Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But for now my kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36 ISV)

There’s something very profound about what Jesus spoke to Pilate when He was on trial for His life…

What Jesus said to Pilate still applies to us as followers of Jesus today and will continue to do so until He catches us up to meet Him in the air before we return with Him to earth when His feet touch the Mount of Olives…

Right up until that moment when we meet Him in the air we are to ‘do business’ until He ‘comes back’…

“And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’ (Luke 19:13 NASB)

What sort of ‘business’ are we to do with the gifts and talents which the Lord has given us?

Are we to lobby governments for what we would consider to be morally acceptable laws?

If that fails, are we to endeavour to get ourselves elected into governments so we can put what we consider to be morally acceptable laws in place for our nations?

If that fails, are we to physically overthrow governments by means of force majeure or coup to place ourselves in control of our nations so we can put in place what we consider to be morally acceptable laws?

Assuming that we were to succeed in any of the above approaches, what would we do when the people of our nations didn’t comply with the laws we’d put in place?

Would we impose fines on them, take away their jobs, confiscate their property, put them in prison, kill them?

Is this the sort of ‘business’ which Jesus was talking about?

A political business?

No, it was not…

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36a NASB)

So what exactly is it that Jesus does want us to be doing with the gifts and talents which He’s given us in this epoch of time?

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 NASB)

It seems pretty clear to me that our role is to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded the eleven disciples…

We have been given authority to do this and a promise that Jesus will be with us always in this endeavour until He comes again and ushers in His thousand-year reign on earth…

If Jesus didn’t want his servants to physically fight to keep Him alive (think of how He told Peter to put away his sword) how much less would He want us, as His servants now, to physically fight to endeavour to force some sort of moralism (or legislated morality) over our societies or to physically fight to force the members of our societies to ‘believe in Jesus or die’…

This approach is just plain wrong in light of Jesus’ clear words…

Yes, there is a time coming, when Jesus returns to earth to reign from the throne of His father David for a thousand years – which He hints at in John 18:36b where He says, “But for now My kingdom is not from here” – when things will be very different…

That time, however, is not now…

So, as followers of Jesus in this present age, what should we be focusing our efforts on?

Encouraging free-will heart change in all people, holding out the opportunity for all people to turn freely and willingly to Jesus by sharing the truth and grace of Jesus in love with all people and also by sharing our testimonies of how Jesus has changed our lives and is still, in His grace, changing our lives…

How do we affect change in our own lives?  By having our hearts affected by an understanding of the truth and grace of Jesus and touched by God to turn the desires of our hearts freely and willingly towards wanting to do what He has told us is best for us to do (trusting Him that He knows best for our lives)…

How do we affect change in society?

By sharing what God has done in our lives and encouraging everyone that He can and will – if they want Him to – do this in their lives also…

This involves each and every one of us who knows Jesus surrendering to Jesus, giving up being moralistic ‘try-hards’ and giving up on our efforts of ‘self-improvement’ and allowing His Holy Spirit to do His work in us in His time…

To live honestly in this way before all those around us so they see that we’re real, we’re not perfect, we’re not ‘better than them’ but naturally and joyfully God is doing things in our hearts to turn our hearts, more and more and more towards Him and towards His ways…

As they see our maturing and ongoing relationship with Jesus they taste and see vicariously that He is good and the kindness of God through us leads them to repentance, a.k.a. to come to know Jesus, a.k.a. to submit themselves to Jesus and allow Him to take over in their lives, laying down their lives and dying that Jesus can live His life through them…

There are those of us who believe in Jesus whose ‘day jobs’ involve working in government, God calls us as His people into all different professions and all different work environments but in whichever environment we find ourselves our role is as explained above, one that is focused on bringing as many people as possible into a heart relationship with Jesus because this is the only thing that saves and this is the only thing that preserves (like salt) our nations…

In the spiritual plane, there are prophets and prophetic intercessors who have a call, as Jeremiah did, to their nations…

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:4-10 NIV)

These ones could also be called watchmen or gatekeepers…

What this involves, in the spirit, is the casting down of every spiritual authority and power which raises itself up in our nations against the knowledge of Christ…

