Biblical response to elections

Music.

Greetings and welcome to the Faith Chapel Podcast. My name is Jason,

and I'm the pastor of Faith Chapel.

In Season 2 of this podcast, we have looked at why we have the Bible as an authority

in our lives, and are now discussing issues in our society to see what the authority

of Scripture says about those subjects.

In this episode, we discuss how society reacted to the 2024 United States presidential

election, and then what the Bible says about our response to the political leaders

today. Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for joining us today. We are one day removed from an election in our

country, and I just wanted to go over a biblical aspect of what the Bible says about leadership.

And so with any election, you're

going to have people who have a lot of emotions running inside of them.

Some people go all out for candidates and they really can leave the election

feeling great or feeling really, really poorly.

And then some people feel like the president elect in the case of last night

will represent them really well.

And then some feel like that's not the president that I want to represent me.

So we have a lot of different emotions that can happen in an election.

And I want to affirm that feelings are not something that we can control.

And so the Bible never tells us to control them because they are just a reaction

to the stimuli that is around us.

And so I'm not going to the place of emotion, although some of the points that

I will read off as far as reactions go are filled with emotion.

I just want to set the stage for what a worldly response can potentially look

like in our day and age and what a

biblical perspective of leadership of a nation, of a state can look like.

So I'm someone who is very much able, if I let myself, to get really intense about a sporting team.

It's what I've done since I've grown up.

I get really invested every game I can become very neurotic at.

It is something that I get how people can get so invested in a political candidate

because that's what I experience.

And the emotions, I'm sad to say, the emotions that I've experienced with the

lows of my team losing have been really low to the point where when I was a teenager,

I was a really bad game for my team.

And I went upstairs, I tore down the flag that was on my wall.

So it is something that I, as a person, get that we can get so invested and

so tied into maybe it's the Super Bowl or a national championship game.

Maybe it is just a regular season game.

But I get that emotions can run high even when it comes to elections.

And so I wanted to go over a couple of things that I saw from a perspective

of the positive of last night and also the negative of last night.

These are the reactions to the results of the presidential election.

So a couple of people who had ties to President-elect Trump were very congratulatory.

So Robert F. Kennedy on X said this, congratulations, Donald Trump,

on your historic victory.

Let's bring the country together and make America healthy again.

And this is something that he was wishing for the country and for President-elect Trump as well.

We also have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on X.

Says, congratulations on history's greatest comeback.

Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and

a positive recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.

This is a huge victory.

And so world leaders were getting in on the congratulations.

It's something that this guy was obviously celebrating and has a lot of hope for the future.

And then the House Speaker Mike Johnson on Facebook, he posted,

there is hope and mourning in America again. And it's not like the weeping mourning.

It's a new day is dawning mourning in America.

Donald Trump is now our president elect chosen by the American people for such a time as this.

And so again, these are reactions that people can have to an election when they are excited,

when they are really pumped up about what's happening and what can be a new day.

So these, again, I just want to reiterate, feelings and emotions are not something

we can control, and therefore they are never called sinful in the Bible.

And so these are just a couple of the hope-filled positive reactions we had

from last night. But there were also some negative reactions.

And again, this is where we really feel the emotion of this.

So an actress by the name of Christina Applegate, she said on,

I believe this was on X, Why?

Give me your reasons why. My child is sobbing because her rights as a woman may be taken away.

Why? And if you disagree, please unfollow me. Later on, she put in a separate post.

Please unfollow me if you voted against female rights, against disability rights.

Yeah, that unfollow me because what you did is unreal. Don't want followers like this.

So yeah, done. And so the response there is overwhelming. It is very emotion filled.

She obviously has her thoughts and opinions on what's coming or potentially

coming. And she's very fearful of that.

Then we have another actress by the name of Sophia Bush. She posted this.

Great job giving the MAGA gang more power, America.

Wonder how many folks are seeing this and still saying, but,

but, but at least he's not a black woman in the privacy of their homes tonight.

My heart is broken. And so that's pulling on a different heart string,

basically saying that we didn't want a black woman in the White House.

And that's the only potential reason she could see for not voting for Kamala Harris.

And so, again, this is an emotion filled response that has a very negative overtone

as to what she feels is going to happen.

And lastly, and I think most the the most intense one is by a filmmaker,

Duncan Jones. he said, I think we may have overestimated the goodness in people.

And so again, the idea is that some people are really, really hurting,

reeling from this and whatever their alliances are, whatever their political

associations, they are people who are extremely in pain today.

And so as we have gone through this election, as we have a declared victor in

the presidential race in 2024,

the idea goes beyond just this as to what's in the future.

So we have a couple of months of the current president's.

Can't think of the word, until the next president comes in and we have the next

president that's coming in.

And so what does the Bible say about our leaders?

And that's really what I want to get to.

These people really are hoping, well, the first group is hopeful that things are going to change.

And these people are very, the second group of people are fearful of change that could happen.

And so my argument tonight from a biblical perspective is that we don't need to worry.

