Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of
Trinity Sermons. This week we are continuing
our sermon series, The Bible Doesn't Say That,
where we look at some sayings that sound biblical,
but they aren't actually in the Bible. Today,
we're looking at this idea of the separation
of church and state, the idea that religion and
politics should never mix. But is that really
in the Bible? And is that really how Jesus lived
his life? Tune in as Rob unpacks this for us
and shows us how the Bible really is political
from start to finish. Today's reading is from
the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 15
to 22. Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans
to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples
to him along with the Herodians. Teacher, they
said, we know that you are a man of integrity
and that you teach the way of God in accordance
with the truth. You aren't swayed by others because
you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us
then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay
the imperial tax to Caesar or not? But Jesus,
knowing their evil intent, said, You hypocrites,
why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin
used for paying the tax. They brought him a denarius,
and he asked them, Whose image is this, and whose
inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then he
said to them, So give back to Caesar what is
Caesar's, and to God what is God's. When they
heard this, they were amazed. So they left him
and went away. The word of the Lord. Thanks be
to God. So you're enjoying a lovely dinner party
with friends. The food is good. The drinks are
flowing. Everything's wonderful. And then somebody
starts talking about Donald Trump, Pierre Poliev,
Mark Carney. They start talking about tariffs.
They start talking about pipelines. Daniel Smith,
the 51st state. I don't know. And all of a sudden,
you start to feel a little bit queasy. You get
up from the table. You kind of excuse yourself.
You say, I've kind of lost my appetite. What
is going on there? Well, it's kind of like Mark
Twain said. He said that never to discuss politics
or religion in polite company. And the bad news
for you this morning is that we're going to be
discussing both. religion and politics. But thankfully,
I wouldn't consider you polite company. So we
should be okay. But if you think it can be a
stressful thing to talk about politics around
a dinner table with people, it's also very stressful
to talk politics when you are in a church. And
right now we're in the middle of a teaching series
we're calling The Bible Doesn't Say That, where
we're looking at some of the most misunderstood
and misquoted scripture verses that are in, or
aren't in, the Bible. Verses like, God helps
those who help themselves, or cleanliness is
next to godliness, stuff like that. And today
we come to a statement that we're all pretty
familiar with, and yet we might not be exactly
sure where it comes from, and we might... be
tempted to assume that it in fact comes from
the Bible. This idea of the separation. between
church and state. The idea that we should separate
religion from politics. Now, is that idea in
the Bible? Is that where it comes from? This
idea that Jesus is okay in here, in the sanctuary,
but don't let Jesus follow you out of here into
the voting booth or wherever you're going next.
If you've ever felt this tension within you,
you're not alone. Christians throughout history
have wrestled with this relation. between our
spiritual convictions and our political ideas
and our political lives. And as a result of that,
sometimes we have slipped into two temptations,
I will call them, about how we should handle
that tension. Now, one temptation we face is
what you might say is... that we decide we're
going to become apolitical, meaning that I'm
going to stay silent about politics, going to
keep safe about politics. And we say things like,
it's not our place as Christians to get involved
in politics. In fact, I was talking to somebody
at coffee hour just a few minutes ago, and they
said that the church they grew up in, They were
advised not to vote as Christians. And many people
in that brethren denomination still do not vote.
Keep Jesus safely tucked away in your private
lives. He can have your heart. But don't let
him have your politics. Don't let him have your
policies. Don't let him have your own public
voice. And often the verse that is cited by people
in this camp is none other than John 18, 36,
where Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world.
There you go. You see, Jesus himself said it.
He said that there's a kingdom of this world,
government and politics, and he's got a kingdom,
but that kingdom is spiritual in nature. It's
somewhere else. It's heaven after you're dead
and gone. So as far as faith, faith needs to
stay in its lane. and not cross over into the
lane of politics. That's one temptation. The
other temptation that we sometimes fall into
is not to be apolitical and not to stay silent
and safe, but actually to be all political, to
be loud and loyal to our particular political
party because we believe that's God's political
party, or to our candidate because we believe
that's God's candidate. And in that case, Christianity,
just becomes like a mascot for whatever your
political views are. And you probably know somebody.
