Today on the Evangelist Podcast, we're thinking about politics and power struggles.
SPEAKER_00The Evangelists Podcast. Encouragement to speak life to a needy world. With Glenn Scrivener and Andy Brinkley.
SPEAKER_01You're listening to the Evangelists Podcast. I'm Andy Brinkley and this is Glenn Scrivener. Yes, it is. Hello. Alright. Glenn, let's go in very quickly to what we did last week. Yes. Summary. Um just to refresh people's minds. We spoke about Brexit and uh the blame culture that we've kind of everything from now on is is is uh you know you could either blame the the levers or the remainers for not sort of getting on with it or whatever. And we spoke about Jesus being our scapegoat rather than other people.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. So yeah, so blame is just I mean it's always just part of how we function as human beings, and everything's gonna get blamed on Brexit. You know, England losing to Iceland in the Euros, that's probably Brexit. Um like any anything that happens will will because we love scapegoats and we love thinking, oh, if only if only that thing didn't hadn't gone wrong, then everything would be right. Me and my friends would be vindicated as being right, and it's only those stupid idiots who are wrong. Um we're always doing that. And it's not just about Brexit, and it's not just about racism, which um you know there are instan incidences of racism that need to be talked about um both here and in America, and just tragic, tragic, tragic, tragic, tragic. Um but racism is a symptom of an even deeper sickness, as hellish as racism is, it is a symptom of a deeper sickness called self-righteousness. And we love to be right, and therefore we love to label other people as wrong, and we feel better having done that. Praise God for Jesus, he is the great scapegoat who took our blame, took it down to the hellish death it deserves, rises up again and says, Forget the blame game. I've taken your blame. Even though you are completely wrong, I've taken your blame and welcomed you anyway. Can't you pass it on to others? And that's the kingdom we've been invited into. Um so Jesus the scapegoat really is the answer to Brexit and the blame game. But now as we think about politics and power struggles, um, I think there's another aspect of Jesus that we need to think through in our evangelism, and it's not so much Jesus the scapegoat, but Jesus the servant.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well we'll get into that into a mo. Mm-hmm. I just wanted to highlight a resource that we produce at Speak Life. We've got the Speak Life Daily, which is uh a daily uh booklet that we do. It's uh you could use it with your devotional each day. It includes thirty stories of what God is doing around the world. Plus also it's got some uh devotional um content thinking about uh scripture. Also it tells a bit of the events and activities that go on, particularly your calendar, uh pre preaching calendar. Uh if you'd like a a copy, go to our website speaklife.org.uk, and you can sign up and we'll post it to you every three months.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, get one, they're very shiny.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And get a load for your church as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01People love it. Yeah. Okay, so uh we we've had a lot to talk about in politics. Yes. Every newspaper's cashing in as much as they can on uh on that. Uh there seems to be this sort of clamour for power at this moment with the different leaders trying to jostle for power.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We need to look through Christian eyes at it, don't we?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. So I mean power is part of everything that we're talking about at the moment. I mean, even even the Euros that we've just sort of been having and had, you know, why do we like that Iceland wins? Even even even though, you know, they they they knocked out England, like people wanted Iceland to do well. Why? Because like it's a really cool idea that a weak nation um this you know got uh there's like a dentist and a photographer and you know it's like you know, a little village in Iceland's gonna get the the dentist back because Iceland are now out of the out of the Euros. Yeah, we love the uh the underdog, don't we? We love the underdog because we are suspicious of power. And what's that what's that phrase, you know, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Do we think that's true? And we very much suspect that might be true. Um and so we love the underdog, and then when you come into politics, you know, so David Cameron, it was a bit of a power play to put the uh referendum referendum on in the first place. You know, how is he gonna deal with the Eurosceptics in his party? He gambled and he lost, and therefore he lost power. And now the Tory party are part of a power struggle. Who, you know, who is going to lead the Tory party? Go over the Labour power struggle, who's going to lead them? You go, you know, I mean, what was the referendum about? You know, is is are we happy for power to be in Brussels or do we want the UK to be responsible for for its own powers? But even when Leave wins, you know, Nigel Farage loses power. Boris Johnson loses power. And then we've had the Chilcott inquiry into the Iraq War, and I mean it it is and it's very interesting that we want to hold our leaders to account. And we want to say, you cannot just rule absolutely. Um you need to be accountable to the people. You need to serve the people. What you do must be justifiable and legitimate in the eyes of the people. And so 2.6 million words of the Chilcott inquiry are are written, and we want to assess our leaders, we want to assess Blair, we want to assess Bush. Um which is fascinating. Where do we get this idea that leaders were accountable to their people and that actually we can hire and fire our lawmakers? Where do we get that idea? Only from Christians. Only from Christianity, like really, honestly. Um people might say, ah no, democracy is, you know, a Greek invention. Have a l have a look at at the experiment, the very, very brief experiment that Athens had with democracy and see if it looks anything like our modern understanding of democracy. It really doesn't. If you think that government should be of the people, by the people, and for the people, that's that's because you've been influenced by Christianity. It is it is a gift of Jesus Christ to this world, and through the church has come this influence. So it's just it's just worth thinking about. Where do we get this idea that, for instance, the Prime Minister is the prime minister? And what does minister mean? Like servant. Where do we get the idea that that our leaders and our lawmakers in Westminster are actually our servants rather than our rulers? And, you know, the the leader of the country is not called the prime ruler, but the prime minister. Why? Because in Mark chapter ten, verse forty-five, in the old King James Version, Jesus said the Son of Man did not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom for many. So this idea that our rulers are actually servants is radical, revolutionary, and uniquely Christian. We didn't get it from the from the ancient world. And I think it's fruitful in evangelism to just talk with people about you love democracy, you you love being able to hold rulers to account. You're suspicious of power and that power corrupts? You're right to be. But here is a different way of looking at power that the world has never seen before.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but uh surely there are people groups well that do have you know, do believe in in people power.
