Continuing on the theme of last week’s post, I want to focus on the reason why the Church has no business turning to the world of politics to pursue the fulfillments of its goals.
No matter how lofty, how noble, or how godly the goal, if we rely on temporal solutions to spiritual problems, we are only setting ourselves up for greater problems and disappointments further down the road.
Below are four examples, two from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament, that shows what happens when men try to achieve God’s will instead of letting Him use His time and His ways to achieve the goal.
Abraham, Sarah and Hagar
Abraham is claimed as the patriarch of three world religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in chronological order. This came about because God promised Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age.
God had called Abraham (then called Abram, but we’ll use the more familiar name since God changed gave him that name later in his story) to travel to a land that God would give him. Abraham was faithful and followed God (cf. Genesis 12-25).
God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. Abraham had commented to the Lord that he had no heir, and in response God promised Abraham that he would father a son. Genesis 15:6 said, “Abram believed the Lord, and he was credited it to him as righteousness.”
Apparently, Abraham told Sarah of the promise God had made. Sarah was past child-bearing years and she suggested that Abraham sleep with her maidservant, Hagar. Sarah’s words are, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her” (16:2a). Abraham did as Sarah suggested. He slept with Hagar, and Hagar became pregnant.
The result of the turning to a temporal solution to God’s promise was the birth of Ishmael. Not only did Ishmael come into the world, but there arose enmity between Sarah and Hagar and Sarah and Abraham.
Fourteen years later, God gives a son to Abraham and Sarah. He was given the name Isaac.
The remainder of the Abraham line in Genesis speaks only of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac. There is no further mention of Ishmael until Abraham’s death, when Ishmael returns to help Isaac bury their father (cf. Genesis 25:9). We then have a brief genealogy of Ishmael. He becomes the father of twelve tribes, not unlike Isaac’s son, Jacob/Israel.
Islam traces its roots through Ishmael to Abraham. The events we read about in Genesis regarding Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac (cf. Genesis 22) is attributed to Ishmael by those who are Muslim.
It doesn’t take a person long to realize that the conflict that arose between Sarah and Hagar has been visited through the generations to the Arab-Israel troubles of today. Both Islam and Israel lay claim to the land, citing their heritage relating to Abraham, the one whom God promised to give the land.
One example of a temporal solution to a spiritual matter: when people tried to do God’s will in their time, not God’s, and used “reasonable” methods to do that which God seemed to indicate would be miraculous.
Moses and His Plan to Liberate Israel
Moses was a man set apart by God to do great things for God’s people. The problem was that Moses tried to do the great thing on his own, to great disaster.
When God made His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15), God told Abraham that his people would suffer in slavery for 400 years in Egypt. Then God would send someone and set the people free.
Moses was born during that time of slavery (cf. Exodus 1-2). He was born in a time when Pharaoh had ordered all male children born to Israelite mothers were to be killed. The midwives feared God more than Pharaoh, so they didn’t kill the sons. Pharaoh decided to take more drastic measures by ordering that all Israelite baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile.
There was an Israelite woman who had a son and could not bring herself to throw her son into the Nile. Instead, she hid him for as long as she could. When it was no longer feasible to hide the boy, she made a basket made of reeds, sealed it with pitch and placed the baby in the basket and the basket in the Nile, not too far from where Pharaoh’s daughter was known to bath. The woman had her daughter watch over the basket and see what happened.
Pharaoh’s daughter found the basket, had one of her servants fetch the basket, and discovered the little boy. She decided to raise the child, and she named him Moses. The boy’s sister, Miriam, volunteered to go fetch a wet nurse from the Israelite slaves, and she brought Moses’ mother to Pharaoh’s daughter.
From that moment on, Moses was raised in a unique world of two cultures. He was being raised as any Egyptian child would be raised, being trained in the skills a royal son of Egypt should know. But he was also being taught by his mother about his Jewish heritage. No doubt she told him that Israel was to be set free by God soon and that God would need a man to lead His people. Who better than a man familiar with both cultures, learned and schooled in both societies? Who better than Moses?
