The Politics of Faith: Amos 5: 18-24; I Cor. 13
A friend shared a joke with me this week that said this: we’ve already been stuck in March for the past eight months because of the pandemic, so why not be stuck on Tuesday for the next several days due to election day? I think we can all say that 2020 has been one of the more difficult years in the collective lives of everyone around the world. And, as life continues, I still feel like I’m on day 597 of March. Now, originally, I had the parable of the ten bridesmaids, half of whom forget oil for their lamps as the scripture for today. But, frankly, I can’t stretch that to be very useful right now. So we changed it up a bit and will have I Corinthians 13. I kept Amos because it’s appropriately harsh for our days.
We have now drawn nearly to the close of our 2020 election, and it passed the same way the rest of 2020 has…like a kidney stone. In many ways our world, and particularly our nation, is more jaded, untrusting, divided, and angry that many of us have ever seen it, and all too often, I have seen the church right in the middle of the trouble. The Corinthian church had similar problems to our modern-day society. The church was, at best, questionable in their morals. They were lenient to bad or immoral behavior, unkind to the poor, and used their gifts and abilities for individual gain rather than to help the church.
Paul writes to them in grief for the ways they have fallen apart and treated one another. When Paul told them that there is freedom in Christ, they took it as license to behave however they wanted. Paul, however, calls them back from their ways by reminding them that the ways of society and politics of Corinth should not dictate how the people live in and for Christ.
We begin with Amos, who harshly rebuked the Israelite people and their worship of God. When the people say they wish for God’s return, for the day of the Lord, Amos lays out a severe indictment of the people. In Chapter 2, Amos points out their crimes are many and specifically oppressing the poor and vulnerable. In Amos 3, he criticizes them for hurting others and stealing from others to make themselves rich, and in chapter 4, he criticizes their continued mixture of idolatry and faith while decrying that they crush the poor. Though the people do the rituals and offer the sacrifices, their hearts are not with God, nor do their actions follow God’s commands. So, Amos tells them in verse 24, “I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” Likewise, our words of faith must match our life and behavior.
In a day where there is trouble and unrest, distrust, and simmering anger, the church must stand on its own apart from society and politics to proclaim redeeming faith in Christ and that the love of Christ will overcome all evil. But in addition to proclaiming this love of Christ, the church must also live it. The Israelites in Amos proclaimed God, but they did not live in the faith. This means that the church must live independently of society and politics and the clamor of broken human institutions. The church should not be of the world and should chart its course with Christ as the guide, following no other.
But we come to a problem. We may not live of the world, but we are still in the world. So how do we, then, still live in the world? While the church is not and never should be Republican or Democrat, at times the church is both conservative and liberal as we understand it. When the church stands for morality and living a Christ-like life, it may be seen as very conservative by the world. When the church stands for justice for the poor, oppressed, and vulnerable, it may be perceived as very liberal by the world.
The truth is we are called to do both—to live Christlike and stand for justice. In the rest of First Corinthians, Paul calls out the ethics and morals of the Corinthian church as they had gotten, let’s say a bit too permissive, with their lifestyle and behavior. The church must stand for behavior that treats all as God’s beloved creation. But over and over, the prophets of the Old Testament rebuked Israel for a lack of justice and in particular social justice. And if Israel was not spared a rebuke for being unjust, neither, then, will we be spared. In truth, Paul also rebuked the Corinthians for a lack of justice in their own church as well as their lack of morality. The church should not take up the debate political issues. The church should stand on Biblical truth and goes where Christ leads, regardless of the perception of the world. We are called to follow Christ in all things whether the world describes those Biblical truths as conservative or liberal.
We come then to this chapter on love. Typically, you hear it at weddings: these words of love being patient and kind, not jealous or proud, not rude, not demanding, not irritable, and keeping no record of wrongs. And anyone who has been married knows after about two years not a bit of that holds fast in a marriage. In an argument between spouses, there is no such thing as “keeping no record of wrongs.” The context, though, is a bit different. The Corinthian church was very, very blessed with spiritual gifts including tongues, prophecy, and other very visible spiritual gifts. But they lacked loved for one another.
Paul tells them that you can have everything in the world—every gift, every ability, the deepest power of the spirit you can imagine, and untold wealth and power, but if you lack love, it is all worthless. All these other things we only get in part. You can be prophetic, but even prophets only know so much. You can speak in tongues, but there’s only so much of that can be done. You could have faith to move mountains, but even then, at times, you’ll come up lacking. Even if we are the strongest, best, and most powerful in what we do or what we are capable of, there is a limit here on Earth.
The only gift that is perfect, complete, and whole is love. I John 4 talks about perfect love casting out fear. Here, Paul places love above faith and even hope. The greatest gift is love. As Christians we must live out this calling to love. It’s a love that sets boundaries against bad or sinful behavior. It’s a love that welcomes everyone to Christ’s table and into Christ’s family, for Paul told the Corinthians not to keep anyone away or to sinfully introduce social status to the Lord’s Supper. It’s a love that is perfect in casting out all fear such that politics, elections, policies, and the like should not worry us or make us live in fear.
Our faith is in Christ and our hope is in God’s redeeming grace. Whomever the President of our country is, your inherent worth, your salvation, and your strength and power are found in Christ and Christ alone. But never forget that we must live truthfully, authentically, and with the love of Christ radiating from us. For no matter what we have, what we are capable of, and how strong we are, there is no power on earth that is greater than the love of Christ.
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