You probably know somebody who kind of holds
that opinion. And if you don't... I would advise
you just to look around the room because we as
Anglicans, we have a kind of a complicated history
with this whole thing about being tied to politics.
Our denomination was born out of the fusion between
the church and the state where the king became
the head of the church. That's very messy. That's
like all political. All the more reason for us
to talk about this today. So let's talk about
that phrase, right? The separation of church
and state. Where did that phrase come from? Well,
if you think it came from Jesus, you'd be wrong.
It didn't come from Jesus. It came from Jefferson.
200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson writing a letter.
to a bunch of Baptists, Baptists who were worried
that maybe the government was going to start
to encroach on their religious freedoms. And
Jefferson says, no, no, no, no, listen, don't
read all this, by the way. But he says that you
have nothing to worry about. We're not going
to meddle in the church. We're, in fact, building
a wall of separation. between the church and
the state. And over time, that also kind of got
sucked up into people's thinking that there should
be a wall between our religious practice and
our political lives, that government and churches
should keep out of each other's business altogether.
I was reading, getting ready for this week, and
I came across the story of Archbishop of Canterbury
by the name of Michael Ramsey. Back in 1974,
Michael Ramsey took a trip, very courageously,
down to Chile. At the time, Chile was being run
by a violent kind of right -wing regime. He went
down to preach the gospel. He went down to encourage
the church down there. On one occasion, when
he was in a church preaching, there was an armed
soldier at the door. And the soldier kept asking
people who were coming and going, is he talking
about politics? Is he talking about politics?
Is he talking about politics? And then he was
heard to say, as he patted his gun, he's got
to stick to the things of the soul because politics
is for us. The message was pretty clear. You
can have your religion. Keep it quiet, though.
Keep it private. Do not let your religious beliefs
challenge the powers that be, challenge the authorities
around us. And if I'm honest, I think there's
a lot of us that even today think that, yes,
that's kind of what we're supposed to do. Doesn't
the Bible say that while I'm here today to tell
you? Absolutely not. The Bible does not say keep
your faith. Free from politics. In fact, what
we're going to discover today is the Bible is
so deeply political. It is soaked in politics
from the very first page to the very last page.
The Bible is a political book. And if you don't
believe me by the end of the sermon, I hope that
you do. But let's start by turning to that page
number one. The page number one. The Bible, of
course, starts with a story of creation. There
you have chaos and God with his power and his
authority and his rule. He brings order and life
and beauty out of the chaos. That's great. We
know that part of the story. But did you know
that after he creates humankind, his very first
word to humanity is a political word? On page
one. of the Bible. We learn that human beings
were actually created for political power. You're
like, Rob, what are you talking about? Well,
take a look at this. God says, let us make humans
in our image. And we say, oh, what does that
mean to be made in the image of God? Oh, don't
worry, because God answers it in the very next
words. Let us make humans in our image so that
they may rule. That is the first time rule or
authority or power appears in the Bible. God
says this essentially, just like I have power
and authority to create order out of chaos and
beauty out of a mess, I am going to give to this,
my human creature, the ability to do what I do.
I want them to be able to lead and have authority
just like I do. Which means, everybody, we are
political creatures. We're not political in the
sense of partisan politics. We're not political
creatures in the sense of power -hungry kind
of politics, whatever you think of. But what
I'm saying is we are creatures that have been
entrusted. With God's authority to take the chaos
of this world and make it a better world and
make it a more beautiful world. And that is exactly
actually what our politicians today are tasked
with doing when we vote for them. To take the
chaos of our community and make it better and
make this world a more beautiful place. But the
point behind that is that it's not just even
our politicians who've been given that job. We're
all human beings made in the image of God, which
means we are all given the task of using this
political image, this political power to rule
our world on God's behalf. Guys, we're political.
We're all political. We were created that way.
Now, the question remains, how do we use that
power? Do we use our political power for good
or for evil? You just got to turn over a couple
more pages in your Bible to like page three,
and you will see a problem emerges. And no sooner
have we been given the power to rule than we
try to use that authority for our own advantage.
