I have spent much of the last fifteen years preaching about politics. That doesn’t mean I have always done it well. But I hope I have learned some things along the way that might just be useful.
T he title I have been given is important, as it is often a battle to make sure that we are actually preaching about politics. Too often as Christians we are just talking about politics – providing commentary on the Westminster soap opera. Our mantra at Christians in Politics has been ‘participate, don’t just commentate’ but we can only do that effectively if we have a firm grasp on the theological starting point for our participation and some fire in our bellies. And that often comes through preaching: not just pontificating and trying to decide God’s opinion on every subject. By that, I mean altar call type preaching – creating space to respond to the divine call to serve in the public square. That’s a call we should all answer in various ways, but we should also enable some to discover their specific vocation to stand as representatives.
Mandate to govern This call to governance and politics goes right back to the start. In Genesis 1:26-28: Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’
And in Genesis 2:15: The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
If we are made in his image, we govern because he governs. Theologians call this the creation mandate – we are made in the image of God, called to faithfully manifest that image in our daily work of stewarding his creation. We rule because we are like our Father. We can take it seriously, we can do it badly, or we can abdicate responsibility to others who may lack a biblical worldview. Of course stewarding creation goes beyond material things such as plants and animals, to concepts such as freedoms and institutions such as family. There is a cultural mandate to develop institutions for the common good.
