Christians and Caesar's affairs (Esther 4:13)

I want to read a couple of verses from the Book of Esther. Let's go to Chapter 4. Let's go to verse 13. And it's a passage that many of us have heard before. It is a passage that we are familiar with and it has been applied in many different ways, but you want to apply it in the sense of this topic that concerns me this morning. It says here:

“...Then Mordecai said to answer Esther: “Do not think that you will escape in the king's house more than any other Jew. Because if you are absolutely silent at this time, respite and liberation will come from somewhere else for the Jews; but you and your father's house will perish, and who knows if you have reached the Kingdom by this time.”

Father, we entrust ourselves to you, Lord, on a sensitive issue and ask for your wisdom and guidance. Guide us to deliberate, to meditate on your word, Lord. May it be with your blessing. Guard our mouth, Lord, from excesses or from a spirit that is not convenient, Lord, to your place of worship. Help us to speak in a sober and humble way, Father for your glory and for the blessing of your people. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

This is the first time in 20 years of ministry, with this church that I speak on this subject of the political participation of the son of God, of the daughter of God. And I don't say it except perhaps to my shame, because it is a very important issue for the people of God. Because I believe that in reality the participation of the son or daughter of God in the secular process is something that should permeate all aspects of life, it should be integrated with all other things. I believe that Christian involvement in the political process is something that is almost self-explanatory to a certain degree and that we have to be in every... I have preached about it in many different sermons, and I believe that Christian involvement of our church in community work, its growing involvement in different areas of community life, expresses that sense and that is perhaps why I have never dedicated a specific topic to this matter, but I believe that the times in which we live are It is important that the church take time to reflect on these things in a specific and deliberate way.

I believe that the duty of the church, in this case, in times of much polarization and where there are clearly defined positions and where there is a lot of struggle and conflict between different groups, and there is also so much confusion in our time, I think that God's call to his church is that spiritual leaders provide the people with guidance, advice, at least as far as we can, where we have light and that means that perhaps we are going to be wrong.

7:16 We have to speak, we have to do it with humility. I know that you, as mature people in the Lord, will feel free to make your own thoughts and disagree or agree, that is why it is so important to know the word of God because it is absolute, it is never wrong.

8:54 I believe that the word of the Lord is not conditioned to history, nor to events, nor to the hearts of people, it contains added elements but the word of God is absolute and eternal, and it is trustworthy and a Once we know what the word of the Lord says, we have no right to disagree with it. Once we know what the word of the Lord is, we have to submit to them. Ultimately, I believe that much of the division in the world today, Christian and in society, revolves one way or another around that basic element. What are we going to do with the word of God? We are going to relativize it and we are going to make it something subjective open to questioning or we are going to submit to it and believe. This is the word of the Lord and therefore let us be silent and submit to it.

11:33 What do we do when the word of the Lord asks us to do something that is not pleasing to us? Do we cast it aside or do we submit to it? The first thing I want to say, brothers, is that we are called as God's people to participate in human processes. Yes or no?

Christ said that we are in the world although we are not of the world. Christ said that we are in the world and that means that while we are here we have to participate in certain things. He said "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Sometimes it is interpreted as meaning that Caesar's people deal with Caesar's business and we are going to concentrate on the business of God. I don't think that was what Christ wanted to say, but rather what He said is... Like that other passage that says that to whom honor must be given, give honor. Don't owe anyone, nothing. To whom honor, honor; whom I respect, respect, etc. There are things that must be given to Caesar because they belong to him and God is a God who is subjected, brothers to his own dictates and He has established a social system, a political system for people to move within it. God has established order, has established a society and has also established eternal spiritual principles and we have to know when to move in one world and when to move in the other.

So sometimes our human identity will call us to be citizens and to be law-abiding and to participate in social, political processes and at other times, as members of the Kingdom of God, we will have to participate in things spiritual. But, brothers, let us abandon this schizophrenic idea of a resounding division between one thing and the other. Both are part of our calling and our identity.

