Politics and Theology

John Yates is a pastor in Washington, D.C. and seems to encapsulate the ideal of ministering the gospel of the Kingdom of God among the kingdom of men in his article, "Meditations on Ministering Between Calvary Hill and Capitol Hill "


His place of ministry is all of our ministry, even if at a different level; we are to ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:30) in this world; we are to represent the love and Holiness of our God to our neighbors whom we live shoulder-to-shoulder with each day. We must sacrifice ourselves for their sakes.


While on vacation I read an article from the Book Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader, entitled "On Turning Muslim Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones." by Warren Chastain. (Ralph D. Winter, ed. and Steven C. Hawthorne, ed. 3rd edition; William Carey Library. 1999.)

Chastain describes a meeting with a young man who asked him, "Why should I spend my life reaching Muslims when they are so unresponsive?"

Nate floored me with his question. I found myself unable to give a quick answer to a problem I had mentally wrestled with for two decades! . . . Basically he was facing the issue: he had a lifetime of service for the Lord before him, but he wondered whether it was wise to sacrifice it for a people as unresponsive as the Muslims. I could easily sympathize with him-- and he didn't know half the problem! Our Stumbling Blocks Psychological block ". . . the psychological block of our own attitude. Are we willing to lay our lives on the altar? A statement by Bishop Hill captures the heart of the problem: "Look to the heathen without Christ, and you will find an altar . . . and may God help you be a sacrifice."

The Culture War And The Christian Response

The secularization of our society has been used by political leaders to centralize government power into the hands of a few people. The growth of the welfare state is an example of our county’s move away from religious practice. The establishment of compulsory state education is another example. These two social issues were once the province of the church and the family.
A great shift has occurred in our views of government “as the major dispenser of political, social, and economic favors.” (John P. Stead, “Developing a Biblical View of Church and State,” in Think Biblically!, 2003). “Governmental institutions are now seen as something to be captured and used by a particular interest group for its own ends.” (Stead) Even ‘Christian’ leaders have accepted this premise, but God calls Christians to a higher and more vital purpose than dominate our culture in an effort to create a Christian counter-hegemony.
Yes there is a war, but it is much more fundamentally rooted in the origins of all problems, Sin in our soul. In Ephesians we read more of the Christian warfare, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Paul tells us, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience if fulfilled.” So the war that mankind is engaged in is for more than man’s culture, but for the very soul of mankind.
Christians, then, must reevaluate their role in this society and return to the mandate to preach the Gospel: the Jesus was sent from God, born of a virgin, died on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, and was buried for three days and rose again on the third day, and now lives in heaven ruling over the affairs of men until he returns again to judge the living and the dead.
In the meantime we must live on earth for the purpose of declaring the Gospel and living lives that are consistent with those who have been called out of culture and into a new kingdom where we have our citizenship.