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The Washington Post recently revealed that President Obama has decided to appoint Josh Dubois as the new director for the office of Faith Based Initiatives (Read article here). The office is getting a bit of a makeover and will be renamed, “The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.” It sounds a bit more approachable, user friendly – let’s see if this will ease the grant application procedure.  Heading this newly renamed office is Josh Dubois who served as the director of the Obama campaign’s religious outreach.  Josh Dubois has served with other political figures in other religious outreaches.  He is an ordained pentecostal minister from a small church in Cambridge (no website available) but his training seems mostly political. There is a great article with a limited interview about Dubois and his faith journey available here on the Wall Street Journal.

Dubois’ faith seems to be less of a concern however than does President Obama’s intentions for the policy of this office.  Throughout his campaign then Senator Obama stated that he would revise the regulation for faith based organizations receiving federal money.  These organizations would have to abide by all equal employment legislation, this is a sharp turn from the previous administration who allowed faith based groups to hire like minded individuals.  If these new legal constraints are placed on churches and other ministries who receive federal money they will have to either hire qualified candidates who disagree with their beliefs or lose federal funding.  In other words, if a church who runs a food pantry has a job opening they may be forced to hire an atheist if he is the most qualified.

What the problem with this scenario is that it brings the church under the authority of the state and fails to maintain their separateness.  The faith based initiative in its inception recognized that many churches, mosques and other religious groups were doing a better job of community aid than the government.  So, the government wanted to be efficient and help them help the community.  This was not without constraints and restrictions.  There were stipulations that recipients could not be screened or discriminated against on the basis of faith which is reasonable.  There were also accounting requirements that had to be met.  All of these previous requirements ensured an efficient outreach and let the church be the church.  These new stipulations, however, rob the churches of the spirit that originally inspired these initiatives!  What this will result in is a group of disenfranchised church goers returning to their churches with less resources to do the same job.

Many churches have spun off seperate non-profit organizations as a way to protect their church from federal requirements.  Perhaps the better alternative is to not take money from the government to begin with!  The money may appear to be free, but cost your soul in the end.  I’ll partner with Christ and let the government keep their money.

This is part two of a two part sermon, preached during the 9:45am and 11:00am services Sunday 11/2/08.

G. K. Chesterton retells a famous story from church history in a work titled, “Christendom in Dublin,” “St. Dominic…when he was shown the Byzantine glories of the old Vatican, with its gold and mosaic and metalwork, the Pope half humorously recalled the story of St. Peter granting a miracle because he had no money to give to a beggar.  ‘You see,’ said the Pope, laughing, ‘Peter can now no longer say, “Silver and gold have I none.”‘ ‘No,’ said the priest, ‘and neither can he now say, “Rise and walk.”‘”  The church had lost the power of the Spirit to the power and temptation of money.

Today I think the church is in another similar crisis, although instead of losing our power to a lust for money it has been lost in a lust for power or influence.  I’m afraid that we have thought that the real power of the church lies in us moving as a political unit instead of a spiritual force.  What determines our prophetic voice?  What keeps our relationship with the state healthy?

Luke 20:20-26 gives us some very clear ideas about our relationship with the state.

True obedience to the law (as the Pharisees practiced it) would prevent the faithful from dealing with Roman coinage. Caesar’s likeness stamped on these coins would violate the law against “graven images” (Exodus 20:4). Our best understanding of this specific coin for this tax would have displayed the image of the emperor’s head on one side, and the reverse would contain the ruler’s title and divine status: “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus.”  These coins were not just money or propaganda but portable idols.  Notice Jesus does not have a coin, but has to ask for one from the Pharisees, which reveals where they already stand.

• What things belong to Caesar?
  • Tax (Luke 20:20-26)
  • Obedience in accordance with civil law (Romans 13)
  • 1 Peter 2:17 sums these all up in one word, “Honor.”  We should honor the government, pay the government and it’s servants their dues.
• What things belong to God?
  • Let’s answer this from God’s perspective, Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”
  • But more specifically and practically, we can answer that with Jesus’ own question, “Whose image do you bear?”  (Genesis 1:26)
  • Our primary identification is Christian, not Democrat, Republican, or Democrican.  We lose our prophetic voice when we give our allegiance to anyone but God. We lose our credibility when we speak from human authority and not God’s.

