No to politics for businesses
Keep politics out of your business.
Politics will not help your business grow. It will not save your business when it’s down. It will not get you more customers. It will certainly cost you customers. It will polarize your employees into factions. It will taint your company culture. That’s not even the Christian part.
No to politics for Christian business owners
For Christian business owners, if you let politics into your door. It will ruin your witness. You will be viewed through suspicious political lens, rather than gauged against the Word of God. Politics will confuse your Christian culture. You will alienate Christians who don’t share your political views.
As a Christian, you should care about politics
As a Christian, you should care about politics. We are told to pray for the authorities in 1 Timothy 2:1-2. Pray for your mayor, governor, congressmen, senator, all the way to the President.
We are to obey and abide by any law that the government issues, except those laws which will cause us to sin. These are abortion, divorce, or in some countries a ban on church meetings.
As a citizen, it is your duty to participate in politics
As a citizen, you should fulfill your duty to participate in government. You are to vote as your civic duty. Christians should vote for candidates who are God-fearing and supports Christian values such as freedom, equal rights, and non-discrimination.
Which one are you? Specifically, which one are you in the workplace? The Christian business owner, right?
Because voting is a matter of stewardship, Christians living in a constitutional republic should seek to vote in a way that honors God and advances the well-being of their neighbor.
God moving in politics in the Old Testament
God used people in positions of authority to bring about His will in the Old Testament. Joseph, Moses, David, Esther, and Daniel served God in their roles as government officials. They were not politicians in the modern sense of the world.
Except for David, most were slaves turned government technocrats. They were career officers who by their service to their ruler were actually serving and honoring God.
And serve God they did, primarily by being used by God to preserve His people and bring the Messiah, Jesus, to the world. It was more than just serving the king while keeping their testimony. It was way bigger than that. It was about God’s plan for the salvation of mankind.
God almost ignores politics in the New Testament
So we see that when Jesus arrived in the New Testament, it was all about the Kingdom of God. It was not a political kingdom. Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world in John 18:36.
It was the best time to be political as far as the Jews were concerned. Jesus’ disciples were thinking he was going to be the promised one to free them from Roman oppression. That’s why Judas was so upset when it became clear Jesus was not the messiah he thought Jesus to be that Judas betrayed Him.
Jesus, not once, commented about how tyrannical were the Romans. He had a good opportunity when the disciples were all fired up after His resurrection. Instead of telling them to rise up and free the masses, Jesus told them to “, Go forth and make disciples,” Matthew 28:19-20.
Jesus and the Gospels being silent about politics should give us hints. If anything, Jesus told us to keep our politics and our faith separate (Mark 12:17).
Don’t look at the Epistles either. Romans 13:1-14; Titus 3:1; and 1 Timothy 2:1-2 all tell us to submit, respect, and obey those whom God put in charge of the government. There is a bigger plan in play here than just our individual sensitivities.
The Christian business owner’s response to politics
Let’s take the business owner part first. None. That’s should be your response as a business owner to politics. Just don’t bring it into your place of business. It’s too messy.
None of the apostles, neither Peter, John, James nor Paul, told the early believers to delve into politics. That certainly would have helped their cause at a time of extreme persecution.
Instead, what they put their energy into is proclaiming the Good News before kings and commoners alike. Surely, we are not better than these anointed men.
Politics today are not discussed in the halls of public debate. The woke and cancel cultures have made sure of that. It’s now who can shout the loudest, smash the most cars, loot the most stores, and get the most likes on social media.
You don’t want any of this toxicity spilling over to your place of business.
Now, as a Christian, what could be your response to politics?
Christians should care about politics and especially the politicians they vote into office. Find out what you can about your local and national candidates. Don’t just take their word, look into their lives.
What kind of values do they live by? Not just their political platforms. Engage in meaningful and respectful conversations with various viewpoints. Don’t just rely on mass media which are often tainted with political leanings.
Listen to what your pastor has to say about certain candidates and political promises. Vote only those candidates who will fight and promote Christian values.
Whatever you find out and conclusions you may come to, leave them at the entrance to your business. Politics is a world system. Don’t let the world come in.
What politics really is
In Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” That sounds like a political system.
So we are fighting against the political system and the authorities behind them in the spiritual world. We can pretty much assume that these same powers, copying their political system are behind and influencing the politics of the world.
Daniel 10:13 tells us that these powers are actively trying to make things miserable for every believer.
The Israelites’ spiral into godlessness started in earnest when they succumbed to the political system of the nations around them. They demanded an earthly king when God was to rule over them 1 Samuel 8).
We are to learn from the Scriptures. We should trust God who is moving on the world stage just as He is moving in our personal lives.
Just like Daniel (Daniel10:13-20), we are to keep praying to fight against these powers and principalities. Our enemy is still only able to move around within what God allows them to do according to His will.
They are subject to Jesus “, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him” 1 Peter 3:22.
Final thoughts
We have bigger things to do than play politics. We are to make disciples of every nation (Matthew 28:19-20). This is a far bigger responsibility with everlasting implications in the lives of millions across every continent.
