Reconciling God’s Servant

Introduction

Christians these days are always complaining about how American politics needs serious reform. History gives little hope that convulsive struggles among the principalities and powers ameliorate because of the appeal of callow captiousness. A divine grace intervention has the only proven track record for reconciliation.

Reconciliation

Christ’s work of salvation was to “reconcile to himself all things” (Col. 1:20). This is because Christ made peace by dealing decisively with sin (Col. 1:20-22). Reconciliation is a lot more than just a person’s individual salvation. Jesus didn’t die merely for individuals to get a ticket to heaven. The invisible things in the spiritual realm have been conquered and reconciled (Col. 1:16-20). The vanity and futility of the world is because it is in rebellion. Sin, suffering, oppression, and anxiety all belong to the dominion of Satan. Persecution, hunger, want, violence, and injustice are all attempts to separate God from his people (Rom. 8:35).

Reconciliation happens because of the One who made all things. He who was in the beginning is the firstborn from the dead. All the names by which salvation is described—justification, sanctification, or reconciliation—are the application of the Kingdom of God on earth. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, all lines come together and the world is reconciled to Christ. Unity and coherence eclipses division and insanity. A New Creation comes to life. This includes Christ presenting the church to the Father as holy and blameless (Col. 1:22).

So, reconciliation is the work of creating the New Creation. It began with the death and resurrection of Christ and is complete when Christ returns. This is why Christians desire to resurrect things, including governments. Just like all people are intended to be servants of the Resurrected King, so too are all governments (Rom. 13:4). God’s salvation restores people to their normal state of being, namely, creaturely servants. God’s salvation also restores all rulers and authorities to their normal state of being, namely, servants of the Living Christ who is “the head of all rule and authority” (Col. 2:10).

By the reconciliation principle of Christ, the church avails the pattern of the gospel in the same manner it was given. We receive, we hold, and we transmit Christ’s grace in the same course and order. The salvation of the individual is placed in a just correspondence and symmetry with the salvation of the creation (Rom. 8:19). Dominions, rulers, authorities; indeed, all things are reconciled to Christ (Col. 1:16-20). The mode of existence decreed to the redeemed body of Christ mysteriously incorporates all things on earth. This is the disposition of stupendous grace, that it molds together the whole. “All things” are reconciled, which means they aren’t marked by the varied drift of perpetual decay but by the preserving method of grace.

When sin is the normal habit of human beings, it’s called worldliness. When disobedience is the normal habit of governments, it’s called corruption. Both habits can be overturned by the grace of God, but only by conformity to the grace of God. We must derive our ministry ambitions in the light of such a grace.

Complaints

So, what about all that complaining about the government? When we interrogate the complaints, we have to admit that getting the federal government’s agencies out of state and local affairs won’t do much good if local communities, including municipal governments, are swimming in the DEI swamps. Local governments need to rediscover their soul just as much as the federal government. Well-educated, well-read, and well-spoken Christians are uniquely equipped to aid in that rediscovery since it always begins with an acknowledgment of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

All authority on heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ (Mt. 28:18). This is complemented by Romans 13:4, which says that the government is a servant of Jesus Christ. This means two things. First, God has delegated authority to civil government. Second, God has limited the authority of civil government.

Conclusion

It’s unlikely that civil magistrates will magically begin to intuit their God-assigned responsibility. It’s also unlikely that a firestorm of social media posts will awaken them to the task. What is needed is a ministry to the local magistrates. So, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are passionate about seeing the government return to its God-assigned role, consider doing something about it rather than just spouting off.

First, make a study plan

Instead of exercising pretend influence on social media, hibernate your accounts and give yourself the gift of extra time. Use this windfall of minutes to become educated on political theology, not for the sake of awarding grades, but as an investment in the future work of shifting mindsets.

Put together a one-year self-study plan. Or, better yet, form a study group that reads, at least, the following books:

• Lex Rex by Samuel Rutherford

• Vindica Contra Tyrannos by the pseudonymous Junius Brutus, a French Huguenot

• The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates by Matthew Trewhella

• John Calvin’s Institutes Book 4

To whet your appetite, consider eight summary statements of what John Calvin says about civil government.

#1 The primary objectives of civil government include maintaining public order, preventing offenses against the Christian religion, ensuring the security of individuals' property, fostering honest commerce and morality, and facilitating the practice of a public form of religion among Christians (4.20.3).

#2 Civil government serves to prevent the violation and pollution of true religion by enacting laws against public blasphemy and offenses to religion (4.20.3).

#3 Calvin uses the term "gods" to indicate that magistrates have a divine commission and authority from God. This title suggests that magistrates represent the person of God and act as His substitutes (4.20.4).

#4 Rulers are ministers of God, responsible for maintaining order, and not causing terror to good works (4.20.4).

#5 The Lordship of Christ does not mean there will be no civil rulers on earth. Rulers should not lay aside their authority but should subject their power to Christ's rule (Ps. 2:10-12; Is. 49:23). They are called to be patrons and protectors of the Church and its worshippers (4.20.5).

#6 Magistrates, as ministers of divine justice, should be guided by qualities such as integrity, prudence, meekness, continence, and innocence (4.20.6).

#7 Magistrates are judging on behalf of God and will be held accountable for their actions (Ps. 82:1; Is. 3:14) (4.20.6).

#8 Those who attack or criticize the sacred ministry are essentially insulting God Himself since His servants are being disgraced (4.20.7).

Second, start a ministry to the local magistrate

Leviathan can only be caught when Christ’s cross is the fishhook. Under the guidance of your local church, begin a ministry to the local magistrates in Huntsville, Alabama. Start study groups, invite local officials, and begin humbly teaching them about their duty toward the Lord Jesus Christ, who exercised perfect self-government in His sinless life, sacrificial death, and death-defeating resurrection. Jesus Christ is the God of all the households of the world, King of all the kingdoms of the earth, Lord of all the leaders of the earth, and the Head of the Church in heaven and on earth. The only way magistrates will begin obeying Christ is if we take Christ to them. Maybe you can call the ministry, “Reconciling God’s Servant.”

Jason Cherry is an elder at Trinity Reformed Church in Huntsville, Alabama, as well as a teacher and lecturer of literature, history, and economics at Providence Classical School in Huntsville. He graduated from Reformed Theological Seminary with an MA in Religion and is the author of the books The Culture of Conversionism and the History of the Altar Call and The Making of Evangelical Spirituality.