SPEAKER_03I th there there are around the world now and but but I would just say that they are indebted to the Bible and they are indebted to, in particular, the church, and in particular to to Christendom in the West, actually. Um when you look at, you know, where did where did Christendom come out of? Um it came out of the Roman Empire in which emperor after emperor declared themselves to be Lord and God. Right. Um so these emperors, um, they do not submit themselves to the Chilcot inquiry. If anyone tries to bring the Chilcot inquiry and question what the Caesar does, they will find themselves thrown to the lions. Right. Um so what you've got in the ancient world, Greek world, Roman world, you've got Egyptian world, all like classical civilizations have thought of their rulers as gods, as so Caesar calls himself Lord and God, and what is just stunning beyond words is that in the midst of that Roman Empire and under the jackboots of the armies of Rome, in this backwater called Nazareth, there's this guy swinging a hammer right this peasant who you know is from dubious parentage, so everyone thinks, who is from the most despised people group the world has ever seen, the Jews, who, you know, doesn't have two pennies to rub together, literally, doesn't even have one penny. Like when somebody's you know says when he when he wants to make a point about you know whose image is on the coin, he has to borrow a coin, for goodness, doesn't have a coin.
SPEAKER_01Or go look at a fish's mouth. Yeah, yeah, you can do that.
SPEAKER_03He has that power, and yet what he chooses for himself is utter powerlessness. He's not part of any political establishment, he has no financial power, he has no even religious power, he's not he's not a part of any of the the schools of the rabbis or anything like that. Just utterly powerless. And here's this guy who grows up under the power of mighty Rome, who ends up aged thirty-three, executed as an enemy of the state and a blasphemer and a criminal, despised by everyone else, and yet he's raised from the dead, and within a matter of, you know, a couple of centuries, this empire that crucified him is calling him Lord and God. Calling who Lord and God? Calling the Son of Man who did not come to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life as a ransom for many. Where do we get the idea that the powerful ones should serve? Only from him, actually. Only from him. The night before he dies, you know, it's fascinating that John's gospel um gives us this psychological insight. In John thirteen, verse three, it said Jesus knowing that all things had been put into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up, he left his place of honour at the table, he removed his robe, the clothing of a king, he put on a towel, the clothing of a servant, and he washed his disciples' feet, the job of the lowest slave. And John says, This is Jesus showing them his love to the last. This is what power does. And so we asked the question, you know, absolute power corrupts absolutely, does it? Apparently not. Apparently the absolute power in this world serves. Serves in ignominy, and those hands that were washing his disciples' feet, they ended up being pinned to a Roman cross and bleeding for you and me. This is what absolute power actually does. And when you get converted to Jesus, you get converted to his way of thinking about power, which is never to exercise it in lording it over other people, but only in service. That is the power that has transformed politics, that is the power that has given us democracy as we know it, that has liberated and lifted up the little guy, because you know our Lord and God became the little guy. And so and that's that's why we think politically uh the way that we do. So I th I think that gives us real hope as we look at the political situation today, Jesus helps us to navigate a way forward.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh just as you were talking, I was thinking of um the scripture that says that uh Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you. It's light. It's not a heavy burden because he he he carries it and we carry it with him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. Because he says in that very verse, he says, I am meek and lowly. You know, like the Lord of the universe, Lord and God, who like I mean, the power of Jesus just makes the power of any Caesar look like you know a twig that can be snapped. It's just like what? And yet Jesus says, I am meek and lowly, I am humble in heart. Um and therefore his way, yeah, when we're yoked to him, when we're united to Jesus, then we actually tread his path, which is away from the the the lording it over other people. That's political power plays are all about. And actually transforms it into the way of service. So I I think looking to Jesus starts to give us a way forward as we think about these political power struggles.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Reflecting on that, how can we cope, if you like, when we feel that we are the ones who are under you know authority which is too heavy? I mean, you know, many companies you know, they don't necessarily um have ministers at the top. Well, exactly. Sometimes they have sort of bully bosses that uh you know tell you what to do and you do it or you're out, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, that's important as well. I mean in today's day and age it's not just the politicians who hold power, it's corporations, global corporations. Um uh many CEOs have a lot more power than than many presidents in the world. Um and yes, we might be in the empire of of one of these corporations, and and uh I mean it's interesting that that's you know, within management um there is sort of servant leadership is a bit of a buzzword and that sort