Father, Lord, we are reminded even as we watch that video the blessings You have given us here, Lord, a freedom of religion, Lord, a freedom to preach Your Word publicly, to read the Scriptures publicly, to gather without any fear of people knowing that we're coming together with fellow believers. But, Lord, the greatest privilege, the greatest gift You have given us isn't those freedoms, but the grace of sitting under Your Word And so we ask now, Lord, that you would extend grace to us in the preaching of your word. Build our confidence into its truth. Shape our perspectives and our worldview so that it lines up with who you are and what you have testified about yourself. We pray that you would do these things, Jesus, in your name. Amen.
Well, several weeks ago, I was meeting with one of our D-groups. We started discipleship groups a few weeks ago. Before that, we had some some beta groups going in each of the community groups. And so I was meeting with one of those discipleship groups at Panera. And as we did, we were gathering together to discuss the passages we had been reading throughout that week. And we found ourselves in the book of Romans, looking at Romans 12 through the end of the letter. And so we were discussing, we had our Bibles open, we were doing the Hear and Obey. We were walking through that Hear and Obey section of the discipleship groups. Talking about what were we hearing from God, what was He stirring up? And the topic of conversation turned to the upcoming election. That's just a few days away. We didn't discuss who we'd be voting for, but rather how as believers we should be processing the political environment of our country. How do we understand the politics of what's going on?
It was actually one of the most encouraging conversations I have had about the election, about politics in general in a long time. Our Bibles were open in front of us, brothers seeking the Lord together and just sharpening each other and encouraging each other and challenging each other. It was a rich time. Afterwards, one of the men that was there encouraged me that I should address the topic or the elders should address the topic of our conversation with the broader church before the election on Tuesday. So he said that and I think my initial reaction internally anyway was, Yeah, right. I'm not going there. I don't want to touch that. But I was convicted and I felt like I should at least bring that suggestion to Dave and Seth. And so at our next elders meeting, I raised the topic. I shared the discussion that we'd had and I said, hey, they were wondering if there would be a context for providing pastoral counsel. We were already planning on doing a Sunday morning series. So we didn't feel like we could do— we had a Sunday school series that we're doing right now on the local church. We didn't feel like we could jump in the middle of that. So we're trying to figure out what's the right context. And we sort of decided and felt like, I guess, the right context is to do it here in a sermon. Or that's what Dave and Seth suggested and encouraged. And so I turned to them and said, okay, which of you wants to preach the sermon? And then they just started avoiding all eye contact. So here I am preaching the sermon.
In all seriousness, we did think it was important. What I have zero desire to do this morning is to actually discuss candidates. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to touch that. I don't think the pulpit is the place for that. I think this is the place for preaching the Word of God and proclaiming the gospel and forming our hearts around the gospel and God's Word. So as we go forward this morning, please know that's not what I'm trying to do. And please resist the temptation to parse out everything I'm saying as some sort of implicit endorsement or subtle subliminal message about who you should or shouldn't be voting for. That's not what I'm seeking to do.
The reality is, though, that this is one of the most contentious, nasty elections in memory. Certainly as long as I've been alive, it's the most difficult, and they seem to be just perpetually getting more and more difficult with each one that rolls down the pike. People are angry, the candidates are angry, the ads are angry. There's a tension in the air. Some Americans are in total fear of what will happen if Hillary wins. Other Americans are in total fear of what will happen if Trump wins. Some people are in total fear of what will happen if anyone wins. Right? That seems to be in the air. Some people have reacted to the entire mess with just increasing apathy and exhaustion. What's even the point? I'm just so done with it all. I just want it over.
I think one of the best commercials I saw during the World Series, during Game 7, it was an ad. They were showing somebody watching the different campaign ads and then just going online and doing a search. How much are tickets to Canada? You know things are bad when people want to flee to Canada, right? But that's where we find ourselves.
6 · Continues cultural illustration with Russell Moore's humorous response to election anxiety, acknowledging widespread stress while preparing pivot to the biblical alternative
Russell Moore, one of my favorite theologians and cultural commentators, jokingly tweeted out last night as I was putting the finishing touches on the sermon, he tweeted out a Mr. Rogers remix with the title, 'To help those who are still stressed and anxious in this final weekend before the election.' And then he followed it up with a Bob Ross remix. So Bob Ross was the painter with the huge afro on PBS back in the day. And it's just this ridiculous remix of, 'We're painting happy clouds, we're painting happy clouds, we're painting happy trees.' Tongue-in-cheek, but Russell Moore realizing there is angst out there about this election.
