The Politics of Jesus

1
The Politics of Jesus

• Biblical Suggestions for Political Involvement

2
Jesus continuously rejected a crown, but
willingly accepted a cross
3
Views on Political Involvement

• Focus our efforts primarily on political change
• See the primary role of the church as building
  the kingdom of God on earth via politics
• Problems
• Ignores the NT idea of separation of church and
  state
• Tends to turn Christianity into a partisan
  political issue
• Excessive reliance on external methods

4
Views on Political Involvement

• Christians should not be involved in politics at
  all
• See the church as needing to focus solely upon
  evangelism and personal discipleship.
• Problems
• Jesus apostolic non-involvement must be seen
  in light of their political options
• Systemic issues wont necessarily change via
  evangelism and discipleship

5
Views on Political Involvement

• Christians should focus primarily on the Great
  Commission but wisely strategically get
  involved in the political process
• Examples in the New Testament
• Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10)
• Nicodemus Joseph of Arimathea
• Erastus the city treasurer (Romans 1623)

6
Some Gospel-Driven Guidelines

• Reject the temptation to create utopiafor the
  sake of the gospel (John 1633)
• Recognize that we live in a mixed fieldfor the
  sake of the gospel (Matthew 13)
• Move beyond a middle school mentalityfor the
  sake of the gospel (Mark 1042-45)
• Preserve spiritual unity with other believers by
  respecting diversity of political opinionfor the
  sake of the gospel

7
Next Weeks Teaching

• How should followers of Jesus relate to civil
  government its leaders?