“Coveting Caesar’s Throne: Navigating Christian Nationalism in an Election Year” Jesse Johnson, Shepherds Conference, March 6-8, 2024.
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Well in the early fifth century Augustine the bishop of Hippo found himself on the precipice of unparalleled societal collapse the Roman Empire was on the verge of falling and the Visos were basically knocking at his door and his congregation was asking him questions about how to understand the fall of Rome
And here was the dynamic that Augustine was trying to navigate as you looked back through the previous centuries of the Roman Empire when Rome was at its strongest is when they were persecuting Christians when Christianity was on the rise Rome fell so how do you navigate that as a
Pastor when people are asking you what is the Lord doing why is God bringing this Empire to a screeching halt people were quick to blame the Christians if only the Christians uh would have also served the Roman gods then God would have seen fit to extend the length of
The Roman Empire but instead the Romans were being converted to Christ and the empire fell Augustine spent you know 10 years plus writing an answer to that question which is the form of his book The City of God and the the book is so complex if you’ve read city of God you
Know it defies uh summary really it’s part philosophy part theology part history the first eight or nine books or so he spends largely making fun of the Roman deities which should not win him friends or influence people from there he moved on to addressing the reality that there
Is a city on earth it’s a city of men people have hopes in the city of man they have loves compassions desires they have all the all the ethos and pathos of city of man is alive in people’s hearts and they also there’s a city of God in
The world as well and you have people that interact with both of those cities but uh they couldn’t be more different on the outside the two cities can even look the same but their ends are categorically different and I think we would all agree with that and I think
The American Church by a large would agree with that as well but what would get Augustine in trouble today if he were to say it is his main conclusion of the book as I read it which is that the fate of the city of man is disconnected
From the activity in the city of God that as the kingdom of God advances and waxes and waines it does not affect the duration of the city of man I mean that’s as I read Augustine I take that away away to be his main point this this
Militates against the idea that is so prevalent in American Christianity that if only the church would stand up and do this we could win back our culture if only the church would do this or that or the other thing you’re sick of inflation you’re sick of open borders you’re sick
Of rainbow flags and your Elementary School teachers lapels well if only the church would stand up and be the church we could bring a stop to that and there’s this contradiction in so much of American Christianity that the United States is a nation under judgment by God for our
Conduct and at the same time the church has the power to stop that judgment or to avoid that judgment or to direct Society in a different direction and you can see that those two are in conflict with each other either we’re under the Judgment of God or or we’re
Not how do you engage with people that are under God’s Judgment of course you preach the gospel to them and appeal for repentance Augustine comes along and says the spiritual condition of a society is disconnected from the rise and fall of the city of man Nations come and Nations
Go and the word of the Lord lives forever and you cannot as a Christian try to manipulate that or direct that you cannot control the way God causes Nations to rise and fall if Augustine couldn’t control what the rise and fall of Rome what do you think you’re going to
Do that’s the reality behind Austin city of God it’s in that context today that I want to talk to you about Christian nationalism the title is how you Shepherd Christian nationalism or uh Shepherd people through Christian nationalism in an election year which is like three subtitles in that but that’s
Fine I thought of that while I was reading Augustine he’s the king of 87 subtitles you know does your church hand out voter guides do you have the American flag on the pulpit do you organize little buses to take the elderly to go vote and cure their
Ballots do you get involved in elections do you have people running for office come and speak to your church do you tell your church to mobilize and get active in order to win over Society do you go after an election as a as a motivation in your uh church and
Christian nationalism is rising right now uh I think there was by and large a consensus that 10 years ago it was uh way that it was on the decline but then covid comes and churches get closed and you know the borders get opened and inflation goes up and you have the kind
Of the so-called Evangelical Elites that sat back and seem to cheer all of that on didn’t they they seem to to rejoice in the open borders and they seem to rejoice in the churches being closed and when you have groups like The erlc and other groups like that that are really
Celebrating restrictions on Church you have a lot of people in your own churches I’m sure that are looking at that and going our Christian leaders our religious leaders are selling us out there has to be a better way to navigate this and so they’re drawn to people that are talking with conviction
And Clarity in the political world at least that has been my experience the people that I have met in the last few years have been drawn towards Christian nationalism that’s what’s drawn them that way as they think you know it used to be even five years ago it was in just in
Christian E when you were asked to lay a lay person in your church to pray before a meal at a church potluck or before an evening service or whatever and they weren’t prepared they would get up behind the pulpit or behind the casserole and they would start their
Prayer by saying God we’re thankful that we live in a country that is free and lets us meet here without restrictions and we don’t take that for granted and thank God for the casserole and you don’t hear those prayers anymore do you the people that used to pray them are looking around
Going what happened and they’re being drawn towards Christian nationalism so of course any discussion on Christian nationalism has to uh begin with definitions how do you define Christian nationalism well I’ll start there uh if you ask NPR which I don’t recommend a Christian nationalist is anyone who is to the right of Justice
Sotoor a Christian nationalist is anyone who is pro-life has a Bible a Jesus fish on their car or is voted Republic look in in the last 20 years would make you a Christian nationalist not a very helpful definition if you ask somebody like Al Mohler he defines he describes himself
As a Christian nationalist the definition he operates from is kind of just the two words in exist independently of each other in in mohler’s lexicon nationalism is the belief that there are nations and that Nations should generally speaking look out for their own interest above other nations that’s just a larger political
