Church & Politics | Bishop Rev. James Wong | 13/09/2020
Speaker: Bishop Rev. James Wong
Speaker: Bishop Rev Dr James Wong
Topic: Church and Politics
Text: Romans 13:1-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-4
Come 26th September, we are going to vote to choose a government for Sabah. It is important to know that it is our duty as a citizen of the country to vote. There are many different opinions about this topic. More than 8,000 books in Amazon.com and 615 million sites talk about Church and Politics offering various different view on this topic. Four things we need to know when we address this topic as BCCM church.
1. The Church is Apolitical
The church is politically neutral. Church is not a political party and does not involved in supporting any specific political party. The moment Church make a stand to support a particular party, it will split the church. BCCM church members are given the liberty to vote for the political party of their preference.
However, this doesn’t mean church has nothing to do with politics because the politics simply means he governance of the nation. You may not want anything to do with politics, but politics has everything to do with your life. It will affect you, your religious freedom and everything else in life. June 2019, Hong Kong experienced one of the most difficult times in History simply because of the extradition bill. Riot in Hong Kong begun because the people rejected the law that was being passed. Whatever the pastor said or not say on the pulpit split and divided the church. The whole nation, churches, families and society are divided.
Church must remain neutral, to ensure an environment for families and people of God to come to enjoy the fellowship, to love and care for one another. The church however respects members’ freedom to participate in politics, guided by the following.
1. Those participating in politics must give attention to their identity as a Christian.
2. Those who are active in politics should as far as is possible, avoid taking important
posts in the church, i.e. Pastors, Council Chairperson, Elders, Fellowship Chairpersons,
etc.
3. Believers should avoid bringing political activities, campaigning and disputes into the
church.
2. Politics impact the church
The government of the day has direct impact on the church of the nation. An example of is the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built in 537 as the largest Christian Church of the eastern Roman Empire, but was later converted into a mosque in 1453. In 1935 under the secular Turkish Republic, it was converted into a museum.
Recently on 24 July 2020, it was converted into a mosque again and open for Muslim prayers.
In Malaysia, we saw how the political government can affect the religious body too, an example was the freedom to use the word “Allah” to address God for BM speaking Christians in Malaysia. Thus politics has direct impact on church whether one gets involved in politics or not.
3. Respect for Authority (read Romans 13:1-7)
According to Romans 13:1-7, Christians are taught to obey the government as God is the one who put it there. Often, the problem lies not with the law but the people who execute the law. The problem is the execution and non-execution of the law. Christian should project correct teaching about the authorities, not to use it to frighten children thus giving wrong perception about the authority.
BCCM Constitution and By-laws (No. 26)
All church members must, under the principle of freedom of worship, obey the Laws of the
country, follow the instructions of the Government, pay their taxes, and be good citizens.
4. Pray for the government (1 Timothy 2:1-4, Proverbs 21:1)
The instruction given in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 is like a spiritual and moral responsibility as a follower of Christ to pray for the government so that we may live a peaceful and quite lives. It’s important to live in peace and quiet environment. Proverbs 21:1 we know that God is above the kings and He is the ultimate ruler. All the government is just on assignment. If the government is not good God will remove it when the time comes. We pray for our government because we believe that God is the ultimate ruler and He will be siting above our governments.
Who to vote and how to vote?
The following constitution and by-laws is a good guideline for choosing the government to rule over Malaysia.
BCCM Constitution and By-laws (No. 27)
All church members must uphold fairness and righteousness of the Society, be fervent in public welfare and education services.
Pray first then Vote. Pray that God will give each one of us the passion to fulfil our responsibility as a citizen of this country. Pray for a government that will honour God and do their duty well. We ask God to help us vote for righteous man and woman.
Question for discussion:
1. Share your observation on things that happened in recent years due to the impact from the politics? Do these impacts have direct relation to church or Christian faith?
2. Read Romans 13:1-7, share one insight, truth or challenge you have with this teaching. As believers of Christ, how should we live out the teachings from this truth?
3. Pray and intercede for the election on 26th September, ask for a government who exercise righteousness, fairness and justice in the welfare of the people.