We don't need to fret because ultimately God is the one who is in charge.

And so to answer this question about what God says about our leaders,

whether again, it is Joe Biden right now for the last two months of his term,

or if it is president elect Trump in the four years that are in the future,

God has a lot to say about our leaders.

And to me, all of them are exceedingly hopeful because we don't have to trust

in human beings. We trust fully in God.

So in the book of Romans chapter 13, we're going to read verses 1 through 5.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

So Paul writes to the church in Rome, Everyone must submit to governing authorities,

for all authority comes from God, and those in position of authority have been placed there by God.

So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted,

and they will be punished.

For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right,

but in those who are doing wrong.

Would you like to live without fear of the authorities?

Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God's servants sent for your good.

But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you.

They are God's servants sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do

what is wrong, so you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep,

clear conscience. So Paul here really explicitly says that if you are rebelling

against human authorities, you're rebelling against God himself.

Because God is the one who is putting those people in charge.

So whether it's the current president that you have disagreements with or the

future president that you have disagreements with,

scripture is very clear in more than one place, and we'll see this as we go

on, but that God is ultimately the one that places them in power.

And so this doesn't mean that we can't have separate opinions as to what is

right or wrong for the country.

But what Paul is saying here is that we need to be good citizens.

So as good citizens, one of the things that we have the right to do is we have

the right to peacefully protest.

We have the right to peacefully gather together. And that is something that

we have that we can do if we don't agree with what a president or a leader of

the country or the state we're in does something.

And so this is something that we have as a right, and it is within the law,

and so it is something that we can do.

So we don't have to agree with everything, but there are certain things that

we need to do, and we need to do what is right.

We need to do what is right.

So the idea here is that the, so last time we met, which was two weeks ago,

we went over Daniel and how Daniel, there was this edict from the king that

no one should pray to any God except the king for, I think it was a month period.

But Daniel, he disobeyed that.

And he went to his room. He opened the windows towards Jerusalem.

He knelt down and he prayed to God and this got him thrown into the lion's den.

So, we also have other examples. When Paul is writing this, the emperor of Rome

was someone who said, you must worship me.

You must burn incense to me. You must hold me up in high esteem like you do

a deity. But the Christians and the Jewish people did not do that.

So, it is not that you have to do... Doing good, as Paul says here,

doesn't necessarily mean that you are doing whatever the government tells you

to do because they are fallible human beings.

They are broken just like you and me and they are not always correct.

And so when what they tell us goes against scripture,

like Daniel praying to someone other than the one true God or like the Christians

and the Jews in Rome when Paul is writing this letter, worshiping the emperor,

these are wrong things to do and they're not going to do them.

And so this is something that I just want to make that caveat.

It's really important to do what God says above what human authorities say.

But scripture does say that God is the one that places these rulers above us.

The emperor of Rome at the time that Paul is writing this is a guy by the name of Nero.

He is at the time of the writing, which is eight years prior to when he starts

persecuting Christians, blaming them for the fire that destroyed a lot of Rome and executing them.

So this was eight years before that. And the Christians and the Jewish people

had a good stand with Nero at this time.

But even when they don't.

But even though they did have a good relationship, the Roman Empire wasn't completely just.

So there was injustice around. One of the examples of this that I found was

that social status really influenced the justice system.

So if you had a lot of wealth, if you had a lot of status in Rome,

you could easily buy your way out of a charge.

And so this was an injustice. but it is something that we need to stand up against.

Injustice is something that God cares deeply about, but it doesn't change the

fact that Paul says to us up here that all authority comes from God and those

in positions of authority have been placed there by God.

And so this is just something that

we have to reconcile, that the human governments we have are imperfect,

but our response is to, when it does not contradict God's justice and God's

law, to be obedient to them.

Paul says here, if you have those who don't have any fear, they are the ones

that are doing the right thing.

So if you are driving down the road and you don't want to fear anything,

you're going to go pretty close to the speed limit.

I have a friend who consistently goes nine miles over the speed limit because he thinks that's safe.

He says he's never been pulled over for that nine mile per hour.

And so he feels safe and comfortable with that.

But if you're not comfortable with that and you really are fearful,

you're going to get closer and closer to obeying the law of the speed limit.

And so that's the idea that is going on here.

When we are obedient, we honor God and no one can say anything negative about us.

But again, this does not make it so that we do when the world says we should

do something contrary to God, we don't follow through with that.

The next one about what God says about our current leaders is found in Proverbs 21, verse 1.

Proverbs 21:1

It says, The king's heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord.

He guides it wherever he pleases.

And in Hebrew, the idea here is like taking a river and cutting out a path for

irrigation to water crops that are away from the river. And so this is the idea here.

So you are taking this stream and you are siphoning off a portion of it to go

in a new direction. It takes work.

It takes intentional effort to do that.

And so the king's heart is like a stream of water directed by God.

He is the one purposefully moving and directing it.

He guides it where he wants it to go.

And so this is something, again, that God does in his sovereignty,

in his grace, in his mercy, and in his plans for the future, he directs the leaders'.