7 · Pivots from cultural anxiety to the biblical solution, positioning God's Word as superior to cultural comfort and setting up the scripture reading
The good news is none of us has to turn to PBS and their painter laureate to soothe our fear and anxiety. We have a much better source. We can turn to the truth and the comfort of God's Word. So let's look now at Romans 13. Hear God's holy and authoritative Word.
8 · Full reading of the primary text establishing God's sovereign appointment of governing authorities and the believer's obligation to submit, honor, and pay taxes
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. The Word of the Lord. May He write His truth upon our hearts.
9 · Announces the sermon's structure (six principles) and introduces the first principle: resting in God's sovereign rule over governing authorities
What I want to do this morning is to take Romans 13 as a jumping off point to unpack this text and then to make connections that this text leads us to throughout the rest of the scriptures to help us have a framework for entering into not just the voting booth on Tuesday, not just this election season, but really principles to guide our voting and just political involvement in general. How does God's word help to shape us? Here are 6 things I think we see. First, most obviously, right at the beginning of the passage, Paul is calling us, he's calling the Romans, he's calling the people of Providence to rest. To rest in God's sovereign rule.
10 · Personal narrative of encountering Jehovah's Witnesses, setting up a theological contrast regarding God's sovereignty and control
Now, I had an interesting experience this week. I was at physical therapy and so Hannah was— she had picked me up. I still can't drive. She had driven back to drop me off. So she's pulling up into the driveway to drop me off and I'm getting out with my crutches. And we see that common scene, another vehicle kind of pulls up and some people get out and they're kind of looking and Hannah says, 'I think there's some Mormons.' It wasn't Mormons, it was Jehovah's Witnesses. And they didn't know what they were in for. I was getting really excited, probably too excited. So they kind of come up and, 'Do you have a minute?' I'm like, 'Oh, I've got more than a minute. I've got the whole morning, baby. Come on in.' And so they're excited. I throw open the door. Come sit in the living room. You want some coffee? What can I get for you? They don't know who I am. They don't know. And I just start to pray, okay, Lord, this isn't an argument to be won. Help me to bear witness to the Gospel.
11 · Describes the Jehovah's Witness video presenting a heretical view of God as impotent and Satan as sovereign, setting up theological contrast
But what they did was they pulled out an iPad. They're very high-tech nowadays, right? And they said, we'd like to show you this brief video. Well, they've got the iPad, but the video was terrible. It was this just super cheesy, kind of weird animated and not animated thing. About God and the evil that's in the world. The gist of the video they showed me though was that the evil one, the evil one is controlling the whole world. The evil one is pulling all of the strings. Everything that's happening in this world is because of the evil one. So people get upset because there's bad stuff in the world and they get angry at God, but God has nothing to do with any of it. God is disengaged. It's all the evil one. The evil one, they said, is in control. This is the evil one's dominion in the world. God, presented in this video, was just an impotent, paralyzed bystander to the problems that pummel us. The upshot was we shouldn't be upset at God because God's just sitting on the sidelines watching it all happen.
12 · Refutes the Jehovah's Witness heresy by asserting biblical sovereignty: God controls all that comes to pass and actively guides history, using Job as evidence
The problem that I pointed out to the Jehovah's Witnesses is that this simply isn't the teaching of Scripture. Scripture doesn't present to us a God who is impotent. I asked them, 'What do you do with Job?' And Satan having to come to God's throne room and request permission to afflict Job. The evil one is not in control of the situation. God is in control. God is sovereign. Romans 13 paints a very different picture from that video. God has authority and control over all that comes to pass. He's not disengaged. He's actively guiding history towards His just ends.
