Opinion
By Pastor Tony Evans (Part II)
11/02/24
Chapter 3: The Foundation Of Freedom
God promises to bless the nation that prioritizes His relationship to them. Our strategy for how our nation operates will work best when it is aligned under God’s overarching principles. When we stray from His values, we stray from His blessing, protection, and covering.
The biblical definition for civil government is “to maintain a safe, just, righteous, and compassionately responsible environment for freedom to flourish.”
Just because a nation declares freedom and justice for all does not mean that freedom and justice for all is lived out. In order to fully realize and actualize the freedom we are intended to have and benefit from in our country we will need to look at what freedom is and how it applies to humanity.
The first use of the concept of freedom did not occur in the American Constitution. The first use occurred in the Word of God. The principle of broad freedom, while introduced in Genesis (2:15-17) at the beginning of known time, is echoed throughout Scripture.
God declares in the jubilee (Leviticus 25:10) that they were to proclaim liberty throughout the land. Liberty is freedom. While freedom involves choice (Deut. 30:19) it also involved responsibility. God put Adam in the garden “to cultivate it and keep it.” God gave Adam freedom, but in that freedom He also gave him a role. Adam was designated the responsibility to manage, maintain, and expand the productivity in his sphere of influence. What God established with Adam would be the preamble for governing later on based on His government in the garden. In order for freedom to be experienced, enjoyed, and benefited from, boundaries must exist.
When God established the entity known as government, He created it with the idea of limited regulations. God gave commandments (which) led to 613 statues and ordinances on how to apply the Ten Commandments in society.
Civil government has been designed to function, as well as to enforce the functioning of her citizens, according to these principles.
Chapter 4: The Pillars of Righteousness And Justice
September 11 will be a day that will live in infamy in the history of the United States of America. It was on this day in 2001 that the United States was attacked by another kingdom. A foreign kingdom invaded our land, bringing destructon through the devastating demise of the Twin Towers in New York City.
The Twin Towers were targeted for many reasons One of the reasons was most likely because they represented something that stood for the well-being or our citizenry. When it comes to God’s governance of the universe, He has His own twin towers, or pillars, of His kingdom rule over His creation.
In Psalm 89:11 we see that both the heavens and the earth belong to God. God is in charge of it all. He created both so He rules over both.
The twin towers and pillars of God’s kingdom are righteousness and justice. The two concepts are married like a husband and wife. They are inseparable. To the degree that a government establishes and operates by righteousness and justice as God defines them, they will succeed. These twins must be knit together and never separated if a government is to operate based on God’s rule.
The closer our government is to God’s government, the more ordered our society will be. The further our government is from God’s prescribed method of ruling according to both rightousnes and justice, the more chaotic the culture will become, since it rejected God’s priority for how civil government should operate. God alone is the final standard for determing what is good and what is evil.
What God values highly, Satan labels as cheap. What God says is cheap Satan labels as expensvie and valuable. Satan has set out to give rulers, cultures and individuals values they were never meant to have. When humanity follows in step, it creates chaos in society and in civil government.
What we need in our government and in our politics is a commitment to operate on the divine standard God has established. We need to raise up citizens, led by kingdom disciples, who are willing and able to function at that standard. What we have done however, is lower the standard so that everyone get a prize. So everyone can feel like they’ve arrived. But what we have created is a society of low standards, which is crumbling before our eyes.
Proverbs 14:34 tells us that, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” And again, righteouness builds the city, wickedness tears it down (Proverbs 11:11). A nation grows in productivity, power, and progress when righteousness reigns.
If a nation enacts and abides by what God says is right, the whole nation will benefit. When it chooses to go against what God says, we read the results in Romans 1:18. It says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
When a nation and her leaders choose to embrace unrighteousness, God’s judgment is poured out against it. God releases the nation to a life without Him. He lets the nation and its citizens see what life looks like without Him.
Righteousness as God defines it must be the standard. But correlated with righteousness comes justice. While righteousness is the standard of right and wrong. Justice is the impartial and equitable application of God’s moral law in society.
Justice is the standard that privleges and penalites are distributed in society. Proverbs 8:15 puts it like this, “By me kings reign, and rulers deliver justice. It is by God that any political leader is to reign, whether it is the President, Congress, or legislators. They are not to leave God out. That’s why it is an insult when Christians leave out God’s standard of right and wrong from their own coversation or debate. It is also an insult when Christians fail to apply God’s righteouseness and just standards to their own lives and relationships.
The Bible declares that there is no injustice with God (Deut 32:4). He is a just God and He demands just application of His rules. However, we tend to do what Mark 7:8-9 says, by nullifying the Word of God with the traditions of men.
We enact cancel culture on God when we lift what people or politicans think above what He says. The first question any believer should ask on any matter is, What does God have to say about it? We must examine what God thinks and what He has expressed on each and every issue.
Man’s justice should reflect God’s justice (Deut 1:17). It’s not about calling all things fair. It is about looking at the way God details biblical justice and then living according to His rules.
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of social injustice in the opprresion of the weak and the poor. God will destroy a nation not only for its unrightesouness but also for injustice.
The issues we struggle with today have been allowed by God in part because of the injustice that has gone on unaddressed. God allows chaos into a culture when righteousness and justice are absent. God demands righteousness and justice if a socity is going to function properly.
The Bible speaks to all the issues we are wrestling with today and it is up to us as representatives of the King and His kingdom to reflect them and inject them into sociey. It is time for God’s people to lead the way in making sure our laws are righteous and just. We can do this by electing and supporting those politicians who support righteous policies. But it is also time for God’s people to lead the way in making sure that our righteous laws are carried out in a just way.
We need healing in our land on all levels and in all people. May the example of Jesus Christ usher in order in our society, and may His eaxmple be manifested first and foremost by His church.
(Editor’s Note: To participate in a 6-Session Bible Study by Pastor Tony Evans with videos go to: Kingdom Politics—Government from God’s Perspective published by Lifeway Press, 2024).
–Condensed by Michael Hernandez
Pastor Tony Evans, is founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas and president of The Urban Alternative, and former chaplain of the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Mavericks. He is the first African American to earn a doctoral degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and the first to publish a study Bible and whole-Bible commentary. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 US radio outlets and in more than 130 countries. He is the author of Kingdom Politics—Returning God to Government (Moody Publishers, 2022). To read Part I go to: https://www.citizensjournal.net/kingdom-politics-returning-god-to-government/.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
