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Kingdom Politics

Our Approach is Radically Different
Yes, there could have been a better title, but it is the phrase that stuck on the refrigerator door of my mind and I can’t shake it off. I have been thinking on the subject of sonship and politics. Sonship is a term we use to identify our relationship with God as our Father, and the width and breadth of that joyful life. (We never use this term in a gender-specific way, but in a way that reveals our place in the Family.) Politics is our perception of the process of government’s decision-making and the philosophies guiding those decisions. This is not an article--to nip a weak idea in the bud--that will give you ammunition to win an argument, or put someone in a prejudiced category based on your own political ideas. Sons approach politics radically different, and we are going to take the time to discover how and why.

There is a way that the Kingdom influences the sons’ view of the world and of government, and this is what I am referring to as Kingdom Politics. I am not referring to a process of politics within the Kingdom of God as that is already established: We have a King, and our role is to submit to His authority. Isn’t it nice that the politics inside the Kingdom are so simple? In our world, however, we have a much more complicated systems, and most of us will find ourselves caught in the difficult debate on how we will vote, and why we support a particular leader or governing theory. Now, lets warm up our conversation by examining the two main political schools that affect not only Americans, but indeed, most of the Western world.

Liberalism

Let’s think of these two schools of thought like two old, old wooden ships (to quote Ron Burgundy.) Each ship is the big idea that floats and carries with it any burden that can be hoisted onto the deck. The “ship” is the philosophy that gives each school its sustaining buoyancy. Now, each political ship may contain hundreds of idea-cargo items on its deck--and this cargo has often come to define the whole ship for better or worse--however, we must first consider the question, “What makes the ship float?”

We will address the answer in two ways.

Answer Part A

First, the ship of modern liberalism can be described in one run-on sentence: Liberalism, today, is primarily a broad mistrust of all institutionalized absolute forms of authority, combined with a deep conviction that the poor are society’s greatest responsibility, mixed with a belief that reasonable men can ultimately create a working, beautiful world. Now, before you react and start writing notes on what I have omitted in this definition, remember that we are proposing here what is the fundamental position of liberalism today, and we are not ready to address (and may not address in this short article at all) the cargo on the deck of the ship which, obviously, many folks would attach to their own definition with or without a recognition of our simpler sentence. Another way to say this is that I am avoiding the hot-button, litmus test, one issue ideas that I don’t recognize as fundamental to each school of thought.

Let’s take just a moment and shine a little light on each of the three points in our definition. First let’s note that a “broad mistrust of all institutionalized absolute forms of authority” is a powerful and common human sentiment held in much of the world, but especially in the West. The Western world saw this mistrust come to full-life during the Enlightenment as men armed with reason, science, and the tools of self-recognition began to identify the societal powers that held them captive to ignorance and personal diminishment. As we reflect back to the 17th and 18th Centuries we find two main targets for the angst and mistrust of the Enlightenment were the Catholic Church (i.e. Christianity) who was burning at the stake those who would not conform, and the European monarchies who were cutting the heads off of dissidents who would not submit. The collective corruption of both of these institutions of power was so great and so far reaching that the bitterness against them still influences us today. On these two tragic monoliths are now carved the themes of patriarchy, misogyny, capitalism, theocracy, exploitation, Christianity in general, and anything else that seemed then, and seems now, to represent the dominating oppression of one tyrannical group over another.

The Liberal’s “deep conviction that the poor are society’s greatest responsibility” is the sincere fruit of the first part of our definition. As we seek to overthrow our oppressors we naturally will work to defend those who are being oppressed. It also a part of fundamental human compassion. We are built to care for others. It was the overwhelmingly poor masses--the majority of the populations during the Enlightenment--that rose up against authoritarianism with force, and then it was the scholarly power brokers that recognized the great need for new political ideas to depose monarchs and enthrone the voice of the people. This new voice they proposed--the people’s voice--could speak for itself and protect itself. From this sentiment arose both Western Democracy and Socialism. Both. Democracy built its philosophy on giving the individual a voice in government, and Socialism built its language and power around advocacy for the poor.