Theory uh Christian is attaching the word Christian into that there’s Nations that look out for their own interests and some of those nations are Christian and mhler would clarify that that’s by their judeo-christian Heritage the uh anglo-protestant legal tradition is the phrase Muller often uses that Western Civilization has come out of this
Anglo-protestant tradition from the Reformation forward that has given us common law the notion of common law and the sense of Liberty and democracy and all of that and that’s what he means by Christian nationalism and I think mohler’s description of Christian nationalism makes so much more sense if
You just take it out and substitute the word conservativism when he talks about it he really means conservative not in like conserving slowing down the cultural decline but in recognizing that there’s a legal tradition that stretches back hundreds of years that is the basis of Liberty and democracy and we should
Embrace that legal tradition and that’s fine and well I mean that’s fully compatible with every statement of faith it’s probably represented in this room there’s nothing overly controversial with that form of Christian nationalism and so that’s not my desire to critique that form of Christian nationalism at
All uh for for lots of reasons but the form of Christian nationalism that is more prevalent in our churches in my experience that is more dangerous in our churches and is probably why you’re here today is much more of the active form of nationalism the call for some kind of
Christian Prince or Christian leader to engage in uh leadership in our in our nation to Galvanize the church and to see some kind of melding of the church State relationship I’m thinking of I brought this up for show and tell today the case for Christian nationalism is
Steven wolf this is a this it’s a it’s a long book it’s very well written and well researched and it’s had an outsized impact on a lot of our churches as people have read it and they’re they’re reading it and they’re being drawn to the answers that he’s offering that
There’s hope in the church by placing this desire to see a Reformation inside of government and see our nation linked with a kind of Christian nationalism wolf in this book defines Christian nationalism as quote the totality of National Action consisting of civil laws and social Customs conducted by a
Christian Nation as a Christian Nation to procure for itself both Earthly and Heavenly good in Christ so it’s a it’s it’s a detailed definition it’s a little bit circular that his version of Christian nationalism is basically things the Christian Nation does so it becomes a little bit circular but when
You go through his understanding of Christian nationalism and what is appealing to people about it it’s very much an active role from the government in propagating the Christian faith it’s this idea that the government is has an active command of God or an active duty from God to propagate the Christian
Faith to guard the church from Heretics to rebuke slothful or lazy ministers to uh summon church senat and councils to clarify statements of Faith to fund missions to have oversight in general sense of the Church of God on on Earth to say it in a way I think would
Honor Wolf’s larger argument in most of the Christian nationalism books that I have read they would argue that the government has a role in fostering True Religion in keeping the church accountable and guarding them from Heretics the core of that form of Christian nationalism is the idea that a
Nation properly expressed exists of one ethnicity and ethnicity There is almost a synonym uh for Nation wolf would say you know there’s some differences between them but as as I as I read him he defines a nation properly constituted as existing of only one ethnicity that ethnicity is a shared culture language
Values Traditions calendars you know foods and social customs and all of that and then Christian nationalism is a nation that is deliberately and intentionally Christian in those holidays Christians in those rituals where a government guards the Sabbath and uh facilitates Church worship on the Sabbath is an example he often uses and
Again rebukes slothful ministers and has oversight in a general sense of the church in this form of Christian nationalism the political leader in a sense is the protector of the church the the political leader in this kind of Christian nationalism is not a pastor he’s not doing the the sacraments
Or the ordinances he’s not preaching he’s not baptizing babies in this form of Christian nationalism he’s not doing those things but he’s keeping watch over it that’s has an appeal to our our current generation of evangelicals especially younger people who are drawn towards kind of an authorative protector of the
Church when they see as I mentioned earlier a previous generation of people who were to be protecting the church have kind of abdicated their responsibilities I won’t drag you through all this book but I did uh just to let you know where I’m going I have four critiques of this form of Christian
Nationalism not just this book but that form of Christian nationalism that are philosophical and then I have five critiques that are theological so that’s where I’m headed I want to critique this view of Christian nationalism from a philosophical perspective or kind of just like reading the book and saying
Here’s four things that I really don’t like and then I’ll give you five theological reasons that you should not be a Christian nationalist that’s where we’re headed so first of all I will say this there are some good things in this kind of Christian nationalism are some good
Things his the way he esteems the our uh parts of our country’s past a kind of Christian Heritage the way he defends Mayberry there’s a section of his book where he defends Mayberry like don’t you wish your kids could grow up in the kind of culdesac where they can play with
Their neighbors and you don’t have to know where your 10-year-old is 247 and there’s a kind of wholesomeness that’s there that he feels like we’ve lost and not only have we lost it but you have people that had criticized it you know that that spent decades criticizing the Christian cultur is creating false
Morality and Pharisees and Christian culture are bad you know it interferes with the gospel and so now everybody’s listened to them and now we’ve lost that culture and we’ve lost Mayberry and we’ve lost the cue sacan play and all of that so I do appreciate that about his
Book along with other things as well but I do want to Clearly say my four big concerns with the book from a philosophical perspective first of all it idolizes the past it idolizes the past he calls on Christians to uh kind of bring a restoration into our nation’s
Own Christian past he describes as quote a recovery of a for former shared Christian ethic uh and ethnic tradition and Heritage and when you start describing it like that it forces you to reexamine the past it forces you to ask a question was our nation founded properly as a Christian Nation was there
