Titus 5:1-21 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.
In a recent series on Titus by our pastor, he touched briefly on the subject of Christians in government. Making a convincing connection between verse 1 and 2 of the text above – that being that verse two is how we are to be subject to rulers and authorities. Rulers in government, and rulers on a person to person level. This excerpt is the part on Christians in government. The full audio version of the sermon is available at http://www.gbcmt.org/sermons.php?series=Titus under the sermon heading of ‘Living Worthy of the Gospel’. It’s a great series if you’re looking for something to download onto your i-pod. =)
“In our system of government, guard your words of how you speak of leaders no matter how vile or wicked....Instead of being a fighter, insubordinate, and argumentative, we should be known as those who are peaceable, humble, and gentle. This answers the question that many Christians have in their role in government. Is it okay to object, is it okay to try to change things? After all we are in a democratic system or form government, is it okay? Yes if. If our character is peaceable gentle and humble. This is what God calls us to be. Unfortunately, far too many… high-profile Christians are known as being those who are argumentative, those who are sarcastic, those who are rebellious, those who are insubordinate. And their character is not known to be gentle, peaceable, and humble. This is what God wants us to reflect. And if we do so using the system it’s fine. When we step outside of that to where our character is violating these principles or this kind of character that God calls upon us, it is unacceptable. And this is true in our relationship with government as well as on a person to person level…think about it, we never get anywhere eternally by arguing and fighting with non-Christians. It doesn’t accomplish anything; it just arouses hostility in them. That’s why in verse two, God says we should be peaceable gentle, and humble. If we have to disagree, if we have to change something, we can do so: peaceably, gently, and humbly. Those are the kind of virtues that will impact people in a corrupt society.”
Unfortunately, the truth is many Christians in government, and even Christians merely interested in politics - myself included - can easily fall into the ditch with the rest of the political world and be mean and sarcastic in ways that are never to characterize a Christian. It's easy to excuse it when taking about or to a person with clearly wrong views, or a truly irking political personality. But as our goal in life as Christians is to win people to Christ, not to conservatism, God calls us to a higher level of conduct in the political realm.
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4 comments:
Excellent post, sister. Thank you for your reminder. :-)
Thanks Kristi! Good to hear from you in the blogosphere. =)
A fine example of why women should not be able to vote. Perhaps that would fall under the 'sarcasm' or 'criticism' mentioned above, but I'd rather speak Truth than lies to get along.
When the apostles were bought before the council in Acts, Peter said emphatically, 'We ought to obey God, rather than men'. This is seen in the Old Testament when, if you refer to Daniel 3, the three men refuse to bow to the golden statue, despite the stakes of not doing so: 'And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.'
Their response would be very surprising to the worldly Church today, when answering the king's anger: 'If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. '
Would Christians ever act today in the prescribed manners above? Certainly not when they've been taught blind obedience to government. Unfortunately, in doing so, they've created the State into a God that usurps even God's authority.
Braden, I'm not sure that being a woman has anything to do with it. :-)
Anyway, you brought up a couple of grand examples of men who stood in the face of serious consequences in order to obey God. However, the Scripture does not show that they were purposely antagonistic...only that they were resolute.
I don't believe that Brooke is saying that we should turn a blind eye on the state of politics or that we should not speak out against things that we believe to be wrong. I think that Brooke's point is that even in hotly discussed topics such as politics, we should still glorify God in our manner by being kind and gracious...although we should never compromise what we believe is right.
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