I mean, Adam and Eve, they were supposed to rule
with God as God's representatives, but they decide
they want to rule without God and they want to
do things their own way. And so what the result
is, instead of bringing order and beauty into
this chaotic world, things start to work in reverse.
The beautiful world starts to kind of become
more chaotic. There is sin and fear and blame
and brokenness and hiding and all this stuff.
If you're reading the Bible and you come to Genesis
3, one way to understand what is going on in
Genesis 3 is simply this. It is a complete failure
of politics, right? Rather than rule as God's
representatives, human beings try to take the
throne for themselves, okay? And from that point
on, again, if you're reading the Bible, it's
all politics. But from that point on, essentially,
the rest of the biblical story, is the constant
search for some human being, someone made in
the image of God who can actually exercise the
kind of political power that God intended in
the way that God intended. And God says, I'm
not giving up. I'm not giving up on these human
beings. I'm going to find that person. I'm going
to call that person someone to reflect my own
political image. And of course, it starts by
him calling this particular human being whose
name was Abraham. And he said, Abraham, listen,
here's what I want to do with you. I want you,
since you're made in my image, to exercise leadership
and to rule this world in such a way that you
will restore all that has been lost. That's a
good idea. But Abraham proves faithful in one
moment and faithless in the next. And so does
his children and his grandchildren and his great
-grandchildren. Be the kind of ruler. Exercise
the kind of politics that God intended them to.
Eventually, it kind of degrades totally where
Abraham's descendants don't really want to have
anything to do with God as a king anymore. They
want to have their own king. God says, look,
look, look, they're now completely rejecting
me as their king. And thus begins this time in
Israel's history where they have kings. It doesn't
work out really well. The very first king they
appointed, King Saul, he's a failure. The next
king is David. In some ways, he fails. even more
spectacularly than Saul. And then David's son,
Solomon, makes a total mess of things. You know,
Israel is broken up. The kingdom is shattered.
And as a result, you know, oh, and he was an
idolater and he had a whole bunch of wives. None
of these guys, none of these guys were able to
reflect God's wise rule to the world. They just
keep getting it wrong. Now, there were these
other people during that time. who their job
was to hold these politicians to account and
to call out their injustices. They were called
the prophets, the Old Testament prophets. In
fact, it's not a bad way to understand what an
Old Testament prophet is. It is someone who says
to the leaders, hey, get back on track. Hey.
Start doing what you're supposed to be doing.
You're not doing what God intended. You're supposed
to be creating a better world, a more beautiful
world, a more ordered world. So get at it. Start
defending the poor. Start, you know, fixing injustice.
And so you had prophets like Nathan, a prophet
called Nathan. He confronts King David when King
David is abusing his power. And you have prophets
like Elijah who stand up to... King Ahab, when
he's exercising all this kind of corruption and
injustice. And Isaiah and Jeremiah, they speak
out against these kings that were constantly
leading people astray. I'll give you one example
of a prophet. This guy's name was Amos. And Amos,
he was speaking out against the screwed up politics
of his own day. He says, hey, hey, kings, you're
levying a straw tax on the poor. You're imposing
a tax on their grain. Guys, tax, this is all.
this is all politics we're reading. It's all,
it's all politics. You're oppressing the innocent.
You're taking bribes. You're depriving the poor
of justice. This is like today. This is tariffs.
This is pipelines. This is Qatari jets, right?
But the bribery, this is healthcare. This is
the Bible. The Bible is all politics, right?
And all the while God is keep searching. Gosh,
there's got to be somebody out there who will
actually exercise political authority in the
right way. But how and who and when? And then
we find out the answer to that question when
we get to the New Testament. We find that Jesus
is the one who finally gets it right. Jesus,
he came not just to rescue souls. He came to
rule the world. On God's behalf. And when Jesus
shows up, surprise, surprise, guess what? He
starts talking politics. I mean, I would say
this, that if you were to go back then and visit
a crowd of people that were listening to Jesus.
What would you be hearing Jesus say 2 ,000 years
ago? Yes, he may say something about loving your
neighbor. Yes, he may say something about forgiving
your enemies. But definitely, he's going to have
something to say about politics. He has this
great political announcement that Jesus makes,
especially at the beginning of his ministry.