A period in our nation’s past where we really did function like a Christian Nation once you start using the language of recovery it’s appropriate to ask what are you recovering and where are you looking for it you know what are you retrieving from the past not everything
That you retrieve from the past is good sometimes you’re golden retriever brings back a dead squirrel you didn’t want that so what exactly is being retrieved from the past and you would ask yourself was there a time in the US history that it was functioning as a Christian kind
Of nation or culture and it’s very difficult to identify that time I mean I dare you start naming a decade where you’re like that’s that’s where we had a Christian culture and here’s a thought experiment for you you would think of that and go back to that decade and ask
Yourself the Christian leaders and pastors and ministers who are around back then what did they say about the culture when they were there you know Al Muller often goes to the 1960s that’s where everything that’s where everything changed you said you know 1961 Democrats and Republicans basically were the same
When it came to social issues and the sexual Revolution comes the wheels come off the car and you know here we are but go back in your mind to that era of world history and or American history and ask your what did the leaders of that day say about American Christianity
Evolution was on the rise this is the decline of inherency the attack on the fundamentals of the faith this is the era that where Martin Lloyd Jones lamented American culture particularly for its materialism it’s embracing of liberalism the racism that was rampant back then all of that is worthy of substantial
Critique or you go back further okay the the 1800s there are certain that was the Christian Zenith the 1800s uh before all of liberalism before Evolution became a thing when the denominations were rocking and you got evangelists preaching in the streets like that’s that’s where you’re at and then you go
And read Spurgeon about that time period Christian George’s introduction of the Lost sermons of Spurgeon has some quotes of Spurgeon about the United States then he called the American culture of the 1800s quote shameful and abominable abhorent and bloodthirsty and he said that unless the the United States was punished with a
Graphic and brutal Civil War then the kind of Justice he Associates with God must not really exist Spurgeon did not mince his words when it came to the United States and largely spurgeon’s critique was over slavery and ra race relations which he didn’t excuse England from either he said quote if slavery
Would not have would not have come to the United States had it not been carried there from Manchester and Liverpool he understood his own nation’s complicity in that nevertheless he critiqued American culture for its bloodthirsty and shameful and abominable ways I mean you can go back all the way to the United States
Founding think about what the evangelists of that area era said about our culture think of the kind of things that are in our founding from the revolution forward even you know the religious test clause in the Constitution you can’t have a religious test for government service it’s in our
Constitution that’s not the kind of thing that you would put in your Constitution if you were deliberately constructing a Christian Nation and to prove that you could ask any of the Christian National you see today in your view of Christian nationalism should unbelievers be allowed to have high
Seats in the government of course it’s antithetical to what they’re putting forward you know the truth is our country wasn’t founded by that concept of Christian nationalism obviously there’s an anglo-protestant legal tradition in our country there’s a form of Liberty there’s a form of of God providing rights to us life liberty in
The pursuit of happiness all men were created equal kind of language you can’t say people were created equal unless you believe that there’s a Creator I mean that’s just straightforward right there that’s obviously in our country’s fast but our country chose the route of urbus Unum not in Christa Solus you know we
Chose to embrace multiple ethnicities multiple cultures and amalgamate them into one nation rather than to say that we are a nation of a distinct Christian ethnic identity it’s also not the 1619 project my point is at no point in America’s history did we have really a Christian culture the kind of which that
Is argued for by proponents of Christian nationalism my second concern about this form of Christian nationalism is that first of all it idealizes the past but second it impossib the presence impossib this is not a real word but it’s going to fit with my outline and I’m a
Preacher more than I am an English major it impossib the presence it presents an ideal for people that draws them in that is impossible to obtain wolf says that Christian nationalism is never truly been experienced in our country but that’s almost he reads as if he’s saying it’s
Because we haven’t tried enough we haven’t sought to put it into place with enough effort in other words all it’s missing is willpower but the truth is that’s not what’s missing in our country it’s not a a matter of the church standing up and being the church and
Getting more of your congregation to vote and finally take our country back that’s not it at all uh the problem in our own country is that we’re just dealing with the numbers game the the way is narrow that leads to life uh if you’re dealing in a democracy the
Majority wins and the church the true church is never going to be the majority we’re dealing in a culture now that is what is often called the negative world for Christianity and that that language I think is helpful before the 1960s Christianity had more or less a positive connotation in our culture
From the 1960s to 2010 or so it had a neutral connotation in other words if if you wanted to excel in politics in the 1940s or 50s you probably had to be a church member from 1960s to 2010 it didn’t matter you could be or you didn’t
Didn’t have to be nobody really cared but now it’s a detriment now it’s a negative association with you if you want to rise in society being associated with the church has a negative impact on you so it’s hard to make that jive with this idea of Christian nationalism that
If only the majority of people would rise up and reclaim their Christian identity if you’re functioning in a society with a negative view of Christianity the reality is that we are the remnant I I even think back to what presidential election it was in the 2000s where Rick Warren moderated the
Debate do you remember that he moderated a presidential debate could you imagine today uh and he got lambasted for it even back then for being too you know too Christian and what’s President Obama doing on the stage with Rick warrn of all people the whole thing just seems comical in
Retrospect it’s such a different world even from now the truth is the church is the remnant the church is the remnant and when you start Angling for a victory at the box office that makes you or at the The Ballot Box California football right there if you’re angling for a victory at The
