King David, who ruled three millennia ago is often considered the greatest king. He becomes an interesting model for us because he manifested the same human weaknesses as we all share. And yet, he represents victory over our human weaknesses to do good for the people, which we all desire to do. Even more significantly, it is worthwhile to benefit from his wisdom on leadership gained in his 40 years of governing. In his very last recorded words, he described the kind of leader who should govern:

The one who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God (2 Samuel 23:3).
King David described two characteristics that the ideal governing official would display:

1. Ruling the people with justice.
2. Ruling in the fear of God.

Truly, this would be a very special person, and these characteristics cannot be automatically expected of a mere mortal. Where do we, in fact, find this person? And is there any hope that we can we become such a leader?

Our Creator describes a process by which He can remake us into a person new and different than anything that could be experienced by human ability. It is described as being remade in our Creator’s image or remade in Jesus’ image. Our Creator describes the end result of this process this way:

He is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life] (2 Corinthians 5:17).

It means to be new and different than anything we ever were, new and cleaned up from the self-serving life that we began with, and to be better able to care for and serve others. It is this life that one of God’s servants spoke of when he described being:

fully mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).

King David graphically described what accompanied this change in his own life:

He [God] put a new song in my mouth (Psalm 40:3).

Truly, this is a person who is made new, and has the capacity to be the person King David described:

The one who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God (2 Samuel 23:3).

But we must listen carefully to the context to understand the process:

Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life] (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Here, this process is described as being “in Christ”. Listen to our Creator’s description of the process:

For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

– that is, died to the goals of mere mortals – self-promotion and self-aggrandizement – instead, allowing the life of God to live through us, as we do so in obedience to Him, and as His instrument. God goes on to tell us what step we must take in this process:

Put to death what belongs to your worldly nature (Colossians 3:5).

He then goes on to describe and address those who have accomplished this:

You have stripped off the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self (Colossians 3:9-10).

Hence, the new person:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What is so special is that it is not just for some select few. It is available for all of us. We must allow our Creator to open the channel into our lives so that He can literally live the life of Jesus through us. Opening this channel involves embracing Jesus’ sacrificial payment for our sin that blocks our relationship with God. Jesus said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

Jesus is stating clearly here: “My death is the one and only payment for the penalty for your sins which separate you from your Creator.” As a result, we must embrace Jesus as our Saviour, thereby allowing God to open the communication channel between us and Him. And then our Creator elaborates on how we must use this channel of communication with Him to operate as this new person. It requires actively taking the approach that His servant described:

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).

To understand how the new person can function differently, in reality, our lives can be broken down into hundreds of smaller decisions each day. If in making each of these decisions we should ask “How would I choose if Jesus was making this decision instead of me?” Then if I were to act precisely that way, whose life would others see? In reality, it would be Jesus instead of the person I previously was. Practically, we would truly be made new – a brand new person!

As a part of maintaining this valuable asset, we must continually resist the pull to enjoy the benefits that the power of office tempts us with. That is why our Creator reminds us:

For if you are living according to the [impulses of the] flesh, you are going to die. But if [you are living] by the [power of the Holy] Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will [really] live forever (Romans 8:13).

With the help of God living within us, we must put to death the temptation to assert lordship over our lives and our actions, instead allowing ourselves to become the instruments King David envisioned for the benefit of mankind:

The one who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God (2 Samuel 23:3).

Becoming such a governing official, then, involves embracing the work of Jesus to break down the barrier that otherwise stands in the way of our relationship with our Creator.

The end result is:

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:29).

This is the huge privilege we have to allow God to live through us as His instrument and to be the special kind of leader King David described.

APPLICATION TO THE STATESMAN.

Do I wish to be the kind of leader that King David identified to serve our nations in bringing the best quality of life to our people?

Am I willing to allow myself to be made into the brand-new person that King David and our Creator envisioned?

The post The Statesman Embraces the New Person Necessary to Govern appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

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A century and a half ago, a governing official said, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” In this statement he described a special kind of government and a special kind of people. The desire that this kind of government “shall not perish from the earth” seems like a distant dream. Certainly, before such a government can perish from the earth, it must first exist. Let us begin by considering: Can it exist? And how would we bring it into existence?

