Call to Christians: Engage in politics & evangelism out of love for neighbor

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REPUBLICAN COMEBACK?

TOM LAMPRECHT: Harry, I remember back when it was 2008 – President Obama had just won the presidential election – and I remember hearing one political pundit say, “The Republican Party is dead. It’s over for them.” Here we are at the beginning of 2018, we look back on last year, and many would say it was a very successful year for President Trump, a Republican.

The president has indeed had some notable successes: nominating Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, the destruction of ISIS in Iraq, the repeal of HHS contraceptive mandate, the Justice Department opening an investigation into Planned Parenthood selling fetal body parts and there are other successes as well.

Harry, many Christians will look at this and say, “Hey, we’ve scored a big victory.”

DR. REEDER: Because a number of believers, while having issues with President Trump on a personal level, a number of evangelicals decided, hey, between the choice of someone who is going to promote the death culture of abortion – taxpayer support of it – and the continual dissipation of the sanctity of life as well as the enlargement of government as the savior between the two, the populist president was taken.

As a number of people would say, a number of evangelicals, on the one side, were holding their nose, on the other side, pulling the lever. And most of it was around the Supreme Court justice issue. As I have talked with various people, that seems to have been pretty consistent.

This president has fulfilled a number of his promises. We actually did a program on that, what he’s been successful at and, of course, there have been some notable failures. However, at the same time, when you note all of these “successes,” at the same time, this president’s popularity or approval rating is in the 30s and there are many, many prognosticators that are saying there’s going to be a significant loss by the Republican Party in this mid-term election.

Now, by the way, there are others that say, no, once this economic recovery takes place that everyone is expecting out of this recent tax reform and deregulations that have taken place, that it’s really going to be a substantial victory for Republicans.

CHRISTIAN ROLE IN POLITICS

I think this is the occasion that you and I can make a very simple point: The Christian world and life view calls us to be fully engaged and the Great Commandment calls us to be fully engaged in what it means to be a good citizen as a Christian citizen. I need to vote. I need to be aware of issues. I need to make prayerful decisions about who I vote for, what issues I support and what policies I support.

And, thus, we, in this program, continue to try to look at issues from a Christian world and life view knowing that each believer, the priesthood of each believer – you have the Holy Spirit, you have the Word of God – you need to make up your mind and your decision on these things because to love your neighbor is to engage in politics.

Politics is to enact good policies for the well-being of people. And, of course, the two basic philosophies that vie is the government is savior or is the government supposed to have a limited role but a very important role in a fallen world to restrain sin and to promote righteousness while protecting the freedoms of people and it’s what the people do that is the best way to develop a culture in which there is human flourishing?

FOUNDING FATHERS’ VISION AND TODAY’S REALITY

What our founding fathers understood is that the free practice of religion was a very important issue that was doing two things. No. 1 was that the government was not to pick the religion – the government was to protect the free practice of religion. The reason it didn’t institute a religion is that this is a freedom of the people – it is not a policy of the government. Good policy comes from the religious affections of people if properly influenced.

Now, that’s where we as Christians are delighted to take our place in the public square. Not only the public square to speak about policies in a Christian world and life view, but in the public square to move to another “Great” in the bible and that’s the Great Commission. And there is where the real hope of our nation lies – and every nation – and that is the progress of the Gospel in the lives of men and women, in the lives of families, in the lives of communities and that’s what we want to give ourselves to. That’s what we want to focus upon.

NEW YEAR, CALL TO REVIVAL

Tom, even as we’re still in this opening days of this new year, I would love to renew that call. We will attempt to continue to bring Today in Perspective from a Biblical world and life view on multiple issues, but the real hope of our nation is the people of God committed to prayer and committed to the Great Commission, which is to make disciples of all the nations. And, if we want disciples of Christ in all the nations, then it’s right that we begin with a priority in our own nation.

Tom, even in our own congregation – Briarwood Presbyterian Church where I serve – this last year, we have asked the Lord to give us an understanding of revival, a heaven-sent revival, a God-glorifying, Christ-exalting, Gospel-saturated, prayer-engaged revival movement.

Two things happen when God revives His people: there’s a vertical in which they love to worship and there’s a horizontal in which they love to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

They love to share the Gospel with themselves so that they stay amazed at grace, and they love to share the Gospel with each other so that we are encouraged by the grace of the Lord Jesus and His saving work and then we love to share the good news that Jesus died for sinners, He rose again and you can be right with God, we love to share that with people who have not yet come to Christ – share it with those who are seeking, share it with those who are lost and not yet seeking but we would seek them to share that with them.

WHAT IS THE CHRISTIAN’S ROLE?

Tom, can we just use this program to ask those that are there, we’re actually calling this year LEAD – a Lifestyle of Evangelism And Discipleship. Do you ever notice how Jesus would say, “Come and follow me”? Come to Christ for salvation and follow him as a disciple to be transformed in your mind.

When you come to Christ, you get a new heart, you get a new record, you get a new life, you get a new home, you get a new family. What you don’t get is a new mind but what you do get is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God whereby your mind can be transformed and you can learn to think Christianly.

First of all, if you haven’t yet come to Christ, just come to Him and put your trust in Jesus alone for salvation and just watch what happens. Your salvation is not going to be in sports, it’s not going to be in money, it’s not going to be in power, it’s not going to be in politics, but it will be in Jesus Christ and it will surely be in Jesus Christ.

And then, when you receive that gift, it’s a gift that you can give away to your family and your friends and your neighbors and your coworkers and then send it around the world. What a glorious thing to do in your life.

And then, those of you who are believers, would you join us in a lifestyle of evangelism and discipleship? Let’s share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those that are around us.

RENEWAL OF THE NATION FOUND IN CHRIST

Now, there is where the real renewal will come in our nation. It won’t come from the Republican Party, it won’t come from the Democratic Party, it will not come from the secularists, that’s for sure, and it won’t even come from Evangelicals engaged in the pragmatics of politics as well as the principles of politics.

We need to be engaged, but the solution to where our nation is headed is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You know, Edmund Burke, an early-on commenter of culture, said this: the key to America was in its small groups of believers in their churches who were preaching the Gospel, sharing the Gospel and in what he called “the small platoons” – the small groups of discipleship was what he was looking at.

That’s what Jesus did: He turned the world upside down. How did he do it? He had the 3, He had the 12 and He had the 70.

Therefore, let’s be engaged in worship to the glory of God and bearing witness with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “He who wins souls is wise.” We have, in the Gospel, the bridge to life – now let’s build bridges in our life so that people can be brought across the bridge to life from sin to the savior.

Dr. Harry L. Reeder III is the Senior Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.

This podcast was transcribed by Jessica Havin. Jessica is editorial assistant for Yellowhammer News. Jessica has transcribed some of the top podcasts in the country and her work has been featured in a New York Times Bestseller.