Finally, the idea that “reasonable men can ultimately create a working, beautiful world” is the quintessential Enlightenment point of view, and it continues today with great momentum as we continue to build on the inventions and discoveries of the great minds of that period three hundred years ago that brought us nuclear physics, electricity, medicine, and the iPhone to name a few. This “Bob The Builder” sentiment has also been present in humanity since the very beginning of human history (the Tower of Babel is an easy illustration), but it developed real societal momentum when the arbiters of spiritual life at that time--the Catholic Church--not only refused any such scientific development, but prophesied against all such knowledge as a rejection of Christ and a belief in God. This ignorant rejection of scientific development feed a secular backlash against the Church that is still snapping the necks of society today. Obviously, there were some real insecurities in the religious leaders of that time, but the lasting affect was not the continuing insecurity of the religious power base, but the tidal-wave backlash of the masses that now thoroughly associates all backwards, anti-progress thinking with Christianity. Combine this reactionary wave with the confidence that people feel toward the power and trajectory of human progress toward utopia and you have one seriously buoyant political idea.

Answer Part B

Second, and most importantly, liberalism reflects part of the Kingdom of God. Yes, I said it, and it’s true. Friends, there is no political system whether communism, anarchism, democracy, or theocracy that does not find a sincere justification for its actions and energies along a definition of what is good for the people. “What is good” is a statement that needs a moral foundation--a spiritual justification. A justification is a reason by which people feel right. We feel just right when we believe that we are doing good for ourselves and others. The greatest power of liberalism, the reason it has traction and attraction, is because it reflects some of the heart of God. Go back and read the simple definition--you will find it. We believe this is both a proof for the power of the Kingdom, and a proof for humanity’s need to aspire and attain to the greatness of it. We hear hints of this aspiration in some of our definition of liberalism, and we find it reflected in the Bible. In Psalm 82:3 it calls out in agreement with the fundamentals of liberalism, “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.” In Prov. 22:16 we are warned against selfishness and greed, “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich — both come to poverty.” Jesus announces His own mission statement into the world when He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed...” These themes are the real stay-afloat power of liberalism in our world today.

Conservativism
Conservatism, as a moving, social idea is not new. As long as men have aspired to live better, form government, and enjoy a relationship with God there have been conservatives...according to how we have come to know them today. Again, their are many boxes and containers on the deck of the ship called conservatism, but the ship itself is just one big idea...and that big idea floats. Let’s look at the answer in two parts:

Answer Part A

Today, conservatism is primarily the belief that our highest good is discovered within an absolute architecture for all of creation, a rage against tyranny of any kind by keeping government small and highly qualified because it is prone to corruption, and that each person, intrinsically valuable, must be trusted to self-govern and enjoy the liberty of success and failure. Again, don’t load the ship with cargo yet, let’s just examine why it floats as we examine each part of this simple definition.

The idea that “that our highest good is discovered within an absolute architecture for all of creation” is a clear and powerful idea. The conservative conviction is: there is a God--or at least a rational, good design--which we must discover, promote, and preserve if there is to be any hope for society. The converse for conservatism is true as well, that if we do not discover the highest good--the architecture of right thinking and living--that we will disintegrate as a culture because poor ideas and weak aspirations will doom us all together. It was during the Enlightenment that many great minds prophesied the impending destruction of society when they saw the unguided, violent protest of anti-institutionalism. These thinkers broke ranks in order to promote a “preserving” or “conserving” of some forms of tradition like the family, the Church, or a representative government lead by rational and good people. This sentiment continues today as a way to defeat tyranny which--in the conservative philosophy--would have to throw off the absolute good in order to oppress and dominate society.

To “rage against tyranny of any kind by keeping government small and highly qualified because it is prone to corruption” sounds like it is right out of the American Revolutionary handbook, but it was birthed first in Europe as the thinkers of the Enlightenment struggled to put in place a government theory that would forever banish tyranny and oppression--especially those of monarchies and the Catholic Church. The conclusion of the day was that kings and monarchs and popes when rising unchecked to the height of their power would certainly be overtaken by the temptations of greed and selfishishness, and therefore, must never be trusted to rule over us without restraint. So, in our era was born an entirely new view of government and social order that is now the most common characteristic of the Western World--democracy. The representative form of qualified government found in America that is held in restraint through divided powers is called a republic. And it is why we pledge with a hand over our hearts, “I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America; And to the republic, for which it stands, One nation, under God, Indivisible, With liberty and justice for all.” In this pledge you can clearly see all the points of our definition of conservatism.

