves.
As Christians, whether we realize it or not, we are at war. God has placed us on His battlefield, not on the sidelines! That’s why we are rightly called “the Church Militant”. Certainly voting as well-informed, careful and faithful Christians is part of this militant activity. After all, when you’re at war you need to know the enemy; in our case today, that includes knowing what the forces of evil in our country, our culture, really are and how they actually operate.
We learn from St. Paul’s words to Timothy that we are to “pray for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all Godliness and holiness.” (I Timothy 2:2). There was no political voting in those days, but today that special privilege and responsibility enables and directs us to act in the direction of those prayers, to do our part to be aware – and beware – of the issues and to knowingly vote for “those in authority” who are most likely to enable us to lead those “peaceful and quiet lives in all Godliness and holiness”.
There are powerful and increasing forces today that seriously threaten that kind of living. Recently in Minnesota a law was almost passed that would have forced our schools to condone and hire homosexuals on our school staffs. Its failure to pass was directly due to input and protests from Christians. In 1889 a Wisconsin act called the Bennet Law also threatened our Lutheran schools in a different way; it was canceled due to protests from Lutheran Christians, as well as others. Thus political involvement by concerned Christians is neither new nor out of line. Certainly then casting our votes with Christian awareness and concerns for ourselves, our church and synod, and our city, state and country is very much in line for us today.
“CONSERVATIVE”.
Another label comes in here: “conservative”. All the previous disclaimers about labels apply here, but it is again hard to avoid this one. I’m talking first about conservative media. We’ve been emphasizing our need as Christians to be well-informed before casting our votes. Today it is next to impossible to be well-informed about the issues involved in our world, our country/state/city, our culture without input from conservative media.
It has long been recognized that the so-called “mainstream media” or “legacy media” slant rather consistently and sometimes strongly to the “left” (another label; see Ecclesiastes 10:2 and Matthew 25:33!). This shows up not only in their “spin” on persons and events but also in their omissions of favorable aspects of those on the “right”, certainly including Christians or politicians on our side. This blatant prejudice blinds the minds and misleads the hearts of those who get their socio-political input – “the news” – only or even primarily from the MSM.
Along with my reluctance to use labels I’m also hesitant to name particular sources of this very helpful conservative media. Many of you are already aware of these sources; for others, I’ll be happy to give you sources and names in person; just ask me. If conservative media is new to you, you may find it jarring at first, especially with the criticisms expressed. I’m not endorsing everything you might hear there, but give yourself a little time and you’ll be able to see the big difference and recognize the big value.
While it’s true that not all “conservatives” are Christians, yet in so many ways, even indirectly, they help to “conserve” the Christian values that still remain from the basic Christian culture which once outwardly characterized our country. Even “common sense” – which is becoming increasingly uncommon – tends to reflect Christian, Scriptural values and direction more than the “leftist leanings” of today.
Overall it’s a matter of “worldview”, a term that has seen growing usage in recent years. In short, this is a matter of either viewing the issues of life in this world from God’s perspective as revealed in His Word, or viewing these issues from a secular standpoint that treats God and Holy Scripture as merely an interesting option at best, but certainly not the bottom line.
Thus, as St. Peter reminds us, we need to “be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” (I Peter 5:8&9) This alert resistance is empowered by God’s Word and informed by paying attention to the enemy as we fight the good fight of the faith. This applies every day, including in its own special way on Election Day.