Ballot Box it forces you to make coalitions and Partnerships and political alliances to drum up a majority that’s the way politics works if you’re going to lobby for a certain measure to be passed you have to partner with with the Catholic Church you have to partner with the Mormon church or
What’s so-called you have to partner with all of the different groups to get it across the Finish Line because the objective is political in our culture today the church cannot Advance something that far if you take the Benedict option as your political model that you’re going to you know Retreat
And make your own Christian Society don’t be surprised if you have to partner with Benedictine monks that’s how that strategy works now for law issues that’s fine you know to pass pro-life legislation for issues of law where government is checking evil pro-life legislation School vouchers that kind of stuff that
The those law issues it’s fine to be co- belligerant with people that aren’t Christians that’s fine but not for gospel issues gospel issues there’s an exclusivity of it you’re not a cellion in a gospel issue with people that aren’t regenerate but in Christian nationalism that divide gets erased and the way it’s
Presented as I read this form of Christian nationalism it presents a union between law and gospel issues both under the general authority of the government which requires a kind of partnership that erodes gospel distinctives the Maj majority of a Nation will never be able to institutionalize True Religion that’s
The problem and what’s missing from all these books about Christian nationalism is is examples of this kind of government actually having occurred in church history and that’s because the majority is generally wrong the True Churches the minority and at some point you just have to ask yourself what am I supposed to do
If I believe in Christian nationalism I want to be a Christian nationalist let’s roll let’s go do this thing let’s do it what do I do now vote harder press the button harder I’m me I’m running out of options here get my neighbor to press the button I mean
You’re in California how many people you got to get to vote here to make a difference it just makes it an impossible situation my third concern with Christian nationalism it idealizes the past it impossib the present thirdly it institutionalizes the church it institutionalizes the the church the classic Baptist political
Theory has a separation of church and state and by separation of church and state of course we don’t mean it as it’s often used today but more of the classic two Kingdom theology there’s a civil magistrate that rules the Civil Affairs of the world the law category in the
World and there is the the church that has ecclesiastical oversight that oversees the souls this form of Christian nationalism erodes that distinction and by institutionalizing the church by giving the government oversight and Authority in the realm of the church and I think it’s helpful to Think Through how this
Developed you know Augustine’s approach the city of God and the City of man when Augustine’s using that language he doesn’t mean by the city of man government in the city of God church he meant really like your hopes and and how you’re partnering with people it maps on
The government really well but he means more or less that non-christians are the city of man but that developed in the Catholic church to What’s called the doctrine of the two swords in the Catholic Church you have really two spheres you have the kingdom of man ruled by Kings and presidents and
Whatever and then you have the kingdom of the church ruled by by the church in the doctrine of the two swords it’s one person who holds both swords one person who has oversight of both that’s the the the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church well that’s been morphed over time to
This idea in Catholicism where the the actual political leadership is more of a hands-off kind of Association you have the the king of England he the oversight of the church really but not really he protects it he’s the protector of the church but he’s not really the head of
The church even though that’s what the documents might say that’s the classic doctrine of the two swords the Puritans tradition went a different way the Puritan legal tradition went separately and said you have two kingdoms but let’s keep them separate from each other we don’t want one person ruling the church
And one person ruling the state that would be bad there has to be distinctions and granted in early Puritan history those distinctions were uh somewhat unfortunate like when you think of the kind of church State separation that some of the Puritans had like John Owen or uh Samuel Willard or
People like that I mean it was often the church IDs the Heretics and the government kills them that was their view of separation of church and state you know they told the government would you stop calling people Heretics let us do that and the government tells the
Church okay would you stop killing them let us do that great deal let’s roll we’ve moved on from that of course but you should have sympathy for some of those guys you know Samuel Willard you know he’s called to testify at the Saleem Witch Trials there’s somebody on
Trial for you know being a witch and the judge says what did the pastor say call them up bring the pastor swear him and are there witches what should we do to them I me how would you respond to that it’s just so again such a different world
That that we’re in now but that was the idea of separation of church and state Christian identity uh Christian nationalism often melds those and brings them back together um to use I think their own terminology I would say that the state should be overseeing the law
And not the gospel you don’t want to give the state the gospel also the state or the government messes everything up don’t they have you ever encountered something the government’s done well um and this is hard for me pastoring in you see because when I use the word
Government it’s like the people they’re in front of me at the pews I’m like the government’s awful and they’re like hey I stayed late on Friday back off you know was rean right who said the nine most frightening words in the English language I’m from the government and I’m here to
Help there’s some truth to that would you want to shift God gospel implications and church oversight and the power to rebuke slothful ministers and whatnot over to a category of people that don’t do their own obligations well you want them to have more power and Power in the realm of the church please
No please no you know you want the government to be able to get power to the church to turn the lights on to have the water come out of the faucet those kind of things you don’t want them to oversee the ordinances of the church fourthly my first concern is that
Christian nationalism idealizes the past the second it imposses the present thirdly it institutionalizes the church fourthly it idolizes ethnicity it idolizes ethnicity and forgive me for reading now because I want to stay close to my words uh overall this desire and presented in books like this is a desire
