The Lord’s Work? 

In a recent political campaign, one of the candidates in my state advertised that everyone should get out and vote. On this I agree, however, he didn’t stop there because he tied voting to “doing the Lord’s work”. I will steer clear of the person. The point here is that, politics is not “the Lord’s work”. Granted, Americans are given the right and privilege to participate in the process and doing so is our civic duty. There is a big difference between civic duty and “the Lord’s work”.  

They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21, ESV) 

This has been a slow developing blog post as I have wrestled with how best to dip into this subject without showing a political bias. I believe we, as Christians, need to be prayerful in our civic duty but careful not to make civic duty biblical responsibility. It is possible that God can lead someone to serve in a civic capacity and if so, they should do so willingly, knowing that God is sovereign over all. When Israel wanted a king, so they could be like everyone else, Samuel attempted to steer them away, stating that God was their King (1 Samuel 8).  

Now to be clear, I know there is no perfect form of government. Why? Man is corrupt (Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 53:1-3). Even in the church, we know there isn’t such thing as perfect. We get caught up in our own ways, thoughts and deeds. We often make choices based on things other God. But, I digress early. Government serves a purpose, even scriptures support this idea. Outside of God however, it is most often self serving and while capable of making a moral choices, is often not guided by God. 

I remember, after a particular presidential election a few decades ago, many in the church were “wringing their hands” because they could not believe that this outcome had happened and what was going to happen now that “he” was president. I marveled then at this response. I even asked the question, almost mockingly, “was God taken by surprise by this outcome?” When Paul was writing the letter to the church at Rome, Rome itself was not known for being very civil , unless one sold oneself to them and even then, if not a citizen, one had no rights. Yet, Paul was clear in how Christians should be towards those in authority. While reading this passage, consider who the emperor of Rome would have been.  

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. (Romans 13:1-7, ESV) 

Also in the revelation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream,  

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;  (Daniel 2:20–21, ESV). 

I have drifted off course. In order to get back on track, the initial thought question, “doing the Lord’s work”, involves some clarification. Jesus’ sermon on the mount gives us insight on how we are to live for him. But, to fully understand what his assignment to believers is, we need to look at some of the last words he spoke on this planet.  

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV) 

We can sum up “the Lord’s work” like this; as we are going about our lives, we are to make disciples, showing people the way to God, through Jesus. Then baptizing them, making a public profession of faith. This is followed by teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded (again, Matthew 5-7 is a good start). This is what God has called us to do in Christ. This is the Lord’s work. Discipleship means getting personally involved. Granted, within the church, God has given us responsibility to see the church as the bride of Christ and in that, work to keep her pure. A footnote here, we are not the morality police for the world. We are to seek justice, stand for those who cannot stand for themselves, see a need, meet a need, these should go without saying but, to place God’s moral law on an corrupt world, is not where our efforts lie. Paul, in his letter to the church at Corinth was clear. We have a responsibility to deal with sin within the church, without question. But, the judgement of a lost, unbelieving world, falls to God himself. (1 Corinthians 5:9-13). We are to point the world to Christ.  

Finally, we need to stop arguing, first among ourselves as the church. This is not good for the testimony of the church. Added, anything we do that undermines the mission of the church is sin. It has no place. Secondly, we need to stop arguing with people in the world, too. If we understand what scripture teaches, lost people are just that, lost. There is no bearing for them to understand. I will close with an encounter I had on a job many years ago. A man came up to me with some paper containing what he called “contradictions in the Bible”. He approached with the opening that he knew I was a Christian and he wanted me to explain these things to him. I took the pages and looked them over. My question to him was simple “have you been born again?”. He did not want to talk about that, he just wanted to argue what he deemed inconsistencies in scripture. I asked him again “have you ever placed your faith in Jesus?”. His answer was “no” then started to talk louder about these pages. I handed them back to him and explained that all scripture is spiritually discerned and that the only way to have the Holy Spirit bring clarity is to be a born again believer in Jesus. He took his paper and walked off, mumbling to himself. No argument, no judgement, just an opportunity to present the GOSPEL, the good news of Jesus.  

So, when elections come around, pray, study, seek God and go vote because it is your civic duty. Pray for those in leadership (remember who the emperor of Rome was when Paul wrote this). Then, once complete, continue to do the Lord’s work as he has called you. Make disciples.  

Scott