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Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (Rom. 13:1-4)
In its broadest sense politics is the art and science of government (Concise Oxford Dictionary) but, when applied to the individual it encompasses how one governs i.e. sagacious, judicious, expedient, or even craftiness and cunning. The politics of leadership would therefore refer to directing, guiding, and leading using various means, such as wisdom, patience, fairness, or guile to achieve a goal or purpose, in other words, to put it bluntly, politics is the art of persuasion, of convincing people to follow a certain path or direction.
As Christians we use the Bible as our ‘manual of life’, and in its pages, we see how leaders used various means to govern, lead, control, and bend people to their will. The methods and machinations they used to gain support and maintain order fill this holy book.
Jacob and Laban cheated their way through life. Samson used his strength, Solomon used wisdom, Jezebel used manipulation and intimidation, Nehemiah was determined, and Paul was learned.
Moses led the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years. God gave them a set of laws, rules, and directives to obey and in return, they would be rewarded with blessings. If they were disobedient they would be punished. This has been the form of most political activity throughout the ages, support and obedience were rewarded, and rebelliousness and disobedience led to punishment.
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It all sounds so simple, you scratch my back and I scratch yours and we all live happily ever after, but people being what they are, are constantly at loggerheads with each other and with their leadership. They constantly take diverse and contradictory actions and are constantly looking to break the rules, especially if there is gain in it. Such action often involves the collective or the group and therefore the need for politics. Politics has the ongoing task of convincing followers that the politician is the right person for the job. But politics is more than that. In Exodus 20, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the second of which was:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exod. 20:4-6)
And guess what the Israelites did? They made a golden calf and bowed down to it and stirred up the Lord to anger, so much so that God wanted to eliminate them all and start over using Moses as the founding father. (Exod. 32:9-10)
But leadership is not always a straightforward process, not always cut and dried, black and white, there are occasions when leaders need to take risks and do something different. There are times when leaders need to play politics to find a better way. God had appointed Moses to lead this stiff-necked people to freedom and the time had come for Moses to show his mettle, to demonstrate his leadership politic.
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.
(Exod. 32:11-13)
The need to maintain the integrity of God’s name and His promises was paramount and important for any future generation, so much so that Moses made a counteroffer:
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exod.32:32)
This is what politics is supposed to be – finding that middle path to keep powers and supporters happy. Moses was prepared to die for his people, to ensure they had a future. Moses, the politician of God, placed his constituency first, which is what politicians should do.
When Moses descended the mountain, however, his actions were much more ‘human’. The whole camp was given a choice, for God or against Him, and three thousand rebels were executed that day. Moses was prepared to die for the Israelites yet he would not tolerate any rebellion in their ranks. His actions spoke of commitment to the cause, love for his people, and intolerance for anyone who tried to usurp God’s authority. Love and the sword would be his politics of leadership. Often, however, his own human failings would undermine his leadership. Politicians are human and humans are fallible, corruptible, persuadable, and convertible.
The risk Moses took in executing the rebels could easily have turned his leadership into a reign of terror dominated by fear, much like what happened during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, the arch-supporters of Baal. She wanted to enforce her will and beliefs on the people of Israel, and she started by killing off ‘the prophets of the Lord’ (1 Kings 18:13). Her politic of choice was fear, intimidation, and manipulation. When Ahab, the king, desired the vineyard of Naboth, she had Naboth murdered (1 Kings 21). Fear touched everything and everyone, even Elijah, who at that time was the foremost of prophets but he took to his heels and ran away when he received a death threat from her after his victory over the priests of Baal at Carmel. But fear works only against those who are afraid and has no power over those who are not. Elijah, encouraged and strengthened by the Lord, would later confront Ahab and condemn him and his dynasty to ignominy even proclaiming that ‘…the dogs shall eat Jezebel…’ (1 Kings 21:23).
As Christians, we should heed the words of Jesus:
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
(Matt. 10:28)
This was the secret of King David’s success. He feared no man but the Lord God of Israel. His reign and his life were driven by his love for the Lord and he readily resorted to using force and the sword to maintain the integrity of God’s Name and Word. Solomon, his son, continued in the same vein, at least for a while, but his weapon of choice, his political strategy of leadership, was wisdom.
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? (1Kings 3:9)
The Wisdom of Solomon brought fame and fortune for him and peace to his country and this wisdom is available to all:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5)
We all need wisdom to know when to use our God-given authority, our faith, our gifts, and our talents to accomplish our political agenda. We all have a political agenda even if it is only within the family or church context. Sooner or later we all practice some form of politics.
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Paul, the leader of the expanding church to the Gentiles, admitted to being cunning in his dealings. To the church in Corinth, he wrote:
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
…but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
(2Cor. 12:15-16,19(b))
His cunning was a result of his love for them. The more he desired their conversion, the more they turned against him, it was therefore necessary for him to use other means to achieve his purpose.
For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
(1Cor. 9:19-22)
Paul was later to write:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(Phil. 1:21)
Whatever he did, he did it for Christ. No matter how crafty or cunning he had to be, Paul never ever compromised the Lord. Leadership requires that we do what must be done using all the means at our disposal yet driven by our love for Christ.
Our Leader, our Lord Jesus Christ had this to say:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
(John 15:13-14)
He overcame His enemies, Satan, and sin and death, established His kingdom on earth, and left us an everlasting legacy without ever resorting to violence. His politics were love and the Word:
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)
The politics of Christian leadership is to get people to do what is right, to do what is good for the individual and the collective by using our gifts and abilities yet maintaining our Christian integrity. That means honoring Jesus Christ and upholding His name in all that we do and say, for when all is said and done, we will one day have to give an account before His judgment seat.
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