We, those of us thus called, have a mandate from God, to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow and also to build and to plant in the spiritual atmosphere’s of our nations an environment of peace which facilitates the sharing and expression of the good news about Jesus to all in our nations…

We have authority as specifically led by the Holy Spirit to remove the demonic principalities and powers from the spiritual environments over our nations and regions as we are given this authority by the Lord…

This opens the way for things to change, flourish and grow in the natural plane in our nations…

The prophet and prophetic intercessor – along with the apostle I believe – has an authority to build and to plant into their sphere of influence, under the jurisdiction that God has given to each one – what they release will come into being in time in the natural in their sphere of influence…

All this is done in the spirit, God works all this out ‘behind the scenes’ – no one in the natural plane is forced or coerced to change – as that wouldn’t be heart change, i.e. wouldn’t affect any change in any of our hearts – no government ‘strong-arming’ is required – however over time there will be changes in the way our societies operate as a result of these prayers and proclamations…

Why will there be changes in society?

Because every time in history where God has moved on His people to focus on helping others to come to know Jesus in truth, the society in which those people lived was also changed as a result of that focus…

The changes in society were an after-effect of the changes that had occurred in the members of those societies’ or communities’ hearts – a natural and free-will outcome, they just didn’t want to do certain things anymore…

Any authority structure which presently exists, we are told in Romans 13, presently exists because the Lord has set it in place…

This doesn’t mean that He’ll not remove it at some point if this is His will, as He lifts up and He casts down…

Nebuchadnezzar learnt this in Daniel 4…

“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers And the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, And bestows it on whom He wishes And sets over it the lowliest of men.” (Daniel 4:17 NASB)

We, thus, shouldn’t be surprised if the Lord chooses to rearrange those who hold the highest positions of authority in any of the authority structures which He chooses to remain in place from here on out until He comes again…

Again, even if some of us (who know the Lord) find ourselves as the Prime Ministers or Presidents of our nations – we are only servants of Jesus in that role and Jesus has very clearly told us not to politicize our mandate but to encourage freedom for all who know Jesus to share Jesus through their life and testimony with all those who are yet to come to know Jesus while giving those who do not yet know Jesus every freedom to reject giving their lives to Jesus and every freedom not be penalized, via any government ‘pressure’, for making that decision…

Our roles, those of us who know the Lord, as Prime Ministers and Presidents of our nations, is to ensure free-will is honoured for all members of our societies, which includes freedom of speech and freedom of religion for all, including ourselves…

We pray, as Paul tells us:

for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:2 NASB)

We pray that those in authority would govern our nations in such a way so that every believer in Jesus would have the freedom to live this way so that the sharing of the good news about Jesus can continue unhindered…

If there are those presently in positions of authority who are not acting in a way which enables what Paul instructs us to pray for then we are to ask the Lord to show them His truth and grace so they could have a change of heart, if it becomes clear that those ones do not want to have a change of heart then I believe our role, in line with Daniel 4:17, is to pray that the Lord would remove them from this position of authority and place someone in that position who He knows will enable those of us who believe in Him to live the way Paul instructs us to…

Jesus, after all, is the Ruler of the kings of the earth…

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. (Revelation 1:5a NASB)

He has this right, He was the lowliest of men…

With respect to those in our society who knowingly choose not to believe in Jesus they should not be punished at all for this decision in this lifetime – they should enjoy freedom of speech and freedom of religion in our nations – this is what Jesus instructed us to do (emphasis mine) in the scripture below…

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (Matthew 13:24-30 NASB)

So is the Lord calling those of us who know and follow Jesus into political activism or political lobbying?

I don’t believe so…

If He calls us into positions of authority in society (as our ‘day job’) I believe He does so to put forward (without any force or pressure) Jesus’ truth and grace to those who don’t yet know the Lord who are also in positions of authority in the hope that we all (in those positions of authority) will freely choose (in unity) to agree with God’s will for our nations – (a) to protect the peace and tranquility of those who know Jesus in our nations so that we can humbly and joyfully share Jesus and His free gift of eternal life and rescue from eternal death to all those who do not yet know Him in our nations and (b) to protect the free-will (freedom of speech and freedom of religion) of all in our nations (without vilification, ostracism or punishment)… 🙂