15:51 Now, there is one important thing, another important point is this; that when the claims of God and the spirit are in contradiction with the claims of Caesar, where will our allegiance go? With God, with the word of God and with the spirit.

When we find ourselves in a situation of contradiction between Caesar's claims and God's claims, with fear and trembling we have to say: I will not obey. As the Apostle Peter told the members of the Sanhedrin who wanted them to stop preaching, he said: It is more important to obey God than men. As much as possible brothers, we as citizens, as people who move in the material human kingdom, we must be very respectful of the laws, as long as those laws do not contradict superior laws that come from the Kingdom of God. We always have to obey the principles of the Kingdom of God and that is why we have to be law-abiding people. The Apostle Paul talks about us respecting the laws. I believe that the Christian chooses rebellion only as a position of last resort. I believe that the innocence that God gives us is an innocence that is not stupidity. We can judge. The word says that the spiritual man judges all things but the love of God, what happens is that the discernment of the Christian is a healthy discernment that is tempered by the love of God, it has no spikes, and that is the difference.

21:1 So we have to discern all things. Another thing that is also very important is that there are times when we will have to, with pain in our hearts, break the laws.

Daniel had to resist the king when the king asked him not to pray to the Lord. This man is part of the system but he also had a lot, a lot of integrity. We have to vote, that is why it is important to vote. The political system we are in is a representative system and if we want that system to work well, we have to participate in it. We have to let our opinion be known, we have to participate. I think that is part of respecting the laws. I don't think it's an optional thing, for us to respect the system I think it's letting our position be known. We cannot be neutral.

23:35 This is what I see here in the Book of Esther, Esther was in a very difficult situation. It was an extreme situation where Esther has to make a decision, do I participate in the political process or do I simply refrain from doing so? You know the story, there was a decree that had been given by the king without knowing, they had manipulated him so that he would give this decree, that all the Jews had to be exterminated. They know that hatred against Jews is not something from the 20th century, it is something that is a thousand years old. There are spiritual principles involved in this hatred against the Jews.

It was a law of the land. It was a decree since it was in the system, Caesar had declared that the Jews had to die. Esther at first did nothing about the matter. Esther's uncle was praying for a solution and he sends Esther a message, which says: Esther, you have to do something. And he says: Look, and if you do nothing, God in his mercy, he will find a way because he is the Lord. But, you will have missed an opportunity to help, and who knows in the first kills they make, you will leave too. Do not think that because you are the queen you will escape. So it is in your own interest too that you participate in this matter. And he says: And who knows if you have come to the kingdom for a moment like this. And he adds these famous words. Because? Because Mordecai saw this woman in a position of power, direct access to the king, she can speak in a way that no one, none of us can. And who knows if God has put it there for that?

There is something wonderful in the Book of Esther, it is not a book of supernatural events, however it is a book that shows divine intervention at all times. But the presence of God is there working on that book continuously in history, because God often works naturally to carry out supernatural processes. Many times we are going to be God's agents in history. Let's not believe that God is always going to part the Red Sea or send plagues or perform immense miracles to carry out his work. Many times we are going to have to be the agents of God, we are going to have to be the voice of God, the hands of God, the mind of God.

29:16 My point is that you and I are Esther at this time. That expression "in an hour like this", "in a time like this" is important. It was a time of urgency, it was a time of great danger, it was a time where everything was at stake. It was a time when no one could afford to think too much about this or that, to find 5 legs for the cat. You had to act, you had to do something. There are times in the history of humanity, brothers, when one has to stop and say: This is what must be done. And as Martin Luther said “...this is what I believe, and I cannot believe otherwise. God have mercy on me."

