During our church’s Family Meal last Sunday I was asked about politics. Specifically, the question stemmed from my point in the sermon that we cannot proclaim the gospel of Jesus through the ballot box. The truth is the moment you advocate for a party or candidate for president, no one will hear the gospel. They will hear partisanship. This is because politics has become the American god, or rather, the American gods, for these gods are competing for power and control. It no longer matters whether a particular candidate is qualified; what matters is electability and that candidate’s team. What matters is gaining sufficient votes to overpower the other party and move one’s own agenda forward. What matters is winning elections.
We’ve seen already in our sermon series in Judges the concept of ḥerem was commanded for Israel. This was a ban on participation with the people and the practices in the land. It was not slaughter; it could not have been mass slaughter, for they were told to not intermarry and to not make covenants with the Canaanites after a battle and after they had been declared ḥerem (see Deuteronomy 7:1–5). Rather, the concept of ḥerem, of “devoting to complete destruction”, has to do with destroying the religious identity and practices of the people now living in the land of Israel. The conquest was about asserting God’s authority over the land and the complete removal of their altars and Asherah poles (used to worship the goddess Asherah) and their carved images. By removing these from the land, the land would be claimed for YHWH God of Israel, and the people of Israel would not be enticed to bow down to these gods.
We see similar warnings in the new covenant. In Acts 15 the apostles and elders met in Jerusalem to discuss what to do with all the Gentile converts to Jesus. Should they be circumcised? Should they be required to keep Sabbath and eat kosher? What is the role of the law of Moses? The council’s decision was summed up in a letter sent to the Gentile Christians in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Here is the crux of the matter:
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Acts 15:28-29 ESV
Rather than lay the law of Moses on their shoulders, with its requirements for ritual purity and such, they must instead abstain from idolatry. In the context of Acts 15 James is using Leviticus 17–18 as a guide. There foreigners living in the land were to bring sacrifices to the tabernacle. Because the pagan altars were to be destroyed and because only YHWH God of Israel was to be worshiped, the people living in the land were invited to worship the one true God. Thus sacrificing to idols was prohibited. This is directly related to the prohibition against blood. This is the blood of sacrifices to other gods. Gentile Christians must no longer sacrifice to other gods. Further, the consumption of blood was prohibited. Strangled animals must not, therefore, be consumed for their blood could not be properly drained. Then comes the prohibition against sexual immorality. To worship YHWH God of Israel required all other gods be rejected and it required a basic standard of holiness—not ritual purity but manner of life.
The council in Jerusalem determined that Gentiles who would follow Jesus must keep these requirements. The prohibition against idolatry is throughout the New Testament. In Colossians 3:5 Paul tells the church to put to death what is earthly, namely, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness—which, he says, is idolatry. Greed and lust for that which is not yours is idolatry. There is no physical idol before which one is bowing down. Rather, the idol is in the heart. Idolatry always begins in the heart. This is why Tim Keller’s definition of an idol is so very powerful.
What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.
Tim Keller, “Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters”
An idol is anything that gives you your sense of ultimate meaning and purpose. He would illustrate this with a question: what is that thing, if it were taken away from you, would cause you to despair of living? If that thing is money or sex or power or influence or reputation or a person or anything other than God, you have an idol. Anything that causes you to turn your hope away from God is an idol.
As John Calvin put it in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion”:
Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.
John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, Book 1 Chapter 11
This factory churns out idols at a remarkable pace. We worry about whether we’re pretty enough or smart enough or funny enough. We fret over whether our retirement account is growing fast enough. We wonder if we’re faithful enough. We get frustrated when things don’t go our way, as if the god of convenience demands we get angry at the driver in front of us for only going five over the speed limit. If a brother or sister in Christ calls us out for sin we get angry and defensive, for the idol of reputation is offended. In that particular moment, our entire existence and our meaning and value is being derived from efficient travel or a sense of our own holiness. It isn’t hard to see how petty idolatry can be!
This is why politics is such a terrible idol to worship. We all know family members or friends or coworkers we must tiptoe around, for it takes very little to initiate a political rant. There is simply no way to have a civil conversation about tax policy or which candidate is truly trying to destroy America.
In the 1930s political scientist Harold Lasswell defined politics in this way:
Politics is who gets what, when, and how.
Harold Lasswell, “Politics: Who Gets What, When, and How”
The struggle for power is antithetical to following Christ. In Philippians 2 we are commanded to have the mind of Christ by looking out for the interests of others. We see this demonstrated in Jesus, for though he was God in every way, he didn’t hold on to this but took on the form of a servant and humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—and not just any death! He died on a cross like a criminal against the state. Paul says we must be like this! Grasping for power is the very opposite of this. Grasping for power is the spirit of antichrist, for such a grasp is truly anti-Christ.
This is why advocating for a party or a particular candidate obscures the gospel. Because our culture is so committed to worshiping the idols of power and control, speaking up for one of those idols prevents a person from hearing Christ. The truth is people will either hear how you vote or they will hear who you worship.
Many mean well. When many Christians argue for policies, they often believe those policies will benefit the broader society. The problem arises when they begin to use the world’s tactics—raw power—to bring about the purposes of God. Yes, God desires the flourishing of his good world. Yes, God desires the flourishing of those created in his image. How do we bring about that flourishing? When Judah was sent into exile the prophet Jeremiah addressed this. The people of God were in a strange and foreign land where the God of Israel was not worshiped, where they themselves had no power or authority or control. Into this situation Jeremiah spoke for God:
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Jeremiah 29:4-7 ESV
In short God describes what it means to live faithfully in the midst of a world hostile to him and his worship: live faithfully. Live, and live well. Build houses and work hard to provide for yourselves. Get married and have children. In this, seek what is best for the city you find yourself in, even if that city is hostile to God. He tells them to pray for that city—that’s Babylon!—that the Lord may bless that city.
Nowhere does he say to seek influence in order to exercise power. Pursuing power is how the world works. God’s people do not work this way. God’s people do not bring about his purposes through power but through faithfulness.
This means we should not embrace the idolatry of the world around us. We must not bow at the feet of politics and its inherent struggle for power. We must seek the welfare of our city and our state and our nation. This means go and vote! Vote your conscience. Vote for those you believe have policies that will lead to the flourishing of your city. Just don’t bow down to it as an idol. Don’t be crushed when your candidate loses. Don’t argue with that family member or coworker. Vote your conscience and keep it to yourself, and then live faithfully for the Lord Jesus as one who represents his kingdom—not Babylon.
The truth is our lives ought to be centered on who gets what, when, and how. The answer should be: God gets the glory, he gets it all the time, and he gets it through our faithful living. If we will do this, we will live faithfully in Babylon, and we will seek the welfare of our city, and we will shine the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ for all to see.