The Separation of Church and State | The Bible Doesn't Say That

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of

Trinity Sermons. This week we are continuing

our sermon series, The Bible Doesn't Say That,

where we look at some sayings that sound biblical,

but they aren't actually in the Bible. Today,

we're looking at this idea of the separation

of church and state, the idea that religion and

politics should never mix. But is that really

in the Bible? And is that really how Jesus lived

his life? Tune in as Rob unpacks this for us

and shows us how the Bible really is political

from start to finish. Today's reading is from

the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 15

Matthew 22:15–22

to 22. Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans

to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples

to him along with the Herodians. Teacher, they

said, we know that you are a man of integrity

and that you teach the way of God in accordance

with the truth. You aren't swayed by others because

you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us

then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay

the imperial tax to Caesar or not? But Jesus,

knowing their evil intent, said, You hypocrites,

why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin

used for paying the tax. They brought him a denarius,

and he asked them, Whose image is this, and whose

inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then he

said to them, So give back to Caesar what is

Caesar's, and to God what is God's. When they

heard this, they were amazed. So they left him

and went away. The word of the Lord. Thanks be

to God. So you're enjoying a lovely dinner party

with friends. The food is good. The drinks are

flowing. Everything's wonderful. And then somebody

starts talking about Donald Trump, Pierre Poliev,

Mark Carney. They start talking about tariffs.

They start talking about pipelines. Daniel Smith,

the 51st state. I don't know. And all of a sudden,

you start to feel a little bit queasy. You get

up from the table. You kind of excuse yourself.

You say, I've kind of lost my appetite. What

is going on there? Well, it's kind of like Mark

Twain said. He said that never to discuss politics

or religion in polite company. And the bad news

for you this morning is that we're going to be

discussing both. religion and politics. But thankfully,

I wouldn't consider you polite company. So we

should be okay. But if you think it can be a

stressful thing to talk about politics around

a dinner table with people, it's also very stressful

to talk politics when you are in a church. And

right now we're in the middle of a teaching series

we're calling The Bible Doesn't Say That, where

we're looking at some of the most misunderstood

and misquoted scripture verses that are in, or

aren't in, the Bible. Verses like, God helps

those who help themselves, or cleanliness is

next to godliness, stuff like that. And today

we come to a statement that we're all pretty

familiar with, and yet we might not be exactly

sure where it comes from, and we might... be

tempted to assume that it in fact comes from

the Bible. This idea of the separation. between

church and state. The idea that we should separate

religion from politics. Now, is that idea in

the Bible? Is that where it comes from? This

idea that Jesus is okay in here, in the sanctuary,

but don't let Jesus follow you out of here into

the voting booth or wherever you're going next.

If you've ever felt this tension within you,

you're not alone. Christians throughout history

have wrestled with this relation. between our

spiritual convictions and our political ideas

and our political lives. And as a result of that,

sometimes we have slipped into two temptations,

I will call them, about how we should handle

that tension. Now, one temptation we face is

what you might say is... that we decide we're

going to become apolitical, meaning that I'm

going to stay silent about politics, going to

keep safe about politics. And we say things like,

it's not our place as Christians to get involved

in politics. In fact, I was talking to somebody

at coffee hour just a few minutes ago, and they

said that the church they grew up in, They were

advised not to vote as Christians. And many people

in that brethren denomination still do not vote.

Keep Jesus safely tucked away in your private

lives. He can have your heart. But don't let

him have your politics. Don't let him have your

policies. Don't let him have your own public

voice. And often the verse that is cited by people

in this camp is none other than John 18, 36,

where Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world.

There you go. You see, Jesus himself said it.

He said that there's a kingdom of this world,

government and politics, and he's got a kingdom,

but that kingdom is spiritual in nature. It's

somewhere else. It's heaven after you're dead

and gone. So as far as faith, faith needs to

stay in its lane. and not cross over into the

lane of politics. That's one temptation. The

other temptation that we sometimes fall into

is not to be apolitical and not to stay silent

and safe, but actually to be all political, to

be loud and loyal to our particular political

party because we believe that's God's political

party, or to our candidate because we believe

that's God's candidate. And in that case, Christianity,

just becomes like a mascot for whatever your

political views are. And you probably know somebody.