I believe that we are at a time in history in this country and I believe that in all humanity there is a crossroads, where humanity has to decide how we are going to live in the next 50 years. I believe that we have to discern the times. And we have to understand that we're not just dealing with gay marriage, or abortion, or cloning, or these issues. These issues are simply illustrations, they are simply themes that jump out of a much larger matrix. I believe that the discernment that God wants from us is that we worry more about the process we are experiencing than about this matter or the other, or the other. The question that I continually ask myself is: how does my participation in the secular area affect the process that humanity is experiencing right now? If I affect the process all the specific things will fall into place at the moment. Right now I think there are two competing worldviews. A vision of the world is human, secular historical, its God is the reason.

35:12 And the other view of the world is a view that is still conditioned by the spirit and by the word of God. And that he seeks divine revelation, and that he thinks in absolute terms and that he subjects human understanding to divine understanding and that he has essential fear of God. There is a fear of the word of God and its orientation is more spiritual than earthly. I believe that this is what is currently being debated in our time. Which of these two options are we going to go for? I believe that when we vote, or move in the political world, we have to ask ourselves. I'm not here to tell you, vote for this one or vote for the other one. But I am here to tell you that if you are going to choose who you are going to vote for and how you are going to participate,....... the positions of that candidate or of that party, or of that movement express the essential spirit that I I see in the word of God or not.

We have to ask ourselves: do the actions, the positions of these candidates advance, do they have love for the church of Jesus Christ, do they have respect for the church of Jesus Christ, do they advance the interests of the Kingdom of God in the last instance? Don't worry about other things. No matter how concerned a candidate is about social justice, brothers, if their position is in conflict with the word of God, no matter how many good intentions they have, in the long run they are going to fail and we are not going to benefit.

If the principles of politicians are not based on the word of the Lord, do not say, it does not matter if you want to do good for Hispanics or Americans, in the long run that will not benefit us. When a candidate has the fear of God in his heart, and is aligned with divine principles, even if he makes serious mistakes, in the long run God will guide his heart towards the right thing and will bless us in the end. Never choose a candidate because it is in your interest. You may lose in the short term, but in the long term God will bless you. That is important. Don't judge a candidate either by charisma or how attractive they are, or how well they speak. Judge it by the principles. Don't judge by rhetoric alone, but judge by the word of God.

42:55 Thank you Lord, Esther did what she had to do. Esther used her position. Esther spoke to the king, used her position. She voted one way, confronted the king, respectfully, and the king changed his position. There are times, brothers, that we have to be very confrontational and the world is not going to like that we are confrontational. Many times, brothers, in the world we are going to have to be in conflict with the people we love. They are going to tell us that we hate. How many times did they say to me: “You are full of hate”, when I was there at the State house, they continually told us: You hate. But sometimes, brothers, to do the right things we have to confront, we have to be decisive because times are hard.

This is a time when God calls us like Esther, to be firm to be clear and to make a clear decision, but above all, brothers, let's participate in the process if we can. We want to help you in any way possible. If you need information we will try to give it to you. If you need anything, I want our church to make sure it does what it needs to do.

That's all I care about and your part is going to be taking a leap of faith. You are going to get into something that perhaps you never have. You may not speak English well, and I want to help you in any way I can in the next few weeks. If you don't feel comfortable but take a step of faith, even sign up today and we'll see how we help you with everything else.

We want to help you with that, brothers. Let's lower our heads for a little while. If I have disturbed you that is good, it is good. Perhaps I have not done it with all the grace that I would like but it is an urgent time. Father, we ask for your wisdom. We want, Lord, like those masses, right now atmospheric that collide with each other in those hurricanes, that you help us to discern one essence from the other and to put everything in its place. Give wisdom to your people. Give America wisdom at this time. May your kingdom be advanced, may your kingdom be affirmed, that is what we ask, Lord. May the man of your choice be the one in power. Lord, we ask that your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven, in these elections, Lord. And change our hearts. Father, we ask that justice and love and truth prevail in this nation and in this election and give us wisdom. Thank you. We give you glory and honor in the name of Jesus and we say Amen. Amen.