But basically, every day, I think he probably
would have talked about the fact that a kingdom,
the kingdom of God, He says, I'm the one, everybody.
I'm the one who's finally come to bring God's
rule back over this world. You guys know the
plan always was that there would be a human being
that was properly made in God's image and would
be a perfect embodiment of God's rule. Well,
we've done a pretty cruddy job at that, but now
I am here and I am the one. And so Jesus begins
his public ministry by saying things like this
over and over again. The time has come. The kingdom
of God, political word, is here. The kingdom
of God has come near. This is political language.
You guys know that right now. Kingdom of God.
That word would have landed like a thunderclap
in that day and age. Why? Because there already
was a kingdom, right? It was called the Roman
Empire. And there already was a king. That was
Caesar. Even the statement, I don't know if you
guys know, but that word good news is the word
gospel. In the first century, whenever Caesar,
you know, won a battle or had a great victory,
they would send word throughout the kingdom,
throughout the empire, saying Caesar has won.
And you know what they called that? They called
that a gospel. That was the good news of Caesar.
The gospel of Caesar. He's won again. He's done
it again. Jesus just steps in and he steals that
word. And he says, hey, I've got better good
news. I've got a better gospel. I'm a better
king. I'm creating a better kingdom. It's all
about politics. Jesus, what is going on? And
Jesus doesn't just show up and talk politics
this way. He also, he takes on for himself these
political titles, right? A Messiah. What's a
Messiah? The anointed one. That is the king.
in the line of David. Jesus Christ. Christ was
not just Jesus' last name. It wasn't his last
name. It was a title. It was a royal title. Lord
is a word that Caesar claimed for himself. Jesus
says, I'll take that title. Thank you very much.
Son of God. There are coins that are found from
that era that Caesar minted that had his picture
on it and said, Caesar, the son of God. Jesus.
says, I'm the son of God. He takes Caesar's title
from him, right? Even the Prince of Peace, when
you think of it in that context, you know, it's
not like a nice cozy, oh, Prince of Peace, doesn't
that feel good? No, no. Prince of Peace was a
direct challenge to the Roman peace, the Pax
Romana. Jesus says, I'm the real king. I'm the
real one that's going to bring peace. Each of
these titles, political edge to them. Guys, are
you starting to see? Just how political the Bible
is, right? If Jesus is Lord, if you say that,
then that means you're saying Caesar is not the
Lord. And that's a political statement, a dangerous
political statement. But anyways, Jesus. does
something really brilliant, at least according
to Matthew's gospel. When he gets started on
this political campaign, he decides to go and
first lay out his political platform. And so
for three long chapters in Matthew's gospel,
Jesus goes and he climbs up a mountain and he
starts laying out his political platform. This
is his manifesto of the kingdom of God. platform
for the kind of kingdom that Jesus is creating,
and it's laying out what it looks like to rule
in God's way. And so if you look through this
platform, it's like totally upside down. It's
totally different than the world's kind of kingdom.
In this kingdom, Jesus says, you know who's in
charge? It's the poor in spirit. It's the meek.
It's the peacemakers. It's those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness. These are the ones
who are going to inherit God's good world. Jesus
redefines, redefines what power and status and
justice looks like. So guys, this is Jesus, the
politician. By the way, we're gonna spend all
summer looking at the Sermon on the Mount. We're
doing a series called Summer on the Mount, and
it'll allow us to dig in deeper to the Sermon
on the Mount. But let me just tell you this.
When you're reading the Sermon on the Mount with
your cup of coffee, it is not meant to be just
a nice little devotional thought for the day.
This is the constitution of the kingdom of God,
and it turns... Everything upside down. And when
you start saying stuff like this, you're bound
to run into opposition. And that's exactly what
happens to Jesus. He has showdown after showdown
with the religious leaders and political leaders
in some cases. And for example, the one we read
today is a classic example. Very famous. Today's
reading. Jesus, the Pharisees are trying to trap
him. They say, hey, Jesus, is it lawful for us
to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Guys, it's a political
question. If he says yes, then he risks offending
all the Jews who see Roman taxation as complete
oppression. If he says no, then he's inviting.