To guard ethnic Heritage and they use the language of ethnicity not the language of race uh we understand that we are all One race there is not multi races races of biological fiction granted in their world they Embrace this concept of ethnicity to describe certain shared cultural
Features but then they argue that every nation properly comprised is made up of only one ethnicity and as I mentioned earlier that’s just not the route that the United States took the United States deliberately was designed with multiple ethnicities embraced inside of its borders from Spanish Catholics to you
Know the Dutch to the slaves to the Puritans and everyone in between you know the founding of New Mexico predates the founding of Plymouth Rock do we count as properly constituted in the United States and I use the word idolize ethnicity because so much of this argument hinges on putting ethnicity
Back into the Garden of Eden and seeing it before the fall a lot of these Christian nationalist arguments hinge on the idea that governments and ethnic divisions would have happened without the fall in the world had no sin in in the world there still would have been
Government because people on one part of the stream need the water for farming and people on other part of the stream need it for you know cooling metals or whatever and so they’re going to have to even though there’s no sin they’re going to have to break up into different
Government divisions to regulate the shared use of resources and that over time will have cultural implications and so it’s this desire to put ethnic distinctions and government back before the fall and that’s why I use the word idolize because if you have such a care and a hope in something that is
Important to you it existed in a sinless world it might be an idol it might be an idol of course they would stay away from the concept of races I mentioned earlier yet so much of their description of ethnicity has racial overtones to it which leads to all kinds of clumsiness
In a lot of the Christian National circles there’s you know debates over our internic marriages appropriate you know and I’ve heard some of these Christian leaders say you know interethnic marriages or you know marriages between people of two different ethnicities are not wise because your kids will be confused they
Won’t know you know where their people are they won’t know what their culture is they’re just you’re setting them up to lose if they’re part of the fruit of an interethnic marriage and it’s just it’s it’s sad really um the way it’s described and I’ve even heard one of the
The leaders say there’s a category for uh a marriage between people of different ethnicities it’s not gay marriage gay marriage is no marriage at all but it’s closer to a marriage between a Believer and an unbeliever it’s unwise and it’s foolish and it’s not going to be good but it’s still a
Valid marriage I’m hearing that going wow thanks you know if you’re married to someone who’s not your ethnicity it’s in the category of a foolish marriage to a non-believer it’s just unhelpful uh and very confusing language and of course when they’re criticized for that they always say but you’re not using the word
Ethnicity the right way well I’m I’m sorry I’m trying to use it the right way I’ve read all the reading I’ve done all the books like I’ve really done my homework I’m trying to use it like you’re using it and it seems like you’re defining ethnicity a shared culture
Shared values shared language shared Traditions foods and all of that I got a concept for that and people marry from different ethnic groups and you know there’s this idea that you should freeze all kind of marriages outside of your own Nation or language group or whatever
For a period of time until our country sorts itself out and has its own ethnicity that’s kind of recovered from the inside out and it’s just really uh insane honestly and it’s so different in the way the Bible describes Christians with ethnicity isn’t it I mean the Bible doesn’t speak of Christian ethnicity
Like that the Bible does use the term ethnicity for Christians of course but we are a holy priesthood we are our own kind of nation so to speak um so to elevate culture or ethnicity to where you’re like oh it’s a close call of two people from different ethnic groups
Should get married it’s just such a close call shows that you’ve really lost touch with the overarching force of ethnicity in the Bible the New Testament does not give the church the Mandate of preserving ethnic groups but of transforming them with the gospel that’s the Great Commission so those are my concerns um
Christian nationalism presented by wolf and other uh Christian nationalists that idealizes the past and possibil ises the present institutionalizes the church and idolizes ethnicity now here’s my theological concern so this is the part where I want to convince you you’re like okay I get that but still can I be a
Christian nationalist if I don’t you know for other reasons and so here’s why Christian nationalist it’s just frankly not compatible with premillennialism not compatible with the Baptist world view not compatible with what I would consider proper theology so the first reason Christian nationalism presents um the partnership of government and Church
In a confusing way and I’ll give you five of these ways first of all those two groups have different covenants government and uh Nations have a different Covenant than the church the origin of government in another I know the word covenant makes some of you uneasy the origin of government is from
The noet Covenant government comes from God entering the World After the flood and telling Noah first of all there’s animals for you to eat there’s a food source involved be fruitful and multiply which is you know goes back to the Garden but then God adds whoever sheds
Man’s blood by man’s hand shall his blood be shed and God gives the sword to the world to punish evildoers this is the origins of governments government comes into the world through the noic Covenant to check evil and this is how government is often described throughout the rest of scripture after government
Instituted the Nations go their own way that’s the language of Acts 17 God allowed the Nations to go their own way uh he appoints from one man every nation of mankind live speaking of Noah on all the fa of the earth having determined the allotted periods and boundaries of
Their Dwelling Place in the days of pelig the the Nations divided and they shifted from each other and Paul says God did this so that people one day might grope their way back to the gospel one day they might encounter Christ so God designed Nations he designed them to
Go their own way but to Bear the sword to check evil they were designed by God n God God invented Nations not in the Garden of Eden but after the flood and he did not tell Nations that their job was to promote True Religion or to check
Evil uh I mean not to promote True Religion but to check evil to protect life and to protect family in Christian nationalism there’s a syllogism that they often use the syllogism is that civil government ought to direct its people to True Religion Christianity is the True Religion therefore civil government should direct
