(The Statesman Recognizes the Need to Operate in Accord with the Creator’s Instructions)

La vérité fondamentale est qu’il y a un Dieu qui a créé l’univers, ainsi que tout être humain et chaque nation. Il est bon et Il désire accorder Son amour à l’humanité. Depuis que Dieu s’est révélé à l’humanité, nous, en tant que race humaine, sommes-nous demandés: «À quoi ressemblerait une nation obéissante à Dieu?» Nous avons des promesses de bénédiction nationale en réponse à l’obéissance à Lui:

Béni soit la nation dont le Dieu est l’Éternel, le peuple qu’Il a choisi pour son héritage (Psaumes 33:12).

Maintenant, si vous obéissez fidèlement à l’Éternel, votre Dieu et que vous prenez soin de suivre tous Ses commandements que je vous donne aujourd’hui, l’Éternel, votre Dieu… Toutes ces bénédictions viendront et seront votre partage, parce que vous obéissez à l’Éternel, votre Dieu… Mais si vous n’obéissez point à la voix de l’Eternel, votre Dieu, si vous n’’observez pas et ne mettez pas en pratique tous ses commandements et toutes ses lois que je vous prescris aujourd’hui, toutes ces malédictions viendront et vous atteindront… (Deutéronome 28: 1-2,15).

Ces promesses ont été initialement faites à une seule nation. Cependant, le caractère de Dieu montre clairement qu’il aime tous les peuples et qu’il a l’intention de faire de cette nation originelle un modèle visible de ses bénédictions prévues pour chaque nation qui lui obéirait. Ainsi, Il a également promis:

La justice élève une nation, mais le péché est une honte pour tout peuple (Proverbes 14:34).

C’est par la justice que toute nation s’élève et s’affermit. Par conséquent, nous savons que ces promesses de bénédiction nationale sont accessibles à toutes les nations qui placeraient leur confiance en Lui.

De façon réaliste, aucune nation n’a reçu toutes les bénédictions que Dieu a promises à celle qui dépendrait entièrement de Lui. Ainsi, dans cette perspective, il est important de nous demander à quoi ressemblerait la nation bénie de Dieu ?

1. Cela consisterait en ce que le peuple, du plus petit au plus grand, s’efforce à vivre en totale dépendance à Dieu.
2. Cette nation servirait de modèle de bénédictions divines pour toutes les autres nations qui dépendraient de Dieu.

Je vous fais remarquer que le dirigeant qui désire ce qu’il y a de mieux pour son peuple s’interroge de savoir la manière dont cette nation peut connaître les bénédictions de Dieu. Ce leader comprend que le défi est plus grand que sa propre capacité à faire confiance à Dieu. Il y a aussi le défi de motiver toute la population à vivre dans la dépendance et l’obéissance à Dieu. Même si ce chef fait de son mieux pour vivre dans l’obéissance à Dieu et à ses instructions, il y a encore le reste de la population.

À quoi ressemblerait cette obéissance en tant que nation? Bien que nous devions dépendre du livre d’instructions complet de Dieu, la Bible, il y a une instruction qui nous donne un aperçu riche de ce qui est nécessaire:

On t’a fait connaître, ô homme, ce qui est bien; Et ce que l’Eternel demande de toi, C’est que tu pratiques la justice, Que tu aimes la miséricorde, Et que tu marches humblement avec ton Dieu. (Michée 6: 8).

En réfléchissant à ce que notre Créateur attend de nous, nous semblons avoir une bonne partie de notre réponse.

«Marcher humblement avec votre Dieu.» Cela signifie se soumettre à sa volonté dans tous les problèmes auxquels nous sommes confrontés en tant qu’êtres humains. Dans chaque décision que nous prenons, nous devons nous demander: «Comment Dieu voudrait-il que nous prenions cette décision selon sa volonté?» Elle se refléterait dans toutes les mesures prises au sein de la société, y compris toutes les décisions prises au sein du gouvernement.

«Aimer la fidélité.» Je suggère que cela signifie être fidèle à Dieu, ne pas le trahir ou le dénaturer par nos actions.

«Agir avec justice.» Chaque interaction humaine manifesterait la justice, l’équité, la bienveillance. C’est comme s’il s’agissait d’un instrument de mesure externe de l’efficacité avec laquelle nous, en tant que société, répondons aux exigences de notre Seigneur. Cela définit la façon dont chaque interaction humaine, y compris la façon dont nous interagissons au sein de nos familles et au sein de la société, manifesterait la justice, l’équité, la bienveillance.

