3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.
4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.
So, the Biblical role of government is to reinforce good and to punish evil. Unfortunately, in this topsy-turvy world there are those who would call good evil and evil good. So, it becomes more challenging to live as a Christian believers when our faith positions are not supported. No matter what, though, we are called to live in a manner that pleases God at all times - even when we face what could be termed persecution for or opposition to our faith, we can be courageous to honor God and to pray for and respect our leaders.
1st Peter chapter 2 gives some guidance on responding to our authorities:
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
I came across an article on the Religion News Service website about a Presbyterian pastor from Cincinnati who entered a contest - and won, out of 230,000 entries. The prize - to be Hillary Clinton's special guest at the Democratic National Convention.
Pastor Rich Jones and his wife Debbie were flown to Philadelphia and spent a few moments at a meet-and-greet with Mrs. Clinton and the Vice-Presidential nominee, Tim Kaine. Jones recounted the meeting to writer Jana Riess:
Pastor Jones did leave Hillary Clinton with a gift: a friend had sent along a copy of Søren Kierkegaard’s Works of Love. Rich said that, "Apparently there’s some connection with her family, where she likes the writings of Kierkegaard." That book was chosen because, as the pastor relates, “I think that’s his personal summation of his trajectory of God’s work around us, in us, through us, filling every nook and cranny.” He told the writer that is an important message during this election season: “You want to love and respect all folks. As a pastor, I try not to get into too many discussions and dialogues about politics, but you also have to figure out how to move the needle forward and not backwards.” And, yes, Rich does plan to vote for Hillary in November.
Now, one thing I did in response to this story was find out what Kierkegaard taught. Gregory Thornbury, President of The King's College in New York City, writing for Christianity Today, reviewed the book by Mark Tietjen, called, Kierkegaard: A Christian Missionary to Christians. While, as he says, "evangelicals have often viewed Kierkegaard with suspicion," he admits that, "Many Christian scholars have lauded Kierkegaard as an orthodox ally." He says that Tietjen, chaplain at the Stony Brook School in New York, shows how Kierkegaard’s body of work bears witness to the fact that nominal Christianity is no Christianity at all."
OK, there's actually quite a bit here I want to explore. First of all, there's the notion of candidates as caricatures. Politicians are actually real people - and sometimes we view them as two-dimensional characters on a screen or people we may view at a rally. But, they are people who have human emotion, interaction, even struggles and challenges. The pressure is immense.
They are put in a position of high responsibility, and they need our prayers. I thought it was interesting that Clinton acknowledged a sense of people praying for her. This is highly important in the upcoming election. Pray for leaders - and those who aspire to be leaders - that God would have His way with them. In addition, pray for our state leaders in the Legislature who are coming to Montgomery next week to determine whether or not there will be a statewide vote on expanding gambling in the state in the form of a lottery - and maybe even more. Pray that legislators would be bold to reject attempts to even allow a vote on such a proposal that encourages action that violates Scripture and that is not a sound economic model.
You can also think about how politicians can be influenced. Often, we brand a politician in a certain way and maybe think they are entrenched. Well, think about this - Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, for that matter, at one point did not support so-called same-sex "marriage." My, how that has changed. Donald Trump was once known to be pro-choice - and now states that he is pro-life. With the amount of spiritual awareness that is apparently present in the lives of the major party candidates, we can call upon the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts.
Finally, this Cincinnati pastor had a unique opportunity - to meet and have a conversation with a Presidential candidate. I would imagine some in my audience have had that experience, but I wonder: if you had 5 minutes or less, a limited amount of time, what would you ask either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Would it be about their personal faith story, or how their faith might inform their decisions? Perhaps you'd like to find out how they really think about religious freedom - how do they regard business people who decide not participate in a gay wedding ceremony due to their deeply held beliefs? Or should health professionals have the right to opt-out of performing abortions? Also...if you could leave that candidate a book, what would it be?
Joe Savage talked about making the most of every opportunity, based on Ephesians 5 - if such an "opportunity," came your way, how would you maximize it? And, in a broader sense, how can we maximize those "fixed windows of time," to which he referred the other day?
+++++
1st Peter chapter 2 gives some guidance on responding to our authorities:
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men--
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
I came across an article on the Religion News Service website about a Presbyterian pastor from Cincinnati who entered a contest - and won, out of 230,000 entries. The prize - to be Hillary Clinton's special guest at the Democratic National Convention.