You probably know somebody who kind of holds

that opinion. And if you don't... I would advise

you just to look around the room because we as

Anglicans, we have a kind of a complicated history

with this whole thing about being tied to politics.

Our denomination was born out of the fusion between

the church and the state where the king became

the head of the church. That's very messy. That's

like all political. All the more reason for us

to talk about this today. So let's talk about

that phrase, right? The separation of church

and state. Where did that phrase come from? Well,

if you think it came from Jesus, you'd be wrong.

It didn't come from Jesus. It came from Jefferson.

200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson writing a letter.

to a bunch of Baptists, Baptists who were worried

that maybe the government was going to start

to encroach on their religious freedoms. And

Jefferson says, no, no, no, no, listen, don't

read all this, by the way. But he says that you

have nothing to worry about. We're not going

to meddle in the church. We're, in fact, building

a wall of separation. between the church and

the state. And over time, that also kind of got

sucked up into people's thinking that there should

be a wall between our religious practice and

our political lives, that government and churches

should keep out of each other's business altogether.

I was reading, getting ready for this week, and

I came across the story of Archbishop of Canterbury

by the name of Michael Ramsey. Back in 1974,

Michael Ramsey took a trip, very courageously,

down to Chile. At the time, Chile was being run

by a violent kind of right -wing regime. He went

down to preach the gospel. He went down to encourage

the church down there. On one occasion, when

he was in a church preaching, there was an armed

soldier at the door. And the soldier kept asking

people who were coming and going, is he talking

about politics? Is he talking about politics?

Is he talking about politics? And then he was

heard to say, as he patted his gun, he's got

to stick to the things of the soul because politics

is for us. The message was pretty clear. You

can have your religion. Keep it quiet, though.

Keep it private. Do not let your religious beliefs

challenge the powers that be, challenge the authorities

around us. And if I'm honest, I think there's

a lot of us that even today think that, yes,

that's kind of what we're supposed to do. Doesn't

the Bible say that while I'm here today to tell

you? Absolutely not. The Bible does not say keep

your faith. Free from politics. In fact, what

we're going to discover today is the Bible is

so deeply political. It is soaked in politics

from the very first page to the very last page.

The Bible is a political book. And if you don't

believe me by the end of the sermon, I hope that

you do. But let's start by turning to that page

number one. The page number one. The Bible, of

course, starts with a story of creation. There

you have chaos and God with his power and his

authority and his rule. He brings order and life

and beauty out of the chaos. That's great. We

know that part of the story. But did you know

that after he creates humankind, his very first

word to humanity is a political word? On page

one. of the Bible. We learn that human beings

were actually created for political power. You're

like, Rob, what are you talking about? Well,

take a look at this. God says, let us make humans

in our image. And we say, oh, what does that

mean to be made in the image of God? Oh, don't

worry, because God answers it in the very next

words. Let us make humans in our image so that

they may rule. That is the first time rule or

authority or power appears in the Bible. God

says this essentially, just like I have power

and authority to create order out of chaos and

beauty out of a mess, I am going to give to this,

my human creature, the ability to do what I do.

I want them to be able to lead and have authority

just like I do. Which means, everybody, we are

political creatures. We're not political in the

sense of partisan politics. We're not political

creatures in the sense of power -hungry kind

of politics, whatever you think of. But what

I'm saying is we are creatures that have been

entrusted. With God's authority to take the chaos

of this world and make it a better world and

make it a more beautiful world. And that is exactly

actually what our politicians today are tasked

with doing when we vote for them. To take the

chaos of our community and make it better and

make this world a more beautiful place. But the

point behind that is that it's not just even

our politicians who've been given that job. We're

all human beings made in the image of God, which

means we are all given the task of using this

political image, this political power to rule

our world on God's behalf. Guys, we're political.

We're all political. We were created that way.

Now, the question remains, how do we use that

power? Do we use our political power for good

or for evil? You just got to turn over a couple

more pages in your Bible to like page three,

and you will see a problem emerges. And no sooner

have we been given the power to rule than we

try to use that authority for our own advantage.

