The first article in the French Reformed Church Order is “Ministers ought not to Lord it over one another.” It is a warning against fleshly politics in the church of Jesus Christ.
We should discuss what the nature of politics is. People use the word politics without thinking of what it really means. Some define politics coercively as attempts to control and lord it over one another. This is what I understand the common phrase to mean “oh that’s just politics.” It is a reference to some person or group bidding for control over another person or group. Of course, we must also recognize that the There should be none of that sort of politic in the Christian view. Politics can also be defined as communal decision-making. This is the more common today, but the definition can ignore the reality of power dynamics that come within politics. People are given “rule” and that is power.
I like the definition that William Killbourn gives in his book, “The Firebrand” on William Lon Mackenzie. He defines politics as the “pursuit and direction of power to desirable ends.” This allows for all the various definitions that people give to the word politics. It reflects the reality of how people use power. Those desirable ends could be noble, the product of an ideology, or personal lusts.
For the Christian, politics are “the pursuit the direction of power to desirable ends through equally desirable means.” The pursuit of the power ought to be pursued through legitimate means. Once received, that power ought to be directed toward good ends through desirable means.
There is no grasping of power for the Christian, for he is called by God to never Lord it over another. That is the nature of the Gentiles or unbelievers according to our Lord Christ. The unbeliever is marked by anxiety, and his anxiety is subverted into a desire to dominate others. For the Christian, however, power is given, never taken. The Christian leader, whether ecclesiastical or civil, whether familial or whether he has power only over his own person, is called to use the power given to him for the good of the kingdom of God.
This does not mean that a Christian may not desire power. Paul says, “It is a good thing to desire to be an elder.” Elders have power in the church of God, the power of excommunication, the power of the Shepherd, as an ambassador for the Shepherd. If he may desire eldership, he may desire civil office as well, and may seek that by legitimate means.
The Christian must seek power legitimately, and he also must use power legitimately. Power itself is not evil, but it can be corrupting. We could compare it to Paul’s talk about money in 2 Timothy. “The love of money is the source of all sorts of evil.” The same can be said of power.
There is a deep desire to dominate one another that goes back to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve grasped for the power “to be like God” to be like God.” From then on man wants to be God not only before God, but before his fellow man. Jesus warns his disciples, “Do not Lord it over one another as the Gentiles do.”
That is why the Scriptures encourage us in humility. It is not without reason that God chose Moses as leader for the people of Israel, “Now Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone on the face of the earth.” Humility is a pre-requisite to fulfilling one’s office before God well.
That doesn’t mean there is no willingness to exercise power. It is humility that teaches us how to use power rightly. We humble ourselves, first, before God and bind ourselves to his word, and that can make truly humble men appear to fleshly men as full of pride. Paul is very certain in his office and in the authority he has been given. He is more than willing to use it against those who plague the church of God. One of the constant struggles in the New Testament church is against those “who would spy out your freedom” and enslave you to some type of law again. Christians are free. Supposedly, good ends are not an excuse for evil deeds to reach those ends. Paul and the other apostles fight fiercely against those who seek to destroy the freedom of the Christian.
Yet Paul, Jesus, and many other Saints of the Old and New Testaments know that this power is given and they continually humble themselves before God and his Word as the source, the content, and the boundaries of the power they exercise.
