Your Worldview is Showing

As I Was Saying is a forum for a variety of perspectives to foster faith-related conversations among our readers with the goal of mutual learning, even in disagreement. Apart from articles written by editorial staff, these perspectives do not necessarily reflect the views of The Banner.

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Q: What do you understand by the providence of God?

A: The providence of God is the almighty and ever-present power of God by which He upholds, as with His hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by His fatherly hand.

Q: How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?

A: We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from His love. For all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move.

 

Leaders are typically given way too much credit on both ends of the spectrum. They are either venerated as saints or demonized. To some degree, we do this with all public figures, whether in churches or in institutions. But it is particularly pronounced in politics.

Sadly, this is not a trend exclusive to unbelievers. Christians do this, too, and the frequency with which followers of Jesus are doing this is grounds for concern. In some ways, it shows a lack of understanding of the doctrines we hold dear.

When I discovered the Reformed faith in my teenage years I fell in love with its doctrine. One of the key features of the Reformed faith that differed greatly from my more Anabaptist upbringing was the doctrine of the sovereignty of God—the idea that God is always in full control and that there is nothing that can thwart his sovereign will.

Do you know what happens to a Christian who knows that God is sovereign over all things, and who catches the vision that, in the end, God wins, and whose aim in life is to do everything for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom? That person is a gift from God to the world!

Sadly, however, I think a large number of Christians have missed this vision and have adopted a pseudo-religious vision that is not rooted in the biblical story.

One of the key ways I see this being played out is how we treat our political leaders.

Within the political arena in the U.S. and Canada, I think Christians are (generally speaking) making two grievous errors when it comes to their engagement with political leaders: how we treat leaders we respect, admire, and/or agree with, and how we treat leaders we don’t respect, admire, and/or agree with.

Let’s start with leaders we don’t respect, admire, and/or agree with.

In the book of 2 Peter, one of its key themes is to remind Christians that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of oppressive situations. Interestingly, 2 Peter speaks of false teachers as people who “despise authority” (2 Peter 2:10-12). These are men and women who are not afraid of speaking ill of people in positions of authority. Interestingly, however, Peter goes on to say that even the angels, who are greater in power and might, will not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

The book of Jude takes this theme a step further, saying that evildoers reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries and political leaders, yet even Michael the Archangel, when contending against the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses, did not even bring a reviling accusation, but he said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

So the angels would not even bring a reviling accusation against dignitaries (in a context where these dignitaries were actively oppressing Christians) and, furthermore, Michael would not even bring a reviling accusation against Satan himself.

Wow. What can we learn from that?

John Calvin once wrote this in reference to these two chapters,

They hence show their rash arrogance, because they dared to assume more liberty than even angels. But it seems strange that he says that angels do not bring a railing accusation against magistrates, when we consider the circumstances of the time. For all the magistrates were then ungodly, and bloody enemies to the gospel … (Jude), however, says that men deserving hatred and cursing, were not condemned by them in order that they might show respect to a power divinely appointed. While such moderation, he says, is shown by angels, these men fearlessly give vent to impious and unbridled blasphemies.

Michael dared not speak more severely against Satan, though a reprobate and condemned, than to deliver him to God to be restrained, but these men hesitated not to load with extreme reproaches the powers which God had adorned with peculiar honors. Now these with bold effronteries vomited forth reproaches against magistrates that they might take away respect for public rights and this was openly to fight against God by their blasphemies.

Such furies Satan excites, in order to disturb and prevent the progress of the gospel.

Boom!

In other words, Christians must still hold that it is not permissible for us to speak evil of any person, no matter how wicked they might be. “For,” as Calvin points out, “even though Satan is the most vile and accursed being, yet, according to the judgment of the angels, he is not to be condemned, much less by us."

How much more should this be applied to human beings who bear the image of God?

However, in our current cultural moment, Christians left, right, and center are too quick to join in on publicly dehumanizing and ridiculing leaders with whom we disagree in our blogs, social media posts, articles, and the conversations we share.

I can hear your question already: “But, Justin, does not the Bible also say we should call out evil?” Oh, yes! But if you look through the pages of Scripture, you will see a consistent message on how we are called to do this:

• Ephesians 4:15: “(S)peaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."
• 2 Timothy 4:2: "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction."
• Matthew 5:44: "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
• 1 Peter 3:15: "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect."
• 2 Timothy 2:24: "And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful."

And so on.

So, the principle here is that we should actually be quick to condemn evil for what it is. We should speak against such ills that lead us away from shalom; away from peace, justice, and harmony. But we should do so with such gentleness, mercy, and kindness that the world will marvel at it!

