God’s Politics: Asking the Wrong Question

Joshua 5:13-15

What do you think about the results of our recent election? Are you glad? Are you depressed? Do you care at all? We are not all political junkies, but most of us care about politics and certainly everyone is affected by politics and elections. Here is the big question: Is God a Democrat or a Republican? We may chuckle at this, but some people are dead serious about the matter. Although I have never actually heard a Republican claim that if Jesus were alive today, he would be a card-carrying Republican, many come so close to saying this that you know they actually believe it.

One person who fits this mentality is Pastor Rod Parsley. He is the Senior Pastor of World Harvest Church, a 12,000 member church in Columbus, Ohio. He is also the founder of Reformation Ohio, an organization that has the evangelism goal of “presenting the Gospel to more than 1 million people, so at least 100,000 will accept Jesus as their Savior.”[i] But Reformation Ohio is also a political action group.

Parsley fits squarely with the other promoters of prosperity theology and is quoted as saying, “I just love to talk about your money. Let me be very clear—I want your money. I deserve it. This church deserves it.”[ii] Parsley owns two homes valued at $1.6 million, two $60,000 cars and a private jet worth half a million dollars that he takes everywhere, including one town that was only two hours away by car. Christianity Today reports that Parsley is credited by some analysts with helping Bush win the state of Ohio and his reelection in 2004. Together with another pastor, Parsley has “forged a political machine that aims to remake Ohio politics—and the nation.”[iii]

To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t want men like Rod Parsley representing my political views, but neither would I choose this man, the Rev. Dr. Ignacio Castuera. Castuera is the National Chaplain for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. I’ll bet you didn’t even know Planned Parenthood had a national chaplain! Last year, Castuera was part of the ceremony in recognition of the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. That’s right—when it comes to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we play our funeral dirges and they sing and dance. The ceremony was hosted by the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing. Part of their declaration reads as follows.

·          We call for a faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STD prevention and treatment.

·          We call for religious leadership in movements to end sexual and social injustice.

Do you see the problem with God’s politics? Each faction firmly believes God is on their side. Neither can prove that Jesus is on their voter lists, but each claims victory on the question of WWJV—What Would Jesus Vote? Then you have Jim Wallis who claims to be holding the middle ground of Christian politics with his book titled: God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, the cover of which looks like a worn Bible. A friend read this book and assured me that it is nothing more than liberal theology and liberal politics dressed up in a moderate disguise. If Jesus had entered the voting booth on November 7^th and pulled the lever—or pointed his finger at the touchscreen—which way would he have gone? Mark Green or Jim Doyle? Pro-marriage amendment or anti-marriage amendment? Are you certain of the answer? Whose side is Jesus on anyway?

I submit to you that we are asking the wrong question. Can you see the problem with asking whether or not Jesus is on our side? This implies that he is joining our fight, not the other way around. Having Jesus on your side is the ultimate political endorsement. Forget about endorsements from the New York Times and the Washington Post—Jesus is on our side! It’s ridiculous I know, but some of you may actually believe it. When it comes to God’s politics, we are asking the wrong question.

To help us ask the right question, we will study the fifth chapter of Joshua just before Joshua and the Israelites march around Jericho.

^13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Before we read further, let’s remind ourselves what had happened up until this point in Israelite history. In Genesis 12 God promised Abraham that he would possess the land of Canaan and in chapter fifteen God promised that Abraham would have countless generations of offspring. But Abraham didn’t live to see this happen. When Abraham died all that consisted of his Promised Land was a burial plot for him and his wife Sarah. His son Isaac did not possess the Promised Land. Jacob did not possess the Promised Land, but actually left this land to join Joseph in Egypt during the famine.

