Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today on Telling the Truth, you'll hear a powerful teaching from Stuart Briscoe about what it means to live as a Christian in our current political environment and how we need to think theologically about our politics. That's coming up in a moment.

We want to help you grow strong in your faith as you conquer temptation by sending you Triumph Over Temptation, a powerful four-message series by Stuart and Jill Briscoe. We'll send you a copy of Triumph Over Temptation as thanks for your gift today to help continue Stuart and Jill's legacy of helping others experience life in Christ. So call today to request your copy of Triumph Over Temptation: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, let's listen to this teaching from Stuart.

Stuart Briscoe: We continue looking into our general theme of Christian viewpoints based on what Jesus said to his disciples immediately prior to leaving them on this earth. You remember he said that they were left in the world, but they were not of the world, but they were sent to the world. We have been trying to explore the world in which we're left. We're trying to find out what it is about this world that we're not to be part of, but we're trying to be clear as to how we can be sent to it.

It's relatively easy to settle for one of these three things, a little more difficult to settle for two of them, a tremendous challenge to settle on all three. What does it mean to be left in, not of, but sent to the world? The world in which we live is clearly political. And if we're going to think realistically in terms of being left in this world, we've got to think in terms of what it means to be left in a political environment.

Now, as soon as we start talking about politics, we have to recognize that in our particular culture, politics in many instances, as Marshall McLuhan has said, has degenerated into images and soundbites. And not infrequently, we'll find people don't really want to go further than the soundbite or do respond to anything more than an image. And yet if we're thinking in terms of being Christians in this particular political environment, we need to do better than get past the soundbites, and we need to do more thinking than simply looking at images. In other words, we need to be thinking theologically about our politics.

Some time ago, a good friend of mine was invited to South Africa as a guest of the South African government. And he knew that I'd visited the country on a number of occasions, so he asked me for a sort of a preview of South Africa. Now, this was long before de Klerk and Mandela, long before the dramatic changes that took place in recent years. And so I told him what I had observed about the political scene in South Africa, and off he went.

He came back from his trip, immediately asked me to have breakfast with him. And as we sat down for breakfast, his opening remarks were, "Stuart, you couldn't be more wrong. You could not be more wrong about South Africa." So I said, "All right, put me right then." And so he began to explain the whole political philosophy of the white government of South Africa.

And he explained the principle of apartheid, and he explained how it came from their Calvinistic roots, etc., etc., all of which I was familiar with. After he had finished his explanation of what was right about South Africa, I asked him how many black townships he'd visited. I asked him how much he was aware of what it was like to be an Indian in South African culture, etc., etc. And he, of course, had not been taken to any of those places.

And so after we'd discussed it for a little while, I asked him this simple question. I said, "Well, now that you've worked out the politics of South Africa, where does your theology fit into this? Where does your theology fit into this?" And he said, "Well, I've got to work on that next." And therein lies the problem for many Christians. They arrive at a political position and then they try to fit in their theology, assuming that they even get that far.

In many instances, the problem is that many Christians will be Christian for part of the day and then they'll be political animals for the rest of the day, and never the two shall meet. Now, what we're thinking about in this series of messages is how we can be Christians in the world of which we're part, and that of course includes the political world. Now, there are various responses on the part of Christians to the political scene here in America right now.

There are Christians who would adopt a conservative political stance but would not necessarily have any sense in which it is theologically informed. In other words, they are Christians, but they are conservatives. This perhaps is best illustrated by the man who had the car with the bumper stickers on, one of which was "Rush is Right" and the other one "Jesus is Lord," and there was quite a gap on the fender between the two.

Then of course, there are the Christian liberals. And the Christian liberals are people who are very activist in their approach to politics, but their political agenda is very different from that of the Christian Coalition. They're very much concerned about the environment, they're concerned about the military power of America, they're concerned about relationships with third world countries, they're concerned with people who are politically and financially and economically disadvantaged, etc., etc.

And then there are the Christian indifferents. They tend to adopt the attitude, "Don't vote, it only encourages them." And I'm afraid that there's a major segment of American culture that is comprised of these kind of people. For instance, more than one half of all Americans cannot name one of their US senators. More than half of Americans cannot name one of their US senators. Only 6% of Americans know the name of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Do you know who that is? Well, you're in the 6%. It's easy to have some fun about this sort of subject, and I don't want to get any cheap laughs or make any cheap jabs because that is not the point. So you've had your chuckles, now let's settle down to look into this Christian view of politics. We'll look at it from three perspectives: first of all, a biblical perspective, secondly, a historical perspective, and thirdly, a practical perspective.