The final point of our definition of the big idea of conservatism is that “each person, intrinsically valuable, must be trusted to self-govern and enjoy the liberty of success and failure” is the original idea of libertarianism (not just the freedom to smoke pot.) Freedom is the punch-line of this phrase, and it is the freedom to not be governed without giving express permission via an elected government, and it comes from this basic instinct: we don’t need anyone ruling over us based on arbitrary social class ranking, inheritance, religion, or race. It is also the freedom that belongs to a person who stands up against the oppression of institutions that don’t honor that individual value, and say, as Thomas Jefferson said in the opening phrases of the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This kind of freedom, for conservatives, is the right to both succeed and fail without external assistance or rescue, and the right to enjoy both the joy of personal accomplishment, and the responsibility of personal failure. For the conservative this last note about individual responsibility is seen as the inevitable risk that comes with individual liberty and one cannot have one without the other: risk and liberty.

Answer Part B

Second, and most importantly, conservatism reflects part of the Kingdom of God. Yes, I said it, and it’s true. Readers, (I am repeating myself) there is no political system whether communism, anarchism, democracy, or theocracy that does not find a sincere justification for its actions and energies along a conviction in what is good for the people. A celebration of the sovereignty of God, the beauty of the individual, and freedom from corporate tyranny are, indeed, values from the Kingdom of God. When believers speak of hope they echo David who sings about the absolute authority of God in Psalm 71:5, “For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.” Our individual worth is proclaimed as the Psalmist reflects on his journey as person, even from the womb, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 Americans cling to the same words God spoke to those who were to be captive in Babylon, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD (in Jeremiah 29:11), “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” which sounds a lot like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The message of Jesus gives us a new perspective of equality in Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” It is these kinds of Biblical affirmations--along with the sanctity of family, the beauty of marriage, the establishment of the Church, and the absolute authority of God--to name a few, that keeps the ship of conservatism afloat in our time.

Brokenism
Now, it is time to introduce the Third Party (and we are not talking about the new anything-goes-centrist wave.) This is the Party of Broken People and it is truly the party for everyone. We are talking about a party that everyone can...and, actually, has already joined. This is truly an open political platform. Have you received your bumper sticker, yet? The Party of Broken People is not another division of the population, but rather a party that completely encompasses both of the other two parties and everyone else in all directions. Everyone is a member, and its goals, rules, and philosophies affect everyone on the earth regardless of additional subdivisions of race, nationality, or political party.

Here are some common Scriptures that support this Party’s existence:

• Rom. 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
• Jer. 3:25 “Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.”
• Rom. 5:12   “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”

The Party of Broken People is a meta-party because it is an umbrella that covers everything. See, readers, policital philosophies, whether liberal or conservative, are human inventions of government and thought. They were invented by broken people in order to best rule over the rest of the broken people. No matter how you try and slice it there is no human invention that perfectly reflects the true, eternal nature of the Kingdom of God. Another way to say this is that there is no human government that attains to the perfect design that we aspire to in the Kingdom of God! We often try, and sometimes we organize, and philosophize, and politicize better than others, but have yet to see huge groups of diverse people with varying ideas about themselves and about God come together and create a pure and perfect political system. This part of the article is supposed to be black coffee for everyone with a campaign hangover from this recent season. This is supposed to sober us up a bit. This understanding might actually give us all a sense of humor and a greater tolerance for the unsolvable imperfections in our political systems. It might, at the very least, give us a healthy kind of suspicion.

Sons! Be Suspicious
Be suspicious of political rhetoric that promises to save the planet. Be suspicious of politicians who are going to fix everything...with your money, of course. Be suspicious of activists who make you feel as though you may be evil or good depending on whether you agree with them or not. Be suspicious of all political arguments as they are all birthed and sustained by broken people on behalf of broken people.

Don’t be fooled by those who demonize the other political party. Satan has a role in many things, no doubt, and there are evil people and evil leaders that are twisted in their agreement with him, but people don’t join political parties because they have offered a sacrifice to Beelzebub in the backyard. People, as we know, are best motivated when they believe they are doing the right thing. This understanding can be applied to the governments and the people who joined in Hitler’s Germany, or Thomas Jefferson’s America, or Ghandi’s India, or Saddam’s Iraq--regardless of the outcome they were trying to do the right thing. The “right thing” is always a reflection of a desire to agree with the Kingdom of God whether twisted or beautiful in its reasoning. (As a reminder: the Kingdom of God is the way things really are intended to be--a true reflection of the character and plan of God--and it is with this information that the Devil comes to twist and exploit us.)

Our suspicion is absolutely necessary for this primary reason: putting our unreserved trust in a political system is idolatry and God will not support it.

I will repeat that for affect: putting human political affiliation before our citizenship in the Kingdom of God is idolatry and God will be working against it.

