Thank God for the Election pt.2

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority

2 Timothy 2.1-2

In my last post, I was writing about how Paul calls us to give thanks for those in authority. If that was true for Timothy in Ephesus, we have even more reason to give thanks for our political system and authorities. But that isn't the only reason to give thanks to God at this election time. The main reason is...

We don't worship a politician

Paul goes on to write: For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

The number one reason for giving thanks this election time, as we see our politicians fighting to 'climb to the top of the greasy pole' (you've got to love that this is how a former British Prime Minister - Disraeli - described his victory), is that whoever wins isn't ultimately in power. That is reason to give thanks because:

...they will be answerable to the perfect authority - God 

Everything they do, they will have to give an account - not to a fickle electorate - but to the Living God. In other words - Justice will be done - wrongs will be righted.

...we have been reconciled to him

The truth that God is the final authority, on its own, is not good news for humanity. It will mean that all of our failures and rebellion will be finally exposed. However, the wonderful news is that God himself in Jesus Christ has stepped down to be our mediator. He has given his life as our ransom, so that we can be brought back into God's family. And this is an offer that is held out to all people, whichever group they belong to.

If we have accepted this offer, if we have been forgiven by God through Jesus, we are part of his family and so nothing can separate us from his love (Rom 8.39). What is more, he will use everything (including the disastrous decisions of politicians) for our good (Rom 8.28)

As a result, one feature which will mark out the Christian at this election time is their peace. We will fight for justice in our world and integrity in our leaders, but we will not be anxious. And that lack of fear about the future will mean that we speak carefully and generously - we will not claim to know the motives of others (even politicians!) when we do not actually know them. We will know that the most our politicians can do is manage a broken and sinful world, so we will not ask them the impossible task of being our saviour - we will know that they are merely weak sinners, like ourselves. Instead, even as we seek to help the marginalised and the oppressed - we will know and testify to the truth that the only true Saviour is Jesus.

Next week, we will think about one thing this passage encourages us to vote for...

Thank God for the Election - pt 1

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority

2 Timothy 2.1-2

How excited are you about the upcoming election?! I asked this of our Lunch Club people - the response was not enthusiastic. But their response to the question was positively rapturous compared to the response to the question, "And what do you think about our politicians?"

So I want to give two things to give thanks for at this election time and one thing to vote for (we'll just cover the first reason to give thanks today)

Give thanks for our politicians and political leaders

That's what Paul commands Timothy in this letter. His reason is clearer in Romans 13. Authorities have been placed there by God to promote justice. Now it is true that they might be more or less obedient in the discharge of this responsibility, but the fact that they do it at all is good news for us. It is good that every government says that theft and murder is wrong. There may be corruption that means that individuals get off or get wrongly accused, but the principle is maintained. The alternative is truly horrific - anarchy. If the idea of authorites was something to give thanks for in Timothy's town of Ephesus in the Roman Empire, how much more is it true of us and our political parties.

My old vicar, Gary, used to say that at election time, each of the political parties offers us a shopping basket of policies. The items (policies) in each basket have been chosen for us, we have to choose which basket we want. In each basket there are things we like and things we don't - our job is not to find a basket which only has things we like (very unlikely) but to find the one that overall we like best. 

Talking to someone about this illustration, they said, "So it's choosing the better of two evils". But thinking more about it, I realised that for us in the United Kingdom, it is more positive than that. It is really choosing, "the better of several limited options." In all of the political debates, we understandably focus on the differences between the baskets. But it turns out that in the baskets, which we will be offered over the next few weeks, there is a huge amount that is good and is common to all the main parties:

• the rule of law
• the NHS
• universal free education for children
• anti-corruption
• a police force
• freedom of speech
• the freedom of the press
• democracy
• a welfare system
• tolerance
• etc.

There are people in countries around the world, who would be thankful for any of our main political parties and leaders leading them. That is a reason to be even more thankful than Timothy would have cause to be.

more to follow...

Afraid of not being afraid

‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed towards me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid.'

Ezekiel 39.25-26

The everyday experience of fear is a horrible thing. When you are afraid of something it preoccupies your thoughts - it becomes a squatter in your mind - refusing to leave. It may be to do with a work situation, a relationship tension, a health worry, a reputational threat, a financial loss.

But these verses remind us that there is something worse than fear - not being afraid. God had blessed his people with peace, but in their foolishness they had come to think that they didn't need God anymore, because things were all right. Did they not realise that their experience of peace was a minute, by minute blessing of the Lord. And so they turned away from the one who was their peace. Did they reject him outright? No. More dangerously they simply demoted him. No longer their saviour, he was a saviour; no longer their provider, he was one of a network of service providers.

The message of Ezekiel is that we should not be afraid of things that would make us afraid. God intends that through the experience of weakness, when the future no longer seems clear, we would find the real peace of running to him. So if you are in a chaotic situation, or the future seems hopeless, be encouraged, you are on the cusp of finding true peace in the arms of the Almighty and Living God.

If though everything is good and the future seems bright...

Beware! 

Recommendation

Very short blog today. I discovered, in the excellent Clayton TV, that they have playlists. Some are for particular Christian artists/ bands (e.g. the fantastic Steph Macleod www.stephmacleod.com),  but they also have some themed playlists. The one downside of Clayton TV is its navigation system, so the easiest thing is to google: Clayton tv playlists.