The coming of the Kingdom of God to this world in the person of Jesus the Lord transforms and complicates our relationship to our government. As followers of Jesus as Lord within this Constitutional democracy, with her Bill of Rights, we find ourselves living the tensions between public policy and private discipleship as well as the tensions between limited and absolute allegiances. This is inescapably true because the kingdom of God has come in Jesus Christ the Lord right in on top of the kingdoms of this world. We live in the tension of the “now and the not yet” of the kingdom of God! This means “ the U. S. Constitution is not our Bible; the pledge of allegiance does not replace or even rival the confession “Jesus is Lord;” the U.S. is not the church-the light filled community sitting on the hill ; the Declaration of Independence is not our call to discipleship; we do not live to pursue happiness but to pursue the kingdom. The Bill of Rights has no authority over the Sermon on the Mount. The U.S. Supreme Court is not my final judge- Jesus is! The First Amendment’s rights to freedom under the law do not replace “all things are legal but not all things are helpful.”
Because Jesus is Lord of all we do not set aside our convictions in the public square. Yet because Jesus is the Way of love we do not coerce anyone to believe as do we on issues such as abortion, divorce and immigration reform or to vote as do we. We do not expect the Sermon on the Mount to be enacted into law because in this country religion was disestablished by our Constitutions First Amendment. The church in the U.S. has at times seemed frustrated and angry with the government because our government’s laws and policies do not conform with scripture. This vision mistakenly equates kingdom with state—expecting the state to combine it’s powers with the church’s powers to institutionalize and legalize scripture’s vision.
We respect and protect the rights of all citizens, whatever their religion, morality or ethnicity to assert their constitutional rights under our Constitution. Yet these policies and laws do not carry absolute authority over us. We always recognize governments legitimate, but limited authority over us under the absolute authority of Jesus; never reducing Jesus to a private opinion. Our rights under the Constitution never override our calling to live as Jesus’ obedient disciples.
We practice in Christ’s name and by the power of the Spirit the politics of a faithful presence in the world. The Christian faith is a prophetic faith that seeks to mend the world. An idle faith that does not seek to mend the world is a malfunctioning faith. As formed disciples we advocate for just laws and policies in the public square all the while speaking with civility toward our opponents. The political party platforms of Red and Blue in 2016 are clearly not the Messiah’s kingdom agenda as set out in the four Gospels.
God loves the world. Therefore, when we stand opposed to our friends in the world and in opposition to Trump or Clinton’s policies or behavior we do it for the world’s sake! We work for the common good so that everyone flourishes because that seems to be what Jesus the Lord is doing. We support the rights of all citizens, including Christians, atheists and Muslims, to speak in the public sphere without being verbally trashed. This is the advocacy of a politics of multiple communities.