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Question 1
David Bercot calls “peace and justice activism” the reverse side of “God and country activism,” saying both assume the kingdoms of this world are part of God’s kingdom or can be run by Jesus’ teachings; where do you see that assumption show up in your own instincts about politics, and what would it look like to uproot it?
Another way to ask: Where do you catch yourself assuming politics can be run by Jesus’ teachings as if it were part of God’s kingdom? What would you need to change to stop thinking that way?

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, this assumption shows up whenever we instinctively treat political causes as if they were the main way Jesus’ kingdom advances in the world. To uproot it would mean re-centering on Jesus transforming individuals and remembering that “God’s kingdom is not of this world.”

Support from Transcript:

  • He says peace-and-justice activism and God-and-country activism are “reverse” sides because both assume “the kingdoms of the world are part of God’s kingdom, or…can be run by Jesus’ teachings.”
  • He denies he is calling Christians to activism like “picketing nuclear power plants and munitions factories.”
  • He insists Jesus “didn’t come to preach a message about changing the governments and kingdoms of this world.”
  • Instead, “He sought to transform individuals, not to transform the world.”
  • The “narrow way of the kingdom excludes political activists of both the right and the left.”
  • Kingdom Christians “don’t imagine that their country is somehow God’s country or a partner of God’s kingdom.”
Discussion Follow-ups What political issue most tempts you to think, “If we just fix this law, we’ve done kingdom work”? What would it look like to shift from demanding change “out there” to obeying Jesus personally?

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