13 · Applies God's sovereignty specifically to election anxiety, using humor to emphasize that God will not be surprised by the election outcome regardless of human hand-wringing
And that is a very comforting thought in the midst of any election season, but probably especially this election season. God's not going to wake up on Wednesday. Whoa! I should have been paying attention the last 9 months. I thought America kind of knew what they were doing. That's not what's going to happen. We might be wringing our hands wondering how we got here, how we ended up with this candidate or that, and half of America will be wringing their hands on Wednesday morning, but God will not be among them. That's the view Paul gives us in Romans 13. God is governing.
14 · Expounds Romans 13:1 and supports it with Psalm 33, establishing that God sovereignly appoints authorities and frustrates human plans while His own counsel stands forever
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God. Translation: The governing authorities are over us because God has set them there over us to His just ends. The psalmist in Psalm 33 says this full of power and persuasion: Let all the earth fear Yahweh the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him, for He spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the people. The counsel of Yahweh the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His heritage. The king is not saved by his great army. A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. God sits enthroned. He's not asleep at the wheel during this election.
15 · Humorous historical example of Jesse Ventura's election illustrating that God ordains even shocking political outcomes and sovereignly preserves nations despite them
I'll never forget listening to my mother-in-law describe waking up the morning after an election in the late '90s. Minnesota, waking up, watching the news, and realizing they had just elected Jesse 'The Body' Ventura as their governor. And she just described to me the shock of realizing That man is our governor. We elected the body. And then you have all the shirts that started printing, my governor can beat up your governor. He can't govern very well, but he can beat you up. Yep, they did. They elected that man. And God ordained that it would come to pass. And amazingly, Minnesota didn't slip into the void, even with the body as their governor.
16 · Continues exposition of Psalm 33, pivoting from God's sovereignty over nations to the proper posture of believers: waiting for and hoping in God rather than election results
Listen to how Psalm 33 continues. The Lord brings the counsel of nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the people. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him. On those who hope in His steadfast love. Our soul waits not for the election results. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and shield, for our heart is glad in Him because we trust in His holy name. Let Your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us. Even as we hope in you.
17 · Concludes first principle with direct imperative and transitions to second principle: recognizing government as derived but real authority
Rest, hope in the sovereign steadfast love and governance of the Lord. The second principle I think we see is to recognize the government is also an authority, a derived authority, but still an authority. God's sovereignty doesn't mean we just disregard the God-ordained role of government itself.
18 · Expounds Romans 13's teaching that government is divinely instituted to restrain evil and chaos, functioning as God's servant—not a necessary evil but a genuine benefit
Romans 13 tells us the authority of every human government is actually instituted by God. So whoever resists the authority resists what God has appointed and incurs judgment. The purpose of government, contrary to how this election season might have us thinking, it's not to promote the bad. It's not to pull us down into the mud. The purpose of government as God has ordained it is to restrain evil. Rulers and governments wield the sword. They wield the sword. As a form of God's judgment against chaos and anarchy. As believers, Romans 13 challenges us to see government not as a necessary evil, but as something instituted by God for our benefit. And that's not any argument about how big or small government should be. It's just an argument to say God has instituted government as a benefit to people, to rein in anarchy and chaos.
19 · Connects government's restraining function to creation theology: as God brought order from chaos in creation, He does the same through governmental authority
In creation, God brought order out of chaos and He called it good. And He's doing the same thing through government. God wants our society and our communities guided by wise and upright leaders. And as Christians, we acknowledge that the president's power is a gift from God, even while we recognize that power isn't ultimate or perfect.
20 · Introduces historical context of Romans 13, establishing that Paul wrote these instructions about honoring authority under Nero—one of history's worst emperors
This all comes to a head. It comes to a much more clear point when we take this out of our context and we consider Paul's context. Paul's writing this not just to American believers in the midst of a democracy, right? He's writing this to Roman believers, Christians worshiping with their heads down in the capital of the Roman Empire. In fact, most commentators think that when this letter is written, it's written during the reign of Nero. Infamous Nero, probably the worst emperor who ever lived.
21 · Cites Tacitus's description of Nero and draws parallel to current election rhetoric, showing that Christians are called to honor authority even when leaders are deeply flawed
Romans 13 becomes all the more powerful when we realize this context. Nero is the worst ruler. The historian Tacitus wrote that most Romans were convinced he was, quote, compulsive and corrupt. Well, that kind of sounds like our current environment, right? Those two terms have been thrown around a lot on both sides. And that's how Tacitus describes Nero, compulsive and corrupt.