People to Christianity do you follow that logic and so what’s the problem with that and not every sism is is you know valid of course uh you know people with two legs can run a marathon I have two legs therefore I can run a marathon something broke down in that syllogism
Civil government’s obligation is to promote the True Religion that’s where it breaks down did God design civil government with the obligation to promote True Religion I say he did not the noic Covenant is not a Redemptive Covenant the noic Covenant restrains wrath it says as long as the rainbow is
There I’m not going to you know flood the Earth again there’s Universal judgment is coming God will destroy the Earth but the rainbow in a sense holds it back the rainbow does not prophesy Redeemer the the rainbow hangs in the hangs in the sky but it doesn’t have
Blood on it there’s no blood of the lamb in the rainbow that’s a covenant that restrains evil much like government which comes in as part of this Covenant is designed to check evil and restrain it government does not produce the Savior government doesn’t even point to
The Savior the Nations go their own way because one day the Savior will come independent of them through God’s special Nation Israel through the abrahamic Covenant the nation will the Savior will come through that through the davidic punishes evildoers throws them in jail and promotes the corporate well-being of the people through common
Peace it’s the church’s job to promote the True Religion and if everybody would stay in their own Lanes things would be so much better don’t can don’t remove those Lane lines they have different goals because they have different goals they have a different Focus the focus of the church
Is the mediator of the New Covenant the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the focus of government is the common peace of the people and because they have a different Focus they have different agents the government agents bear the sword to check evil the Christian agents I mean
Are the Ministers of the Gospel the priesthood of all believers through the mediator role of Jesus Christ and because they have different agents they have different laws the government operates from common Grace natural law General Revelation which of course is flawed because of sin and there’s a prophetic voice of
Believers to tell people hey homosexuality is wrong and transgenderism is wrong we use our prophetic voice but those kind of things are deducible from this natural Revelation and human reasoning that’s very different than the law that binds the church together the kind of commands that the New Testament
Gives for the church are not given to Nations the commands you see to Nations like Romans 13 style are the same thing nations were told back in Genesis 8 there’s not new commands in Genesis 9 there’s not new commands in the church to I mean in the New Testament to
Nations but all of the structuring of the church is brand new in the New Testament so Nations have their origin long before the church in time they have because of that different goals different Focus different agents different laws different ethnicity Nations if you want to Grant the case
Which I don’t but if you want to Grant the case which again I don’t but if you want to for the sake of argument that every nation should have only one ethnicity okay whatever it’s just different how the church works the church a mult multiethnic church is a glorious thing it celebrates the
Transcendent power of the Gospel if you say a multi-ethnic nation is prone to divisions and divides and and race riots and all that okay whatever I I’m not even that interested in that argument I’ll Grant it for the sake of discussion the church is so different the more
Diverse the church is the more glorious the gospel that’s presented in the churches that’s why a multi-ethnic church can be a wonderful sense of the Transcendent power of the gospel and so if you’re coming and looking at that like a mul ethnic church and you’re looking at that and you’re going wow
That celebrates the glories of the gospel and somebody else comes along yeah but that’s not good for civic identity that confuses civic identity you’re painting a Civic goal that is at odds with the religious goal and that’s a problem that’s a problem when you’re turning something that’s positive namely
The Transcendent power of the Gospel is present in a multi-ethic church into a negative a threat to social cohesion and unity you’re doing something wrong in fact I have a definition from uh Stephen wolf of ethnicity he says ethn ethnicity is quote and listen to this so carefully familiarity with others based
On common language manners Customs stories tabos rituals calendars social expectations duties loves and religions I love that definition that’s the church we have our common language we have christianese I made fun of it earlier do you remember we we have Christian e we have common tabos we have common calendars and rituals and
Ordinances or sacraments whatever word you want to describe it we’re bound together by a common entity that’s the church and if you say a nation is only properly composed of one city I object I object and because they have all those different things they have different ends the end of the city of
Man is not good God will judge it it will burn away the end of the city of God is triumph is triumph now in Christian nationalism they would Grant a distinction between the city of man and the City of God they would Grant a distinction between government and church they would Grant
All those but I’m saying that in Christian nationalism as my as I read it while they would say they function with different ordinances and all of this while they would say they have those differences they conflate them they argue that you should have a Christian Prince that leads the Christian
Nation a Christian prince who aspires to rule justly and who doesn’t long for power for its own sake who will fund missions and restrain Heretics and can mediate any problems with wisdom and an almost omnicient Grace that’s her description of the Christian Prince and I’m reading that description
Going yeah please tell me that’s Jesus please is that could you describe to him a glorious ruler who’s practically omniscient who knows how to handle every problem and bring societal peace I want that person I want him to be my king is that who you’re talking about
No no well shs because I’m looking at the people on the back and I don’t see that guy all right so my first theological concern is they the two nations are rooted in different covenants which prod produce all those other differences secondly they have different law they have different law political authorities
Make and enforce laws that are grounded in NOA Covenant to promote the common peace in the church there’s nothing like that there’s no New Covenant commands to the church about how to make laws for the common good in society the language of the Christian nationalist is don’t you want the