Moses must have accepted his mother’s advice. In Acts, Stephen was on trial for the heresy of following Christ. In his defense, he mentioned Moses, and in that defense he said, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action” (7:22). One day, while this powerful man was walking through the Israelite section, he came upon an Egpytian beating an Israelite. Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.
The next day, Moses saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked one of them, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” (Exodus 2:13). The response was, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” (2:14a).
Moses’ reaction to the Hebrew’s words was one of fear and, probably, shock. The fear was in thinking that word had gotten out about the murder of the Egyptian. The shock was probably from the words, “Who made you ruler and judge?” If Moses had been brought up to believe that he was to be God’s deliverer, he probably assumed that the people would welcome his intervention and leadership. He was, after all, powerful in speech and action. How could they do anything else but follow him? And yet, they rejected him.
Moses fled into the desert, where he lived for 40 years thinking himself a failure and a fool. When God brought Moses to the burning bush, the man who was powerful in speech and action now thought he was the last person God could use to set His people free.
Moses used his temporal method to seek to bring about God’s plan. As a result, Moses lost 40 years of his life, living apart from the only cultures he had ever known. Would God have waited another 40 years before He told Moses to set His people free? Was God prepared to move more quickly? God had promised Abraham that He would set Israel free after 400 years. When the people finally left Egypt, it was 430 years after they had become enslaved. It’s not too difficult to assume that Moses’ reliance on the temporal cost Israel 30 more years of slavery.
“I Have Betrayed Innocent Blood”
When Jesus began His public ministry, He chose 12 men to follow Him. These 12 were to be His disciples, and they were given special access and teachings from Jesus, something that no others enjoyed. It was a privileged position.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there was the assumption that Jesus was going to reestablish the throne of David. He was going to throw off Roman rule and reestablish a free and independent Israel. As the new king, Jesus would need a cabinet of counselors and administrators. That’s why the disciples spent so much time bickering about who would be greatest in Jesus’ kingdom.
One of the inner circle of these 12 men was the treasurer, Judas. Judas wasn’t like the rest. The Gospels report that Judas was greedy and that he embezzled money from the disciples’ purse. The Gospels also all agree that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
The Bible doesn’t say why Judas betrayed Jesus. Certainly, the promise of a tidy sum of money played a part in it, but there had to be more to the reason. The following is my conjecture, based upon the misunderstanding of Jesus’ kingdom and Judas’ words and actions after Jesus was arrested.
It is my belief that Judas had become impatient. He no doubt believed Jesus was to be king, but Jesus seemed to be unable or unwilling to bring this kingdom about. I believe Judas became impatient, and that he developed a plan.
I think Judas figured out that if Jesus was arrested, He would be forced into proclaiming His kingdom and establishing it at that time. Judas had no doubt that Jesus would become king, and it was probably Judas’ fantasy that Jesus would, after it was all said and done, thank Judas for forcing His hand. Judas would be rewarded with a high position, no doubt, and be highly esteemed by all. And to get an extra 30 pieces of silver to boot was just an added bonus.
So Judas betrayed Jesus, expecting a quick uprising and the establishment of the kingdom. Instead, Jesus went meekly with the arresting officers and, when a fight began, Jesus immediately put an end to it.
Suddenly, all of Judas’ plans died. He must have come to the realization that this Jesus, whom Judas assumed to be the Messiah, was not a Messiah, but a well-meaning, misguided teacher from Nazareth. Far from being the future king of Israel, Jesus was not anything close to it.
Realizing this, Judas went to the authorities (Matthew 27) and told them he had made a terrible mistake. “When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the 30 silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. ‘I have sinned,’ he said, ‘for I have betrayed innocent blood’” (Matthew 27:3-4a). Judas did what he could to release Jesus, but his efforts ran up against a brick wall. Instead of freeing Jesus, they carried out their plan.
