The question was not a spiritual one. It was a political one. The Roman government had stripped the Jews of the right to dispense capital punishment, and they were angry. Again, they were seeking an uprising to overthrow Roman rule. They wanted political solutions. Plus this question would give them the opportunity to accuse Jesus, no matter His response.
And, again, Jesus took the political and turned it to the spiritual. “Let any of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And suddenly those men were not looking at a Roman law or the sins of the lady, but were instead examining their own hearts.
Jesus, and the first-century church that He established, had a disregard for the politics of their day. Believers were arrested, imprisoned, beaten and put to death for their faith, but you do not see them complaining about the oppressive government that did it. You do not see them seeking to change earthly rulers or kingdoms. You instead see them obsessively seeking to bring glory to Jesus under whatever rule they found themselves. They understood that the endorsement and protection of the government was not important, because God was in control. Their only concerns were making disciples and honoring God with their lives, regardless of who ruled the earthly kingdom in which they lived. Why should it be different for us today?
2) We do not know what is best.
Each election cycle I hear it spoken: “We need to elect godly leaders!” And we advocate, endorse and defend the ones we believe fit that description. And, if they appear to be losing or lose, we panic and wail. And if they appear to be winning, we rejoice (and often gloat). But here is the problem: We actually have no idea what God wants.
The Bible makes it clear that God raised up and tears down leaders at will. They wither and fade under His breath. And they rise to power just because He thinks it.
We also know that, at times, He raises up good and noble leaders. He also, at other times, raises up wicked and corrupt leaders. Both serve His purposes and accomplish His will. And both will quickly fade when that purpose is complete.
So, how do we know who God wants in power? Many times, we have actually fought against the will of God and have done so with passion. How do I know? Because “our guy or girl” lost.
That is why the only clear instructions we as the church have regarding earthly leaders is to 1) honor them and 2) pray for them. We are not instructed to celebrate their rise or their fall. And we are not instructed to endorse or attack them. We honor them, we pray for them and we do the important work that this world’s rulers cannot do.
3) It is not our kingdom.
At the moment of our transformation through faith in Christ, we become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We suddenly find ourselves living as foreigners and strangers in a temporary and fallen land, while our citizenship is in an eternal and infallible Land. And we are ambassadors of the Kingdom. And that new Kingdom should have our loyalty and allegiance. And our focus should become expanding that Kingdom.
We, as followers of Jesus, should be consumed and obsessed with His Kingdom. Our mission is to make disciples for that Kingdom. Our hearts are to long desperately to see that Kingdom come. And we know that we cannot serve two masters.
And so, while we may have gratitude for the earthly nation in which we live and the benefits of that residency, we know the true Kingdom for which we live, fight and die. And it is a Kingdom that is built on love, mercy, grace, service, and sacrifice. We fight in an entirely different way using entirely different weapons. And it directly conflicts with the way earthly and political battles are fought.
We know that every earthly kingdom and nation is destined to fall. It will happen, sooner or later. So we focus on building the only Kingdom that will last. And we certainly should not engage in any earthly battle, political or otherwise, that will cause us to compromise the love, mercy, grace, service and sacrifice of our true Home.
4) Politics are a symptom, not a cure.
I often hear believers discussing politics and the need to change the government. This has become a focus of the evangelical church over the last four decades, beginning with the Moral Majority of the late ’70s. The idea is that if we want a godly nation we need to elect godly leaders. And the idea is completely false and equivalent to trying to make the tail wag the dog.