22 · Describes Nero's brutal persecution of Christians—using believers as human torches—to show the radical nature of Paul's command to honor authority even under such conditions
Worse than all of this, he's a terror to the church. He's giving free rein to the persecution of believers. And he's just sick and he's perverse. He goes so far as to take some of the believers who are arrested and he has them brought and dipped in oil, hung in his gardens, and lit ablaze as torches. For evening parties. That's the context of Romans 13. Be subject to the governing authorities, for God has placed them there to restrain evil. What an astounding thing to consider.
23 · Adds 1 Peter 2:17 as parallel evidence that suffering believers were commanded to honor the very emperor behind their persecution, reinforcing God's sovereign appointment of authority
In that context, Paul writes this. He writes the letter to the Romans. Likewise, Peter, writing to a group of churches scattered throughout Asia because of persecution. He calls them 'elect exiles,' sojourners. You elect exiles facing difficulty because of your faith. Peter writes to them, to those believers in 1 Peter 2:17, 'Fear God, honor the emperor.' They're suffering because the emperor isn't extinguishing the persecution. He might be behind it. And yet Peter writes, 'Fear God, honor the emperor.' A recognition that God ordains government.
24 · Applies the Nero context to Tuesday's election, calling believers to honor the new president regardless of outcome, and transitions to third principle against fear
Regardless of the outcome on Tuesday night that's announced on Wednesday, as believers, let us fear God and show our trust in Him as we honor the new president. Third principle: don't give in to fear.
25 · Diagnoses media fearmongering as a cultural force driving election anxiety, noting how this election cycle has intensified the apocalyptic rhetoric
The media, especially today, and I think just a drive to get ratings, has given into this habit of fearmongering. If it's depressing, it gets play. If it's really depressing, it gets put on a loop, right? And we just see that all the time. It's just this this barrage of more and more depressing stories about what's going on in our country, what's going on with this election. Uniquely to this election, it usually kind of starts to die out a little bit the week before as things have sort of settled in. This year, it's been taken to a whole new height. WikiLeaks and accusations and insanity. With that, every headline seems to foretell certain doom. The end of the republic as we know it.
26 · Contrasts two false worldviews (Jehovah's Witness and secular media) that justify fear with the Christian worldview that identifies fear as lack of faith, not virtue
This fear makes sense if we have the worldview of a Jehovah's Witness, convinced that Satan is pulling the levers in the election booth. And it makes sense if we have the totally secular worldview of the media, convinced that the world is teetering on the edge of collapse, and that the next messiah is certainly the right person to be elected president. As believers, though, fear is not a virtue. It's an evidence of a fundamental lack of faith. To enter the voting booth filled with fear and driven by fear is not what we're called to do.
27 · Describes the ugly fruit of fear on social media—Christians lashing out at one another, demonizing opponents, and demanding conformity in voting
And yet it seems, as we look around, many Christians succumbing to just this mentality. My Facebook feed is filled with people going full-bore Chicken Little. Over and over and going against each other. Comments that just keep going and going and going and going. There's like 200 people who have commented on this article yelling at each other back and forth. 'Your candidate is going to ruin everything!' 'Your candidate already ruined everything!' Fear. And the fruit of that fear is ugly. People lashing out at others. Demonizing anyone who doesn't agree. In fear, people imagine the most horrible outcomes from this election and then demand that everyone agree with them in how to vote.
28 · Direct imperative application calling believers to vote from faith rather than fear, rejecting the mentality of vengeance or terror
Enter the voting booth full of faith on Tuesday, not fear. Satan isn't pulling the strings. Don't vote in terror of what might happen. Don't wield your vote as a weapon of vengeance against the other side.
29 · Cites Romans 12 to show the broader ethical context of Romans 13—believers are called to bless persecutors, live in harmony, and leave vengeance to God
In fact, in this context, in this context, Paul writes in chapter 12, bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to what is honorable. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay,' says the Lord.
