The Wise use of Power

Henry Kissinger died in late 2023. I remember his peace-making work from my high school days. I’ve used Henry Kissinger as a sermon illustration on peace-making! But there is another side to Kissinger’s life and work that some contend was less than exemplary.

This perspective came out in an op-ed article written by Ben Rhoads, former Deputy National Security Advisor for the Obama administration, in the New York Times on November 30th, 2023, entitled, “Henry Kissinger, The Hypocrite.” He detailed how Kissinger aligned himself with autocratic leaders around the world, essentially enabling them to misuse their power, while at the same time promoting the American values of individual liberty and freedom.

Rhoads, quoting the Declaration of Independence ("We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"), argues that Kissinger’s actions communicated the opposite. According to Rhoads, this is a lesson Kissinger should have learned early in life. Growing up in Germany during the rise of the Nazis, Kissinger’s family narrowly escaped the Holocaust.

Rhoads further notes that his role as Deputy National Security Advisor often required him to focus more on the American narrative than on the actions America actually took, which sometimes undermined that narrative. He provided various credible examples from the last 60 years of American history.

I must say, it was an uncomfortable read.

Rhoads closes his article by acknowledging that such actions can breed cynicism, offering additional examples from contemporary American politics, and issues this warning: “This is where cynicism can lead. Because when there is no higher aspiration, no story to give meaning to our actions, politics and geopolitics become merely a zero-sum game. In that kind of world, might makes right.” But as followers of Christ, we think differently, don’t we! We have a higher story that gives meaning to everything we do. That story is found in the pages of the Old and New Testaments. It’s a story rooted in history. It’s a story about a person, not just an ideal. It’s God’s story. We call it the gospel. It is the backbone of everything we do.

We argue that the gospel changes everything about us: mind, will, and emotions. Applying the gospel will move us toward healthy relationships. The gospel will shape our leadership. The gospel will force us to look deep beneath the surface of our lives to take an honest look at what’s really going on. And the gospel will affect how we use power.

Let’s remember this as we head into what are often very difficult situations: The gospel isn’t about abusing our power to accomplish an agenda, no matter how good that agenda is. As VitalChurch Ministry’s Tom Wilkens has reminded me repeatedly, “Dave, the right thing done the wrong way is the wrong thing.” The gospel is about giving up power, or at least about using it to serve others. God, being all-powerful and having all authority, used it for our good at great cost to Himself.

Therefore, let’s use power and authority to tell the gospel story, to call others to life-giving repentance, and to live out God’s story of radical grace. And let’s remind people of that in our churches, especially as we enter into the various political seasons we find ourselves in. As followers of Christ, we use our power to serve; period!