I mean, Adam and Eve, they were supposed to rule

with God as God's representatives, but they decide

they want to rule without God and they want to

do things their own way. And so what the result

is, instead of bringing order and beauty into

this chaotic world, things start to work in reverse.

The beautiful world starts to kind of become

more chaotic. There is sin and fear and blame

and brokenness and hiding and all this stuff.

If you're reading the Bible and you come to Genesis

3, one way to understand what is going on in

Genesis 3 is simply this. It is a complete failure

of politics, right? Rather than rule as God's

representatives, human beings try to take the

throne for themselves, okay? And from that point

on, again, if you're reading the Bible, it's

all politics. But from that point on, essentially,

the rest of the biblical story, is the constant

search for some human being, someone made in

the image of God who can actually exercise the

kind of political power that God intended in

the way that God intended. And God says, I'm

not giving up. I'm not giving up on these human

beings. I'm going to find that person. I'm going

to call that person someone to reflect my own

political image. And of course, it starts by

him calling this particular human being whose

name was Abraham. And he said, Abraham, listen,

here's what I want to do with you. I want you,

since you're made in my image, to exercise leadership

and to rule this world in such a way that you

will restore all that has been lost. That's a

good idea. But Abraham proves faithful in one

moment and faithless in the next. And so does

his children and his grandchildren and his great

-grandchildren. Be the kind of ruler. Exercise

the kind of politics that God intended them to.

Eventually, it kind of degrades totally where

Abraham's descendants don't really want to have

anything to do with God as a king anymore. They

want to have their own king. God says, look,

look, look, they're now completely rejecting

me as their king. And thus begins this time in

Israel's history where they have kings. It doesn't

work out really well. The very first king they

appointed, King Saul, he's a failure. The next

king is David. In some ways, he fails. even more

spectacularly than Saul. And then David's son,

Solomon, makes a total mess of things. You know,

Israel is broken up. The kingdom is shattered.

And as a result, you know, oh, and he was an

idolater and he had a whole bunch of wives. None

of these guys, none of these guys were able to

reflect God's wise rule to the world. They just

keep getting it wrong. Now, there were these

other people during that time. who their job

was to hold these politicians to account and

to call out their injustices. They were called

the prophets, the Old Testament prophets. In

fact, it's not a bad way to understand what an

Old Testament prophet is. It is someone who says

to the leaders, hey, get back on track. Hey.

Start doing what you're supposed to be doing.

You're not doing what God intended. You're supposed

to be creating a better world, a more beautiful

world, a more ordered world. So get at it. Start

defending the poor. Start, you know, fixing injustice.

And so you had prophets like Nathan, a prophet

called Nathan. He confronts King David when King

David is abusing his power. And you have prophets

like Elijah who stand up to... King Ahab, when

he's exercising all this kind of corruption and

injustice. And Isaiah and Jeremiah, they speak

out against these kings that were constantly

leading people astray. I'll give you one example

of a prophet. This guy's name was Amos. And Amos,

he was speaking out against the screwed up politics

of his own day. He says, hey, hey, kings, you're

levying a straw tax on the poor. You're imposing

a tax on their grain. Guys, tax, this is all.

this is all politics we're reading. It's all,

it's all politics. You're oppressing the innocent.

You're taking bribes. You're depriving the poor

of justice. This is like today. This is tariffs.

This is pipelines. This is Qatari jets, right?

But the bribery, this is healthcare. This is

the Bible. The Bible is all politics, right?

And all the while God is keep searching. Gosh,

there's got to be somebody out there who will

actually exercise political authority in the

right way. But how and who and when? And then

we find out the answer to that question when

we get to the New Testament. We find that Jesus

is the one who finally gets it right. Jesus,

he came not just to rescue souls. He came to

rule the world. On God's behalf. And when Jesus

shows up, surprise, surprise, guess what? He

starts talking politics. I mean, I would say

this, that if you were to go back then and visit

a crowd of people that were listening to Jesus.

What would you be hearing Jesus say 2 ,000 years

ago? Yes, he may say something about loving your

neighbor. Yes, he may say something about forgiving

your enemies. But definitely, he's going to have

something to say about politics. He has this

great political announcement that Jesus makes,

especially at the beginning of his ministry.