Roman retaliation. So what does Jesus do? He
asks for a coin. He says, oh, whose image is
this on the coin, right? Remember I already told
you, Caesar had his image on the coin. They say
it's Caesar's. And then he says, well, then give
to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what
is God's. What a brilliant response. Right? When
I read that, I can't help but that word image
jumps out to me again. Remember Genesis 1, made
in the image of God. And I think what Jesus is
saying here, yes, give your coin to Caesar, but
give your whole self to God because you belong
to him. There's no... neat separation here between
religion and politics or church or state or whatever.
Jesus is actually calling for your complete allegiance.
He wants your body. He wants your choices. He
wants your resources. He wants your voice. He
wants your allegiance. He wants all these things
belong to God, according to Jesus, because God's
image is stamped onto you, right? And Of course,
we know where this all goes. Jesus keeps having
these showdowns and eventually he gets up on
the wrong side of a political violence. It comes
crashing down on Jesus. But it's not a tragedy.
It's not a mistake that this happens because
when they finally decide to kill him, ironically,
that is the exact moment where Jesus ascends
the throne and becomes the true king. Right when
it looks like he loses power is the moment. He
actually gains power. Look, they give him a cross
for a throne, right? They give him a bunch of
thorns for a crown. You know, they give him some
purple cloth and pretend it's a robe. Kings usually
have scepters, but in Jesus' case, they give
him like a, they have a staff or something and
they beat it with him, right? It's so interesting
because the Romans think what they're doing here
is humiliating Jesus, but inadvertently, What
they're really doing is they are enacting the
coronation of the world's true king. And the
reason we can say that is because we know that
three days later, two days later, on the third
day, he rose from the dead, thus proving that
he was who he said he was, that he is who he
says he is. He is the true Lord. He is the king
of all the world, the one that we've been waiting
for. And here's what I find hilarious. Jesus,
so he rises from the dead, and the first thing
that he really starts doing once he's risen from
the dead is he starts talking more about politics.
I think, Jesus, you really love politics. And
he's like, yeah, I love politics. Because here's
what he says after he rises from the dead. He
doesn't say, okay, everybody, now go find religion.
No, he makes this political proclamation, right?
And this is what he says to all his followers.
He says, all authority, political word, in heaven
and on earth has now been given to me. I'm in
charge, right? Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations. Go teach the world how to live
in the way of my kingdom. Do you remember the
manifesto I gave you back on the mountain, you
know, a year or so ago? Yes, go do that. Go out
into the kingdoms of the world and invite to
live under the reign of the resurrected king,
me, Jesus. And he also says, he says, remember,
I'm with you until the end of the age. This is
like amazing. Like, now don't get confused here.
Obviously, Jesus is not trying to vouch for some
kind of Christian nationalism, right? That is
not at all what this is about. This is kingdom
politics. right? And out of this commission and
out of this is birthed, I think, the greatest
political movement of all time. And you're going
to be shocked when I tell you that that political
movement is the church. The church is a political
movement, right? I thought we weren't supposed
to mix. No, no, the Bible doesn't say that, right?
The church has always been in this sense. A political
movement, and it always will be. Not partisan
politics. Not like, you know, conservative, liberal,
NDP. Not that kind of politics. Kingdom politics,
right? So what happened next was these Christians,
they just went everywhere. They went to all the
nations. They went to all the other kingdoms.
And they said, hey, everybody, good news. There's
a new king. Brand new king. He doesn't live in
Buckingham Palace. He doesn't live in Rome. He
doesn't live in Ottawa or Washington. Oh, and
by the way, you didn't even vote for him. We're
just here to tell you there's a brand new king.
And can you just imagine how this would have
sounded? If you want to see what this looks like,
just read the book of Acts. Because the book
of Acts is all about politics. Are you guys getting
the trend here? It's all about politics. Paul
and other Christians, they go about. In fact,
once they go to this city called Thessalonica
and they get to Thessalonica and they start announcing,
hey, everybody, there's a new king. And this
huge mob grabs them and drags them before the
authorities and they want to arrest them. And
this is what they tell the authorities. Look,
these men, they've caused trouble all over the
world, right? And now they've come here and get
this. They are defying Caesar's decrees. saying
there is another king, one who is called Jesus.