30 · Pastoral reflection contrasting Romans' teaching with cultural commentary, warning against voting from fear of lost influence or control—a fear Israel exhibited in demanding a king
We read Romans and it sounds a lot different from the commentary that's going on all around us in the air, right? As believers, I think it would be very easy to vote from fear. Israel got a king in part because they feared not having what the other nations had around them. But driven by that fear, God tells Samuel, they're not actually rejecting you, they're rejecting me. Right? As believers, it'd be easy to vote from fear, to look at the landscape of America and fear diminished influence. To look at the landscape and fear losing power, to fear losing the majority, to fear losing control. But we've never been in control. Not really. God is sovereign. He appoints rulers and sets up kingdoms. Put not your trust in princes. And don't vote from fear.
31 · Introduces fourth principle (don't damage gospel witness) by acknowledging the blessing and responsibility of democratic voice while transitioning to the danger of short-sighted thinking
Fourth, don't do damage to the gospel. And don't do damage to your witness to the gospel. Our votes do matter. God has ordained that we live in a democracy, and I think that is a great blessing. He has ordained, he's given us not just the gift of government, he's given us the gift of a voice in that government. It also means that when we see the government that's elected and we don't like it, we have to recognize it's a reflection of us. But he has given us this gift of a voice.
32 · Identifies the structural temptation of electoral cycles: short-term thinking pressures Christians toward compromises for immediate political gains
The challenge of presidential elections is that they push us to think every 4 years or every 8 years and to think just in those terms. Everything that happens right now matters for the next 4 years. And so we think in little 4-year blocks. 8-year blocks. And we have this limited scope of how we think. It's terribly short-sighted. And thinking in terms of 4 years and 8 years, it can goad us, I think, to make compromises that we wouldn't normally consider. If you're like me, you look at the candidates running, it just feels like there's potential compromises everywhere. Like, what does one do? How does one discern? How do you figure out where to go?
33 · Cites conversation partner's quip about not voting for a pope, then qualifies it: while true, character still matters because our votes bear witness to what we trust
Talking with one of those guys at the D group. He said, 'We're not voting for a pope, we're voting for a president.' It's true. We aren't voting for a pope. We wouldn't vote for a pope at Providence anyway. And yet we recognize integrity matters. Character matters. But more than that, how we vote as believers matters. It bears witness to who we are and what we trust in.
34 · Uses George Wallace as historical warning of how Christian support for racist candidates damaged gospel witness for short-term political gains
We have to take the long view, not just to political consequences, but to the damage that can be done to the gospel for short-term political gains. One of the stains on the American church is the great support Christians have lent to candidates like George Wallace. For those of you who are too young to remember, George Wallace was a long-serving governor of Alabama, the longest-serving governor in the history of Alabama. He won several repeat terms. On 4 different occasions, he ran for election as president. He is the last Independent Party member to actually gain electoral votes in the Electoral College. I think it was back in the election of '72. He was a Democrat. He didn't win the ticket that year, so he ran as an independent. But 4 different times he ran for president. But the platform of George Wallace was pure racist vitriol. He was asked once, 'Well, why are you so staunchly for segregation, so staunchly against the civil rights movement?' And he said, 'Well, I tried to run on better roads and better schools, and nobody voted for me.' But he just bleeded ignorance and hatred and lathered up the state of Alabama and people across the country in fear and in motivation. But the saddest part about it was there were large swaths of Christians who joined with him and who gave assent to what he was saying. Their votes did damage to the witness of the gospel.
35 · Extends the historical warning to Christians who supported slavery, then appeals to Romans 13:5's call to conscience—votes bear witness and have sanctifying effect
In the same way Christians who supported slavery did a century earlier. Too often Christians have been guilty of entering the voting booth more concerned with political consequences than with how our support for a candidate or policies might harm the cause of Christ. That's a sobering thing to consider. Romans 13 makes appeal to our consciences verse 5. I think all of us are called to vote according to our conscience. It's a wise place to start. We often exaggerate the political positions to be gained in a given election, and we underestimate how our votes can bear witness to the gospel and how those votes, even just as an act of faith and trust in God, can have a sanctifying effect on us. Both in the policies we support and oppose, the candidates we promote, and most especially the the God we trust in.