From a biblical perspective, we recognize that in the early chapters of Genesis, there was a real confrontation between God and the people he'd created. They decided that they were going to build a tower, that it was going to reach to the heaven, and it was going to be symbolic of their self-sufficiency, it was going to be symbolic of their independence of God. In other words, they were taking matters into their own hands.

And God decided they were getting too big for their boots, and so at the Tower of Babel, or the Tower of Babylon, he dispersed the people into all kinds of people groups with different languages. Those of us who've traveled around the world have had many, many opportunities to regret the Tower of Babel. The fact of the matter, however, is that various people groups were established by God's action.

Now, in Genesis chapter 12, we are reminded that Abraham was pulled out of the people group that he belonged to and transported into an area where there were other people groups. And God made of that people group a new nation, and he said that this nation that would be comprised of the progeny of Abraham would be a blessing to all the other nations of the world. So God took action and formed people groups, and God formed these people groups into nations.

Now, we know from the particular details of the nation of Israel that God built into that certain governing structures. So they had priests, they had prophets, they had judges, they had kings. This was all ordained by God. Now, when we get into the New Testament, we have a more specific statement concerning the ordinance of government, or of political structures. And perhaps the best known statement of that is found in Romans chapter 13.

And I would like to read a few verses of Romans chapter 13 to you. Now, as we're reading this, please bear in mind that Paul is writing to the very small Christian community in the imperial city of Rome. They were regarded as a radical sect of Judaism that the Jews at best were tolerated by the Romans until they couldn't tolerate them anymore, and then they were just kicked them out of Rome as happened quite specifically and we read about it in the Acts of the Apostles.

So they were a very small minority, they were deeply distrusted, they were living in a very precarious situation, and they had no political representation whatsoever. So their situation was very, very different from the situation in which we find ourselves today. Nevertheless, there are certain things that we can learn from what Paul taught them. This is what he said:

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.

Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right, and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him. If you owe him taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Telling the Truth, the ministry of Stuart and Jill Briscoe. And today we're hearing a message by Stuart Briscoe on a Christian view of politics. We'll get back to that shortly. Temptation is nothing new. It's been around since the dawn of mankind, and it's not going anywhere as long as we're on this earth. You'll face temptation every day, but sometimes moment by moment.

So we want to send you a special resource to help you stand strong in God's word when temptation does come along. It's a four-message series from Stuart and Jill Briscoe called Triumph Over Temptation, and they created it to help you not only conquer temptation, but to grow stronger in your faith as you do. This series will give you powerful biblical tools to defeat sinful desires and encourage you with the truth that every temptation to do wrong is also an opportunity to do right.

We'll send you Triumph Over Temptation as our thanks for your gift today to keep sharing the life-changing truth of God's word with people across the globe through the resources and teaching of Telling the Truth. So call today to request your copy of this resource: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, let's get back to Stuart's message.

Stuart Briscoe: So what do we discover from this? We discover that God has ordained certain people groups, he has formed nations, and he has put into the nations certain governing structures. When we see how we are to respond to these governing structures, what do we learn? We learn that the powers that be or the authorities that exist are established by God. That the authority that they wield is divine authority delegated to them.

Accordingly, those who are in the governing structure, the political structures of nations, are seen to be God's servants. They are God's servants because their task is to create and preserve an environment, a national, a political, a social environment in which people can live freely and fully as God's creatures. In order for them to do that, they are given certain authorities, and they are given authority to do two things: to reward that which is right and to punish that which is wrong.

This is all divinely ordained. God is into politics. God ordains there should be people groups, he ordains there should be nations, he ordains there should be governing structures, he ordains that there should be divinely delegated authority in the political structures, and he ordains that the people who come under that authority should treat the governing authorities with great respect and submission.

They do this because they recognize that the people in those situations, perhaps to their own surprise, are servants of God. They are here to function in a way that would further divine purposes. Accordingly, people are required to respect those in the political realm out of conscience. Now, there's a sense in which we respect with a healthy respect those who have the power to make life difficult for us.

He's not saying that. He's saying we respect those in the political realm as a matter of conscience because we recognize what God has ordained and how they're fitting into a divinely ordained structure. Not only that, we pay taxes because we recognize that if these people have a task to do, it will take money. And the way they're going to get the money is that we pay our appropriate amount of taxes to finance their activities.

And thirdly, we are required to fulfill our obligations as citizens, as members of this political structure, to those who are in positions of authority. Now, there's a very quick overview, if you like, of the biblical perspective on politics. Now, there's another side to it, however, that we need to understand very, very clearly indeed.

You will notice in the beginning of Romans chapter 13 that it talks about the authorities that exist. The older versions of the Bible call it the powers that be. And that is a term that has sort of found its way into rather general usage. Now, there's a debate among theologians on this particular term. There are those who say the powers that be are simply man-made political structures. That's all it's talking about.

