Rugged Pursuit
Withdraw to the Wilderness
No King But Christ
“Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. Jesus is Lord, the President is not. Until we are ready to accept that, we will continue in a lukewarm relationship with Christ. One that pays Him lip service, while our true worship and trust goes to the (little “g”) gods whose temples are in palaces and town halls all across the nation and world.“
“But when you were afraid of Nahash, the king of Ammon, you came to me and said that you wanted a king to reign over you, even though the Lord your God was already your king.”
1 Samuel 12:12
The grass is always greener on the other side, right? Deep down we know that is not true. Still, we cannot help but compare ourselves with others. I am not just talking about comparing your clothing to your fashionable friend’s wardrobe, or your minivan to your neighbor’s high-priced SUV. I want to talk about comparison on a grander scale: I am talking global comparison!
How many times have you heard people say things like, “If only we were like (insert foreign country name here), then we would be better off!”, “If our education system was more like ____________, then our kids would be smarter.”, ” The nation of ____________ has free healthcare.”, “____________’s response to (insert catostrophic event) was better than ours.”
The list of comparisons goes on and on. I hear, or read on the internet, these types of phrases almost daily. I am sure you have heard something similar. You may have even been the one saying it! Picking and choosing specific things you like about certain countries, without considering the system as a whole, causes a lot of misguided worship of a nation’s government. The truth is that all human governments are flawed. All earthly authorities are just poor attempts to recreate a system that God is already in control of. Let’s look at an example from the Bible.
Appoint a King to Lead Us
In 1 Samuel 8, a man named Samuel had been leading the Israelites, and leading them in a way that communicated God’s plans for them. When Samuel got old, he appointed his sons to lead Israel. They were not like their father and the people were not happy with the way the sons were doing things, so they no longer wanted to be led by judges. They asked Samuel to give them a king. Samuel warns them of all the bad things a king will do and all the oppression he will inflict on them. In 1 Samuel 8:11-18, Samuel gives this sinister warning:
“This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
1 Samuel 8:11-18 (NLT)
Despite Samuel’s warning from the Lord, and the fact that they probably truly knew, deep down, that he was right, they insisted on a king anyway. They were more preoccupied with mimicking the other evil nations around them, and so concerned with military conquests, that they wanted to trade their freedom, and their souls, for these interests. God told Samuel to give in and give the people what they wanted.
Exchanging Freedom for Safety
1 Samuel 12:12-13 says that Israel asked for a king because they were afraid of Nahash, the king of Ammon. So, they gave up their freedom for what they thought would give them safety.
Israel wanted more government because they thought it would get them better results for their preferences. They paid little attention to all of the evil and suffering it would bring as a result. God told Samuel that the reason the Israelites wanted a king was not because they were rejecting Samuel. God says, in actuality, they were rejecting God. They may not have admitted it openly, but they were proving that they no longer trusted God to lead them and felt an earthly ruler would get them better results for their earthly desires.
People who wish for more government control in order to get their way in certain areas are rejecting God, just as the Israelites did. If they truly trusted God and loved Him with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind (Matthew 22:37), they would understand that they do not need a new, different, or bigger governing body to sustain them. They need Jesus Christ.
Human thought on this subject has not changed much since ancient times. Modern people ask for more laws, more regulations, and more government involvement in their everyday lives because they think that could solve some portion of their personal angst, even if in just a small way. Like the Israelites, we are not considering how one seemingly small change can have such a detrimental effect on other areas of life.
When we put our faith in political parties and politicians, we are basically complaining in the same way as the people did to Samuel. We want changes to be made, and rather than seeking God’s guidance, we view political action as a shortcut to get what we want. We cry out to political leaders to make changes in our schools that fit our beliefs. We support the creation of new taxes to pay for programs that we want to fund. We rally for Congress to make laws prohibiting things that we do not agree with. We want to feel safer so we advocate for a bigger, stronger military and police force. The list is never-ending because there will always be opinions on what things should happen to make our preferences validated above others in society.