Remplir cette condition «agir avec justice, aimer la fidélité et marcher humblement avec votre Dieu» aurait un impact sur tous les aspects de notre société. Cela aurait un impact sur tous les membres de notre société, du plus bas au plus élevé.

La question évidente se pose de savoir quel segment de la société doit prendre cet engagement envers notre Seigneur Dieu. Je ne peux en être certain. La seule approche sûre est d’essayer d’obtenir une coopération à 100% de la part des membres de notre nation.

Comment cette prise de conscience affecte-t-elle le leader? Les dirigeants doivent se rendre compte que si nous essayons d’élever notre peuple tout en ignorant le besoin de la bénédiction souhaitée par notre Créateur sur nos nations, une grande partie de nos efforts seraient vaine. De plus, «agir avec justice, aimer la fidélité et marcher humblement avec votre Dieu» ne peut être accompli en augmentant les efforts de notre force de police. Il doit s’intérioriser au cœur de chaque membre de la société. En réalité, le respect de la condition d’obéissance n’est pas principalement la responsabilité du chef du gouvernement. Il y a trois institutions que notre Créateur a ordonnées pour la construction d’une société saine: la famille, l’institution religieuse et le gouvernement. Faire évoluer notre société vers une société qui obéit à notre Créateur requiert l’accord et la participation de ceux qui font partie des trois institutions. De toute évidence, l’institution religieuse doit être la force motrice pour atteindre cet objectif. De plus, la famille joue un rôle essentiel en transmettant à la génération suivante les valeurs sous-jacentes essentielles pour maintenir la bénédiction. Ainsi, il semble que le point de vue correct est que le chef de la nation soit aussi un visionnaire et un motivateur. Le chef du gouvernement doit encourager et soutenir chacun dans son travail pour établir une nation obéissant à Dieu. Un tel leader doit travailler en harmonie avec les influenceurs de chaque segment de la société, c’est-à-dire non seulement le gouvernement, mais aussi la famille et l’institution religieuse. En fait, ces deux derniers doivent être considérés comme les sources importantes qui alimentent les individus engagés dans l’obéissance à notre Seigneur au service du gouvernement.

Encourageons toutes les ressources de notre société à aider chaque membre à grandir dans la confiance et l’obéissance à notre Créateur et Maître. En tant que société, apprenons à grandir dans la connaissance, la confiance et la confiance en notre Maître invisible. Coopérons pour rediriger le cœur de notre peuple pour adorer le Dieu de l’Univers qui désire leur accorder son amour et sa pleine bénédiction. Et nous, qui aspirons à servir notre peuple en tant qu’hommes d’État, grandissons dans Sa connaissance afin que nous puissions diriger comme Il l’a voulu. Comme nous l’a enseigné un chef de nation avisé:

La crainte de l’Éternel est le commencement de la sagesse, et la connaissance du Saint est l’intelligence (Proverbes 9:10).

Avec tant d’enjeux, pourquoi le dirigeant qui se soucie du bien-être du peuple ne voudrait-il pas que la nation opère dans l’obéissance à Dieu et fasse l’expérience de ses bénédictions promises? N’est-ce pas là l’essence même du leadership?

Matière à réflexion: Quelles mesures serais-je disposé à prendre alors que Dieu cherche à rapprocher ma nation à Lui obéir et de faire l’expérience de toutes ses bénédictions?

The post L’homme d’État et l’obéissance nationale à notre créateur appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

We recognize that the Religious Institution must play the leading role in achieving this goal. My intention is for Statesmen to clearly understand the role that the Religious Institution is designed by our Creator to play in building a society receiving God’s abundant blessings.

This Religious Institution universally is named “ecclesia” in the Greek of the New Testament of the Bible, God’s handbook, and is commonly translated “Church”. Our Creator defines the responsibility of the ecclesia as “of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Knowing that God is One and that He is unchanging, we know He has an arm within every culture, perhaps by a different name, intended to serve as His “pillar and foundation of the truth”. The requirements for the “ecclesia” are clearly laid out and define the role our Creator intends for the Religious Institution in our nations.

The Religious Institution plays a critical role in society on such a journey because we as human beings have difficulty in understanding and approaching our God who cannot be easily comprehended using our five senses with which we approach the seen world. The Religious Institution has the essential responsibility to impart knowledge of the character of our Creator and His expectations for us from His revealed instructions to us in the Bible.

