But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
We live in a time when more than ever we are a divided people. There are many reasons for it. Something to bear in mind though, is what fruit, and what impact, we as Christians, are having in the midst of this. Are we mindlessly contributing to the divisiveness, or are we setting a different tone? One bit of advice I always gave my kids as they were growing up is: be the thermostat, not the thermometer. In other words, influence the temperature of the room, don’t merely reflect it and go along. Christians have a duty to be the thermostat in every interaction they have.
That includes when we are out in public, when we are in church, and even when we meet over cards or bowling, or golf. We get to set the temperature in the room we are in. But there are many forces in society working against us. And, if we are not vigilant, we can be swept up in them without knowing it.
One factor is the siren call of Populism. Populism is when an appeal is made to ordinary people to be negative toward institutions and establishments that are perceived as elitist. Those making the appeal need the ordinary people to buy into the notion that a given institution that is the target of the said populist, is elite, and not at all concerned about the needs and concerns of so-called ordinary people.
This sort of strategy is used by both the political left and the right. It’s a highly effective way to divide people against both the other side (left or right) and the institution. All at the same time. Basically, one-third of the formula is constantly at odds with the other two. People on the left are at odds with the institution and the people on the right. People on the right are at odds with the people on the left and the institution. The institution in question, frequently some governmental body, is at odds in some way or another with both left and right but for different reasons and different times. It’s all a perfectly diabolical triangle, isn’t it?
Certainly, this is not to say that institutions are always right and good. They do mess up. But there was a time when institutions were at least given the benefit of the doubt. You see, while we might be weirdly happy to be mistrustful of institutions like governments. The Church, too, is an institution.
And the Church also gets caught up in the smear campaigns of populism. With or without evidence of any actual harm. That’s where the phrase, “I’m not into organized religion” comes from. An uncritical, unthinking negative attitude toward the Body Of Christ. No one is safe from the fallacy of Populism. Populism needs no hard evidence for its mistrust. Only vague innuendo and generalizations from a few proven cases. After that, any organization that resembles the legitimate harm done by one institution gets painted with the same brush. A kind of “Tar and Feather” mentally.
I find it interesting that in the New Testament, the word for the Devil is the same word we use to get the English word, diabolical. The Greek word for Devil diablos, literally means, through division.
Through, by means of, DIVISION. The Devil is all about dividing people. Divide and conquer is a good strategy. It works. Division IS a spiritual fruit. But an evil one. And most of the time, the people being divided, seem to have no clue that they are being played. Regardless of your political and ideological preferences, God’s people have a role to play in our society. When ancient Israel was in exile in Babylon, they thought that they were through. That God was through with them.
You see, they ended up in Babylon due to their repeated and unrepentant sin. They knew exactly why King Nebuchadnezzar had won over Israel’s Army. They had sinned. God had judged them. They just knew they were finished. But they had too limited a vision of God’s grace for them. God had a plan for them, for their restoration and forgiveness, and a strategy for how to live under an institution (the Babylonian government) that gave them lots of good reasons to be negative. Populism and eventually rebellion might have seemed a good option. But God had other advice for these exiles living in a strange land under foreign rule:
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
~Jeremiah 29:5-7
God’s people were called to be a unifying force for good wherever they were. Under whatever circumstances they find themselves, we get to be a Gospel people. People who work, speak and act for the general betterment of the world around us. So, it’s extra important that we have a constructive, positive dialogue with those over us in authority.
It’s an uncomfortable truth that there are actually many places in scripture where God desires us to rise above the din of divisive voices and do our level best to seek the common good. Some examples:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
~Romans 13:1-7
Then of course is this little gem:
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
~ 1 Peter 2:13-17
So, what am I getting at here? Have I suddenly become uncritically pro-government? Not at all. I’m still stubbornly independent in my political views. However, as a Christian, I must temper every so-called clever opinion of mine regarding those in authority over me through the lens of Holy Scripture. And so do we all.
Whether it’s the pseudo-logic of populism or any other modern-day -ism, we who are Christians must submit our thinking, our rhetoric, and our actions regarding authority, to the authority of Holy Scripture. The Bible sets our tone, and our posture in such matters. And, by the way, there are far more than these three scriptures that guide our thinking about this subject than what I have listed here.
So as we wring our collective hands over how soon and in what manner we hopefully gain access to a new facility. As we navigate all the challenges and chances of this journey to a new home, we are committed to showing respect. We honor, and we deal in good faith. We work not against the authorities but with them. Because ultimately, the Lord promises that we will find our welfare deeply connected to the welfare of our overall community. What we plant, we will reap. So let’s pray and talk and assume the best of one another (as we have so far), and re-commit to put our trust in the Lord for all things. He knows what we need and is surprised by nothing. And that is very comforting news.
Oh yeah, one more thing to ponder:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
~Galatians 5:22-23
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