Lesson #4: Being Christian in a Political World

Being Respectful in a Disrespectful World
Romans 13:6-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-3

We only have a few days to go before our election and I know we all want it to end as soon as possible. You have probably already decided whom you will vote for and I am not going to try and influence your vote one way or the other. Instead I want to focus on our actions and attitudes as Christians. We are Christians aren’t we? And that means acting that way even in elections as difficult as this one.

I. Disrespect
Our text today is about showing respect, honoring people who are in the political system. It is important to realize whom Paul is writing about. They were pagan people, unbelievers who ruled with the authority of the Roman empire. Let’s jump ahead to today and ask, “If McCain and Obama were pagans how should we as Christians talk about them and relate to them?” What if they were both Muslims? What do you thing Paul would say to us about how to treat our public officials?

Whom do you respect? We could all name several people whom we have respect for. We respect people for many reasons. Sometimes it is the life that person has lived. It may be how successful that person has been in business. We may respect a person for their education and knowledge about a particular area.

For most of us respect is a mixed bag. We may be respected for certain things and not others. We may admire and respect an athlete for skill and ability to win but have little respect for how they conduct their personal lives. I have known people I loved and respected but I wouldn’t loan them my car because they seemed very accident-prone.

Then there are people we show respect to even though we may know nothing about them. A police officer is one example. I may know nothing of his or her personal life, what kind of father or mother or husband or wife the officer is but I will show him respect because of his position and the authority of government he represents.

This is what Paul is writing about in Romans. It doesn’t matter if the person is a pagan who lives a morally reprehensible life; we show that person respect for their authority.
Of course in our society where free speech is protected by law people don’t have to show respect and in fact there are probably more reasons not to respect a person than to respect that person. A person may have lied and been caught in a lie. Or maybe an official has not been faithful to their spouse. The list is endless. People can disrespect others for the length of their hair or the clothes they wear.

Jesus faced this kind of thing. He was disrespected because of the people he associated with, people who could easily been called traitors to the Jewish people or collaborators at best. He was criticized and disrespected because he didn’t follow the social customs of the day such as how to wash his hands. He said things that offended people. How do you think Jesus would do in our electoral process?

It is possible to criticize a person without being disrespectful. Diane has at times had to point out some things I needed to change in my life. As difficult as that is to accept I appreciate it because I know she loves me. Disrespect or dishonor of a person is aimed at destroying the person and that is at the heart of this lesson. As Christians we are called to something different. We treat people, saint and sinner, Democrat or Republican, male or female, black or white, Muslim or Jew, we treat them with respect.

II. Respect
Why do we show a person respect? Why should we show respect to the person who bags our groceries? Why should we show respect to a homeless person or someone who has made a lot of bad choices in life? To answer those questions we need to go back to the beginning.
The respect we show any person is the fact that they are created in the image of God, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27) At heart this is why murder is such a terrible crime; it destroys a person made in God’s image. It is also why verbal slander and lies about a person are an abomination to God (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Every person we meet is made in God’s image no matter how terribly deformed that image may be. And because of God’s grace the potential is there, no matter how remote, for that person to be changed and transformed into a glorious child of God.

So how should we show respect? The first area is in our speech. We need to guard how we talk about public leaders. Is our speech respectful of who they are as human beings as well as the office they occupy? We can be critical of positions they hold or even things they have done but we should never devalue them as human beings. The former mayor of Detroit is a good example. Was it wrong for him to lie under oath? Yes. Was it wrong for him to be unfaithful to his wife? Yes. Does God love him less than you? Have you ever lied to protect yourself? Have ever broken a promise, been unfaithful to a friend? Are his sins worse than yours? We need to guard our language so that we don’t put less value on a person than God places.

Another area is our actions. Is it ever right to be rude? Unkind? Do our actions show contempt rather than respect? Sometimes we allow our emotions to direct how we act toward others rather than the spirit of God. Jesus words to us are applicable here also, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

What do we believe about others? Someone forwards an email or a link to some web page and if it is about a politician we don’t like we accept it as truth. Why is that? The thing about so much of this even when it is partially true is that it always skewed to the worst about a person.
The devil speaks a language. Jesus told us in John 8:44 that the devil’s language is lies. When we believe a lie we listen to the devil and when we spread a lie, even if we think it is true, we speak with the devil’s voice. This is why we need to be discerning in what we believe and what we say.

We live in a world that constantly pulls in directions away from God and his will. We are called to be a different people, to talk different, to live different, to act different, and to be different. Let us do our best to be God’s people this week.

Livonia Church of Christ October 19, 2008