Politics And Policing: What’s A Christian To Do?– Part 2

Preamble

• Last week we addressed a truth, but as Dr. A. R. Bernard says, “All truth is confrontational.”
• With the outrage that many have about conduct, you might have been a public bashing of law enforcement.
• In a sermon about policing, you might have expected me to be in my own outrage.
• Perhaps you a presentation not unlike Jesus when he expressed His anger at the charlatans who desecrated God’s temple.
• There’s a place for the kind of Jesus expressed in that moment.
• Those of you who’ve paid have seen this passion expressed in my own teaching.
• I’ve not minced words in my disgust about injustice, particularly the kind that’s been leveled against African Americans.
• Both in and the pulpit, I have actively challenged systemic racism and institutional injustice.
• Some of you have even followed the platform I am currently building to address the needs of African Americans on a larger scale.
• In light of that, there are some who are waiting for me to get to the stuff, which for them, ironically, is about how to address evil.
• That is, they want to know how to evil people from doing evil things.
• They want and, even more precisely, on those who have treated African Americans as if they were less than human.

Home Cooking

• Newsflash: Judgment at the house of God.
  • I Peter 4:17
• This sermon is for .
• More specifically, this sermon is for Christians who consider the Bible to be God’s Word and to hold over their moral decisions.
• If this does not describe you, I’m not talking to you.
• My focus is on people who have forsaken all to follow .
• When you are a true servant of God, you are repentant when you hear God’s Word, not .
  • Josiah (II Chronicles 34:19; II Chronicles 34:27)
  • Children of Israel (Nehemiah 8:2-3; Nehemiah 8:8-9)

Good Meals Require Good Seasoning

• We place too much emphasis on trying to change the world and not enough on behaving like .
• Our Christian character is a natural and .
  • Matthew 5:13-16
• A starting point for addressing our current racial conflict is to call in the Christian police officers and the Christian protesters for a .
  • John 13:35
• Our biggest witness will be when Christian protestors and police officers to Jesus, appeal to their common faith and pursue practical steps forward in.

Liberation through Submission

• Resistance to begins with submission to .
  • James 4:6
• Without submission to what is, you will not have the authority, nor the power, to resist what is .
• is the hard truth that confronts us and our difficulty with it has two aspects:

1. Righteousness and justice begin and end with .
2. We do not naturally His standard of right and wrong.

The Spirit is Willing, but the Flesh is Weak

• Our temptation is to turn to the flesh when our buttons are pressed emotionally, politically and culturally.
  • Colossians 3:8-11
• The image of God is a assigned to us by God.
• What is confusing about this is that though we’re all made in the image of God, we’re not all in that knowledge.
• Consequently, many of us act in a manner that is our status.
• However, as followers of Christ, we must the status of the image even when people act of it.
• This is why the Scripture commands us to refrain from toxic emotions centered in .
  • Anger – a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility (dictionary.com)
  • Wrath – strong vengeful anger or indignation (merriam-webster.com)
  • Malice – the intention or desire to do evil; ill will. (merriam-webster.com)
  • Slander – the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation. (merriam-webster.com)
  • Obscene Talking – extremely offensive word[s] or expression[s]. (dictionary.com)

• In addressing injustice, we must distinguish between anger and righteous .
• Righteous hate comes from a passion for divine and is affiliated with the following:
  • Protest
  • Public criticism of injustice
  • Holding Institutions accountable for justice
  • Challenging abuses of power
  • Challenging unjust laws and protocols
  • Holding law enforcement officers to decisions that are legal, moral and ethical
  • Making sure evil doers are justly punished.

• Personal anger comes from a passion for personal and is affiliated with the following:
  • Retaliation
  • Personal attacks
  • Personal vendettas
  • Blood lust
  • Holding resentment
  • Slander
  • Holding ill will and plotting evil in response to a wrong suffered
• Personal anger is directed at a and is a byproduct of the fear of man.
• It presumes that good and evil rest in the realm of the human and that human evil can be defeated by human good.
• It is to seek the punishment of evil doers, but is unrighteous to for their demise (Proverbs 24:17-18)
• When we gloat over other people’s punishment, we are in our own goodness.
• The challenge is that human good is not good. (Romans 3:10)
• Only is good.
• Righteous hate is different because it is directed at injustice itself and is a byproduct of the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 8:13)

The Nature of Authority: A Review

• People who fear the Lord know that good and evil are , not human.
• This means that when God-fearing people approach a , they know they are engaging in something that is supernatural and not merely human.
• authority is supernatural.
• The source of all authority is .
• Hence, engaging with authority well (whether to wield it or submit to it) requires of principles.

Romans 13:1

• “Every person” means that even figures are subject to the governing authorities.
• Since there is no authority that has not been established by God, person is subject to the justice of God.
• This is what protest against injustice.
• Protests are part of a tradition that indicts people and institutions for violating justice in the public sphere.

Romans 13:2

• To authority of any kind is to resist .
• However, remember the biblical command is to submit to , not .

Romans 13:4-6

• The Scripture is clear: Law enforcement officers are and of .
• When law enforcement officers wield or use , they are expressing against evil doers.
• “For the sake of conscience” means we should law enforcement officers not because they have but because we want to .

Romans 13:7

• Abuse of power does not the we to people who wield authority.
• This is a difficult pill to swallow, but here’s the promise of Scripture: Proverbs 16:7

The Million-Dollar Question:

• to authority is ungodly, but so is the of power.
• How do you abuse while authority?

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020