If we are to maintain a pure and unpolluted voice of truth, we as a church must save our allegiance for God alone – Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.  His solution of radical love and salvation is the solution we need in the world today.  Not a new deal, or a contract with America, or change in politics, or programs in government – the love of Christ, in the body Christ is what we need.

Six Practical Applications:

1. Honor and support the government (1 Peter 2:17, Luke 20:25)
2. Use the government to your advantage (See the examples of Paul demanding trial in Jerusalem, (Acts 22:25-26)
3. Speak truth to power – In the tradition of John the Baptist (Luke 3:1-20).  This is not just in politics, but in every arena in life.  If you see power misused you must speak out against it in love.  (Proverbs 20:28)
4. Confess faith in the midst of doubt – evangelism at the highest level confesses faith before complete skepticism.  (See the examples of Jesus at his trial, Luke 22:67-69)
5. Disobey when your allegiance conflicts (Acts 4:19)
6. Never look to the government to solve problems assigned to the church – Only the church can bring salvation.

This is part one of a two part sermon, preached during the 8:30am service Sunday, 11/2/08.

We live as people with dual-citizenship. Members of the Kingdom of God first and members of the country second. We have many demands on us – to both kingdoms and sometimes kingdom values and country values collide.

Very simply stated the church does not exist: for, from, or against government – rather it exists “to” government. This is attested to and explored more deeply by H. Richard Nieburh’s book Christ and Culture. He argues along the consistent Biblical witness that the people of God, particularly the church, exists as a prophetic voice speaking truth to power, particularly the government. And if you think about it, he’s right from Nathan and David, to Elijah and Ahab, to latter prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. They all function outside of government as prophets to the establishment.

We get confused because we think prophecy is about the future, when if you read the Bible prophecy is about right now. Prophecy says get right with God, repent, fall in line with God’s love and compassion or the future looks bleak.

1. Balaam’s Story

• Balaam is summoned by Balak King of the Moabites to curse the Israelites. He is summoned because he obviously is in tune with God and reality so much that he is known for being successful at blessing and cursing people.
• Numbers 22:8-14, This story would be fine if it stopped there, because here Balaam has enough sense to say, “I have nothing of my own power worth seeking, let’s wait on the Lord.” After they wait, God says, “No,” so Balaam dismisses them.
• The problem is that Balaam again entertains them, asks God again, and then goes. He should have accepted God’s word as final – he doesn’t and God isn’t pleased.
• Later Balaam goes and blesses the Israelites instead of cursing them and the King of Moab is displeased with Balaam. Why? Because Balaam has come at a price, he was bought to curse in God’s name but couldn’t do it because God wouldn’t do it.
  • Does this sound familiar? We invoke God’s name for a lot of things, the beginning of civil proceedings, oaths of office, marriages that are formed without God are blessed in his name – some destined for failure.
  • Is God pleased with the loose use of his name and the endorsements we give on his behalf? Have we sold God out?
• Balaam doesn’t stop there, he doesn’t want to leave empty handed, doesn’t want to suffer for his failure, doesn’t want his name to be tarnished. So we know from other sources that Balaam (Numbers 31:16) that Balaam suggests to the Moabite King that he tempt the Israelites through foreign women who worship idols. Balaam sold out God and God’s people for a price, for fame…we dare not do the same.

2. John the Baptist’s Story

• We know more about John the Baptist than Balaam. Luke 1:80, tells us that John the Baptist lived in the wilderness until his public ministry. Completely untainted and influenced by the political forces or desire for gain, John grows up in the sanctuary of solitude – dedicated to God alone.
• Luke 3:1-20, we see that John, an unimportant character, is a popular character. He is not sold out to the nation, but he is sought out by the nation – why? Because he preaches the gospel, a gospel of repentance, a gospel unadulterated by special interest or sordid gain.
• John is clearly led by the Spirit of God – what God says, John says. Where God leads, John goes. John doesn’t ask twice, John doesn’t seek to compromise, John seeks to please God regardless of people.

Which one will we be Balaam or John the Baptist? A sellout to society or sold out to the king of heaven? Which reward are we striving for?