Government to function according to Christian ethics and they they say it like it’s you know the second class condition in Greek like the answer should be obvious obviously you’re Christian you want the government to F to function according to Christian ethics but I want to just say
Hold on what ethics are we talking about here when you say Christian ethics what do you mean do you mean turn the other cheek do you mean take no V vengance for yourself do you mean those kind of Ethics because no I don’t want the government to do that you hit a police
Officer I don’t want the police officers say brother Ser on the mount style hit the other cheek Romans 12 don’t take Vengeance on people let the Lord do that imagine you triy to have a government that lived out that Christian ethic in fact Romans 13 comes with the government bearing the sword
If you want the Romans 12 ethic you need the Romans 13 government or it will not work the reason you can turn the other cheek when somebody hits you is because the police are not far behind seriously it’s so important to see those two spheres operating there’s some overlap of course
You live in both spheres you’re a Christian you call 911 and say a guy’s punching my neighbor they don’t say are you a Christian you know they just roll in it’s different laws and the laws I’m telling you that the god designed government to engage in are rooted in Genesis 8 apply
To the Nations at large the laws God gave Israel in the Old Testament are different than that for their own particular purpose in the Old Testament and the instruction in the New Testament does not rewire the Nations but it does rewire the church we derive our ethic from the New
Testament teaching of the Lord the personal ethics of the New Covenant and the kingdom of God go well so much together they they they they cleanse or they they cleave together so well and that’s not the ethics of a functioning government number three they have different covenants different law
Thirdly they have different obligations as I mentioned the government’s obligation is to punish evil and protect life to protect the family to Reg regulate the food sources that’s the government’s obligation that creates the conditions where True Religion thrives True Religion thrives in a in a in a nation where the government checks evil
This is again acts 17 God designed the Nations to go their own way so that one day they can turn and look for the Savior so government is doing its job when it checks evil the gospel comes in from the inside out you know missionaries come into the nation the
Gospel takes root in the nation and the gospel spreads from there while the government is checking evil the government doesn’t promote the propagation of the Gospel the government checks evil and Christians promote the propagation of the Gospel they have different obligations the government does should not be making
Decisions based on what’s best for Christianity the government should be making decisions based on what is best for the common peace and that’s largely you can say it’s a distinction without difference I suppose but it is different motivations and it’s so important because then you have Christian do you have non-Christian
Leaders in your government non-christians can be excellent government leaders they really can they can check evil they can they can refuse bribes they can operate with a an ethic that they have achieved from natural Revelation for the common good and human reasoning of course they can that doesn’t mean they’re
Redeemed it’s the age-old question would you rather have a competent non-Christian president or an incompetent Christian president that’s why it’s kind of superficial to say you know if the guy’s a Christian I’ll vote for him well maybe have some other follow-up questions and if you don’t understand that try owning your own
Business you know do you want the 16-year-old who doesn’t know what they’re doing but is a Christian or the 16-year-old who’s like a hard worker and shows up early at least you can evangelize the second one you know the government takes Liberty away from people the government of course does
That but the government can’t Grant Liberty Liberty comes from God we know that and so that’s why I say different obligations the obligation of the government is not to Grant you rights or Grant you Liberty but to make sure they’re not taken from you the church’s
Job then is to come in and preach the gospel to all people making disciples number four they have a different identity a different identity government identifies as the majority by definition there’s a British expression doesn’t matter who wins the election the government will always take its seat doesn’t matter if the Democrats
Win the Republicans win the government will be in power tomorrow it’s just the reality the church is always the minority we have a Sojourner identity and that that is not just a new testament reality that is Old Testament as well think of the sojourn kind of language of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
How did they relate to the world as a sojer they entered in contracts with government they subjected themselves to Kings and governors and little city council members they bought Wells and they bought way uh Graves and when they didn’t honor the government they repented right when Abraham lied he
Repents Isaac lies he repents but they’re engaging with the nation so to speak identifying as a so J Joseph even identifying as a Sojourner even though he’s rising in power even though he practically is the government by the end of Genesis he’s still very clearly a Sojourner Daniel in Babylon literally in
Babylon not figuratively literally in Babylon operating as a Sojourner without compromising his own identity that’s the pattern for the church and that language is picked up in the New Testament as we are called sojourners so the question is does the New Testament change your Sojourner identity and the answer is no the New
Testament Embraces the sojourn identity Embraces our identity as aliens and Exiles in this world and so this is why premillennialism is not compatible with Christian nationalism even though it’s in the last few weeks I’ve seen all kinds of Christian nationalists say eschatology has nothing to do with this
You can be a premillennialist and be just happy as a Christian nationalist come on we don’t care about eschatology just vote harder but it’s so important because in premillennialism we recognize the Sojourner identity of the church in postmillennialism of course of course you’re you’re operating the assumption
That the gospel is going to grow in a nation until eventually becomes the predominant culture and ushers in some kind of Christian national identity that’s fine that’s postmillennialism that’s Christian nationalism go for it that’s your thing but it’s not my thing because of my premillennial convictions about the nature and the
Identity of the church and that touches on my fifth and final point they have different hopes different hopes the hope of the city of man is fickle you know and and this is this is where it’s so dangerous for our church Brothers election year is coming up the government’s going to