This knowledge of God is necessary for the intimate friendship with God which must support obedience to God. Within that essential body of knowledge is the truth that God created mankind to enjoy friendship with Him, which is foundational to enjoying His full blessings. This friendship includes a quality of life that satisfies every need of the human heart. Jesus said:

I came that they have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).

The author of the book of John within God’s instruction manual, the Bible, includes this insight:

… these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31).

“By believing, you may have life in His name.” It is only through believing that we can have life. And we know that it is intended that every member of our society should have this life.
Hence, God has built within us a hunger for Himself – a hunger for God that we need to embrace and that we must encourage our fellow sojourners to embrace as well. The French mathematician Blaise Pascal summarized it:

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.

It is this hunger that the religious leadership must encourage for every member and to ensure is met within every member of society. Those serving in the Religious Institution must ensure this teaching to every member of society. No one should be overlooked. We should be an encourager to everyone to seek a relationship with God for themselves. Jesus emphasized our need with this teaching:

What man among you, who has 100 sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? (Luke 15:4)

This requires teaching, modeling, persuading – making every conceivable effort so that every member in society may participate in and embrace the righteousness of God that will be a blessing for our nations. Furthermore, there must be a continual spiritual re-invigoration in the life of each member of society. This is not simply a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual invigoration, but must happen every day. God describes the process this way:

If…My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This is made all the more relevant by the fact that, in my understanding, there is not a single nation in the world where the Religious Institution is fulfilling the clear mandate God has given the ‘ecclesia’. As such, every nation and every people is missing out on the wonderful blessings God has promised to those who would obey Him and live in partnership with Him. Hence, we must begin by repenting and embracing the truth from our Creator.

Then we must continually allow our lives to experience this invigoration. This must happen on an ongoing basis. Through knowledge of God through studying His Word the Bible, He has given us the tools to fulfill this righteousness. It is literally Jesus living through us. God described it:

… He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son… (Romans 8:29).

Our Creator intended that our societies be made up of those who have embraced the character of Jesus Christ through His essential help. The Religious Institution must teach each member the practical aspects of loving and obeying God and overcoming our selfish aspirations that interfere with this:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:19-20).

We must be continually reminded to apply the truth:

If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13).

As a result of this relationship with God and His living through us, He elaborated on the qualities that would result in our lives:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

These nine characteristics are the result of allowing God to have His reign in our lives.
When Jesus was asked by religious leaders “What is the greatest commandment from God?”, He answered:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands (Matthew 23: 37-40).

This summarizes what our Creator expects of us. Notice that, as a result of loving God, we will be able to love ourselves as a special creation of our God, and, furthermore, we will be able to love others with whom our lives interact. The impact upon society is clear. Our person-to-person interactions will automatically reflect this reality.

It is not enough that we have knowledge about God. It must become intimate knowledge of God that is the basis for friendship with Him. It is essential that this friendship with our Creator serve as the basis for our obedience.

More than teaching obedience to God, the Religious Institution must model this obedience to God. The religious leadership must put aside any personal ambition for importance and pour themselves out in service to the people as servants, recognizing that they will receive eternal rewards for their earthly sacrifice. Those in leadership must view their roles as shepherds, nurturing the sheep as their primary responsibility. Leaders must be less concerned about their own importance within the religious community or within society than in serving. The issue was made clear to me one time when I was discussing this with a Foreign Minister. He described “If I were to walk into a gathering of religious leaders and you were to ask someone, ‘Who is the politician in the group?’, they would point to everyone else but me.” The religious leaders must recognize their need to selflessly serve their Master and the sheep for whom they have been given responsibility. Then and only then will they hear God’s commendation:

Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:21).

The end result is that we will learn to obey the One who is our best friend: Almighty God. As we take each step of obedience, it becomes clearer and clearer that we have done the correct thing and that we have strengthened our friendship with God, whose friendship is our richest treasure for all eternity. As this friendship and obedience is embraced throughout all of society, it will include those who are in Religious Institution, but also Family and Government. As this becomes prevalent throughout the nation, the nation will experience our Creator’s promise:

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (Proverbs 14:34).

What is the Responsibility of leaders within Government?

1. As members of potentially all three institutions (Family, Religious, Government), we must lead the way in obeying our Creator in everything we do.
2. As Government decision-makers, we must avoid impeding the essential work of the Religious Institution, either through law passed or actions taken.
3. We must set an example for servanthood that will hopefully be contagious to everyone in every area of society.

