Lukewarm Faith?
Does being "lukewarm" with your political leanings mean that your faith is "lukewarm"? Let's see what Jesus says, and how we approach politics in light of our faith.
Did you know that more than 50% of millennials and Gen Z are registered with the Independent party?1 I’d love to ask the groups that were surveyed if they registered as Independent because they felt like the name seemed to be the most “non-partisan”. While it is a political party in itself, the Independent name communicates exactly what many in the younger generations want—we don’t want to be tied down to one of the two big parties or sell our souls to whom the media convinces us to follow.
I’ve heard many well-meaning Christians communicate the idea that if you’re “lukewarm” in your political stance, then it seems only reasonable to assume your faith is rather lukewarm as well. As someone who typically leans into speaking her mind and sharing her passions aloud, I can understand the sentiment here.
Our faith should directly inform the way we vote, and we should be loud and proud about our faith and our calling to tell the world, so I can see how people link those two—if you’re voting middle of the line, that must mean your faith is middle of the line, and that’s what Jesus wants to rebuke.
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16, NIV)
Speaking to the church in Laodicea, Jesus rebuked their lack of zeal and passion for their faith. Is Jesus talking about their political leanings here?
The church in Laodicea was highly motivated by its high status of wealth. They acted as though they were self-sufficient and didn’t need God. Jesus condemns this behavior because the whole point of the gospel is that we are needy and broken humans who rely on the saving grace offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
People often associate this Scripture and rebuke with politics, likely because they believe our zeal for God should extend outward, influencing the nation's laws to inspire the same passion for God in others and to honor His creation. I don’t disagree that we should want to see people flourish and honor God’s creation through our legal and political systems, but where this concept of “lukewarm faith” as it pertains to politics falls apart is specifically within our American political system.
When Jesus talks about being hot or cold, He is referring to being completely for God or completely against God. Suppose you liken that to our political stance in America. In that case, you are insinuating that one party is completely for God and the other is completely against God because our “options” are Democrat or Republican.
As I’ve said before, we cannot claim that Jesus would be Democrat or Republican because the commands of the gospel and Kingdom-living do not sit perfectly under one party or the other. Both have anti-gospel flaws and both have pro-gospel leanings.
No political party can be hot or cold because neither aligns with the full spiritual conviction of following Jesus.
Registering as a third party does not mean you are lukewarm. Voting split-ticket does not mean you are lukewarm. And certainly, neither of those stances means your faith is lukewarm.
Some could argue that voting non-partisan and split-ticket is actually more in line with the gospel because the gospel doesn’t care about political affiliations. It cares about the heart of God’s people and the flourishing of all God’s creation. But in the same way, being a dedicated member of a political party does not mean you are automatically prioritizing that party over the gospel truth—and I hope you aren’t.
But what about those who don’t vote?
Obviously, everyone who refrains from voting has different reasons. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I don’t agree with views like Anabaptists who believe that voting would go against our faith, but I can understand why people struggle to decide on the ballot, especially in recent elections—I’ve been one of them.
Not voting also does not make your faith lukewarm because there’s no commandment or even inclination that as Christians we need to vote or partake in our government other than to honor it.
I think it’s time for believers to look at the full picture of the political game in America so we can have stronger grace and understanding for those who don’t feel right voting at all. That’s their prerogative, and I don’t think shoving half-truths about how biblical it is to be a Republican or Democrat is going to convince them anyway.
It’s okay to accept the fact that the candidate you’re voting for doesn’t fully measure up to the gospel standard of leadership and still vote for them because they may be the best chance we have at showing God’s love to America and the world for the next 4 years.
It’s not okay to demand that the candidate you’re voting for is somehow ordained by God to save the nation and will restore Christian ethics to our land. That’s just incredibly untrue—not to mention potentially harmful—rhetoric to people grappling with their faith and trying to understand who God is.
While I do think it’s important for Christians to be engaged in our public policies, there are some for whom voting may work against their moral conscience. To those, I think we ought to respect that conviction and not harass them for not voting if it feels contrary to their biblical beliefs.
Voting is not a civic duty but a civic right.
“The right to vote is an enormous privilege that should not be taken for granted. But while the Bible includes several moral obligations for us as citizens, Christians are under no moral obligation to vote—especially if doing so requires us to violate our conscience.”2
In the last few elections, so many have expressed the concern that we’re really just “voting for the lesser of two evils”. If someone decides that voting for one or the other goes against their moral convictions, why should we shame them for holding strong to their morals?
In some ways, holding the stance of intentionally not voting for someone who rejects their biblically-held morals is more for God than those who vote because they feel like they have to in order to be a “standup citizen.”
How do we ensure we don’t end up with lukewarm faith in our politics?
Jesus’ concern was and is that people would know God to love God to trust God to follow God and be utterly transformed by God from the inside out. That kind of faith should be transformative enough that it would ignite movements from the people of God to share that transforming power of love with other people.
Where we get caught up in our American culture is thinking that voting or politics itself is the only or highest way of doing just that, but that’s not true. Christ’s bride is not the American government (or any government for that matter).
Jesus came to build one group, one system, one solution for the flourishing of all humanity: the Church.
If we’re more involved in government intervention and policies than we are in the efforts of the local church or parachurch ministries, then we’re showing allegiance to government authorities over the authority given to the church directly by God Himself.
"And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." (Ephesians 1:22-23)
In these verses, Paul is teaching the church in Ephesus that while Christ is over all things, He specifically set up the church as an institution to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. Not the government. Not Presidents. Not earthly Kings or Queens. The church is the answer.
The church is where we need to be investing our time, energy, and “civic duty.” The church is the vessel for the gospel to spread so that people can be loved, honored, cared for, and transformed by the goodness of God’s saving grace.
When Jesus said, “I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold,” he was talking to a church because that is the very tool He created to share the good news with the world so there could be a kind of inside-out transformation.
Call me crazy or old-fashioned, but I actually do believe that we will see the greatest restoration in this country when the church stops being lukewarm and takes its rightful place in caring for the local communities around it.
Let it be so, whether you vote in this election or not.
RESOURCES
Podcast Episodes:
Should Evangelicals Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils? (Truth over Tribe)
Trump, Harris, or Neither: Who Should Christians Vote For? (Truth over Tribe)
Books:
Truth over Tribe by Patrick Miller and Keith Simon
Exiles by Preston Sprinkle
Don’t Hold Back by David Platt
https://news.gallup.com/poll/397241/millennials-gen-clinging-independent-party.aspx
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/why-christians-not-obligated-vote/
I like what you said about an “inside-out transformation “. An effort to legislate the morals of the Bible without transformation by faith leads to more division of people.