As Christians, we should know that God is far more capable of effective, lasting change than politicians. Yet, for some reason, we think we can take a shortcut to the outcome we want by convincing a commissioner to do our bidding for us. Do we really trust that Jesus Christ is the Savior and has already overcome the world? Do we really believe He is powerful and can do all things? Or is that just something we sing about on Sunday morning and forget by lunch?
Freedom to Choose
Jesus allows us our own choices and our own decisions. He gives us free will and lets us exercise it, even when we choose depravity and oppression. When we ask for more government influence, put our trust in new presidents, and advocate for certain political party control as the answer to our problems, what we are doing is giving ourselves over to be owned by someone else, or by a group. Let’s look at 1 Samuel 8:11-18 through a modern lens and consider what it would mean for us today:
“This is how a (government, president, prime minister, etc) will reign over you: The government will draft your sons and daughters to fight their wars for them. Some will harvest his crops, labor in his factories, and work in his facilities. The government will take the best of what you have produced and use it for their own gain. You will surrender unto the government a large portion of the fruits of your labor. A high percentage of your money will be required to be turned into the governing body to pay their staff. The government will regulate your livestock and the products you produce so that they benefit financially and economically from its production. You will be forced to pay taxes on everything you buy, sell, and earn. You will work to earn money, but surrender a large portion of it over to the government by compulsion and force, enslaving you to their service. These burdens will be unbearable to you and you will beg for relief that will not come”
These are the things that come as a result of giving human masters control of our lives.
“Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. Jesus is Lord, the President is not.“
Earthly kingdoms are in direct opposition to the Kingdom of God. Be careful not to give to man what belongs to the Lord. He is a jealous God who will not share His glory with anyone or anything. Jesus is Lord, Caesar is not. Jesus is Lord, the President is not. Until we are ready to accept that, we will continue in a lukewarm relationship with Christ. One that pays Him lip service, while our true worship and trust goes to the (little “g“) gods whose temples are in palaces and town halls all across the nation and world.
Who Will You Serve?
Sometimes we think we can have the best of both worlds by praying to Jesus to help us with spiritual concerns, and praying to senators for civic concerns. Jesus wants us to come to Him for all guidance. He never asks us, “Have you run this by your town board before coming to me in prayer?“
1 Samuel 12:17 says that Israel was wicked for asking for a king. 1 Samuel 12:20 says they have “certainly done wrong” by asking for a king. America does it every four years.
“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
Matthew 6:24
You cannot serve two masters. Matthew 6:24 warns of this, especially in regards to the love of money. This verse says we cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. The reason we are drawn to a love of money is it gives us a false sense of security, comfort, and power. We tend to believe that all problems can be solved with the right amount of money, because money, supposedly, brings us all of these things.
Are we not chasing the same outcome when we put our trust in human governments? The word “money” could be interchanged with “government” and yield almost the same results. Citizens want security, safety, comfort, stability, peace of mind, and power and they feel that the government may be able to provide these things. After all, every political candidate makes promises that these are categories they will solve during their term. Putting our trust in money, or in government, to make our lives complete is always a losing battle. As hard as they try, these things simply cannot be provided from earthly sources.
The State is Idolatry
“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:14-15
Our idols are carved in the shape of elephants and donkeys. We worship them because our parents did, and their parents before them. Our Asherah Poles are adorned with flags and banners displaying our allegiances. Our devotion to political parties enslaves us and robs us of our possessions, and of our identities. It robs us of who we were made to be in Christ. No government, nation, or state could ever compete with the complete freedom we have in Christ. Jesus commands us to serve Him, and only Him.
I bend the knee to Christ alone, because there is no king but Christ. So, choose this day who you will serve. As for me, I will serve the Lord.
7.4.23
Further Reading
-Resisting Babel: Allegiance to God and the Problem of Government by John Mark Hicks
-Faith Seeking Freedom: Libertarian Christian Answers to Tough Questions by Dr. Norman Horm, Doug Stuart, Kerry Baldwin, and Dick Clark
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Rugged Pursuit 
“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in people. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”
Psalms 118:8-9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.118.8-9.NLT
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