Should Politics Matter to the Church?

This morning at Deeper, Pastor Jeff listed several complaints that people have about Christians. One of the things he mentioned was that Christians are seen as being political, which I suppose is true when you look at Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition, Liberty Magazine, the Moral Majority, and the so on.

I was reading Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey and he addressed that very subject. The question Philip brought out was simply "Does God pay attention to national boundaries?" Is the United States or any other country really judged as a national entity? The answer, for both Republicans, Democrats, and everyone else, is a resounding NO!

If you take a look at the life of Paul and all of his writings, you'll notice that Paul cared very much about the individual churches he and his friends were ministering too. I believe you'll be hard-pressed to find in any of Paul's teachings the concept of a "Christianized" Rome. Even the Book of Revelation gives messages to God's followers, but dismisses Rome and Babylon and all the other nations completely.

Historically, we see that the closer the church moves to power the further away from its mission it gets. Look at the Dark Ages, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Crusades, just to name a few. You could also look at modern day Poland, where the Catholic Church has a close church-state relationship with the government there, or even modern day America where various Christian denominations will preach for or against a political candidate unless he or she takes agrees with their viewpoint on everything.

So the question then becomes, what is the church's mission? According to Jesus, the mission of the church is to be an embassy, and Christians ambassadors, for the Kingdom of Heaven (or Kingdom of God). Jesus constantly talked about Kingdom living, and the profound effect that would happen on your life when it encountered the Kingdom of God (ex. The Beattitudes). The church shouldn't spend it's time worrying about who is "God's Man" for this political office, or "God's Woman" for that leadership position. Clearly the first Christians didn't, since there were a string of violent (and in some cases, insane) emperors over them (Tiberius, Nero, Caligula, etc.)

All politics does is serve as a divide. Politicians are men and women very much like you and I. By debating endlessly who is a "good person" or who is "ungodly" or "socialist" or "a warmonger" we miss site of what we should be doing, which is representing the kingdom we do belong too, the everlasting Kingdom of God. It's okay to be informed, even involved in the political process, but all to often it consumes us, and let's face it, if we're all consumed by President Bush this, President Obama that, Congress this, Rush Limbaugh that, the Kingdom of Heaven will be a pretty lonely place.

Let's we, as a church, do what we are supposed to be doing, and show people how wonderful it is when they encounter the Kingdom of God!