So that the powers that be, these man-made political instructions, have been established by God. But others, for good reason, say no, when Paul is talking about the powers that be, he is certainly talking about the man-made political structures, but he is also talking about spiritual forces that operate through these man-made political structures. So that when we're thinking in terms of the powers that be, we're thinking not only of the man-made political structures, but of the spiritual forces that operate through them.

Now, where in the world do we get this idea from? Well, let me refer you to the epistle to the Colossians. In the first chapter, the apostle Paul has a superlative statement of the supremacy of Christ. Let me read to you from verse 15 of Colossians 1:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

So far, so good. Here the thrones, the powers, the rulers, the authorities, listen, both visible and invisible, were created by Christ. Turn over to chapter 2 and verse 9:

In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

That is simply underlining what is already said.

Guest (Male): We'll get back to Stuart's message in a moment. We all struggle at times with sinful desires and selfish motives. And when you do, you must remember that every temptation to do wrong is also an opportunity to do right. That's the empowering truth Stuart and Jill Briscoe want to help you grasp when they created their four-message series Triumph Over Temptation. This series will equip you with powerful biblical truth to help you triumph over temptation and grow your faith in the process.

Triumph Over Temptation is our thanks for your gift to keep sharing the teaching and resources of Telling the Truth with so many people around the world. Generous friends like you keep broadcasts like this one going, reaching others with God's healing love so they can experience life in Christ and find strength to carry on with courage. So if you haven't given before, consider a gift today to help keep God's word going out around the world to you and many others.

And remember to request your copy of Triumph Over Temptation when you call and give. Just call 1-800-889-5388, 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's the conclusion of today's teaching.

Stuart Briscoe: Verse 13, however, talks about Christ's death on the cross that is profoundly significant as far as our subject is concerned. Listen carefully, verse 13:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

So now what do we see? We see that the powers that be are created by Christ, both the visible ones and the invisible ones. We recognize that he is the head over all power and authority and rulers. But for some reason, it was necessary for Christ on the cross to expose and to defeat the powers that be. Why? Because those powers that be, those man-made political structures, have forces operating through them of tremendous spiritual power, many of which are totally opposed to the purposes of God.

Now, we have a clear example of this in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8, where the apostle Paul says that if the rulers of this world had had the right kind of wisdom, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. The rulers of this world would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. And who were those rulers? They were imperial Rome and the religious structures of Judaism. They were structures divinely ordained structures that somehow or other had got in the grip of institutionalized evil, and institutionalized evil was operating through these structures.

Now, what does that mean as far as we are concerned? The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, that our struggle is against all kinds of rulers and powers and authorities and spiritual dynamics. But he also points out to us in his teaching that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they are spiritual. So what is he saying?

He is saying that we live in a world where there are all kinds of people groups and nations and systems of governance and political structures, all of which are divinely ordained, to which we should respond with great respect and honor, etc., etc., as a matter of conscience. But we must be very, very careful because these same structures can become the very institutionalization of evil itself. Now, that is a very salutary word. That is the political system viewed from a biblical perspective, as I understand it.

Now, it's not too difficult for us to understand that in extreme cases. For instance, I doubt very much if anybody here would say, "Well, it's pretty obvious that the political structure of the Third Reich in Germany in the 1930s became the very institutionalization of evil." I don't think many people would have too much difficulty in saying and Stalinist Russia, the Soviet Union, as a political structure became the very epitome of institutionalized evil. So yeah, sure, I see what you mean.

The big question as far as we're concerned is this: Is it possible that evil can operate in a participatory democracy? Or is it possible that evil can function in a capitalistic free enterprise political scheme? Perish the thought, you say. No. We've got to be prepared to look at this and ask ourselves, "Are we looking at political structures and political systems from a biblical perspective?" If we do, then I would suggest to you that we will have a considerable degree of ambivalence as far as the Christian and relationship to politics is concerned. On the one hand, we will recognize there is a very real legitimacy to the whole structure that we must be part of, but there are clearly things that we have to recognize in it that we will have absolutely nothing to do with and we stand against. In other words, we're in it, we're not of it, but we're sent to it.

Guest (Male): Powerful words we need to hear as believers. Before we go, we want to remind you, when you give to continue Stuart and Jill's legacy of sharing God's word through Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one, we'll say thanks with the Briscoes' four-message series, Triumph Over Temptation. These encouraging messages will help you defeat temptation and grow in your faith as you do.

So please request your copy when you call 1-800-889-5388, 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org. Thanks for being here today on Telling the Truth. Come back next time for more solid biblical teaching from the Briscoes to help you experience life.