There are all sorts of questions in our minds about ethics, and morality, and seeking to discern what is good, what is right, and what is true. And the whole world is seeking answers to the most fundamental questions, such as the following:

• What’s wrong with the world?
• How do we go about fixing it?

The world wants answers to these questions, because very clearly things are not the way they’re supposed to be. Understatement of the day. You could pick one of a million examples. Let me pick just one.

Some of you might have heard of the terrible tragedy that occurred in Nashville last year. A shooter went into a Christian school and killed six people, three of whom were children. One was a 9-year-old girl named Hallie, whose dad was the pastor of the local church and superintendent of that school.

As you might already know, the shooter identified as transgender. The victims were Christians. And, once again, there’s posturing and pontificating from the right and the left. Some said she did what she did because of the hatred and animosity and vitriol she experienced from Christians as a trans person caused her to break and lash out. Others said it’s because of the liberal ideology that poisoned her mind, and it should be considered a hate crime against Christians.

It also has brought back to the surface the debate about gun rights. On one side, they say the solution is to get rid of all guns. On the other side, the solution is to get more guns.

Don’t you see? Everyone is looking for answers to these questions. What’s wrong with the world? How do we fix it?

I am certainly not advocating that we should cease having such conversations. Indeed, we should. In fact, we must! But we should do so without dehumanizing the people with whom we disagree. We should do so without speaking evil of the political leaders on the opposite end of the aisle than your political persuasion, or characterizing them as idiots, buffoons, or as the reason why your country is going to hell in a handbasket.

If so, your worldview is showing. You are showcasing to the world that you don’t have a vision that God is sovereign over all and that he so governs the world that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand; you don’t have a vision that nothing, no nothing, can thwart God’s plan; you don’t have a vision that you already know the final score, and that Christ is victorious on his throne; you don’t have a vision that you are called to be salt and light in the world in such a way that even the most pagan unbeliever would say, “Wow! I don’t agree with their worldview, but I am amazed by their incredible love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control! Where in the world are they getting that from?”

The way you treat political leaders with whom you disagree tells a lot about your faith. When you are tempted to say something about a leader you disagree with, ask yourself the following:

• Am I honoring the office of this leader who, by God’s providence and sovereign will, sits in that seat? Am I showing respect to a power divinely appointed?
• Am I seeking to bring shalom to the world through the refutation of an “idea” rather than speaking evil, or ill, of the person who holds said idea?
• Am I manifesting the Fruit of the Spirit as I express this concern, showcasing to the world the faith to which I hold dear?
• Am I running the risk of dehumanizing this man or woman who is made in God’s image and, therefore, is worthy of dignity?
• Is it possible that Satan has excited my fury “in order to disturb and prevent the progress of the gospel?”

As I shared before, we not only show our blind spots with leaders we don’t respect, admire, or agree with, but also, and especially, with leaders that we do.

One of the chief ways I see this manifesting itself in our cultural moment is in our apparent inability to speak against a leader's actions who carries our same political persuasion. That means when (not if) a leader from your own tribe speaks in a way that is not fitting of their office, you would be the first to condemn the action. You would be the first to say, “That’s not right! That’s inappropriate! That action should be condemned.”

But we are so caught up in our own tribalism that we have lost almost all capacity to condemn the actions of leaders whose political persuasion is the same as ours. The reasons are myriad. One reason might be the perpetual whataboutism of our time, where any reference to an unjust or irresponsible act of one leader is instantly met with “but your leader is even worse!” Yet I seem to recall my mom telling me, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

But could it be that the deeper issue at play is the idolatry of our own hearts? Could it be that we have fallen captive to the shallow and deceptive philosophy that, for the sake of what we perceive to be the greater good, we think, the ends justify the means? Could it be that we are so eager to not lose a culture war that we are willing, and indeed eager, to hitch our wagons to the princes of our day, in human beings who cannot save? (Ps. 146). Could it be that in our desire to ‘win’ we have lost our ability to discern good from evil? Could it be that, because of our idolatry and our tribalism, we have lost all ability to be salt in a world in desperate need of it?

I believe one of the great gifts a follower of Jesus can give the world is gracious, compassionate, truthful indifference. I don’t mean the typical notion of indifference. Rather, think of it more in terms of what the great Chinese pastor, evangelist, and prisoner for his faith, Wang Yi, suggests. He once said that all Christians are to be like ballet dancers, regardless of their circumstances. In times of flourishing and growth, we dance to the glory of God, the giver of all good gifts. In times of suffering, persecution, hardship, or adversity, our job is to dance, showcasing the beauty of Christ amidst the hellscape.

