Speaking Truth in a World Obsessed With Lies
Howdy,
Our elections as they come around every two to four years depending on local laws have taken on a moral value that I am not quite sure they deserve. That’s not to say who gets into particular offices is not important. It actually is more important than it used to be primarily because our government on every level is made up of so many people who are not elected to be there. The power of appointment to the bureaucracy, and at the Federal level the judiciary, is not how our Founding Fathers wanted their country being organized. Ideally most Americans would not know anyone in the National government outside of their local post office employee.
If this seems like an odd opening to a prayer and worship help I can see how you would think that. The twists and turns of how our civil government is run doesn’t seem like something that might be related to the Bible, Jesus, or the Christian faith. However, when almost every area of life is saturated with who is voting for who and why, it is good for us as believers to think about how we are to interact with this world as it exists. No matter where you go or what you watch it seems like we can’t escape from it. Rather than hide in the mountains like I would prefer to do there is an opportunity here for the church to help unbelievers see that there are more worthy things in life to take care of, and that there are better ways to improve our culture than politics or to place our hope in men with clay feet.
Last week in our Wednesday prayer meeting and bible study we talked about Fake News. Lev. 19:11 says, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.” If there is anything we can all agree on it is that it seems like it is more and more difficult to know what to believe. Just telling the truth is as much an eighth commandment question as a ninth commandment thing. It is an act of theft to keep people from knowing things that might help them make decisions in their day-to-day life, and this is especially the case when it comes to voting and supporting folks running for a higher office. We need to be able to make honest decisions based on real info that we can trust. How does the church then fit into this? Well, remember the nineteenth chapter of the book of Leviticus is written to the people of God. In this context Moses is repeating what the Lord has said to them before about their love for Him and for one another. Seven verses after what we read above is v. 19 which we know because Jesus quoted it: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”
While we usually associate vengeance with physical violence it is also true that folks often use words to do just as much damage as any sword or firearm could do. As you watch political ads it seems like this is their main goal. They want you to vote against the other candidate as much as they want you to select their person. For Christians then to involve themselves in the process means to remember what Lev. 18:19 says. If we are going to cast our ballot in a certain way then we need to do so for positive and for righteous reasons. We also need to make sure that we are acting in a way, no matter how much we may disagree with the person on the “other side”, that honors them as a human being made in the image of God. Jesus won many people to the gospel because regardless of their intent, His was to be honest and hopeful in His interactions with them. Merely because a someone is a politician doesn’t change our responsibility to treat the individual with the same love that we show ourselves, see the last part of that verse. In fact our love for enemies does not discount that they are enemies. God does not expect Israel to all of a sudden act as if Philistines do not sacrifice their children to Molech or that Jezebel is a Jezebel.
That is a mistake many often make when it comes to dealing in truth with one another. They think to show honor one must downplay the sin involved. Yet when we see Daniel in front of Nebuchadnezzar or John the Baptist before Herod or Paul with Felix, or even Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well there is no sense in which the men witnessing pretend that these folks are not pagans serving another god. To call them out of darkness and into the marvelous light of the gospel is the very act of loving your neighbor as yourself. You should desire that all men might flee from the wrath to come and embrace the hope found alone in the savior of sinners.
When applied to the type of political realm that we have today imagine what effect it would have on those seeking higher office if we loved them as Christ has loved us. Speaking the truth boldly, with power and authority, yet with the desire to keep the fifth commandment and show honor to whom honor is due. We’ve mentioned it before but if we hope to have the kind of 2 Chronicles 7:14 victory we want then we need to be on our knees seeking a 1 Timothy 2:2 solution. Even before that of course if we should be combating the fake news society by witnessing the truth in love. It should be our goal to correct lies when we hear them, to protect our own ears if for no other purpose that we can muster at that time. This is in order that we might see good things return to our culture and our politics. That desire must begin in the church.
In closing, a lot of the reasons why the Christian world has such a poor effect on the non-Christian world is that the people of the book don’t act like the people of the book. We allow all kinds of false dealings to happen between brothers and sisters. Receiving bad reports is almost a game among us. We hope folks fail so that we can take over. None of it is in keeping with how we should treat one another in Jesus. Go back to the Lev. 19:11 passage. We know that so much of our political class does nothing but deal falsely and lie about one another. They hold grudges like no one’s business. If we want to see that change in the big picture, as Christ notes in Luke 16 we need to take care that the culture which produces these politicians changes itself, through the salt and light of God’s people showing them what it means to love and speak in truth in grace and peace to those we love in our redeemed hearts.
Here’s another word:
https://www.reformationscotland.org/2021/03/18/being-salt-and-light-in-a-culture-of-self-idolatry
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church
