The church, elections

Resolving Personal & Spiritual Conflicts
1 TIMOTHY 2:1,2 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, pra-yers, requests, and thanksgiving be offered to God for all people; for kings and all others who are in authority.  
Elections are just around the corner, and we give thanks to God for the peaceful and quiet atmosphere prevailing in our nation. I think the prevailing peace is a result of the universal and earnest prayers of the church for peace and tranquillity, as well as the growth of Zimbabweans in shunning violence.
However, the attitude of the church towards the affairs of this world like elections is the core of this week’s message.
The scriptures which say that those who believe in Christ Jesus are not of this world but are in this world, and that state authorities must be obeyed because they are put there by God, have always confused the minds of many members of the church. The confusion is expressed in this question, “Should the church then be involved in the politics of the world or not?”  Because there is no simple answer to this question opinion is divided resulting in two extreme positions.
On one hand, there are those who are of the opinion that since the church is not of this world she must therefore have absolutely nothing to do with this world’s affairs.
Those who hold this view of complete detachment neither vote nor aspire to hold any post in the leadership of the nations. Furthermore, they condemn and despise any member of the body of Christ who is actively involved in the affairs of the nations.
 On the other hand, there are those who assert that since the church is in this world it must therefore actively and fully participate in all the affairs of this world including voting, holding important posts and even forming political parties out of the church. With the benefit of hindsight gained from the study of church history and observation of world events taking one of these extreme positions may lead into error.
 In my own opinion, the truth lies somewhere in the middle ground of these two extreme positions of complete detachment and deep involvement. The major weakness of the position of complete detachment is that it makes the church a body that is too spiritual to be of any earthly value. The church is in this world and is therefore a stakeholder.
 And the major weakness of the other view of deep involvement is that it moves the church away from its main mandate of standing in the gap between God and the world. The church is not of this world and must therefore prioritize the interests of God.   
In simple terms, the church represents God and she has a divine mandate to fulfil in this world. Thus the position of the church is spiritual and if it is to be involved in the affairs of this world it is for the sole purpose of fulfilling the spiritual interests of God.
The church must be preoccupied with the accomplishment of God’s wishes on earth. That is basically what it means to be not of this world. To be in the world simply means that our sphere of influence lies in the world. So the church exists to exert a godly influence upon the affairs of this world.
It is in line with this divine mandate of exerting a godly influence upon the world we live in that the opening scripture exhorts the church to pray for all men generally and for rulers specifically. It is written in 1 Timothy 2:1-2, “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, requests, and thanksgivings be offered to God for all people; for kings and all others who are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceful life with all reverence towards God and with proper conduct.”
According to this scripture the church has a duty to pray for peace, quietude and order in the nation. The scripture presupposes that politics can get out of control and cause chaos, disorder and violence in a nation which can even spill into the whole world resulting in world wars. So in relation to the world affairs the church exists mainly to control the political temperature through offering prayers to the King of kings so that peace may prevail.
The state’s authority is conferred from God, and God alone has the ultimate power to control world events to fall into line with His plan of salvation of souls and healing of nations from the corrupting influences in the world. And this can be accomplished through the intercessory prayers and supplications of the church.
 However, though intercessory prayer is the primary role, the church can take a step further and participate in the process of voting. Prayer for good governance of the nation is good but it is not enough. Members of the Body of Christ can exercise their right as citizens of the nation and their God-given power of volition by voting while trusting God for everything.
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