Grace Economics (2) (4)

“When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.” Deuteronomy 17.14, 15

The role of the king
There is certainly a role for national government in the Kingdom economy outlined in God’s Law. But only as long as that government acknowledges and pursues a grace agenda as its operating motif.

A national government is important for such areas as national defense, maintaining a sound currency, facilitating transportation and commerce, and serving as a final bar of appeal as required in questions of justice. God allowed Israel to select a king because He understood the important role of strong national leadership in creating and sustaining an economy of grace.

The primary roles of Israel’s king were two: First, he was to provide leadership for the nation in just wars against enemies, when these threatened the safety and security of the nation. Second, the king was to provide leadership by example in following the teachings of God’s Law. Each Israelite king was responsible to write out a copy of God’s Law in his own hand, to have his copy approved by the priests, and to read and meditate in God’s Law daily, that he might understand and practice the tenets of justice required by the economy of God’s Law.

Purpose of our national government
The objective of America’s national government, as expressed in the preamble to our Constitution, is “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

Here we note but scant mention of material wealth. The objectives outlined in the United States Constitution are appropriate to the limited role of national government which the Founders envisioned, and much more in line with an economics of justice and freedom than an economics of material prosperity. The Constitution was drafted not to spread the wealth around, but to maintain a national framework of justice and opportunity against all threats, domestic and international, a framework where each person exercised responsible choices, cared for his neighbor, contributed to his community, and practiced the rights and privileges with which he had been endowed by his Creator.

Effects of increased national government
Would we say that our national government today has brought us to “a more perfect Union”? Given the fact that our society is riven along so many lines – economic, political, racial, and generational – it’s clear that self-interest and economic advantage are more the norm and aspiration of the American people than justice and neighbor love. The stronger our central government grows, and the more it refuses to look to the wisdom of God’s Law, the more the national fabric unravels.

The nation is divided racially, economically, politically, and generationally against itself in a struggle for material advantage. Would we say that this government is primarily concerned to “establish Justice” when, in fact, no working definition of justice is agreed upon by the different political factions?

Our government works to “insure domestic Tranquility,” but this is mainly the responsibility of local officials, not national policies or police.

The national government has done a good job in working to “provide for the common defence” of the republic, although our international relations too often reflect the demands of material prosperity over those of grace and truth.

Increasingly, national government takes a far too aggressive view of what it means “to promote the general Welfare.” The reams and reams of regulations, codes, and other forms of public policy by which the national government seeks to spread the wealth around are more a hindrance to “the Blessings of Liberty” than a help.

And as for “our Posterity” – the future of the nation – the government sponsors one of the least effective programs of education in the developed world, plunders the inheritances of heirs, permits the wanton sacrifice of unborn generations, and routinely puts the overall wellbeing of the financial economy in doubt by its policies of taxation and regulation.

We need a national government, to be sure, and in the grace economy of God’s Law, national governments are no less important than local governments. However, we need a government more like that envisioned in God’s Law and established by the Founders of this nation, and less like the one that presently is devoting the majority of its efforts to ensure that material prosperity is the privilege and possession of all Americans, whatever it takes.

For reflection or discussion
1. What were the two primary roles of a king in ancient Israel? Read Deuteronomy 17.14-20. What warnings did God set forth for central governments?

2. What is the Christian’s role in working to shape the course of the government at all levels of society? What can we do?

3. Suggest some ways that a local church can help to equip its members for more responsible Kingdom living with respect to our political responsibilities.

Next steps – Conversation: Are governments a reflection of the people they serve, or are the people they serve a reflection of the government that rules them? Discuss this question with a church leader.

T. M. Moore

This week’s ReVision study is Part 7 of a 10-part series, “The Kingdom Economy.” You can download “Grace Economics (2)” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here. For a background study of Kingdom economics, order the book, The Kingdom Turn,  from our online store, and learn what it means to enter the Kingdom, not just talk about it.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.