But basically, every day, I think he probably

would have talked about the fact that a kingdom,

the kingdom of God, He says, I'm the one, everybody.

I'm the one who's finally come to bring God's

rule back over this world. You guys know the

plan always was that there would be a human being

that was properly made in God's image and would

be a perfect embodiment of God's rule. Well,

we've done a pretty cruddy job at that, but now

I am here and I am the one. And so Jesus begins

his public ministry by saying things like this

over and over again. The time has come. The kingdom

of God, political word, is here. The kingdom

of God has come near. This is political language.

You guys know that right now. Kingdom of God.

That word would have landed like a thunderclap

in that day and age. Why? Because there already

was a kingdom, right? It was called the Roman

Empire. And there already was a king. That was

Caesar. Even the statement, I don't know if you

guys know, but that word good news is the word

gospel. In the first century, whenever Caesar,

you know, won a battle or had a great victory,

they would send word throughout the kingdom,

throughout the empire, saying Caesar has won.

And you know what they called that? They called

that a gospel. That was the good news of Caesar.

The gospel of Caesar. He's won again. He's done

it again. Jesus just steps in and he steals that

word. And he says, hey, I've got better good

news. I've got a better gospel. I'm a better

king. I'm creating a better kingdom. It's all

about politics. Jesus, what is going on? And

Jesus doesn't just show up and talk politics

this way. He also, he takes on for himself these

political titles, right? A Messiah. What's a

Messiah? The anointed one. That is the king.

in the line of David. Jesus Christ. Christ was

not just Jesus' last name. It wasn't his last

name. It was a title. It was a royal title. Lord

is a word that Caesar claimed for himself. Jesus

says, I'll take that title. Thank you very much.

Son of God. There are coins that are found from

that era that Caesar minted that had his picture

on it and said, Caesar, the son of God. Jesus.

says, I'm the son of God. He takes Caesar's title

from him, right? Even the Prince of Peace, when

you think of it in that context, you know, it's

not like a nice cozy, oh, Prince of Peace, doesn't

that feel good? No, no. Prince of Peace was a

direct challenge to the Roman peace, the Pax

Romana. Jesus says, I'm the real king. I'm the

real one that's going to bring peace. Each of

these titles, political edge to them. Guys, are

you starting to see? Just how political the Bible

is, right? If Jesus is Lord, if you say that,

then that means you're saying Caesar is not the

Lord. And that's a political statement, a dangerous

political statement. But anyways, Jesus. does

something really brilliant, at least according

to Matthew's gospel. When he gets started on

this political campaign, he decides to go and

first lay out his political platform. And so

for three long chapters in Matthew's gospel,

Jesus goes and he climbs up a mountain and he

starts laying out his political platform. This

is his manifesto of the kingdom of God. platform

for the kind of kingdom that Jesus is creating,

and it's laying out what it looks like to rule

in God's way. And so if you look through this

platform, it's like totally upside down. It's

totally different than the world's kind of kingdom.

In this kingdom, Jesus says, you know who's in

charge? It's the poor in spirit. It's the meek.

It's the peacemakers. It's those who hunger and

thirst for righteousness. These are the ones

who are going to inherit God's good world. Jesus

redefines, redefines what power and status and

justice looks like. So guys, this is Jesus, the

politician. By the way, we're gonna spend all

summer looking at the Sermon on the Mount. We're

doing a series called Summer on the Mount, and

it'll allow us to dig in deeper to the Sermon

on the Mount. But let me just tell you this.

When you're reading the Sermon on the Mount with

your cup of coffee, it is not meant to be just

a nice little devotional thought for the day.

This is the constitution of the kingdom of God,

and it turns... Everything upside down. And when

you start saying stuff like this, you're bound

to run into opposition. And that's exactly what

happens to Jesus. He has showdown after showdown

with the religious leaders and political leaders

in some cases. And for example, the one we read

today is a classic example. Very famous. Today's

reading. Jesus, the Pharisees are trying to trap

him. They say, hey, Jesus, is it lawful for us

to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Guys, it's a political

question. If he says yes, then he risks offending

all the Jews who see Roman taxation as complete

oppression. If he says no, then he's inviting.

