You Asked: How Should Christians Approach Politics?

How Should Christians Approach Politics?

In the next installment of our You Asked teaching series, I tackled the contentious issue of politics. Specifically, how should Christians approach politics? The idea of the teaching yesterday is that as Christians our faith filter will often be in tension with our political filter. Andy Stanley, a pastor from Atlanta, talks about this. He says, “The tension for Christians is whether we are willing to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter.” Too many Christians today either see the two as the same, or they tend to prop up their political filter with their faith filter. Instead, what do we do when the platform of our political party says something different than what we know to be true in God’s word?

In this message, we looked at a four-part framework that we can all use to make sure our faith filter truly takes precedent over our political filter. Jesus prayed to his Father that his church, his followers, would live together in this world in unity. After washing the disciples’ feet in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells his followers that the best witness to the world for Christ will be our love for one another. “A new command I give you. As I have loved you,” Jesus told them, “so you must love one another.” This new command, or new covenant, is to now be the guiding ethic for all followers of Jesus. We must learn to love one another, just as God loved us through Christ. So, what do we do when two followers of Jesus do not see eye-to-eye on political issues?

The Apostle Paul calls this new command to love one another the “Law of Christ.” In Galatians, Paul tells the Church to “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” As Christians, we are to love one another in tangible ways. So how do we do this?

When we learn to follow the law of Christ, we will begin to think and act more and more like Jesus. This is the process of maturity in our lives. When we see something wrong either inside or outside the church, it bothers us. It pricks our conscience, and we are compelled to do something about. Our informed conscience then begins to share our ideas — including our ideas about policy and politics. It was our collective informed conscience, for example, that led our country to make slavery illegal. This was directly influenced by the law of Christ, which leads us to believe that slavery is the result of sin in the world, therefore, it must be made illegal.

So, the law of Christ informs our conscience, but we also have access to thousands and thousands of years of knowledge and wisdom about how the world works and how humans operate. This knowledge, obtained through science, psychology, history, and other disciplines, also informs our thinking around issues in our world. Once upon a time you would take your sick child to the local priest, but we don’t do that today. Of course, we would love to pray for your child, but now we take our children to the doctor. Why? Because we understand more about the human body and how to heal it. This is an example of knowledge and wisdom that accumulates over time.

Finally, after learning to live by the law of Christ, which informs our conscience, which is further refined by knowledge and wisdom, we then begin to make decisions on policy, platform, and politics. But even then, we still do not all agree! Why?

The final point from he sermon yesterday, is that our politics in our country are usually less informed by our theology and more informed by where we grew up, who our family is, whether we were wealthy or poor, black or white, etc. As much as we hope our theology is completely formed by our understanding of scripture, this is usually not the case. 

Miles’ Law says, “Where you stand depends on where you sit.” This depends on your context — where you lived and how you were raised. The reasons for your policy preferences and your behavior are obvious to you, but they are not obvious everyone. Other’s preferences and behavior might be confusing to you, but it is not confusing to them. So how do we move forward as Christians when it comes to politics?

First, we must learn to listen to one another. Next, we must be willing to learn something new. Finally, we must love one another no matter what. And we, as Christians, must never allow political differences to divide us. Where we stand depends upon where we sit. So be intentional over these next few months to have a conversation or two with someone who sits in a different place and space than you. You might learn something. In fact you might even change your mind on something!