A Meeting With The President

A couple of years ago I along with a number of other pastors and religious figures were invited to Washington D.C.

to listen to aspects of the President’s agenda from an administration official. The purpose of the meeting was to hear what the President was doing and how we could encourage our congregations to support him. No we didn’t meet with the President or Vice-President and there really wasn’t a great deal of time for questions, comments or dialogue. Reflecting on that meeting has got me to thinking though. I wonder, what would we say if the President asked a group of us to speak to him and his cabinet about the issues most important to us? What issues would we address? Whom would we speak for? What encouragements or rebukes would we share with him?

Jeremiah 22 records such an incident when God summoned His prophet to speak to the ruler of his country. The theme of Sunday’s message was why the people of God should have a passionate commitment to the poor and powerless. Passages such as Jeremiah 22 serve to reinforce that conviction. For example, this passage is consistent with how God addressed other political officials who had abandoned justice to pursue greed and power. (see Psalm 82:1-4 and Isa. 10:1-4)

So what did Jeremiah say when the Lord commanded him to speak to the king? He began by making it clear that he spoke for the Lord God Almighty. Jeremiah wasn’t there to deliver his own political opinion that could change like shifting sand, but the eternal counsel of the word of the Lord that stands forever. How consistent is God’s word? Well Jeremiah’s ministry occurred around eight to nine hundred years after the ministry of Moses the man of God. And yet, the word of God regarding the poor and powerless had not changed. It’s as if Jeremiah was simply quoting what Moses had commanded so long ago. (see Exod. 23:6-9; Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:17-19; Deut. 16:18-20)
It is the task and responsibility of believers to warn our elected officials to be wary when they throw around Scripture and make liberal use of the phrase ‘God bless America’. We should admonish them that God takes it seriously when His Name and word is invoked for anything. Moreover, we should tell them that God’s word is clear and unchanging concerning the important subject of the poor and less powerful.

What was the substance of Jeremiah’s message? To put it simply he said the king and all his officials must do right by the poor and powerless. They were not to oppress nor stand by while others oppressed the poor by locking them into cycles of poverty and misery. Now why is God telling this message to the king and his administration? Why didn’t He charge Jeremiah to declare this message to the religious leaders? (actually the Lord did, see Jer. 7:1-15) Could it be that the Lord having entrusted and ordained political power to governments expects them to wield that power justly and protect the poor and powerless from others that would misuse and abuse them? Absolutely! When God established a political system for His people He expressly charged them to use the authority He gave them justly. (see Deut. 16:18-20) What should God’s people say to our political leaders? We should tell them that God created politics and ordained government to protect the interest of the weak, vulnerable, poor and powerless.

Jeremiah goes onto to give a serious warning concerning God’s judgment if His word is ignored. How many times have we heard how God is going to judge America for our sins? Yet it never seems as if His judgment will fall due to our oppression and marginalization of the poor. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not saying that the Lord won’t judge countries, churches and individuals for things like adultery, pornography, homosexuality etc. But He will also judge for things like greed, injustice and oppression. Malachi sums it up well 5 "Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. Mal. 3:5.
Should we like Jeremiah get the opportunity to have the President’s ear we would do well to tell him that God is in no way obligated to allow us to maintain our present position of economic, political and military supremacy. Our biggest threat may not be terrorism, but our own willful neglect of the poor, weak and less powerful.

After spelling out some aspects of God’s judgment the prophet details some of the abuses the king was guilty of. The king (Jehoiakim) sought to satisfy his greed and prideful materialism by making his subjects work for nothing. He had no problem building palaces literally on the backs of the poor and powerless. In rebuking the king for his prideful greed the Lord reveals an important truth concerning the nature of life in general and government in particular. In essence He said that real leadership prioritizes the values of justice, fairness and equity for the weakest members of society. He told Jehoiakim that the more he tried to look like a king the more he would merely be like the emperor who had no clothes. Instead of trying to pattern himself like the pagan kings of the countries that surrounded him Jehoiakim should have modeled his reign after his father Josiah. He was one of the godliest kings to ever reign over Judah. His godliness was evident both in his zeal for God’s worship and glory (see 2 Chron. 34) as well as his passion for seeking justice for the poor and powerless. (Jer. 22:15-16)

What should we tell the leaders of our land? We should encourage them to trust in the Lord by governing with the needs of the poor and vulnerable uppermost in their minds and policies. Our leaders should know that Lord, who is high, exalted and lifted up looks down on the poor and vulnerable with care, concern and compassion. We should remind them that though the people elected them, it is God who ordained them to hold this position at this time and He is watching.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance