A Prophetic Voice or a Partisan Ally: Which Will the Church Be?

Lately, I have been spending time in Revelation and in Jeremiah, and from both of these books, a pressing question has come to mind: How does the church function as a prophetic witness in the world today? This past Sunday evening, we studied Revelation 11 in our evening worship service. In this chapter, the Two Witnesses represent the church as a kingdom of priests in her prophetic ministry to the world. 

I have been very uncomfortable with the church's approach to politics and political involvement for a long time.  Michael Horton's Beyond Culture Wars came out in 1994, the year of the Newt Gingrich-led Republican revolution.  As with all of Horton's books, Beyond Culture Wars had a very important message for the church.  Michael Horton has relentlessly fought against all of the intrusions into church life that keep us from focusing our hearts and minds on the Gospel (see his excellent Christless Christianity).  Yet the church is called to speak to the world, in its prophetic function as the witness of God. 

The church, as the Body of Christ, exercises the three offices of Christ in the world.  The Church represents Christ's kingdom and rule.  We are a kingdom and we are co-heirs with Christ.  The Church is a priesthood and all believers are priests of God Most High, having direct access to the Throne of Grace through our Great High Priest.  In our witness to the world, the church is called to be a prophet, to speak the Word of God to the world.

As an exercise in thinking aloud, I'd like to consider some of the implications for the church in her prophetic witness to the world:

1.  A faithful prophet focuses the centrality of his message on the central message from God, Jesus Christ.  Our message to the world is not primarily a political one. 

Implications: We must be careful that we do not communicate to the world that hope is found in the right political solutions.  Our King is Jesus and He reigns.  He is not elected, He cannot be impeached and He will never abdicate His throne.  Nothing that happens in the White House, the State House or on Capitol Hill startles, ruffles or unseats King Jesus.

2.  A prophet does not pick sides and then help that side win at all costs.  A prophet speaks the Word of God.  The prophet's calling is to be faithful to say what God has said, no matter who may be offended or encouraged, helped or hindered by such communication. 

Implications: To the extent that we personally feel loyal and aligned with one side or the other in a political contest, we will be blinded to the faults of those we consider to be on our side and will be reluctant to speak God's truth in any way that would be confrontational to them.  We need to be aware of such blindness and such bias in our own perceptions about reality.

3.  A prophet should speak where God speaks and be silent where God is silent.  God does not clearly reveal His will related to political policy or aspect of governmental life.

Implications: On many issues, the church should be silent.  We tend to "baptize" our own preferences and personal opinions all too easily.  This makes it hard when we're called on to speak the truth in other areas.

Specific Examples:
1.  Recently, Rick Warren tweeted "HALF of America pays NO taxes. Zero. So they’re happy for tax rates to be raised on the other half that DOES pay taxes.”  That sounded mean-spirited and a bit self-serving, from a guy who obviously does pay taxes.  It was also ill-informed and not really accurate, because it does not take into account FICA or state and local taxes.

2.  In recent years, many evangelical churches have been reluctant to speak out on the issue of abortion, for fear of offending visitors or people in their congregation.  I don't think we have the option of speaking only when it will not offend.  We are called to speak up for and love the least and most vulnerable.

3.  Some evangelicals believe that the Bible only speaks clearly on the"moral issues" of abortion and gay marriage.  While the Bible does speak on these issues, the Bible also speaks clearly on issues of justice, care for the poor, stewardship of God's Creation and other "political" issues.  While it does not necessarily offer clear solutions to all of these issues, it does call all people and nations to be concerned about them.  The church's prophetic witness thus must address:

• Abortionists who profit from killing innocent human beings and mis-leading and exploiting women in crisis.
• Tobacco companies who profit from the peddling of death and the exploitation of young people.
• The government who keeps cigarettes legal so it can profit from their taxation, even while it sues the tobacco companies for selling a legal product.
• Radical leftists who want to re-define essential concepts like life, gender, marriage, family, etc.
• Radical rightists who often unquestioningly support corporations who exploit child labor and even prison labor in developing countries.
• Statism, which sees the government as our only hope.
• Consumerism, which sees the free market and the products it supplies as our only hope.
• Those who keep the poor locked in failing schools because they oppose school choice.
• Those who hire lawyers and accountants to help them avoid paying their fair share of taxes needed to make our schools better.
• Lawyers who exploit the suffering of large classes of people so they can become rich and the politicians they support who will not revise the laws to keep them from profiteering in misery.

Well, I could go on, but maybe you could add some suggestions and further implications in the "Comments" section.