Let us consider, as a case study, the government that this official was referring to. Clearly, he dreamed that such an approach toward government could exist and that it would become so entrenched in human minds that it would never cease to exist. And it certainly was the dream of the founders of the republic that this man led. That man, of course, was Abraham Lincoln.

Let us reflect on those words describing this dream for Government: “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

“of the people” speaks of authority deriving from the people. This begins to define a covenant between God and a nation, recognizing that the authority of Government ultimately comes from God, but through the people. When Jesus was challenged by the governing official who had the right to give life or to take it away, He instructed “You would have no authority over Me at all if it hadn’t been given you from above” (John 19:11) – from God Himself. Thus, the authority to administer Government comes from God, but in a partnership with the people, operating on His behalf. This introduces us to the concept of a covenant between God and a people.

“by the people” refers to being administered by the people. Practically, this means to be administered by those drawn from the people, presumably who are so in touch with the people that they can operate on behalf of the people. It means to be administered by those who have the heart of the people. Certainly, they must come from the people but still retain the heart of the people. It also means not to be so isolated from the people that they lose the heart of the people and do not reflect that heart in their administration of Government.

“for the people” means to administer in such a way as to meet the needs of the people. It means to meet the needs, including the deep needs of the people, whether the people can identify their most important needs or not, as opposed to what will placate the people, even make them happy or to vote for these officials in the next election.

This all speaks to an agreement underlying the nation, which is properly recognized as a covenant. This covenant has been defined as a contract between a people and God where God serves as the guarantor.

What did Lincoln mean by the expression “the people”? Notice that he prefaced his famous words with the words “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.” Hence, when Lincoln refers to “the people” – “of, by, for … the people”, I do not believe he meant any people, but rather a people ready to be in a God-based partnership and ready to receive and accept the governance that would be delivered by leaders operating in obedience to God as His instruments. This is a people willing to commit to covenant with God. This means a God-obedient people.

The basis for Lincoln’s expectation may best be understood by considering the origin of his statement. Thirty years before Lincoln spoke, the Bible translator John Wycliff included in the introduction to his translation of the Bible the phrase “The Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People.” The perspective Lincoln expressed came from understanding the Bible.

Lincoln’s expression “under God” expresses the covenant between God and a people group whereby if the people will obey God, He will supernaturally intervene and bless. This truth was expressed to one king in the ninth century B.C.:

• For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

The reality is that such a commitment wanes and the commitment must be renewed continually. Not only do we wane in our own commitment to God, but there are new members added to our nation that must be assimilated into our covenant commitment with God: the next generation; and those who immigrate. These newcomers must embrace the covenant, but, more importantly, the principles that underlie that covenant. Therefore, we must recognize each new generation as newcomers who have no knowledge of the covenant and the founding principles. All of these enter our society full of hope but without intimate knowledge of the foundation. If we are to survive in our covenant for which God is the guarantor, they must gain intimate knowledge of the covenant. In a similar way, we must each continually refresh our commitment to the covenant undergirding such a nation. We must also educate and encourage everyone within our reach – old and new alike – to make the same commitment.  There must be continual renewal of commitment to the covenant and to the guarantor of the covenant starting with newcomers.

A thoughtful person will reflect that the nation Lincoln referred to did benefit from the covenant with God that he proposed. The nation reached amazing achievements. However, such a person will also reflect that this same people have not faithfully renewed that covenant and that the nation shows signs of loss of that blessing. We learn this lesson from the first nation Almighty God chose to make a visible demonstration of blessing through commitment to a covenant with God – ancient Israel, which He challenged:

Return to Me, and I will return to you (Malachi 3:7).

That should only serve as a reinforcement to understanding our need to experience God’s blessing through our commitment to His desired covenant with us.

Questions for the Statesman:

What can I do to strengthen that covenant in our nation with our most important Benefactor, namely God?

How does my commitment to that covenant affect my own life?

The post The Statesman’s Dream – Of the people, by the people, for the people appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.