A Presbyterian Perspective on Power

Sermon by Rev. Steven McClelland on 1 Samuel 8: 4 – 5, 7 – 22.  Focus why having an earthly king is a bad idea and how the idea of a representative democracy got started during the Reformation.  Check out Stuart Bernath and the choir as they sing:  Down to the Water to Pray.

In our passage the elders of Israel demand a king; so Samuel, following God’s direction consents to their wishes. It’s emphatically stated that the Israelites were rejecting not only Samuel but also God. As the writer points out having a king is a double-edged proposition. A king would need a standing army and defense has to be paid for. A king would want pomp and ceremony and the best that money could buy. And a king would need a forced labor pool to provide food and support for the royal court and army. In essence, the institution of slavery, which eventually led to the downfall of Israel at the end of Solomon’s reign.

But the worst feature in Israel’s demand was the desire to be like all the nations. In the name of security Israel was committing the sin of idolatry. The sin of wanting to be the same as everyone else, but Israel was not the same as everyone else. Israel had been called to place her future, fate and security in the hands of an invisible God. Thus making a visible witness to the power and might of an invisible deity.

But humans have always wanted to be like God and God has always honored our ability to choose differently than God would. God even allows us the power and ability to sin against him. That’s why the Protestant Reformation and Presbyterianism in particular were founded on the principles of a division of power.

This problem of centralized power and the problem with kings and kingdoms of this world is that they are all prone to sin and because they have power their sins damage a much greater number of people. Lord Acton was right when he said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”

As John Calvin discovered the scriptures reveal the total depravity of man.   “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery,” says the apostle. (Galatians 5:1) But Paul’s call to freedom is a call to responsibility. And John Calvin and John Knox advocated for was the conception of representative democracy.

What they saw was the need to keep sin in check, which they defined as power. For them the Reformation was the reversal of what the people of God had demanded in today’s scripture passage. Rather than wanting a king they wanted a democracy where power – a.k.a – sin could be held in check. As the British said of our revolution: “It is a Presbyterian revolt against the monarchy.” And it was

What the Presbyterians offered the world was a way of dealing with the inevitable sin of power. We gave the world the division of power, which to this day keeps the world from being in all out war. It is not a perfect peace and never will be but it is a relative peace where the space for faith and freedom can grow.

Our freedom is to obey or not to obey, but it is more than that. We are also free to decide what God’s will is, to decide what it is we are called to obey. That is a gigantic responsibility, and many of us would rather place it on a king. As the fundamental principles of our Book of Order state: “God alone is Lord of the conscience” (G-1.0301), and that “ there are truth and forms with respect to which men and women of good character and principles may differ” (G-1.0305).

Freedom has always come at a great cost. Blood has always been spilled to protect it from authoritarian rule. I would argue that today more than at any other time since the Second World War democracy is under attack by authoritarian regimes.

The weapons are found not so much in bombs as they are in cyber attacks and the ability to exploit the divisions already present in our society, but the fundamental truth that Knox and Calvin discovered is that we as human beings are totally depraved and as such we need to take our sinful nature toward wanting absolute power very seriously.

We need the divisions of power that keeps our sin in check. We need it even more in a democracy because there are more of us who have power. Democracy can be very trying because it isn’t the most efficient way to do things, but as Winston Churchill said of representative democracy: “It’s the worst form of government except of all the others.”

I will always believe in the freedom God has given to us to govern ourselves and believe with my Presbyterian ancestors that the best way to do that is by dividing up our power and balancing it as best we can. God alone is king! Amen