Kingdom Before Country

Wrestling with an over-political Church

Let me begin with an acknowledgement that this is one of the more difficult blogs that I’ve written in awhile. It is difficult from the perspective that I have had a profound love and sense of honor for what it means to be called an American. Furthermore, this will not be an easy read for a lot of you because I think that it invokes so many emotions that we are often nurtured with as Americans. However, I write out of conviction because I have seen a struggle amidst my brothers and sisters in Christ to separate politics and faith. Therefore, I am attempting to unpack some of my own struggles and frustrations behind this very intense year of politics and spirituality.

We live in a very interesting time where we are faced with some major decisions that are going to impact our lives and the lives of those who will follow after us. That can be a troubling thing to a lot of people. However, somewhere over the course of the last few years we have managed to lose focus on what values are important to hold close to us, and what values are necessary to let go. Therefore, I hope to unpack some of this in an attempt to define where the church should be amidst a very conflicted society.

Let’s start by endeavoring to articulate the value of being a citizen of the United States. The United States of America has left an indelible mark in the pages of history for some incredibly good things. Our country began by unshackling ourselves from tyrants in order to attempt building a place where principles such as liberty and equal rights for all men and women were upheld. Men and women from all colors and creeds have sacrificed their lives at the altar of these principles in order to preserve a place where people and their ideas could flourish. More than that, for those of us who have a supreme value in the Kingdom of God, we have found refuge in our founding principles because they so closely mirror the Biblical principles where our own hope is found.

“…all Men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent and* [certain] inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it…” (The Declaration of Independence)

These words provoked the most noble of wars that the world has ever known. A people who refused to be enslaved by a tyrant, limited in their happiness, and oppressed by greed arose with an ambition to create a country where such offenses would never be tolerated. Nevertheless, we must remember that our country is only a kingdom of this world and not the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus came to establish.

The Kingdom of Heaven was Never a Nation

We might remember that one of the main purposes of Jesus’ coming was to shift the perspective of the Jews who were so entranced with the Jewish kingdom that they couldn’t see the Messiah and His Kingdom. Jesus was continually chipping away at the Jewish mindset that the Kingdom of Heaven was merely attached to the nation of Israel. Stories like the Prodigal Son were told in order to warn religio-political Jewish leaders that they were at risk of missing the feast of Heaven because they couldn’t detach their Judaism from the Kingdom of God. The violent act of cleansing the temple of the money changers was a declaration of Jesus’ supremacy over temples and priests that defined the Jewish society. Dining with tax collectors was the invitation of Jesus to exit the Jewish context and enter into a Kingdom where God’s love was extended to all peoples. The desire to see Jews detached from their political infatuation was so deep that Jesus wept because he saw the inevitable destruction that was looming as a result of their refusal to enter the Messiah’s Kingdom.

“And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41–44 ESV)

Jesus knew that the Jewish refusal to separate politics and the Kingdom of God would lead to a Roman invasion in 70AD where the Romans would cruelly surround Jerusalem and starve the inhabitance therein before massacring nearly a million Jews.

I reference this because we share a similar temptation today.

Kingdom before Country

The United States is a place where a large majority of Christians are infatuated with it’s politics. We feel the need to tell people how they ought to vote because of the notion that it’s not only our civic duty, but our duty before God. We heavily depend on influencing the outcome of political elections. We even have Christian super pacs designed to leverage funding and influence for their candidates of choice. I’ve also noticed how Christians in our country get down right volatile at the suggestion that we are not a Christian nation. This year like none other we have heard the voice of popular Christian voices who insist that their candidate is “saved,” or is the “moral choice” for whom Christians should vote.

So allow me to suggest some reality into this equation wherein we exist. The United States is not the Kingdom of Heaven and we’d do well to remember that. Our nation is corrupt and is increasingly defiant towards a great deal of the values that we uphold in the Church. Furthermore, my last sentence is not a brand new truth. Injustice has ran deep in the veins of our country since it’s birth. Attached with our nation’s history is the insidious genocide and slaughter invoked upon Native American Indians and should never be forgotten. Our country’s tolerance of human slavery should never be forgotten. The quiet approval of racial discrimination of African Americans and Hispanics should never be forgotten. The protection of narcotics and wars that we’ve initiated on behalf of oil and money should never be forgotten. Why? Because despite our best attempts to intertwine our country and our faith, they are two very different things. As much as I love my country I am ever aware that it’s principles and those of God’s Kingdom are extremely different.

Hence, in this season where Christian leaders are doing their best to manipulate Christians into believing that there is a candidate who is a “moral choice,” I’d like to remind you that there is no greater lie. In a season where Paula White and Pat Robertson are doing their best to convince you that their candidate is saved and an upcoming believer, I would suggest that they’re more concerned about the democrat who will probably enforce an inspection of their suspicious tax history than a republican who would…well, who knows?.

Spiritually, I’d like to encourage you to rise above the noise and see the situation for what it is. I don’t believe that there is a good vote or a bad vote for an American. Our country is designed for people to vote based on their convictions. I will tell you that both candidates from the two-party system repulse every ounce of my convictions. However, your vote may be more intentional for supreme court justices or just a “lesser of two evils” decision. That’s not a bad thing. However, my caution is for those who struggle to separate the Kingdom from the Country.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

The Kingdom of Heaven will rise above the rulers of this world and that is of supreme importance to this blog. The Church has become fat and lazy in their dependence on politics to solve issues of injustice. It is the conviction of the Church, not government, that should lead the fight for better education, better housing, and better communities. Had William Booth depended on England to serve the needy we would have no Salvation Army. Had Clara Barton waited on government to serve the wounded soldier we would have no Red Cross. Had Miller Fuller waited on the government to improve communities there would be no Habitat for Humanity. It is the mission of the Church, out of our devotion to the Kingdom of Heaven, to declare GOOD NEWS to the world both in word and in deed. Hence, I pray that we rise to the occasion, despite who is in power, to announce Jesus’ message to a world enslaved to injustice that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”