The Israelites were a people without a land, but they did grow to about two million while they were slaves in Egypt. A Hebrew was raised as a prince of Egypt, but then fled for his life, got married and settled down as s shepherd of Midian. The Lord’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush marked his journey back to Egypt where God used him to free the two million Israelite slaves and lead them to freedom. For the rest of the Old Testament, God would repeatedly identify himself this way: “I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” God is a Promise Keeper and he kept his promises for freedom. But did they possess the land after God freed them? No, the Promised Land was still Canaanite territory, so a few months later Moses commissioned twelve spies to explore the land and make plans for their occupation. Do you remember who was among that delegation of twelve spies? Moses sent his right hand man, Joshua, as one of the spies. Do you remember what they brought back with them? Numbers 13 tells us that “They cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them.” Did you know that today the symbol for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism is two men carrying a cluster of grapes on a pole?

The Promised Land truly was a land flowing with milk and honey, but the report from ten of the twelve spies sent the nation into a rebellious rejection of the land. The Israelites went from nothing, to slavery to the very edge of the Promised Land, only to throw it all away because of fear and disbelief. Joshua was destined to roam the wilderness with his kin for the next 39 years until Moses died and he was put in charge. Finally, the massive horde of men, women, children and animals crossed the Jordan River, ready to take possession of the land. But standing at the gateway to this Promised Land was the massive, walled city of Jericho. The Israelites were armed only with spears and swords—certainly no match against the fortified city. This fight would be the equivalent of a BB-gun taking on an Abrams Army tank. From a military perspective, it was a suicide mission, yet the report from the two spies told a different story, “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us” (Joshua 2:24).

Verse 13 returns to Joshua standing on the outskirts of the stone walls of Jericho. Joshua had watched the Lord bring the invincible Egyptian army to its knees only to witness his own people reject God’s Promised Land a few months later. He had waited forty years to enter this land. He had dreamed of this day. His heart had ached for this day, not so that he could fight again, but so that he could see the promise of God fulfilled. On the eve of battle with the mighty Jericho he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua did not know the identity of this man but he knew that be must be a messenger regarding the battle of Jericho. The man seems to have suddenly appeared to Joshua, holding out his sword. We don’t know if he was holding it straight up and down in the military ready position or thrust forward in attack position, but either way, Joshua was brave enough to approach this battle-ready stranger. He was obviously not a fellow Israelite but neither was he wearing the battle armor of a soldier from Jericho. Joshua easily identified this stranger as a warrior, but who was he fighting for?

Continuing in v. 13, Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” Would you agree that is a fair question for one soldier to ask of another? It is the universal question of sentries and soldiers when an unknown person approaches, “Who goes there—friend or foe?” It is similar to the statement spoken by our own Commander in Chief: “If you are not with us, you are against us.” It appears that Joshua believed so strongly in God’s promise that he was prepared to fight anyone that stood in his way, including this soldier with his gleaming sword. But before Joshua drew his own sword, he had to know if this man was friend or foe—ally or enemy—“Are you for us or for our enemies?”

What answer did this stranger give? “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Now what kind of an answer is that?! It’s seems to be one of those non-answer kind of answers. It’s a bit like a child asking if he can go play outside and his mother answers, “Maybe”. The child wants a yes or no answer but his mother refuses to answer him according to his desires. “Maybe” is not a very clear answer and at first glance it appears that this stranger did not intend to answer Joshua’s question either. But we will soon see that he did answer his question in a way that Joshua never expected. The most important part of the answer is not what this man intends to do, but rather who this man claims to be: “as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” This sword-brandishing stranger was no ordinary man—he was the commander of the army of the Lord.

Do you understand yet who this man was? Joshua immediately understood that whoever he was, he was out of his own league. Joshua was commander of the army of the Israelites, but this man was the commander of the army of the Lord and that meant that he outranked Joshua. In the military, everything is ordered by rank and a person’s rank is usually detected by number of stripes on a uniform. Does a private ever question a general? He does if he is on sentry duty. Joshua certainly meant no disrespect for this man. He could not tell who he was just by looking at him. There was no uniform or insignia to identify his rank, so in that sense, he asked the right question. But once he found out that he was greatly outranked, he responded appropriately. Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” Before the man spoke Joshua was unsure of his identity, but at this point Joshua knew that the man was a messenger from the Lord. He bowed in reverence in the same way that a private would salute in submission to a general and ask to receive his orders. “Yes sir, general sir. I’m sorry sir, I could not see your rank. What are my orders sir?”