36 · Direct application not to violate conscience, supported by 1 Peter 3:14-16's call to maintain good conscience and gentle witness even under opposition
Don't compromise your conscience or your witness in the voting booth. Don't read into that some subliminal message. I'm just saying, you, as you stand before God, don't violate your conscience in the voting booth. 1 Peter 3:14, Peter again to those suffering believers, 'But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake,' You will be blessed. Have no fear of them, those who are persecuting you, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. Don't do damage to your witness in the pushing of a button and pulling of a lever.
37 · Introduces fifth principle (love your neighbor) with contemporary examples of political violence and vitriol, setting up contrast with Christian love
5. Love your neighbor. Love your neighbor with your vote and love your neighbor without regard to their vote. Some of the stories that have come down the pike of what's happening in this season are just Downright depressing. One conservative political commentator had written several articles opposing Trump, and the alt-right had taken to the internet in just utter vitriol against him and his wife, and death threats. People in their neighborhood were actually scared because they publicly found their address and were putting it online, and their neighborhood was scared that they might become collateral damage to what was happening because this person had spoken out against one of the candidates. On the other side, it wasn't too long ago, up in New England, there was a Trump rally, and people that attended that Trump rally had their cars spray-painted and vandalized because they were going to a rally for one of the candidates. One of the guys afterwards says, I don't even support Trump. I was just kind of out here to see what he was going to say and to see the show. And now they slashed my tires and sprayed up my car. They're sad stories, but they also show us an environment ripe for the gospel to bear fruit, ripe for people to see believers treating others differently.
38 · Expounds Jeremiah 29:7's instruction to exiles to seek their godless city's welfare, establishing model for Christian political engagement as prophetic minority
Jeremiah 29:7 is instructive to us here. As God's people were facing exile in a foreign country, in a foreign city, that they're about to be taken out of land, taken out of Jerusalem, taken out of Israel to a place where a political power— they would have no political power, no political influence. It wouldn't be a theocracy. It wouldn't be people worshiping God and sitting under God's laws. They would find themselves as the very definition of a prophetic minority to an unbelieving nation. And God instructed them with these words in Jeremiah 29:7, as you go to this godless city, Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. 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.
39 · Applies Jeremiah 29:7 to political engagement: affirm good, challenge deficiency, denounce evil—all for the city's welfare, even when neighbors don't recognize the good
Our political engagement should always have this in view. We as believers are called to strengthen what is good in our society. We're called to push back against what's deficient. We're called to speak out against what is wrong. In all of that, we're seeking the good of our city. God has given government as a blessing, and he's given us the blessing of voice in our government. So we should affirm what we can in our political involvement. We should challenge where we are able to, and we must denounce what is evil, all for the welfare of our city. And the good of our neighbor. Sometimes your neighbor might not realize it's for their good, and yet you're called to do it anyway. We must even be willing to speak against our own allies when they fail to promote policies that are wise and just.
40 · Returns to Romans 12:9-12 to show that political instruction sits within the more fundamental call to genuine love, hope, patience, and prayer
More than this, though, we're called to love one another with not just our votes, but regardless of their votes. The context of Romans 13 and big thoughts about government and politics is of the much more powerful act of loving your neighbor. Romans 12:9, 'Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation.' Verse 12, if we lived out verse 12 in the midst of every election season, what would that do to the church? Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Wow. That would change how we walk through election seasons.
41 · Cites Romans 13:8-10 on love fulfilling the law, then applies Russell Moore's challenge to see critics as neighbors to evangelize rather than arguments to destroy
Romans 13:8, 'Owe no one anything except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.' Russell Moore is exactly right when he challenges us. We must be seen. We must see even our most passionate critic not as an argument to be vaporized, but as a neighbor to be evangelized. Is that how we think about our political opponents? An argument to be vaporized? Or a neighbor to be evangelized.
42 · Concludes fifth principle with direct imperative to love neighbors both in voting and regardless of their votes, then transitions to sixth principle
Love your neighbor with your vote. Vote for the policies that you think will bring about the most flourishing for our society and our community. And love your neighbor regardless of their vote. Finally, in conclusion, number 6: Hope in the right power.