Pastor Rich Jones and his wife Debbie were flown to Philadelphia and spent a few moments at a meet-and-greet with Mrs. Clinton and the Vice-Presidential nominee, Tim Kaine. Jones recounted the meeting to writer Jana Riess:
“They are really warm and personable,” Rich told me on Saturday after returning home. “I talked to Tim Kaine for a moment [on Friday] and I told him that if we had more time, I would love to hear about his Honduras Mission experience. And then they were asking what Debbie and I did. When I said I was a Presbyterian pastor, Hillary asked us to pray for a friend of hers, who is a South Sudanese Presbyterian pastor.”
The friend in question is Elias Taban, a child-soldier-turned-pastor who has taken a stand for freedom in South Sudan and been in prison.Clinton mentioned her pastor friend after the Joneses mentioned they were praying for her and for her work. “I really appreciate the prayers,” she told them. “And we do experience that sense of people praying for us. But let me tell you a story of someone that needs our prayers as well.”
Pastor Jones did leave Hillary Clinton with a gift: a friend had sent along a copy of Søren Kierkegaard’s Works of Love. Rich said that, "Apparently there’s some connection with her family, where she likes the writings of Kierkegaard." That book was chosen because, as the pastor relates, “I think that’s his personal summation of his trajectory of God’s work around us, in us, through us, filling every nook and cranny.” He told the writer that is an important message during this election season: “You want to love and respect all folks. As a pastor, I try not to get into too many discussions and dialogues about politics, but you also have to figure out how to move the needle forward and not backwards.” And, yes, Rich does plan to vote for Hillary in November.
Now, one thing I did in response to this story was find out what Kierkegaard taught. Gregory Thornbury, President of The King's College in New York City, writing for Christianity Today, reviewed the book by Mark Tietjen, called, Kierkegaard: A Christian Missionary to Christians. While, as he says, "evangelicals have often viewed Kierkegaard with suspicion," he admits that, "Many Christian scholars have lauded Kierkegaard as an orthodox ally." He says that Tietjen, chaplain at the Stony Brook School in New York, shows how Kierkegaard’s body of work bears witness to the fact that nominal Christianity is no Christianity at all."
OK, there's actually quite a bit here I want to explore. First of all, there's the notion of candidates as caricatures. Politicians are actually real people - and sometimes we view them as two-dimensional characters on a screen or people we may view at a rally. But, they are people who have human emotion, interaction, even struggles and challenges. The pressure is immense.
They are put in a position of high responsibility, and they need our prayers. I thought it was interesting that Clinton acknowledged a sense of people praying for her. This is highly important in the upcoming election. Pray for leaders - and those who aspire to be leaders - that God would have His way with them. In addition, pray for our state leaders in the Legislature who are coming to Montgomery next week to determine whether or not there will be a statewide vote on expanding gambling in the state in the form of a lottery - and maybe even more. Pray that legislators would be bold to reject attempts to even allow a vote on such a proposal that encourages action that violates Scripture and that is not a sound economic model.
You can also think about how politicians can be influenced. Often, we brand a politician in a certain way and maybe think they are entrenched. Well, think about this - Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, for that matter, at one point did not support so-called same-sex "marriage." My, how that has changed. Donald Trump was once known to be pro-choice - and now states that he is pro-life. With the amount of spiritual awareness that is apparently present in the lives of the major party candidates, we can call upon the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts.
Finally, this Cincinnati pastor had a unique opportunity - to meet and have a conversation with a Presidential candidate. I would imagine some in my audience have had that experience, but I wonder: if you had 5 minutes or less, a limited amount of time, what would you ask either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Would it be about their personal faith story, or how their faith might inform their decisions? Perhaps you'd like to find out how they really think about religious freedom - how do they regard business people who decide not participate in a gay wedding ceremony due to their deeply held beliefs? Or should health professionals have the right to opt-out of performing abortions? Also...if you could leave that candidate a book, what would it be?
Joe Savage talked about making the most of every opportunity, based on Ephesians 5 - if such an "opportunity," came your way, how would you maximize it? And, in a broader sense, how can we maximize those "fixed windows of time," to which he referred the other day?
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