Basic Questions
Per our last blog entry, there are three types of servants, or leaders as the world calls them, that the Church needs to produce in order to carry out her prerogatives. Jesus himself gives us our prerogatives in Matthew 28:18-20. He tells us to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matt 28:19a) We are not called to see a smattering of people within each nation believe, but to “make disciples of the nations,” (Matthew 28:19a) “teaching them to observe all that I (Jesus) have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20a) The goal is much more audacious than modern evangelicalism admits to its people. The Great Commission is to see nations, entire people groups, believe and bow down to King Jesus. But we will come to that in time. The three servants or leaders are, the elder, the deacon(ness), and the civil magistrate. The elder serves the Lord within the church. He shepherds God’s people. The deacon(ness) serves the Lord among the poor, first within the church, and then, providing there is an overflow of funds, outside of it. The civil magistrate serves the Lord in the community. He is the “servant of God” (Romans 13:4) charged with rewarding those that do good, and with punishing those that do evil. We ended our last blog by pointing to examples both in biblical literature and in Christian history where renewals, deliverances, and reformations either began with the Christain civil magistrate himself, or were greatly assisted by his hand. In fact, in biblical literature, these things are lead most often by a godly civil magistrate. Therefore, the church needs to be very concerned with either the conversion of the civil magistrates of the cities, states, and nations, or the raising up of regenerated men equipped to serve them as civil magistrates.
If the Church accepts her responsibility to produce godly men that are able to lead cities, states, and nations, then the second step would be to outline a biblical political program. She should propose a cohesive set of policies and goals that her men should strive to enact. So, what does a biblical political program look like? What should the platform of a Christian Statesman be? Well that is the question isn’t it. And I shall try to answer it. But, of course, we cannot start with policy proposals. There is so much disagreement among evangelical Christians today that, what is truly needed, is to go back to the basics. We must first strive to give to Christians around the world a foundational understanding of where civil government originates, and what civil government is to do.
In the next series of blog entries on the subject of “Being a Christian Statesman”, let’s concern ourselves with one basic question. “Is the civil government an accident of history that arose from the mind of man?” Or, “Is it a divinely revealed institution originating from the mind of God?”
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