43 · Sets up sixth principle by contrasting Rome's once-mighty empire (now ruins) with the eternal power behind all earthly powers, establishing the transience of political might
Hope in the right power. Romans is written in the face of all the might of the Roman Empire. Of any letter of the New Testament, people who are aware of all of Rome's might is certainly the church in Rome. Corinth has a lot of money and a lot of cool stuff, but it pales in comparison to the Colosseum and the glory of Imperial Rome. Pax Romana, Roman peace, is extended through the entire known world by their sheer military might. The entire Mediterranean world down into the Horn of Africa, down into parts of Asia, up into Gaul and Europe, into Spain and Britain because of Roman military might. But Paul reminds us of the power behind all earthly powers. Rome has its legions and its territory, its governors and its system of laws. But eventually Rome fades from the scene. And now you take a vacation to Rome and you look at a crumbling Colosseum. Wow, this is amazing. And wow, it's sad. How many put their hope in what that crumbling What does the crumbling building represent? All that's left are ruins.
44 · Marshals three Psalms warning against trusting political or military power, using humor to emphasize the absolute prohibition with no exceptions—not even David or Washington
Even for Israel, for the Israelites, people living in a theocracy ruled by God's laws, they're constantly warned by God about where they place their hope and trust. If there's anyone who had the excuse to place your hope and trust in the political apparatus, it's Israel, right? When David's king, certainly. Put your hope in the king. No, don't put your hope in the king. A sampling of a myriad of verses that speak to this. Psalm 20:7, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we, we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 118:9, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. Psalm 146:3, do not put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no salvation. There are no asterisks in these verses. There's no, 'Well, don't put your trust in chariots unless they're Abram's tanks.' I mean, if they're Abram's tanks, then they're superior. They've got uranium-depleted projectiles that'll blow to smithereens the enemy. Then you can put your trust in chariots, man. 'Don't put your trust in princes unless it's David and his mighty men.' Oh man, that didn't work out well. 'Don't put your trust in princes unless it's...' The right, I mean George Washington. No, there's no asterisks, there's no exclusions.
45 · Prophetic critique of evangelical leaders mourning lost 'moral majority,' diagnosing their anxiety as misplaced trust in political power rather than God
Many evangelical leaders, men that I respect, men that I've quoted in sermons, are wringing their hands over the loss of a quote, moral majority. But I think it might be that these leaders are wringing their hands over the loss of political power. Power and political influence. Have we been guilty of putting our trust in chariots and tanks, in princes and presidents, in lobbyists and Supreme Court justices?
46 · Redefines Christian political hope: not in parties but in the church as embassy bearing witness to King Jesus, whose kingdom is our true citizenship
What good news to be reminded we do have a political hope, but our political hope is in this body. Do you ever think of the church in that way? The church is nonpartisan, but the church is not apolitical. The church is by definition a political institution. The church is a body filled with people filled with the Spirit of God whose greatest political duty is to gather and bear witness, not to Republicanism or a Democratic Party, but to bear witness to King Jesus. The church is an embassy and we are ambassadors. We herald the royal gospel announcement that there was a crucified Messiah who's been raised and is now reigning. That is where our true citizenship is. You've all got the wrong passports. Your real passport is one preserved for you in heaven that never expires. And praise God, with a new glorified body, the picture won't even stink.
47 · Contrasts earthly government's checks and balances with King Jesus's perfect character, wisdom, and justice, locating ultimate hope in the eternal kingdom rather than America
There are no checks and balances on the power and authority of King Jesus, which is fine because there's no leader who can match His character and His holiness. There's no Congress that can match His wisdom. There's no Supreme Court that can so successfully execute justice. Make no mistake, we are called to be a political people. It's just that our hope doesn't ultimately rest in the Constitution. It rests in God's word and his promise to establish a new heavens and a new earth. There won't be an America in the new heavens and new earth. I think God has given us great blessing through our country. I think he has done great good in many things through our country. But this country is not eternal. His country, his kingdom is eternal. And so we should never feel tempted to sacrifice our principles at the altar of a party.
48 · Applies kingdom theology to political witness: believers must speak truth to power and moral evil (including abortion) regardless of cost, because Jesus is the world's true hope
We speak truth to power as believers. We sacrificially love our neighbors. We shine light on the moral evils of our age. Even if it's 30, 40 years after, and 50 million babies slaughtered, we still speak truth to the moral evils of our age. Regardless of the cost of reputation or influence. We are wholeheartedly convinced that Jesus is risen and reigning. We're convinced that the greatest hope for the world isn't American democracy, but King Jesus extending His rule all the way to the ends of the earth.
