Following Jesus During an Election Year

This morning I read the sermon notes from a pastor's message about Christian's role in the election process, entitled "How Would Jesus Vote?" The Sermon was preached by Fred Miller, pastor of the Cumberland Valley Church where my wife attened for several years before we met. The message is from a couple months ago and makes some great points. Since the elections are just months away, I thought I'd share some of this with you. Fred made several great points for how we as Christians can view politics in an election year.

The first question is "Would Jesus Vote?" Although we cannot answer definitively, we can ascertain from His actions that Jesus definitely did choose to use flawed (disciples and sinners) and temporal (feeding and healing people's physical needs) things to accomplish God's will, an eternal purpose. The implication is that even though candidates for political office are still flawed and human, they can do a job which promotes good works and the purposes of God here on earth, such as giving the community the freedom to share God's message, aiding the poor and oppressed such as minorities or immigrants, and carrying out the justice system. The Scripture supports that Government does provide two things that God is very much concerned with: 1. Doing good for people (Romans 13:4) and 2. Promoting freedom to live and proclaim our faith in Jesus (1 Timothy 2:2-4).

The second question, and rather the main point, is "How would Jesus vote?" In his sermon Fred noted Luke 4:18-19, where Jesus is quoting Isaiah the prophet. In that passage you will find both spiritual and social implications to the Gospel - which affects both our relationship to God and our relationship to others. Fred's conclusion is that Jesus would likely vote "for the candidate who will do the most good for people, and who will free us up to share the gospel." It's important to realize that we cannot force others to follow the teachings of Jesus by law, thus creating a "theocracy." Christian morality cannot be legislated. The government can, however, do things for the common good that many individuals within the general public will not do on their own. Consider Isaiah 58:10, and Zechariah 7:9-10, for example, to understand God's perspective of how we should treat people within our midst. The government can also play a key role in those causes and carrying them out.

Finally, some practical points to what Jesus would look for in a candidate to support are as follows:
How does the candidate...

1. Value all human life (Acts 17:25)...how does the candidate view the young, the elderly, minorities, the unborn, the disabled, those from other countries, and even those in other countries? "Jesus would want a leader who is pro-world, not just pro-America."

2. Care for the welfar of all, especially the poor (Proverbs 29:14)...how does the candidate view assistance to those who are the least well off? Is the candidate most concerned with benefiting those who are already rich, or with assisting those who are needy?

3. Support economic and social justice (Psalm 82:3-4)..."To pursue justice is to protect he weak from the strong" Justice includes more than just punishment of evildoers and convicted criminals.

4. Pursue peace (Psalm 34:14)...war is not God's best plan for the nation of the world. Although it is inevitable, and a clear sign of the last days, there is still a way to seek resolution without violence. Leaders should be in the forefront of such pursuits. "[Pursuing peace] makes violence a very last resort because violence kills life - and it stirs up resentment and anger in future generations."

5. Care for the earth's resources (Psalm 24:1)...Jesus teaching always included the concept that God considers us as stewards of all that we have, and will ultimately give account to Him for every one of the those things. Is the earth not also part of our stewardship? "The earth belongs to God - but he has given it to us to use and care for. We must not just consider 'today', but how our actions will affect generations to come."

6. Maximize religious freedom (Matthew 22:21)...Jesus definitely spoke out agains the spritual injustices in His day - the hypocrisy of the pharisees and condemned their laws that actually hindered true relationship with God. He would most likely do the same today. "He would not vote to make our government more Christian - he would vote to give Christians freedom from the governement. We have only one primary allegiance - Jesus."

*All key points and quotes in grey were taken from Fred Miller's sermon notes, titled "How would Jesus vote?" You can download the entire document in pdf here, or you can visit this page for all of Fred's recent sermon notes: http://www.cvclife.org/dnn/SpiritualResources/RecentSermonsAudioandOutlines/tabid/75/Default.aspx

**After this article was originally sent (via email) there was alot of heated discussion and response primarily, I suspect, becaue the topic mixes religion and politics, something that people tend to get very passionate (or annoyed) over. The following message was my email response in conclusion to clarify the purpose of sending this article:

Hey All,

I'm happy to hear so many responses to my email. That was actually the point - to get everyone thinking, because I know that - at least for me - so many times the tendancy is to NOT think about it until we hear a soundbyte on the news, or somebody else voicing their opinion.

Just to clarify two things...

One, my email was not intended to endorse or encourage endorsement for any candidate. I did not say or imply that it was.

Two, my email was actually not even from my own content - as noted it is based on the sermon notes of a friend who was merely giving his congregation some things to consider when evaluating the candidates. I was only paraphrasing some thoughts that I appreciated hearing, because they helped me to think about the election from a different perspective that the traditional capitalistic, patriotic, democratic/republican media perspective. None of the points made in the message were given with specific intent toward one or another candidate. In fact, at the time of the sermon - there were several candidates yet in the race (many months ago).

Again, I'd like to emphasize the Pastor was not actually hinting at any form of endorsement, but rather providing some examples of how Jesus might think about an election, thus encouraging the congregation to question, "what would Jesus value, and in turn, what should I value?" The point here is to encourage asking what God wants us to value, not who does God want us to vote for. If the question was who does He want us to vote for, I think that would take away alot from the point of having a democratic process. God doesn't always tell us what choices to make - He gives us wisdom, to forsee how our choices might affect our lives, He gives us His Word, to know clearly what His will is, He gives us a freedom to make our own choices, so we can exercise our own faith and obedience, and He gives us grace and mercy, so that when we do make poor or wrong choices, we are not destroyed by them. Apart from that, God isn't going to tell us who to vote for. Neither will I. But the conversation, and examination of our options is surely a positive part of the process.