An idol is any thing or idea that we give authority other than God. When we give politics the ability to give us our feelings of rightness then it has become an idol. Tell me, dear readers, did your sense of well being rise or fall as a result of this last election season? Hmmm? Well, if you answered either one, then examine your heart for idolatry.

Sons rise and fall only inside of the good pleasure and love of their Heavenly Father.

Believers, it is time to become suspicious of our own motives when it comes to politics. Are we looking for a new Jesus to make us feel OK? I have heard and seen enough whining protest and prideful gloating in this last election cycle here in the U.S. to last a lifetime. The rampant immaturity in this area where believers take pride and position right to the doorstep of personal righteousness is just too much to bear. There is only once source for righteousness--only one source for feeling OK. How far will we fall from grace? Really...do we think that the God who sent His Son to die on a cross to reconcile all the world, to win Gentiles to be grafted together with Jews without prejudice, to see men reconciled with women, slaves with masters, all in order to form a new family in Him...will be the God who chooses either Democrats or Republicans to carry His banner of righteousness into the world? Let’s repent! Neither of these man-made systems will be His choice, because He has already claimed His agent of change in the world: His beautiful Church! Sound the alarm...I said it! Of course, we are not talking about institutions and organizations we are proclaiming Dad’s beautiful family won by adoption bought with Jesus’ own blood! Daddy God has has also emphatically announced the arrival of the only form of government available to His sons and that is His Kindgdom! “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear!” Matt. 13:43 He is King, and we are to obey.

Jesus Offers The Kingdom
There is a culture that does capture us.

There is a citizenship we are willing to fall into without reservation, and give ourselves to without fear of what it eternally represents.

We are romanced by, completely at home in, and totally submitted to the Kingdom of God.

Jesus makes clear our new priority as we choose to follow Him. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matt. 6:33  There is no other system or rule to seek. There is no other civilization to promote ahead of this one--the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is not a democracy, nor is it socialism, nor is it pacifism. The Kingdom has a King. Our King is Jesus. Our Kingdom is based on lineage because it is a Kingdom of sons!

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear!” Matt. 13:43

We don’t enter this Kingdom by agreement with principles, we enter by the blood of Christ and by the Spirit of adoption. When we say we are saved by His blood we don’t just mean that we are saved by a covering sacrifice alone, but what we understand is that we are offered a chance to enter into His Family bloodline! Being “brought near through the blood of Christ” as it says in Ephesians is the nearness of Family connection, not the nearness of mental agreements. This is an adoption that comes with a life-force---a blood transfusion. This is why those of us who live and love as sons in the Kingdom find it repulsive to get excited about systems that reward us with false righteousness based on philosophical agreements. Our veins are flowing with Dad’s blood and we will not be deceived by lesser things. They are all impotent next to the transforming adopting power of God. We are permanent members of an eternal Family, not just temporary associates in a thought-fraternity! Sonship, in itself, is our transportation into the Kingdom and our membership in it!

We Have to Choose
If we continue to look into one or the other of these two political arguments and search for a place to belong, then we will remain lost. They offer no ultimate answers for us. These two political systems were both dreamed up in the minds of imperfect men on behalf of a world full of sinful people, and in the end both are entirely inadequate as a safe place for humanity or a peaceful sanctuary for our hearts. Each political theory, conservatism and liberalism, are, in fact, both built on a pseudo-Kingdom. It is pseudo (pretend, that is) because it assumes that the Kingdom of God agrees with it and that it will prosper and have power. This is a false way to believe. What hubris would it take to claim that the Kingdom agrees with us or with any of our inventions? The Kingdom of God looks at each of us and ask us if we agree with it...and in that moment we make our destiny. To see it any other way is blasphemy just as it is blasphemy for a person to enter an art gallery featuring the great masters--like the Louvre in France--and begin offering loud opinions on what is "really good art."  In some cases the critic is judged more by what he is trying to critique.  Things like gravity and death are already so firmly decided that to argue with them only proves the critic is a fool and then the truth becomes more firmly established when they prove their dominance. The Kingdom is also like this. The Kingdom is absolutely dominant.  It is and will always be, and it is time to let it judge us.  It is time to seek our future inside of it alone. It is time to make our choice.

