The following will be the first in a series of posts about how the gospel intersects with current political debates. I realize I am going where angels fear to trod here but I am compelled to do so by the fact that I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the only hope for the world. It meets us right where we are at in the daily mess we make of our lives on a personal, national, and even global scale. God does have something to say about what's happening in our world today and His Word is too often lost amidst the tumult and noise of our culture.
Thomas is a refugee. He and his family displaced by political and religious violence and oppression. They left their homes with barely the clothes on their backs, children in tow, seeking to make a new life. Looking into his eyes, I can see he carries the weight of his decision. Was it right? Was it wrong? Should I have stayed? Should I have left? What would have happened to us? What will happen to us? Will I actually be able to make a new life for my family? I cannot imagine what it must feel like to face such a decision. To leave the only place you've ever known. To leave the home and the village your family has lived in for generations. To leave all that is familiar to go to a new place and start all over. I simply don't have a category to put this in.
Nearly 60 million people around the world are making these kinds of decisions every day. They live in camps. They migrate on foot. In boats. Pay smugglers ungodly sums of money to take them across borders. Never before in world history have so many been displaced. Never before in human history have we witnessed such a migration. The country of Syria is at the epicenter right now. More than half it's population of 22 million has been killed or displaced. Four million have fled to neighboring countries. We see the pictures of boats filled to overflowing with refugees desparate for asylum.
This past week, President Trump signed an executive order suspending refugee admissions for 120 days. It capped the number of refugees allowed into the US at 50,000, about half of the goal President Obama had set. Travelers from seven countries - Ira, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia - are barred for 90 days. And there is a great lack of clarity on how this impacts those who hold green cards or are lawful permanent residents. Predictably, this order created chaos on social media. Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. All the feeds filled up with stories and pictures of people impacted. News outlets scrambled to report on the protests. Lawyers volunteered their time at airports and other entry points to fight back. Cases are being lodged in federal courts to halt the enforcement of the order. Many feel anxious and afraid.
There are many voices in our culture today demanding a response from the church. They demand to know what followers of Jesus think about the current crisis. (Ironically, these are often the same people who fight so hard to keep church and state separate.) At the same time, there are many voices who wish we would stay quiet. Keep our beliefs a private affair. Don't preach politics. Check our Christianity at the courthouse door and let our leaders do what's expedient for the country. (Ironically, these are often the same people who fight so hard to pass legislation to enforce Judeo-Christian values on other issues.) So how is a follower of Christ to respond?
I am a Christian. An evangelical pastor. A professor of evangelism and mission. I do not claim to be an expert in foreign policy or the complexities that must come with governing the most powerful nation on the earth. I am a registered independent so cannot speak for any political party. I simply speak as one who has dedicated his life to the study of the Holy Bible. An ancient text I believe is inspired by God Himself. And I offer the following for those who are looking for God's wisdom to shape their response...
- God Reigns. God alone is King. From eternity, he has been reigning and ruling and sovereignly directing all things. He created all things. (Genesis 1). He runs the cosmos. (Job 38 and 39). He raises up kings and He brings them down according to the purposes of His will. (Daniel 2:21, Psalm 75:7). They do His bidding, whether they acknowledge Him or not. (Ezra 1:1, Romans 13:1).
- Christians Serve God alone. Our allegiance as Christians is to God alone. (Exodus 20:1-3, Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 22:37-40) We serve Him alone. We worship Him alone. His will is our will. His ways our ways. His desires our desires. He alone deserves our full and complete obedience.
- God's Will is revealed primarily through His Word. God's Word is perfect. It is righteous. It is truth. (Psalm 119). It is alive. Active. It's insights are sharp and piercing. It's judgments are just and call our thoughts and attitudes to account. (Hebrews 4:12). It is literally God-breathed and therefore our only standard for training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
These three fundamental assertions undergird a Christian's engagement with the world. It is our starting point for any discussion. The prologomena to any philosophy. The foundation for every argument. So now to the question at hand...how should a Christian respond to the plight of refugees in our world today?
