We expect politicians to keep their promises but are we, the church, keeping ours?

Today I want to challenge you to get out and vote, but when you do, I want you to take a step back and think about your own responsibility to keep your promises as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As a Christian, I recognize my responsibility to personally magnify God’s glory. Therefore, I can’t sit on the sidelines and expect someone else to do it for me. That goes for my church, the government, or even my next door neighbor.

Too often, the truth is we look to someone else to solve our problems. We want change and we expect a politician to bring that change for us. But what if we decided as a church, we were going to change because we have been redeemed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. What if as a family, we decided we were going to change. What if as an individual, we decided we were going to change. Change what, you say? How about less sitting on the sidelines calling out for change and more living out the change the gospel demands.

What if we changed the way we thought about change? Instead of always looking to someone else for help; we looked to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who can change us from the inside out. What if, we started looking to Him for the power to change our hearts desire to see our culture change. We no longer desire the sin that so easily besets us, but instead desire to see people changed by the love of Jesus.

What does that mean? That means for us as a church, we will be the light Jesus intended us to be (Phil. 2:15). We will feed the hungry, as he fed the hungry (Matt. 14:13-21). We will give to the poor, as he gave to the poor (Matt. 6:1-4). We will care for the sick, as he cared for the sick (Matt. 4:23-25). While doing all of this we will open doors to share the good news of the gospel. For feeding, giving, and caring are well and good, but Jesus changes temporal suffering into eternal joy (John 16:20). Politicians can only change so much, but a gospel motivated church sharing the love of Jesus can change the world for eternity. Gospel motivated Christians don’t sit on the sidelines and refuse to vote because they are sick of the establishment. No, gospel motivated Christians vote because they want to be good citizens of this earth reflecting their good standing as citizens of heaven (Rom. 13:1-7; Phil. 3:20). We seek to do our part in voting, but also in keeping our promises as citizens of heaven to represent the kingdom of God here on earth. That means sharing the love of Jesus to our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

So get out and vote, but remember that it is in God whom we place our trust. He is the one who will keep His promise to one-day return and complete the work he began in us (Phil. 1:6). And until that day, our responsibility is to represent the love he showed to us to everyone in everyway we can.