Wow, right? The whole city is thrown into turmoil.
It looks like, if you were to read this, it sounds
like they're trying to launch like a military
coup or something like this, but this happens
like six times. In the book of Acts, Paul goes
to a city. He gets arrested. They say, you're
committing treason. The authorities say, what
are you talking about? And he says, well, listen,
here's the deal. There was this guy named Jesus
of Nazareth. And he lived and he died and he
rose again. And now he told us to go and to care
for the poor. And he told us to go and love our
neighbors. And he's also told us that one day,
oh yeah, one day he's going to take over all
the kingdoms of the world. you, even though you
are a politician, you better check yourself because
you are actually living under his authority and
actually all the self -proclaimed rulers and
leaders of the world are accountable to the true
king of the world, Jesus Christ, who lived and
died and rose again. Do you see how the church
was not apolitical? was also not all political
in a partisan way. It was kingdom political.
The kingdom spread, not through violence, didn't
spread through revolution, but just because these
Christians lived out the kingdom constitution,
declared boldly their allegiance to King Jesus.
And like I said, if you flip to the very end
of the Bible, you see this is where the whole
story ends. It's political to the very end. There
is this political future that is painted saying
that one day every other empire in this world
will fail and fall and only Christ's kingdom
will remain. In fact, the last book of the Bible,
let's look at the book of Revelation. We read
this, the kingdom of this world will become the
kingdom. of our Lord and of his Messiah, and
he will reign for how long? Forever and ever.
It's all politics from page 1 to page 1001. So,
to end, I think we have to ask the so what question.
What does that mean for us as the church? Right?
Well, it definitely means we're not supposed
to be apolitical. We already talked about that.
We're not supposed to be all political, rah -rah
for our candidate. This is God's chosen one.
No, we're supposed to be kingdom political, which
means three things. First, the church must bear
public witness to King Jesus. That is the most
basic political act you... can do you don't need
to go flyer the neighborhood you don't need to
go do any you know sign up for your local constituency
office or whatever you just have to declare your
own allegiance to jesus and not as just some
private little spiritual thing you do but you
have to be willing to stand up for jesus to declare
unashamed that yes i believe i believe that jesus
is this world's true king Have you done that?
Have you made that decision? Have you put your
trust in him? Have you given your allegiance
to him? Because that is the first and most fundamental
act of politics you can do. And that is the thing
that got the early church into so much trouble.
Might get you into a little bit of trouble too,
but that is the first move of the church. It's
just to bear public witness to King Jesus. Second
though, we then have to be willing. to confront
injustice with courage and clarity. Remember,
the church's job is not to seize political power
from the state. That's not how it works. But
at the same time, we don't... stay silent in
the face of injustice. Just like those ancient
prophets, we got to find our own prophetic voice.
We got to find our own political voice, one that
speaks up for the poor, one that challenges oppression,
and one that confronts political corruption whenever
we see it. I just ask you, do you have that voice?
Have you found that voice? Are you passionate
about that? That's an important job of the church
even today. And then thirdly, and finally, We
live. We have to live out the politics of the
kingdom of God. We don't just point our finger
at all the problems that are out there in the
world. No, we embody a different way of living
through sacrificial love and through justice
and through reconciliation and forgiveness and
hospitality and all these wonderful things we
learn about every single Sunday here at Trinity
Streetsville service. You know, the church shows
the world. what it looks like in practice. We
don't force a Christian nation on other people.
We just simply build for the kingdom of God through
faithful witness and love and justice. It's like
N .T. Wright says, the kingdom of God is not
from this world. Yeah, you see, you're right.
It isn't from this world, but... It's emphatically
for this world, like it or not. Politics and
religion go together. Caesar gets your coin,
but God gets your whole life. The coin bears
Caesar's image, but you bear God's image. So
give to God what is God's. Give him your loyalty.
Give him your voice. Give him your life. And
become a subject of King Jesus. Become a citizen
of the kingdom of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.