Roman retaliation. So what does Jesus do? He

asks for a coin. He says, oh, whose image is

this on the coin, right? Remember I already told

you, Caesar had his image on the coin. They say

it's Caesar's. And then he says, well, then give

to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what

is God's. What a brilliant response. Right? When

I read that, I can't help but that word image

jumps out to me again. Remember Genesis 1, made

in the image of God. And I think what Jesus is

saying here, yes, give your coin to Caesar, but

give your whole self to God because you belong

to him. There's no... neat separation here between

religion and politics or church or state or whatever.

Jesus is actually calling for your complete allegiance.

He wants your body. He wants your choices. He

wants your resources. He wants your voice. He

wants your allegiance. He wants all these things

belong to God, according to Jesus, because God's

image is stamped onto you, right? And Of course,

we know where this all goes. Jesus keeps having

these showdowns and eventually he gets up on

the wrong side of a political violence. It comes

crashing down on Jesus. But it's not a tragedy.

It's not a mistake that this happens because

when they finally decide to kill him, ironically,

that is the exact moment where Jesus ascends

the throne and becomes the true king. Right when

it looks like he loses power is the moment. He

actually gains power. Look, they give him a cross

for a throne, right? They give him a bunch of

thorns for a crown. You know, they give him some

purple cloth and pretend it's a robe. Kings usually

have scepters, but in Jesus' case, they give

him like a, they have a staff or something and

they beat it with him, right? It's so interesting

because the Romans think what they're doing here

is humiliating Jesus, but inadvertently, What

they're really doing is they are enacting the

coronation of the world's true king. And the

reason we can say that is because we know that

three days later, two days later, on the third

day, he rose from the dead, thus proving that

he was who he said he was, that he is who he

says he is. He is the true Lord. He is the king

of all the world, the one that we've been waiting

for. And here's what I find hilarious. Jesus,

so he rises from the dead, and the first thing

that he really starts doing once he's risen from

the dead is he starts talking more about politics.

I think, Jesus, you really love politics. And

he's like, yeah, I love politics. Because here's

what he says after he rises from the dead. He

doesn't say, okay, everybody, now go find religion.

No, he makes this political proclamation, right?

And this is what he says to all his followers.

He says, all authority, political word, in heaven

and on earth has now been given to me. I'm in

charge, right? Go therefore and make disciples

of all nations. Go teach the world how to live

in the way of my kingdom. Do you remember the

manifesto I gave you back on the mountain, you

know, a year or so ago? Yes, go do that. Go out

into the kingdoms of the world and invite to

live under the reign of the resurrected king,

me, Jesus. And he also says, he says, remember,

I'm with you until the end of the age. This is

like amazing. Like, now don't get confused here.

Obviously, Jesus is not trying to vouch for some

kind of Christian nationalism, right? That is

not at all what this is about. This is kingdom

politics. right? And out of this commission and

out of this is birthed, I think, the greatest

political movement of all time. And you're going

to be shocked when I tell you that that political

movement is the church. The church is a political

movement, right? I thought we weren't supposed

to mix. No, no, the Bible doesn't say that, right?

The church has always been in this sense. A political

movement, and it always will be. Not partisan

politics. Not like, you know, conservative, liberal,

NDP. Not that kind of politics. Kingdom politics,

right? So what happened next was these Christians,

they just went everywhere. They went to all the

nations. They went to all the other kingdoms.

And they said, hey, everybody, good news. There's

a new king. Brand new king. He doesn't live in

Buckingham Palace. He doesn't live in Rome. He

doesn't live in Ottawa or Washington. Oh, and

by the way, you didn't even vote for him. We're

just here to tell you there's a brand new king.

And can you just imagine how this would have

sounded? If you want to see what this looks like,

just read the book of Acts. Because the book

of Acts is all about politics. Are you guys getting

the trend here? It's all about politics. Paul

and other Christians, they go about. In fact,

once they go to this city called Thessalonica

and they get to Thessalonica and they start announcing,

hey, everybody, there's a new king. And this

huge mob grabs them and drags them before the

authorities and they want to arrest them. And

this is what they tell the authorities. Look,

these men, they've caused trouble all over the

world, right? And now they've come here and get

this. They are defying Caesar's decrees. saying

there is another king, one who is called Jesus.