49 · Contrasts political mobilization with the church's true mission: treasuring, proclaiming, and maturing in the gospel rather than electoral activism
That's why our mission statement isn't about, 'Get out the vote!' What's your mission? 'Get out the vote!' Every 4 years we really get on mission. No, we're a community of disciples, treasuring, proclaiming, maturing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, spreading that gospel and spreading that message.
50 · Establishes the cross as the paradigm that inverts worldly power—Jesus conquered through sacrificial death rather than coercive force, freeing believers from political seduction
The cross itself frees us from being seduced by political power and all of its promises. We've seen firsthand in the sacrificial death of the Son of God, that the cross makes impotent the power and the wisdom of the world. None of our political candidates are promoting themselves as the one who will sacrificially die on behalf of their causes, but Jesus did. The world trusts in electoral colleges, in United Nations, in military might, but the power dynamics of our kingdom is a God sending His Son in the form of a servant to die for the people who've rebelled against Him. Not to put us under His boot, but to cover us in the shadow of the cross. The cross flips upside down the notion of power and power dynamics. 'The rulers of the Gentiles lorded over you,' Jesus says, 'but it will not be so amongst you, for the Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom.'
51 · Quotes Russell Moore on the church's dual identity as both little flock and conquering army, warning against both isolationism and triumphalism
Voting is important work for citizens in a democracy, but it is not our greatest work. Russell Moore, in his book Onward— I would commend it to all of you— Onward prophetically tells us, our story is that of a little flock and of an army awesome with banners. Our legacy is a Christianity of persecution and proliferation, of catacombs and cathedrals. If we see ourselves as only a minority, we will be tempted to isolation. If we see ourselves only as a kingdom, we will be tempted toward triumphalism. We are instead a church. We are a minority with a message and a mission.
52 · Continues Moore quotation calling for embodying kingdom rather than advocating causes, prioritizing gospel community over moral majority status
He goes on to say, let's model what happens to a culture when the kingdom interrupts our way to where we would go. If we were mapping this out on our own. Let's not merely advocate for causes. Let's embody a kingdom. Let's not aspire to be a moral majority, but a gospel community. One that doesn't exist for itself, but for the larger mission of reaching the whole world with the whole gospel. That sort of kingdom-first cultural engagement drives us not inward, outward.
53 · Reframes Sunday worship as the church's most profound political act—more substantial than voting—because it forms believers as kingdom ambassadors
Finally, let's remember the most profound political action any of us can take will not be in the booth on Tuesday, but it's when we gather each and every Lord's Day in worship of King Jesus. We get every 4 years an in a huge lather over what's happening. But the most substantial political activity we engage in happens right here each week as we gather with fellow believers, with fellow members who've covenanted together to sit under the promises of God and be formed by the promises of God and live as ambassadors of the kingdom to a dying world.
54 · Final charge summarizing the sermon's imperatives: reject fear, anger, apathy, and political trust, placing ultimate trust in God alone
So don't let this election or any election lead you to hand-wringing and misery. Don't get angry, don't get nervous, don't get overwhelmed, don't get apathetic. Don't trust in chariots or horses. Put not your trust in princes or presidents, but trust in the name of the Lord our God.
55 · Closing prayer asking God to keep believers' hope in Him while they engage politically for the city's welfare, avoiding entanglement in worldly concerns
Would you bow your heads? Well, Father, we do want to entrust ourselves to you. We want to hope in the great promises of your gospel. Lord, we want to be about the good and welfare of our city. We want to be engaged citizens. We want to care about promoting things that bring about flourishing for our neighbors. We want to promote things that help and don't harm. But Lord, it is so easy as flesh-and-blood people to get caught up in civilian affairs, to get caught up in the concerns of a dying world. Lord, we want to be correctly engaged, but Lord, we want to be circumspect. We want our hope to rest in You. So I pray that you would fill us with hope, you would fill us with confidence in all that you are doing. Lord, we pray that you would do all these things for your glory and the glory of your Son Jesus. Amen.