Gospel Prism

I am an American. I am ethnically Korean. I am a child of God in Christ by grace. Which one of the three supersedes the others? Most Christians would declare, “Of course, the third statement.” But it is far too often that our ethnicity or our patriotism molds our identity in Christ. I was listening to James Dobson this morning and I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of Americana coming from the show. Yes, it is election day, but I would hope that what I hear from Dr. Dobson would vastly differ from what I hear from Rush Limbaugh. But it didn’t seem too different. He was “preaching” in a Baptist church in Tennessee. But his words were filled with a strong sense of the greatness of America. He was talking about how a percentage of Muslims want to kill Christians and how voting (for Republicans) will allow the U.S. to maintain its values. I don’t know about you, but I feel as though something was amiss in his “sermon” at the church. Let me qualify myself however.

I appreciate James Dobson. There is much that I agree with him about. I am strongly against abortion. I am committed to the grace of the family and its integrity. I believe a strong marriage is God-honoring when it loves Christ. I believe that Christians must not close their eyes to the world we live in and yes, there might even be a place for politics and faith. I also believe that our country is in need of real change. But the way we get to this change means everything. For Dr. Dobson, change is through politics and government as a primary means of God to change the world. And the way forward for him (so it seems) is through political power. This is in no way a question of his integrity or his sincerity. I don’t doubt that at all. However, this is a question of his philosophy of systemic change.

Politics and government, while a common grace institution that God gives to stem the natural flow of chaos and anarchy as a result of sin, will never be the ultimate transformative means of change in our world. As long as there are humans, there will be tyrants, genocide, coup d’etat’s, corruption, etc. Listen to how Paul describes sin:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)

The depth of this sin will never be dealt with, nor deterred by mere government intervention. That is a pipe dream. Instead, we need to come to the same conclusion Paul came to in order to see hope for a humanity bent on evil, destruction, murder, and all sorts of horrors:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

The answer to the worlds evils will never be government. Government is temporary placeholder (and a flawed one at that) for the ultimate solution to all evils, Christ the King. So even though government has its place, it must never supersede our hope in the work of Christ and His Gospel to transform hearts and minds. And Jesus is Lord of all, not just over America.

I am grateful for this country. I really am. It is God’s grace to me and my family. I must pray for the leaders according to Romans 13. But I must also remember that God is also the God of Zimbabwe and Nigeria and Cambodia and yes, even Venezuela. When we are stuck in thinking about God’s America as God’s special country, we are also in danger of everything Israel failed to do, that is to see the specialness of our God rather than any geopolitical region.

I think that church in Tennessee would have benefited this country more if James Dobson spoke of the Gospel than of trying to get people to vote on way or another.