Win and you have people in your congregation their hearts are going to be so drawn to this right now let me check what’s happening what Trump do their hearts are so drawn to this and they’re invested in it and they want to do more and you know you’re in a state
That hasn’t voted red in like you know forever and your people’s hearts are all wrapped up in this and they’re distracted it’s too much hope in elections last presidential election you know the election happened on Tuesday and by Sunday people at church were just like talking about it and talking about
It and talking about it and what’s going to happen and the my pillow guy is on TV and it’s the whole thing remember and so I I pulled the car and I preached Psalm 131 a song of a sense of David oh Yahweh My Heart’s Not lifted up my eyes are not
Raised too high I don’t occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous I’ve quieted my soul like a wean child with its mother like a wean child within me oh Israel hope in Yahweh that’s the whole Psalm right there that’s David as king writing God I don’t want to think
About things above my pay grade if David can look at the political landscape of the world and go that’s above my pay grade you can quiet your soul what’s a bigger risk the outcome of the election are you just losing your first love I mean it’s true and the more you
Love the election and all that and the more you love the whatever politics it just sucks your heart in hadd somebody come to me and say you know the the liberal churches in town all the all the African American churches and the denominational churches they’re bringing buses in you know
Showing me clips in their phone of like the the preacher who’s like you know all fired up for for Biden and they got buses lined up to help everybody go vote early and it’s like if only our church would do that we could offset them like those that pastor’s preaching on on
Election I’m like I’m happy to preach on Election no not that one like why don’t we get the buses why don’t we do the voter guides why don’t we do all that stuff if the other if if the liberal churches are doing it why don’t we do it and it’s not a numbers
Game in that regard for us it’s this totally philosophy of ministry because I’m so concerned you get distracted about this world the kingdom of man man the kingdom you want to know what’s G to happen in the Kingdom of man what does God say about it it’s going to go down
So don’t love it run from it you want other churches to take you bust you to go get your you know vote 27 times for election day it’s not going to be our church and they say it’s time for the church to stand up let me tell you the true church
Is always standing up that’s all we do that’s all we do and this is why I’m so weary even of saying yeah okay so you want to impact elections in politics you evangelize people and once they get saved they’ll vote the so-called right way it’s like no because I have Piper
Sermon from a few nights ago in my head that you can tell the glory of something by the end of it if you’re like yeah evangelism is good and conversions are good because then we’ll finally get election outcome that’s still missing the point evangelism is not the means to the
End of better elections oh no evangelism is the means to the church expanding and magnifying the glory of God on Earth don’t confuse those two so what’s the alternative to Christian nationalism then what’s the alternative it’s the embassy identity the church is an embassy the church is an embassy we’re
Foreign Outpost in a foreign land and in our Embassy we have people from all kinds of Nations that’s fine that’s great come on in and in our in our own Embassy Outpost we develop our own culture our own language our own rituals our own Customs we develop all those and we send our
People back out into the foreign and hostile World 12:15 Sunday morning they go back out in the world some of you 12:30 12:45 they go back out in the world and they’re going to come back again next Sunday for strengthening and equipping and they’re going to go back out in the
World that’s their that’s their Embassy identity and you tear that down when you conflate the two kingdoms Christian nationalism tears that down it says the church isn’t an embassy it’s the it’s the kingdom it’s headquarters it’s HQ it’s not HQ of this world my friends we
Do not have a lasting City you want to build a lasting City you C you better not be building in this world cuz nothing will last we do not have a lasting City we fight we labor and we strive and we try to wrestle our eyes off of this world and onto the
Next you know I think talking about voting is is fine and helpful especially in discipleship conversations because it reveals so much of a person’s heart you know a person’s heart’s like I you know I’m just torn like you know this person is pro-abortion but this person you know
Wants to fight global warming you know so I can’t tell I can’t tell which is worse help and so those are good conversations in just normal discipleship that’s fine it brings that stuff out but your goal in that conversation is not to get the person to vote the right way your goal
Honestly is to get the person to get his eyes off of this world onto Christ who will of course transform everything else listen I don’t want open borders I don’t want gay flags in schools I don’t want that kind of stuff but I don’t want to lose the preciousness of the church I
Don’t want to sacrifice our Embassy Outpost for election that’s going to happen next year because even if you get away with it and even if the the person you want to win wins and whatever it’s going to happen again in four years you just get sucked into a cycle of
Craziness we don’t have a lasting City you want an embassy get the flag out of your church you want an embassy get the voter guys out of your church you want an embassy get courage and convictions to compel the gospel forward you know people get so wrapped
Up about an election it’s so helpful to know the theme of this conference truth triumphs Jesus is coming back and he he’s not going to be voted into office he’s got the he’s got the throne Premed the oath appointing him the mediator and the king of the world that
Is uttered in Psalm 2 repeated in Hebrews 1 and 5 that oath already happened that o was already recorded back in David’s day of course spoken at an event when he ascends into heaven it’s a Timeless oath and he’s going to come back and take over his throne and
Rule over the Nations we long for that day and that’s the day we set our eyes on God we’re grateful for the promise of a kingdom that won’t fail for the promise of a New Jerusalem that will come from Heaven established on the Earth would you pray for our own country
And the the leaders in our own country we pray that you would give them wisdom to rule justly and we pray that they would leave us alone so that we can work quietly with our hands leading a quiet and dignified life spreading the Gospel wherever you give us opportunity we want
To be wise as serpents innocent as doves knowing that ultimately we are lambs among Lions God give us Grace until the day of Slaughter cause us to stand for you we ask this in Jesus name amen