Who First?

            The day after the 2016 election, I awoke with a feeling of hopeful optimism.  After a long, long electoral year, the vote was finally done, and the nation's President had been chosen.  I was so looking forward to a halt in all the campaigning, all the emotionally-charged and vitriolic debates.  Finally, I thought, folks can get back to a normal mode of life, and whether or not they were pleased with the final result, we can at least take a break from all the politics.  That's what I expected, based on my memory of how things had gone in the past.

            Given how unusual this election had been, I should have prepared myself for an unusual aftermath.  Within a day or two after the election was over, I was on Facebook, issuing a general plea for folks to stop cluttering my newsfeed with politically-charged posts.  I exhorted them to take a deep breath of fresh air, and enjoy the fact that the campaign was now past.  Just focus on the upcoming holiday season--have fun!  It was like shouting into the wind.  Meanwhile, numerous posters went on haranguing on one side or the other, becoming steadily more shrill and hysterical.  I started blocking posts from various sources, and “unfollowing” friends that were particularly unrelenting.

            The part I find most discouraging is when I discover among the ranks of provocateurs those who profess allegiance to Jesus.  Whether sympathetic to the Democrats or the Republicans, I have read posts from Christians who, by their approval or their own words, align themselves with sentiments that are most un-Christlike.  The worst I have seen yet is a very large, Southern Baptist Church in Texas which has decided to withhold their mission giving because of a denominational staffer who espoused political views opposite to their own. This staffer called evangelicals to seriously consider whether their political stance aided, or hindered, the advance of Christ's Kingdom.  In response, the local congregation put a halt on their mission contribution, citing concerns with the direction of the entire denomination.  (Remember, this is a reaction to the views of just one man).  The fund from which the church is withholding goes to the ministries and salaries of missionaries all over the world.  But because one denominational official raised concerns with their political advocacy, the church decided to penalize an entire slate of missions efforts.  By the way, the pastor of the withholding church is one of the President's advisors.  When I learned that part, I was completely flabbergasted.

            In this one bewildering incident we uncover a mindset that is all too common among American Christians right now.  We might describe it like this: "My version of what America should look like takes precedence over my duty to Christ's Kingdom on earth."  Here we see a man placing his allegiance to an American President over his commission to shepherd his flock with the heart of Jesus, and to work for the spread of the Gospel around the world.  By his example, he has taught his church that defending a political position is a more important calling than modeling our hearts, words and deeds after those of Jesus, and spreading the values of His Kingdom over the world.  He is also causing his church to defame the reputation of the Church before a culture in desperate need of the very Gospel that is being so badly misrepresented.

This is just one, outlandish example, but we see the same trend working out in smaller ways, with professing Christians throughout the nation.  We see it when Christians, who align with either party, automatically line up behind the policies of that party instead of examining each issue in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and of God's revealed Word.  There are many hot issues which illuminate this trend.  What we should do about all the refugees displaced by Islamic extremism is the most prominent, but there are other issues such as immigration, border security, health care, abortion, marriage, etc.  Each of these issues is packed with emotional TNT on either side.  But let me ask you a searching question: whatever you hold on these issues, why do you believe those things?  Do you hold those positions because of what someone has said on the radio or television?  Do you hold them because you are “all in” for your political party, and if that's what they say on the issue, they must be right?  Do you hold these positions because you are sold out to a certain picture of what America should be like? Because you want to protect your affluence and security? Or are your views on issues shaped by your long and careful study of what God's Word says about them? Have you thought long and hard, wrestled and prayed about how your King would have you represent Him with regard to these important matters?  I want to caution you here, with love.  When my identity as a middle-class American, or as a Republican or Democrat, is expressed before my identity as an ambassador of Christ's eternal Kingdom, there is a serious problem at hand.

In Revelation 11:15, we find a multitude of the heavenly chorus rejoicing because, at long last, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever." How we hunger for that day to come!  Until it does, you have been redeemed for a special purpose.  Your job is to represent the coming Kingdom, to announce its imminent and eternal victory, and to show the world the ethics and values of that Kingdom by your own actions, words and attitudes.  You have been called to be a living demonstration of how different life will be in the coming Kingdom, and already is among those of us who have believed the Gospel.  That's your one and only job.  One day, your diplomatic service will draw to a close.  There will only be one Kingdom, so no need for ambassadors anymore.  We will be recalled to the great Throne of the King, and we will bow our knees before Him.  On that day, He will not ask us if we were exemplary Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals.  He won't even ask us if we were exemplary Americans.  He will ask only if we faithfully represented the values and ethics of HIS Kingdom.  Lest we become swept away with all the political ferment of our day, I urge us all to waste none of our precious time with all that nonsense. We have bigger fish to fry.  I urge us all to remember that we are on the clock, that we have a King who has called us to represent HIS interests, and that there is precious little time to waste.  

Whatever your feelings about the slogan, "America First," that cannot be our motto as Kingdom ambassadors.  Our motto must now and always be: “Jesus first.”