Exhortation, September 5

Exhortation, September 5 September 5, 2004

With the Presidential election only two months away, we are entering into an intense political season. As we enter into this final stretch, we should take a moment to consider some guidelines for our political activity. Fortunately, we are in the middle of studying a book called the book of ?Kings,?Ewhich, among many other things, is largely concerned with Israel?s political history. From today?s text in particular, I want to pull a couple of basic reminders about Christian political activity.

First, throughout our sermon text this morning, implicit analogies are being drawn between Solomon and Yahweh. Solomon?s cabinet includes the priest Zadok, who was the high priest at the temple when it was built, but it also includes another man who is called a priest but was probably not a priest in the usual sense. Instead, he was a household manager and personal advisor to Solomon, as the temple priests managed the house of Yahweh. Yahweh has his house and is served by his priests; Solomon too has a house and is served by priests. Further, the kings of the earth bring their ?tribute?Eto Solomon. The author uses a word that is also used for the ?grain offering?Ein Leviticus 2. In a civic sense, the kings of the earth are bringing their ?worship?Eto Solomon. Solomon?s table is at the center of His kingdom, as the altar is at the center of Yahweh?s kingdom.

Solomon and the other Davidic kings were uniquely ?sons of God,?Erulers who were privileged to have a special connected with Yahweh the Creator. But the connection is a more general one, according to Paul. Paul says that all authorities, not just those of Israel, were established by God, and resisting those rulers is resisting God. We submit to rulers for conscience?Esake, because the rulers are administering the wrath of God. We pay taxes because those who demand taxes are servants of God, and Paul goes so far as to say we owe ?fear?Eand ?honor?Eto rulers.

Needless to say, this is a very different attitude than many Americans have adopted toward our civil rulers. Instead of treating them as servants of God, with fear and honor, many Americans treat rulers as open targets for mockery, ridicule, and scorn. There is a time for mockery of political folly: But we do not have the wisdom to know when and how to use mockery until we have learned to give fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor, until we pay our taxes not with complaints but as an act of civil honor. Do not be caught up in the fervor of this political season so that you dishonor rulers that God commands you to honor.

Second, as I?ll mention again in the sermon this morning, Solomon?s success as a ruler was, humanly speaking, tied to the orientation and direction of his heart. His success came from God, but it lasted only so long as he remained devoted to Yahweh. This is dramatically clear in 1 Kings 5, where he tells Hiram that Yahweh has delivered him from every ?adversary and misfortune.?E At the end of his life, however, Yahweh Himself raises up adversaries to plague Solomon. And this happens after Solomon?s heart turns away from Yahweh toward the foreign wives and concubines that he has gathered; he faces political misfortune when his love turns from Yahweh to foreign women.

What is true of Solomon is true of all civil rulers, of all rulers in any sphere. Because God is king of kings, and because Yahweh sees the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and because Yahweh sovereignly turns the heart of the king like a watercourse in any direction He wants, because of all this the key issue for any political ruler is the orientation of his affections, the direction of his heart.

This should be part of your calculation as you determine who to vote for in two months. While you cannot read hearts as God can, you can draw conclusions about a man?s heart from the fruit that he produces. Does the candidate you vote for show any signs of devotion to God? Does he manifest any fixed orientation? Does the candidate you vote for hold to unpopular positions and stand against the tide of public opinion and media attack, or does he trim his sails to the shifting winds of political opinion? You are voting for a man, not a set of ideas, and you have to make some judgment about the man?s character and heart. Humility is one of the key signs of a rightly ordered heart. Does the candidate believe that he is capable of producing national health and prosperity by his own programs and politics? Or does he show some awareness of his limitations and the limitations of political life in general?


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