Judas was so distraught at what was happening and his part in it that he threw the money at the priests and elders and went out and hanged himself.
In my view, Judas had used temporal methods to seek to bring about God’s will. In Judas’ case, it was because he didn’t understand God’s will to begin with, but Judas’ impatience and ambition overruled an obedience and trust in Jesus. In doing what he did, Judas demonstrated that he never really belonged to Jesus in the first place.
“Bow Down and Worship Me”
The final example is taken from the life of Jesus. While it does not show how Jesus used temporal means to seek to achieve God’s goal, it does show how Satan uses the lure of the temporal to lead us away from God’s will.
Following Jesus’ baptism, He travelled into the Wilderness, where He fasted and prayed for 40 days and nights. After the time of fasting, Jesus was tempted by Satan in three explicit ways. The first was to turn stones into bread to feed Himself. The second was to demonstrate God’s protection for Him by having Jesus jump from the highest point in Jerusalem. The final temptation is what I want to focus on.
For the final temptation, Satan took Jesus to “. . . a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this will I give You,’ he said, ‘if You will bow down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9).
Satan was aware of Jesus’ ministry and he knew that the only way to thwart Jesus was to lead Him to sin. Toward that end, Satan knew that, if Jesus was successful, all the world would eventually be His. So Satan offered a shortcut. Allow me to paraphrase.
“Listen, Jesus. You and I both know that God’s desire is to give You all the world. You know it; I know it. And, usually, God gets what He wants. So, let’s just agree right here and now that it’s a done deal for You.
“I can make it easier for You. It’s just me and You. All you gotta do is bow down and worship me, and I’ll gladly give You what you’re going to get anyway. Just a quick bow and a short ‘hail.’ No one’s watching. I won’t say anything. You can cut short all You’ll have to go through. Just a quick bow and ‘hail.’ Whaddaya say?”
The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in all areas. This was a temptation. But the Bible also tells us that Jesus didn’t sin. He may be tempted, but He never gave in. Still, Satan tried his best to get Jesus to take the shortcut, to go the temporal way, to achieve God’s goal for Jesus.
Jesus’ response to Satan was, “Away from Me, Satan. For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only” (Matthew 4:10). Jesus knew things about Satan. He knew that Satan was a liar, someone whose first language is lies (cf. John 8:42-47). Jesus also knew that God was always with Him, so God would know if Jesus yielded to temptation. And He also knew that Satan may offer us an option that, on the surface, sounds good, but in the end it proves empty and costly.
Conclusion
What do we learn from all of this? A couple of things.
First, God has a plan, and His plan is always perfect. We cannot make it better. We cannot help it along. To “help” God’s plan become fruition is to invite disaster. Look at Abraham and Sarah. Look at Moses. Look at Judas. All tried to take matters into their hands, when all along they should have let God do His thing His way and in His own time.
Second, temporal solutions arrive from Satan. It’s his alternative to God’s will, and he entices us with the promise that it will just speed up the process. He promises the world to us, only to yank it away from us. Satan is good at telling the rewards, but he’s not very good at telling the ultimate cost of doing it apart from God. Did Abraham have a son through temporal means apart from God’s plan? Yes, he did, and the cost is conflict that has echoed through the ages into our present day. Did Moses try to push God’s agenda before God told him to? Yes, and it cost Moses 40 years in his own personal wilderness, resulting in self-doubt and a dreadful sense of failure. Judas tried the temporal route, and it cost him his life.
When the Church turns to the legislature to try to bring about God’s law into our world, the result is never what they hoped or were told. Not only do they not achieve their goal, but they lose their message in the process.
The most precious thing the Church has is its moral integrity. When that is compromised to achieve a political aim—when the Church surrenders the spiritual for the temporal—then the Church becomes the biggest loser of all.
© 2019 Glynn Beaty