- God loves the refugee. As David Platt has so eloquently argued, "Our God seeks, shelters, serves, and showers the refugee with His grace." He calls the Old Testament book of Ruth as his primary witness. Ruth is a Moabite woman. The descendent of an illicit, incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter. Moabites were not God's people. They were idolatrous and sexually immoral and ritually impure. But the story of Ruth is one of the most beautiful in all of Scripture. She comes to Israel as a widow. She leaves her family. Her home. Her kindred. Her country. She is poor. Hungry. Desperate. Destitute. Then she meets a godly man named Boaz. When he discovers her "alien" status, he refuses to kick her out of his fields but instead protects her. Provides for her. Eventually marries her. It's an incredible story and one that is repeated throughout the Bible. Jacob and his family find themselves living as refugees in Egypt. Moses finds himself a refugee in Midian. Israel finding themselves in exile as refugees in places like Babylon. And, of course, our Lord Jesus who fled to Egypt as a refugee fleeing political persecution. Along the way, God provides shelter. God provides protection. God provides provision and sanctuary by His grace.
- God calls us to love the refugee. There is a constant refrain throughout Scripture. Love the foreigner. Love the alien who lives in your midst. Love your enemy. Extend hospitality to strangers. God shows no partiality to any nation. (Deut. 10:9, Lev. 19:34, Matthew 5:43-44, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:1) The words of Jesus from Matthew 25 confirm what the Bible says so often, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in." God has made it clear that we will be judged in no small part on how we treat the refugee.
- God commands us to reject lies. Any Christian engagement with the world must be based on truth. We must reject any attempts to manipulate information to our own ends. (2 Cor. 4:2) Purposefully spinning or twisting the truth to fit our own agendas is a sure sign we are outside of God's will. As a good friend of mine once told me, "You cannot walk in God's will unless you first walk in God's ways." There is so much false information and false reporting on the refugee situation out there on social media and other platforms that Christians must be very discerning.
- God commands us to reject false interpretations. This one is especially important as we consider the issues at hand. Comparing the United States to ancient Israel is simply heretical. It may be a good idea (or not) to build a wall along our southern border but not because Nehemiah gives us a biblical precedent to do so. It may be a good idea (or not) to restrict access to immigrants but not because of Deuteronomistic warnings against foreign infuence. Israel was a small, oppressed, often powerless kingdom that God set apart for Himself for purity and in faithfulness to the promises He made to Abraham. We are the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, more akin to Babylon and Egypt if we are going to make biblical allusions.
- To whom much is given, much is expected. (Luke 12:48) God has graced the United States with incredible influence, wealth, and power. It is only right that refugees seek asylum on our shores and we should do all we can to welcome them with the love of Christ. We should be greeting them on our shores with open arms and open hearts and a passion to share with them the good news of the gospel. Furthermore, we shouldn't wait for them to come to us! Millions of refugees are suffering even now in camps all across the world and simply do not have the resources to get to us. Thankfully, there are many ways to get involved if we can just muster up the nerve. (Side note: The fact that this point will be dismissed as naive and unrealistic is one reason why the American church is in such decline.)
- Pray and Preach the Gospel. Grab a resource like Pray for the World which is published by Operation World. It will educate you on how best to pray for the refugees of our world. Get involved in your local community if you have a refugee center or refugee communities nearby. Travel across the world if you have the resources and volunteer with an organization who serves refugees. There are so many opportunities to share the love of Christ with those who are hurting the most. I myself am going to Ethiopia this spring. A nation where 700,000 refugees live from places like Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. Many of the church planters we train are reaching them with the gospel of Jesus Christ and I have the privilege of playing a small role in resourcing that work.
Based on the above, I do not believe our current approach to the refugee crisis in the United States is godly at either the national or the personal level. I believe we have too often placed our own selfish interests above those of others. I know too many people who viciously attack our president for his Executive Order even as they pursue the same policy in their own lives. I know too many people who want to blame a particular political party when they know full well their own party pursued many of these same aims in the recent past. I know too many people who think America is all that is wrong in the world when in fact our nation does so much good and has much to be proud of. And I know too many people who truly believe in the heretical notion that America comes first when in fact Matthew 6:33 tells us it is God's Kingdom that comes first. I myself fall prey to my basest desires at times and constantly have to judge my own heart and intentions when it comes to serving the least fortunate among us.
You may agree or disagree with what I have shared here. And there is probably so much more to share that I left out. However, I have tried to share my thoughts in a format so that you can respond. Unlike a Sunday morning, you can comment here. You can speak up. You can disagree or agree. You can argue your point. I simply ask for grace to fill all our conversations. If you live near me, let's grab a cup of coffee. The reality is our republic is built on honest, robust debate that respects another person's opinion and is willing to critically listen to another side. Looking forward to the conversation, friends!