{"id":2486,"date":"2011-10-14T11:55:38","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T15:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?p=2486"},"modified":"2014-07-21T10:15:43","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T14:15:43","slug":"preachers-politics-and-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/","title":{"rendered":"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, made headlines recently when he endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for president<\/a> by arguing that Christians should not\u00a0vote for Mitt Romney (a Mormon) because he is a member of\u00a0a cult.\u00a0 That set off a firestorm of controversy, including\u00a0an accusation from the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State that Jeffress broke the law by endorsing Perry on their church’s website.\u00a0 Perry has distanced himself from the comment, and Jeffress has gone so far as to assert that he is not “Rick Perry’s Jeremiah Wright,” referring to the Chicago pastor who embarrassed Barack Obama during the previous presidential election cycle.<\/p>\n

There are at least three reasons why our pastors at Faith do not get involved in endorsing specific political candidates when representing our church.<\/p>\n

1. The power of words<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>The Bible teaches us to carefully guard our words.\u00a0 Solomon proclaimed that “death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21).\u00a0 Jesus told\u00a0His followers that “every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).\u00a0 James explained that\u00a0the tongue is “a fire, the world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.”<\/p>\n

Our mission is to faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.\u00a0\u00a0Spending our capital on lesser discussions is a waste of the influence God has entrusted to us.<\/p>\n<\/div>Like it or not, Pastor Jeffress is<\/em> Rick Perry’s Jeremiah Wright.\u00a0 Regardless of the rest of his ministry, many in our country will always remember him and\u00a0judge him\u00a0for that particular interchange.\u00a0 That is not to suggest that\u00a0the differences between evangelical Christianity and Mormonism\u00a0at not real and significant–they are.\u00a0 The issue is whether a pastor of a local church should use such an\u00a0issue\u00a0in a public forum to discredit\u00a0one candidate for political office and\u00a0endorse another.\u00a0 \u00a0Many people in our country will have very little interest in what Pastor Jeffress, First Baptist Church of Dallas, or any other evangelical church for that matter now has to say about anything else because of the inappropriate nature of those comments.\u00a0 That is how powerful a person’s words can be.\u00a0 That is also why James began his comments about the power of the tongue by issuing this solemn warning to pastors — “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, because we will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).<\/p>\n

2. The nature of Christ’s kingdom<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>Jesus’ followers frequently forget the nature of the mission.\u00a0 Christ even had to explain this to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane when He said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).\u00a0 He went on to say that “If my kingdom was of this world, then My servants would be fighting.”<\/p>\n

Government is ordained of God.\u00a0 Without question\u00a0followers of Christ are responsible to\u00a0submit to our\u00a0governmental leaders (Romans 13) and pray faithfully for them (1 Timothy 2).\u00a0 But the purpose in not\u00a0that the kingdom of God can or should be ushered in through political means.\u00a0 Paul made this perfectly clear when he explained that we pray so that “we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:2).\u00a0 When churches and pastors position themselves as political action committees, the result is anything but quiet and tranquil.\u00a0 The headlines in the last seven days prove that point beyond any reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

3. The centrality of the mission<\/h2>\n

<\/strong>

Short-term political gains are not worth the loss of eternal ministry opportunities.<\/p>\n<\/div>Paul completed his exhortation to pray for our governmental leaders\u00a0because “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”\u00a0 Our mission is to faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.\u00a0\u00a0Spending our capital on lesser discussions is a waste of the influence God has entrusted to us.<\/p>\n

That is the fundamental point of Michael Horton’s excellent book “Beyond Culture Wars<\/a>”\u00a0 in which he posed the important\u00a0question; “Is America a battlefield, or a mission field?”\u00a0 I hope we all understand that the answer is the latter.\u00a0 That is why wise pastors and churches avoiding speaking in contexts that needlessly alienate people from our proclamation of the good news of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the new life we can enjoy in Him.\u00a0 Short-term political gains are not worth the loss of eternal ministry opportunities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, made headlines recently when he endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for president by arguing that Christians should not\u00a0vote for Mitt Romney (a Mormon) because he is a member of\u00a0a cult.\u00a0 That set off a firestorm of controversy, including\u00a0an accusation from the Americans United for the… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[94],"tags":[4476,145,4340,4198,4475,4425,4424],"yoast_head":"\nPreachers, Politics, and the Gospel - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, made headlines recently when he endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for president by arguing that Christians should not\u00a0vote for Mitt Romney (a Mormon) because he is a member of\u00a0a cult.\u00a0 That set off a firestorm of controversy, including\u00a0an accusation from the Americans United for the... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-21T14:15:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133658\/Pastors-Politics-and-the-Gospel1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Viars\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/\",\"name\":\"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-21T14:15:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c\",\"name\":\"Steve Viars\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Steve Viars\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/author\/sviars\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel - Faith Church Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel - Faith Church Blog","og_description":"Rev. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, made headlines recently when he endorsed Texas Governor Rick Perry for president by arguing that Christians should not\u00a0vote for Mitt Romney (a Mormon) because he is a member of\u00a0a cult.\u00a0 That set off a firestorm of controversy, including\u00a0an accusation from the Americans United for the... read more","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/","og_site_name":"Faith Church Blog","article_published_time":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-21T14:15:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20170523133658\/Pastors-Politics-and-the-Gospel1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Viars","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Viars","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/","name":"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel - Faith Church Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website"},"datePublished":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-21T14:15:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/preachers-politics-and-the-gospel\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Preachers, Politics, and the Gospel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/","name":"Faith Church Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/b83c7b6a62eab6b6e07c6659b204826c","name":"Steve Viars","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121939\/ViarsSteve.jpg","caption":"Steve Viars"},"description":"Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.","url":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/author\/sviars\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2486"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2490,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2486\/revisions\/2490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}