Wow, right? The whole city is thrown into turmoil.

It looks like, if you were to read this, it sounds

like they're trying to launch like a military

coup or something like this, but this happens

like six times. In the book of Acts, Paul goes

to a city. He gets arrested. They say, you're

committing treason. The authorities say, what

are you talking about? And he says, well, listen,

here's the deal. There was this guy named Jesus

of Nazareth. And he lived and he died and he

rose again. And now he told us to go and to care

for the poor. And he told us to go and love our

neighbors. And he's also told us that one day,

oh yeah, one day he's going to take over all

the kingdoms of the world. you, even though you

are a politician, you better check yourself because

you are actually living under his authority and

actually all the self -proclaimed rulers and

leaders of the world are accountable to the true

king of the world, Jesus Christ, who lived and

died and rose again. Do you see how the church

was not apolitical? was also not all political

in a partisan way. It was kingdom political.

The kingdom spread, not through violence, didn't

spread through revolution, but just because these

Christians lived out the kingdom constitution,

declared boldly their allegiance to King Jesus.

And like I said, if you flip to the very end

of the Bible, you see this is where the whole

story ends. It's political to the very end. There

is this political future that is painted saying

that one day every other empire in this world

will fail and fall and only Christ's kingdom

will remain. In fact, the last book of the Bible,

let's look at the book of Revelation. We read

this, the kingdom of this world will become the

kingdom. of our Lord and of his Messiah, and

he will reign for how long? Forever and ever.

It's all politics from page 1 to page 1001. So,

to end, I think we have to ask the so what question.

What does that mean for us as the church? Right?

Well, it definitely means we're not supposed

to be apolitical. We already talked about that.

We're not supposed to be all political, rah -rah

for our candidate. This is God's chosen one.

No, we're supposed to be kingdom political, which

means three things. First, the church must bear

public witness to King Jesus. That is the most

basic political act you... can do you don't need

to go flyer the neighborhood you don't need to

go do any you know sign up for your local constituency

office or whatever you just have to declare your

own allegiance to jesus and not as just some

private little spiritual thing you do but you

have to be willing to stand up for jesus to declare

unashamed that yes i believe i believe that jesus

is this world's true king Have you done that?

Have you made that decision? Have you put your

trust in him? Have you given your allegiance

to him? Because that is the first and most fundamental

act of politics you can do. And that is the thing

that got the early church into so much trouble.

Might get you into a little bit of trouble too,

but that is the first move of the church. It's

just to bear public witness to King Jesus. Second

though, we then have to be willing. to confront

injustice with courage and clarity. Remember,

the church's job is not to seize political power

from the state. That's not how it works. But

at the same time, we don't... stay silent in

the face of injustice. Just like those ancient

prophets, we got to find our own prophetic voice.

We got to find our own political voice, one that

speaks up for the poor, one that challenges oppression,

and one that confronts political corruption whenever

we see it. I just ask you, do you have that voice?

Have you found that voice? Are you passionate

about that? That's an important job of the church

even today. And then thirdly, and finally, We

live. We have to live out the politics of the

kingdom of God. We don't just point our finger

at all the problems that are out there in the

world. No, we embody a different way of living

through sacrificial love and through justice

and through reconciliation and forgiveness and

hospitality and all these wonderful things we

learn about every single Sunday here at Trinity

Streetsville service. You know, the church shows

the world. what it looks like in practice. We

don't force a Christian nation on other people.

We just simply build for the kingdom of God through

faithful witness and love and justice. It's like

N .T. Wright says, the kingdom of God is not

from this world. Yeah, you see, you're right.

It isn't from this world, but... It's emphatically

for this world, like it or not. Politics and

religion go together. Caesar gets your coin,

but God gets your whole life. The coin bears

Caesar's image, but you bear God's image. So

give to God what is God's. Give him your loyalty.

Give him your voice. Give him your life. And

become a subject of King Jesus. Become a citizen

of the kingdom of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.