Mark Driscoll: In God We Do Not Trust
After having some great dialog about politics, theology, and faith over the last few days, Mark Driscoll goes and writes a breif article that summarizes everything I’ve been trying to say. Check this out:
In my years of pastoral ministry I have worked very hard to not be political. I believe that my job as a pastor is to preach and teach the Bible well so that my people make their decisions, including their voting decisions, out of their faith convictions.
This election season which has dominated the cultural conversation for many months has been particularly insightful regarding the incessant gospel thirst that abides deep in the heart of the men and women who bear God’s image. Without endorsing or maligning either political party or their respective presidential candidates, I am hopeful that a few insights from the recent election season are of help, particularly to younger evangelicals.
First, people are longing for a savior who will atone for their sins. In this election, people thirst for a savior who will atone for their economic sins of buying things they did not need with money they did not have. The result is a mountain of credit debt they cannot pay and a desperate yearning that somehow a new president will save them from economic hell.
Second, people are longing for a king who will keep them safe from terror in his kingdom. In the Old Testament the concept of a peaceable kingdom is marked by the word shalom. In shalom there is not only the absence of sin, war, strife, and suffering but also the presence of love, peace, harmony, and health. And, this thirst for shalom is so parched that every election people cannot help but naively believe that if their candidate simply wins shalom is sure to come despite sin and the curse.
The bottom line is obvious to those with gospel eyes. People are longing for Jesus, and tragically left voting for mere presidential candidates. For those whose candidate wins today there will be some months of groundless euphoric faith in that candidate and the atoning salvation that their kingdom will bring. But, in time, their supporters will see that no matter who wins the presidency, they are mere mortals prone to sin, folly, and self-interest just like all the other sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. To help extend naïve false hope as long as possible, a great enemy will be named and demonized as the one who is hindering all of the progress to atone for our sins and usher in our kingdom. If the Democrats win it will be the rich, and if the Republicans win it will be the terrorists. This diversionary trick is as old as Eve who blamed her sin on Satan rather than repenting. The lie is that it’s always someone else’s fault and we’re always the victim of sinners and never the sinner.
Speaking of repentance, sadly, no matter who wins there will be no call to personal repentance of our own personal sins which contributes to cultural suffering and decline such as our pride, gluttony, covetousness, greed, indebtedness, self-righteousness, perversion, and laziness. And, in four years we’ll do it all again and pretend that this time things will be different. Four years after that, we’ll do it yet again. And, we’ll continue driving around this cul de sac until Jesus returns, sets up his throne, and puts an end to folly once and for all.
In the meantime, I would encourage all preachers to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance of personal sin. He alone can truly atone for our sins. He alone can deliver us from a real hell. He alone is our sinless and great King. And, he alone has a Shalom kingdom to offer.
Lastly, for those preachers who have gotten sidetracked for the cause of a false king and a false kingdom by making too much of the election and too little of Jesus, today is a good day to practice repentance in preparation to preach it on Sunday. Just give it some time. The thirst will remain that only Jesus can quench. So, we’ve still got work to do….until we see King Jesus and voting is done once and for all.
Amen.
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Writing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Anthony Bradley agrees.
driscoll is hit or miss for me.. here he misses… “First, people are longing for a savior who will atone for their sins.”
i’m not.. i’m longing for regulation and a better, more efficient government. i’ve always spent within my means, so this is a vast oversimplification.
yes, it all goes back to Christ, but not all in the same way nor by the same means.
“i’m not.. i’m longing for regulation and a better, more efficient government.”
Huh? You’d rather have a more efficient government than a savior? I don’t understand…
“yes, it all goes back to Christ, but not all in the same way nor by the same means.”
Could you explain? I don’t think that Driscoll is saying that it always happens in the same way or means. In fact, I think it was his point that in THIS instance it is reached politically and more subtly than usual yearnings for a savior….
the full quote i was responding to was “people are longing for a savior who will atone for their sins. In this election, people thirst for a savior who will atone for their economic sins of buying things they did not need with money they did not have. ”
like i said, i’m not. i’ve lived faithfully and within my means. i’ve done this because i feel that’s part of what following Jesus is about IMO. i also voted the way i did because i feel that was a closer representation to what Christ calls me to do, but it is NOT in anyway shape or means a vote FOR Christ.
also i’m not dumb enough to confuse the election with the second coming. I don’t think Christians are either, but some have gotten side-tracked on the issues and think they are “Voting by the Book.” http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2008/11/vote-bible.html
Gotcha. I mean, he is definitely talking about the country as a whole in general terms so there’s bound to be a few exceptions. That you are one of the few who spent within their means doesn’t mean that those with $18k in credit card debt (the national average) are not looking for restoration of their indulgent lifestyle.
I also don’t think he’s making a comment on voting for a “savior” in either candidate, so much as it is we are expecting too much from politics, putting too much faith in government. God is bigger than our vote, yet also uses our vote. We had a more lengthy discussion on this in “A Political Theology v. A Theology of Politics.”
y’all have been uncharacteristically quiet… what’s up?
You know what’s up - this is up - Merry Christmas COAS crew!