We have a choice to make
I am now officially pleading with you. Please, let’s not negotiate our way back to safety inside an incomplete political system. In the case of political systems, as we have already seen, this question of which one is agreeing with the Kingdom of God can only be answered in partials and incompletes, and can never be trusted to provide a safe home for us. It is dangerous. Home is a place with family, not a place with ideas. I believe we must choose to make our home with God, rather than make our home in the ideas of men. We must, individually, agree to seek the Kingdom first over all things and fraternities, and be ready to agree and disagree with an endless stream of pieces and parts of every social, political, and religious system on the earth today as we take joy in being adopted into the Family of God! Being a Kingdom son is to be the ultimate conformist (to the Kingdom of God) and the ultimate revolutionary non-conformist (to those things in opposition to the Kingdom of God) and it is a lifetime adventure. Would you choose the true revolution?

If you do, then we can all pray together--in agreement with Christ: “May Your will be done, Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”

How We Know We Are Sons
OK, in this article there is just no room for answering some of the obvious questions and concerns that spring from this discussion. Some of these questions might include, but are certainly not limited to:

• How, then, am I supposed to vote if neither party is perfect?
• Can a believer hold public office or work in politics?
• What about abortion as a deciding issue...what about the important idea-cargo on the ship?
• What about saving the planet, and florescent light bulbs, and Mexican immigration?
• Is non-participation the answer...is that where we are going?

If we were to continue writing on this subject we just might have time for all of them, but for now let’s focus on the matter at hand: How do we grow in our sonship? The answers to the questions above, no matter how valuable, may not give a clear view of whether or not we are growing as sons, but the questions below certainly will. Here are four key questions that reveal our sonship in us as we grow and challenge us to mature in the Kingdom family.

Q: What Makes Me Feel Right?
Slaves might answer this question a thousand ways. Go ahead, guess at a few. Here are some starters: I affiliate with good people. My boss praised me today. I won an argument. I gave money to a homeless person. I don’t hate you. I bet you can keep on going... Sons have only one one answer for this question. Practice saying it aloud until it becomes your mantra.

A: My close relationship with my Heavenly Dad.

Q: Do I Need to Defend The Kingdom?
Defending our position, and our party, and our denomination has become a national pastime especially for believers. I like to imagine how God must laugh in His belly when we also take up arms on behalf of the Kingdom and look to take aim at our enemies in order to keep it safe. In my imagination He laughs once at the idea that we could actually protect Him, and then He laughs again with us when we realize we can’t pull the trigger on our guns of defense because He loves our proposed enemies, too! After we all stop laughing we can answer the question with a smile.

A: No, the Kingdom is dominant and has no competition.

Q: What Separates Me From Others?
My spiritual father used to get on to me because I would blanket criticize some Church traditions. He would say, “Why are you angry at tradition when it is only an invention of man? Don’t you see that some traditions help us?” It was his closing statement, though, that really stuck and gave the revolutionary in me something to hold on to: “Let’s identify any tradition that keeps us from loving someone else...now that is a tradition worth getting rid of.” Sons have this wonderful way of seeing past differences and finding new ways to love. There is only one fitting answer for the sons of God.

A: Nothing, because prejudice is for spiritual slaves, not for sons.

Q: What Is My True Nature?
Well, OK, that question may sound like a tricky trap, but it is not the intent. It is a big question, with big implications. Maybe, there are a bunch of really great answers, and since no one is grading this paper for school, then we can all relax a bit and enjoy it together. Let’s answer it in a way that can be spoken like a child who recognizes it’s intimate connection with its parents. Let’s claim our genetic inheritance. Let’s claim our true nature that has been imparted to us now by Christ’s love and the work of the cross as He brought us near to the Father. Say it aloud with a wink.

A: Love...and I got that from my Dad. So, let us love one another. 1 John 4:7

Our Practical Tradition
Here is a tradition I like. It is a tradition that we are establishing in most all of these articles at Churchthink.com. It is the work of bringing each article into some practical application for life. We will not leave you with a list this time, but rather a simple encouragement to break out a fresh page in your journal and let the Holy Spirit speak to you about these last four questions designed to reveal and encourage your sonship. Ask the Father to share his joy and pride with you where you have been growing as a son. Write them down. Enjoy His pleasure. Now, go back over this past political season in your heart, and maybe even your general tendencies and fixations in the political arena, and ask Him to show you how your sonship is going to begin to change you. Write them down. Consider taking some baby steps this week in your prayers, your conversations, and your energy in these areas on behalf of your eternal citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

Ben Pasley

*Now, you can download the well put together PDF of this article for free.  Feel free to share, but do consider linking back to our discussion here!
Kingdom Politics PDF