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a. Compassion toward the people, especially the most disadvantaged

King Solomon provides a good example. Early in his reign when he clearly had the heart of a statesman, he said to His Creator (paraphrasing and transposing from the third person to the first):

I will rescue the poor who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. I will have pity on the poor and helpless and save the lives of the poor. I will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their lives are precious in my sight. (Psalms 72:12-14)

What is especially captivating is Solomon’s attitude toward the people he was governing ─ for their lives are precious in my sight. What an amazing attitude this is for any governing official ─ to view the lives of the powerless, those without a voice, those taken advantage of by the more powerful in society, those who cannot help him/her politically ─ as precious in his/her sight. Truly, exercising the authority invested in office on behalf of these people is to be an instrument of Almighty God.

We gain additional insight by studying his preceding words:

God, give Your justice to me the king and Your righteousness to me. I will judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted ones with justice… May I vindicate the afflicted among the people, help the poor, and crush the oppressor. (Psalms 72:1-2,4)

Solomon expressed a concern of his heart for those who are weak and generally taken advantage of and ignored by those in Government. Too often, the powerless have come to view Government as an ‘oppressor’. Not only did Solomon not want to be an oppressor, but he wanted to use his authority to aggressively prevent any other oppression ─ in his words to “crush the oppressor”.

In looking at the lives of statesmen, there is willingness to listen to the hearts of the constituents. I have always been amazed at Abraham Lincoln’s “open door” policy to his office, whereby each morning, he allowed people to meet him without an appointment. Winston Churchill visited people whose homes were destroyed by the German rockets. Both leaders stayed close to the people. They were not afraid to allow people to get in the way of “more important affairs of State”. After all, they understood that “people” are the purpose of the State.

b. The attitude of a shepherd in meeting the needs of the sheep

God paints the picture of the head of the nation as a shepherd. God uses the analogy of the shepherd to describe the tender care that governing officials must have for the people.

For example–

“God…who says to Cyrus: My shepherd, he will fulfill all My pleasure” (Isaiah 44:24,28). Cyrus II was King of Persia 559-530 B.C. As in the case of Cyrus, the determination as shepherd has nothing to do with what the official thinks of God. In the extended passage, God said twice of Cyrus: “though you do not know Me” (Isaiah 45:5).

Hence, ‘shepherd’ is an overview of the job description of the work God expects of the Government official. In the case of King David, God tells us that:

He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; He brought him from tending ewes to be shepherd over His people…. He shepherded them with a pure heart and guided them with his skillful hands. (Psalms 78:70-72)

The shepherd is responsible for the welfare of the sheep and for anticipating and overcoming the threats to the sheep. There are two implications:

1. Relatively speaking, the sheep are ignorant of the threats to their safety and limited in their ability to meet their own needs. The sheep are dependent upon the shepherd and his/her diligence for their safety. It is the needs of the sheep that drive every action of the shepherd. Realistically, it is the sheep who are the masters and the shepherds who are the servants.
2. Furthermore, the shepherd has responsibility for all of the sheep, not just the ones who may have chosen this individual as shepherd. Once the shepherd is placed in responsibility for the flock, he/she does not have the privilege of distinguishing the level of care provided for different sheep within the flock. The shepherd may not be selective in which sheep he/she cares for. In fact, the responsible shepherd must often give more attention to serve the most difficult and the neediest sheep.

It was against the backdrop of this, that I learned that an incumbent presidential candidate warned voters from a group resisting his leadership during the campaign “If you do not vote for me, do not expect that you will get anything from me.” The incumbent had not learned the lesson of his being a shepherd to his flock. Fortunately, upon victory, he relented from that threat.

Nelson Mandela, in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, correctly uses the analogy of shepherding to describe the governing process.

God warns against the evil or irresponsible shepherds:

This is what the Lord GOD says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds …, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? (Ezekiel 34:2)

God has high standards for those who shepherd on His behalf. He has little tolerance for those mistreat our Master’s sheep.

God’s Admonition to Shepherds through His servant:

I exhort the elders among you: shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will; not for the money but eagerly; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1 Peter 5:1-4)

The analogy is with God as the Chief Shepherd and ourselves as His under-shepherds. As such, we certainly need His help in being the shepherds He intends us to be. Returning to an earlier discussion, Psalms 23 begins with the words “The Lord is my shepherd.” I submit to you that we must allow Him to be our shepherd before we can be His shepherd in the lives of the sheep He has entrusted us with.

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