Hearts to where they want to go.

And sometimes, as in the case of what we're going to get to a little bit later

from Exodus, it's not something that's favorable for the people,

something that actually causes them grief and strife.

But it is something that God does.

Then we have another example from the book of Daniel about how God interacts

and deals with human authorities.

So God is speaking in Daniel 4.32 to Nebuchadnezzar.

He is using Daniel as the vehicle for which he is speaking.

So God through Daniel is saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, you will be driven from human society.

You will live in the fields with the wild animals and you will eat grass like a cow.

Seven periods of time will pass while you live this way until you learn that

the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world and gives them to anyone he chooses.

Again, the idea here is that God is in charge.

He is the one that is directing the people, the leaders here.

And what he's going to do to Nebuchadnezzar is to cast him out and to put someone

else in charge of the kingdom for a seven-year period.

And that's exactly what happens. God rules over the kingdoms of the world.

There is not a kingdom, there is not a municipality that is greater than God.

God is in control of them all.

And then in 1 Peter 2, verses 13 through 17, we read, For the Lord's sake,

1 Peter 2:13–17

submit to all human authority.

Whether the king as head of state or the officials he has appointed.

For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people

who make foolish accusations against you.

For you are free, yet you are God's slave. slaves.

So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.

Respect everyone and love the family of believers.

Fear God and respect the king. And so here Peter is again reiterating this.

We need to submit to human authority, whether it's the king or one of his subsidiaries.

This is something that we should do.

And we are to respect everyone and to love the family of believers,

to fear God and respect the King.

This is the edict that Peter is handing to us through God. And it's something

that shows that God is ultimately directing rulers for his plans and his purposes.

Lastly, we get to the story in Exodus where God actually hardens Pharaoh's heart.

And then through Moses, he tells Pharaoh these words.

By now, God says, I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people

with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth.

But I have spared you for a purpose, to show you my power and to spread my fame

throughout the earth. but you still lord it over my people and refuse to let them go.

And so here God is saying that he is directly in charge of what Pharaoh is,

of what's happening to Pharaoh.

Like he is in control of all of these plagues and he could have used the Egyptians

and ruined their whole society, but he spared them for a purpose to show his

power and to spread his fame.

And so this is the idea and concept, again, of God's sovereignty.

When we understand that leadership is from God and that God is ultimately in

control, that he is going to bring things to the end that he tells us about in Revelation,

then we can trust him.

And this is why it's, for me,

it's not something to get riled up over the elections, because ultimately God

is in control and ultimately he can be trusted.

So that just leaves us in my mind with one final question.

What do we do? Whether we voted for and want the president-elect that's coming

in 2025 to be the president of our nation or not,

what is our response as Christians?

Paul, I think, answers this best in 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 through 4.

1 Timothy 2:1–4

Where Paul writes, I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people.

Ask God to help them intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them.

Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful

and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

This is good and pleases God, our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and

to understand the truth.

And so the idea here is that we need to pray.

We need to pray for the current administration and the final two months of their term.

We need to pray for the incoming administration and their four-year term.

We need to be praying over the governor of Indiana.

We need to be praying over the county council in Huntington.

We need to be praying over these people.

And Paul gives the reason why, so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives

marked by godliness and dignity.

This is ultimately our goal. This is ultimately what we want to have happen,

that we are able to live in godliness and dignity, that we are not cast aside, and Paul says,

to really seek God and to ask for these favors upon the leaders so that they

don't make as many mistakes as they would if we don't pray for them,

so that they do make the right policy decisions,

so that they do surround themselves with the right people who are influencing them for their good.

And so prayer is a really big one, but the next one is respect.

And that's what Paul ultimately gets at back in Romans 13.

So earlier we stopped at verse 5, and now we're going to carry it forward to

verses 6 and 7, where Paul says, pay your taxes too for these same reasons.

For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do.

Give to everyone what you owe them. Pay your taxes and government fees to those

who collect them and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.

And this is not always easy. This is not an emotion. This is a reaction.

So Paul can command us to do this. But to give someone honor,

to give someone respect, takes concentrated effort from us.

And it is something that we really need to cultivate in our society.

It's really easy when it's your president. It's the person that you voted for.

And it's a lot harder when it's not. And so in easy times and in hard times,

this is something we need to cultivate in ourselves to live godly lives for

the furtherment of Christ's kingdom.

And so this is really the ultimate goal, something that we should be working

towards, praying for our leaders and showing them honor and respect.

And so as we finish the talk on the election last night, this is really where

we need to move as Christians,

whether we voted for the president-elect or not.

This is something that we need to be moving forward and to even be doing it

for the current administration for the last two and a half months that they have in office.

Thank you again for joining us in our discussion of political leadership from

a biblical and societal perspective.

If you are interested in learning more about Faith Chapel and its ministries,

please visit gofaithchapel.org.

Next week, our discussion turns to the focus of the human desire for immediacy

and how that compares to God's timeline.

Please join us again next time. Have a great day.