I preached on Sunday, August 21, on A Christian Response to Government and Politics.  In part, I taught that Christians must operate with a much higher standard than do politicians, and even the way we do politics (which is often a very dirty business) must be done according to the ethics of Jesus.

I closed with these Ten Commandments:

1. Recognize that a country is only as strong as its citizens, so live your faith in Jesus.

2. Pray regularly for our country and our leaders.

3. Respect our current leaders with your words, prayers, and with the titles you use to talk about them.

4. Keep your priorities in order.  God . . . country . . . with your political party way down the list.  But especially remember that your passion for Christ must exceed your passion for politics.

5. Inform yourself on the candidates and the issues using direct sources rather than biased news reports and commentaries.

6. Refuse to let political disagreement become personal disagreement within the church.

7. Show respect to all candidates, including those you disagree with.

8. Never insinuate that our church is endorsing a candidate—we’re not and we don’t.

9. Speak the truth with kindness.  Refuse to lie, to exaggerate, to put-down, or to call a candidate names.

10. Vote for candidates you can support after you’ve done your homework.

We can’t operate the way the world operates.  We can’t excuse our behavior with “well, politics is dirty business” or “I’m just playing by their rules.”  We answer to Jesus, not to a political party.  We follow His standards, not the standards of the world.

Even in our politics, our behavior and our words must operate by the standards given to us by Jesus!