This man was a messenger from the Lord, and who usually delivers messages from God? Angels deliver messages, don’t they? In fact the Greek word for ‘angel’ literally means ‘messenger’. Joshua may have believed that this man was a high-ranking angel sent by God to deliver a message to him. But what the man said next left no doubt whatsoever about his true identity. The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Wait a minute—this changes everything, doesn’t it? This messenger spoke the very words that were spoken to Moses from the burning bush. This messenger was demanding that Joshua worship him in holiness. In all of the appearances of angels in the Bible, have you ever known one to demand worship? Never! Angels stand in the very presence of God and know better than you and I that only God can demand worship. A high-ranking angel did demand worship once. Do you know his name? Lucifer was his name—a beautiful, powerful angel who wanted to sit on the very throne of God. We know what happened to Lucifer, that serpent, father of lies and destroyer. No—no angel would ever again demand worship that belonged to God alone. That means that this army commander was no mere angel. So who was he? This man was the pre-incarnate Son of God. This man was Jesus in human form!

Now that we know his identity, let’s back up to Joshua’s original question: “Are you for us or for our enemies?” Is this a question that we have the right to ask of Jesus? Had Joshua known that this was God in human form, I don’t think he ever would have asked the question, because the question assumes that the other person is equivalent to you. If this man had told Joshua that he was for him, Joshua would have invited him to join his army and fall in rank behind him, but if he had indicated that he was fighting for the enemy, Joshua would have cut him down with his sword. This is the kind of question you ask of a fellow soldier, but this is not the kind of question that you ask of God.

You do not approach Jesus and ask, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” It is simply asking the wrong question. But this is the very thing we do in the political arena. When we claim that Jesus is on our side and essentially use him as an endorsement of our political agenda, we are making the terrible assumption that Jesus can take sides. We are treating Jesus as an equal with us—or worse, that he can be manipulated to win an election. We draw this line in the sand and claim that our political party is standing in the light and the other party is standing in darkness; we are fighting for righteousness and they are fighting for evil; we stand for morality and they stand for depravity. This is a gross manipulation of our sovereign Lord and it is the wrong question to ask. How did Jesus answer Joshua’s question? “Neither.” You see, the implication was that Joshua was asking the wrong question. Jesus was saying, “Joshua, you’re asking the wrong question. I am not for you nor am I for your enemies—I am for myself! I cannot join your side and I can’t join their side. I am for myself and you must join me!”

This certainly applies to the political arena and to our recent elections, but it transcends politics and applies to our every day lives. When things get a little rough in life, we have the gall to stand before Jesus and question him, “Jesus, what happened? Are you on my side or not? I thought you were fighting for me? I’ve got this great big enemy breathing down my neck and you didn’t show up for the battle! Where were you?!” Some trials are relatively small and some are great, but even in our deepest suffering, sometime our true grief can become mixed with pride and hubris. We want God to comfort us, but we also demand an answer from him. We try to manipulate God for our own benefit and then dare to question him when things don’t go according to our plan. We are asking the wrong question. When you are going through a trial, don’t ask Jesus if he is for you, but ask yourself if you are for him. God does not join our side, we must join his. We cannot ask Jesus to fall in rank behind us, we must fall in rank behind him. We are asking the wrong question. He is the Commander in Chief. He is the Sovereign Lord. He is seated on the throne.

We need to start asking the right question: “Jesus, am I on your side?” If we are on God’s side, then he can use us. If we are submitted to his rank and to his will, then he can use us. When we fall to the ground in true humility and full reverence, when we bow our face to the ground in the presence of his holiness and humbly ask, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”, then can use us. When we take off our sandals because the ground we are standing on is holy ground, then he can use us. Verse 15—And Joshua did so.

Rich Maurer

November 19, 2006