Our job, regardless of our circumstances, is to worship God with what I like to call “Shema Kavanah.”

Shema means “to hear” and it is the essence of our faith when we are called to worship God with all our heart, soul, and strength.

Kavanah means “holy intent.”

Together, they convey this deep inner conviction of Christians who are called to worship God with all you’ve got (Shema) to the glory of God (Kavanah), regardless of what our sovereign Lord puts in our way.

So, it’s not to say that we do not care about important things like politics or policies to guide a nation. Indeed, we should care; we must! But our rich eschatological vision that “God Wins,” tied with our firm understanding that we are so completely in his hand that without his will we cannot so much as move, makes us as cool as a cucumber even (and especially) in the face of adversity. We’re like a rock amidst the waves, immovable and unshakable.

When I was in seminary I had an ethics professor, Calvin Van Reken, who expressed an idea that I wanted to refute at the time but have come to really appreciate. He said individual Christians in the public domain are generally much better at identifying what is inherently wrong with an idea/policy/ideology than being able to develop comprehensive legislation for how to do something right. In other words, one of the great gifts a Christian can give the world is to showcase what leads us away from peace, justice, and harmony. With gentleness and respect, we can offer a social conscience that leads toward human flourishing. After all, not only Christians are looking for such things.

But we should be ready, and willing, to do this especially with leaders we want to sit in public office. After all, if you think a particular person has the God-given gifts and abilities to lead our nation, you should hold that person to the highest level of accountability. You don’t think the other political leaders are fit to lead our nation? Even more reason for you to hold to the highest form of accountability the political leader you agree with. You’ll never be tempted to rationalize a wrongdoing with, “Yeah, but what about … .” No! You will call it out. You will hold that leader to a higher standard, trusting it will be for their benefit and for the good of the nation they aspire to lead and serve.

But that hasn’t been our instinct. Whether it be our own tribalism, our fear of being called out or ostracized by our peers, or our internal justifications that “the other option is worse,” we Christians have often been unwilling to call a spade a spade when it comes to the actions of the leaders we admire or whose political platform fits our own.

Our idolatry is showing.

The way you treat political leaders with whom you agree tells a lot about your faith. When you are tempted to overlook something about a leader you agree with, ask yourself the following:

• Why am I motivated to overlook their actions, or to say nothing? Is it out of fear for how I might be treated by my peers and my group?
• Am I honoring the office of this leader who, by God’s providence and sovereign will, sits in that seat? Will I, like the prophet Nathan, or like the exile Daniel, have the courage to speak against injustice even at my own personal risk?
• Am I running the risk of dehumanizing this man or woman I admire as a mere tool for my own selfish purposes?
• Is it possible that Satan has excited my overlooking, or acquiescence, of sin “in order to disturb and prevent the progress of the gospel?”

In the 1st Century, Jesus left his harshest rebukes for the religious leaders of the day who were convinced that the new Messianic kingdom would not come unless and until the nation state of Jerusalem was purged of all evil and wickedness and, in its place was an almost utopian society of people who feared God and walked in his ways. But their aspirations made them power hungry and proud. And one of the reasons they could not accept Jesus was because Jesus was the antithesis of that.

Jesus, the sovereign King of the universe, ushered in his new kingdom not through power but through weakness, not through pride but in humility. Jesus was a man who was “despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem” (Isa. 53:2-3). Even so, “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7-8).

While we are often quick to despise (and even hate) our enemies, Christ came to love his enemies. While we are often too proud, Christ came in humility. While we are often seeking to wield power, Christ came in human suffering and weakness.

This is the way, friends. This is the way.

Leaders are typically given far too much credit on both ends of the spectrum. But there is only one who deserves such honor. His name is Jesus. And, last I checked, he’s still sovereign, on his throne, and in control!

So, whether you are encouraged by the direction of our nation and its leaders, or if you feel our nation is headed toward a garbage dump, you’ve got some work to do, as a disciple of Jesus who is called to be salt and light to a world in darkness:

• Seek justice: But do this especially with the leaders you respect and admire because, after all, with much power comes much responsibility.
• Love mercy: But, do this especially with leaders you disagree with because, after all, they are made in God’s image and are worthy of your dignity.
• Walk humbly with God: Or, as I like to say, dance with Shema Kavanah—with all you’ve got to the glory of God, showcasing the beauty of Christ amidst the hellscape. As you do so, may you be wise and shine like the brightness of the heavens. Perhaps, by God’s grace, you will lead many more to righteousness (Micah 6:8, Dan. 12:3).
• Philippians 2:14-16: Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.