of thing. But it can be a bit of a whitewash, kind of it can be a bit of a in name only the servant leadership. Um I th I think two things. One is Um we need to hold up Jesus as an example of servant leadership, and we we really need to, if we've got any authority ourselves, um and you know, if we are in one sense over other people, then we need not to lord it over other people, but to be meek and lowly and and see Jesus as our example in washing the feet of those who are um committed to us and those who we serve. So Jesus the example helps me it also helps me to to in the right way judge a leader. Like if I if I'm asked to assess the quality of a leader, um the number one question I'm thinking of is well how do they serve? How do they how do they wash the feet of of those in their charge? So Jesus the example helps me in that way, but also the reality that Jesus the servant actually does rule over heaven and earth right now, that's a great comfort, even even if I am a slave right now. Um you look at the way Paul addresses slaves in the letters in Colossians and Ephesians, and he tells the slaves, You're a slave of your master on earth, but you are the Lord's freedman. Like you really are. You really are liberated. You are you you know, at the table of the Lord, you don't wait on the table. You have a full place there, you are shoulder to shoulder with Christ, face to face with him, and face to face with everybody else. So you are the Lord's freedman, but also your true Lord in heaven is a servant who knows how to right all wrongs. And your master in heaven, Jesus, is also your master's master. And and Paul is again and again saying to people who are powerless, these slaves in Colossians and Ephesians, that yeah, masters also have a master. And they need to those those masters need to act accordingly. But how how astonishing to think that actually if I'm in the o if I'm in the workplace and I've got a bullying boss, that bullying boss does not hold my life in their hands. It feels like they do. They don't. And how vital it is in our culture to think the people in Westminster, they do not hold our lives in their hands. Some of them think they do. They do not. That actually all those earthly powers are so relativized, and we've seen in the last week or two they come and they go. You know? All the kingdoms come and go, but the kingdom of the servant, Jesus Christ, is forever. And how wonderful to know that all our lives are in the hands of the one who's bled for us. That should give the church so much confidence as we navigate this uncertain time. Who knows what's going to happen with the UK? Who knows what's going to happen with the EU? Who's who knows what's going to happen globally? There are massive geopolitical implications for what's been going on in the last couple of weeks. But Isaiah 40, the nations are just a drop in the bucket, aren't they? Just a drop in the bucket when it comes to the true Lord of this world, who Isaiah 40 says is a good shepherd who carries his flop close to his heart. You know, so knowing the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus, who is our great servant, who will carry us through this, that should give the church a real poise and a real confidence. And I pray, you know, I've got a I've got a friend who's planting a church in in Athens, and just saying, obviously, they've gone through incredible upheaval, um, you know, the Eurozone crisis and incredible unemployment and incredible political upheaval and nasty far right forces unleashed and all sorts of stuff, but he was saying like it's never been more fruitful for evangelism. Never been more fruitful. Because the church has this confidence that the one in charge of all things is not some politician who's trying to climb the greasy pole. The one in charge of all things bled for you and bled for me, and so that the you know, while everything else is sinking sand and while the storms have hit, the church should be a place of solid rock where the confidence of Christians is so attractive to a world that's in turmoil, and I pray that we'll just be in that position to to be able to point to Jesus and for people to to find real confidence and real hope in him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, uh, we're gonna leave it there for this week and uh we'll go on to talk next week about So we're gonna talk about uh evangelism as ever.
SPEAKER_03Um, but we're gonna talk about everybody is the same and everybody is different. Right. Therefore, let's be very, very curious. Everybody's different in evangelism. It's it's it's basically responding to um I get emails or messages, which is people talk to me on a weekly basis saying, um, how do I reach out to a JW? Or m you know, my brother is very, very into science, you know, is what what resource can you recommend? Or my next door neighbour is Muslim, what's the best resource on understanding Islam? And so there's there's there's just this understanding that what we need to do to witness to so and so is a specific understanding of JWs or science or Islam before we can evangelize them. And what I want to talk about is look, everyone's different, and even if I told you like what every Muslim believed, which I don't think I could, your your next door neighbor might not believe exactly that. Yes. You know. Everyone's different, actually. Um so that should make you very, very curious. But also everyone's the same. Yeah. And uh because of these core things that everyone believes and everyone uh these core needs that we all have, actually you can preach the gospel to anyone. So an encouragement in that direction.
SPEAKER_01Good. Okay. Well, we'll leave it there. If you'd like to visit uh speaklife.org.uk slash tep, you can find all the episodes of the Evangelist Podcasts, including some of those that we've uh talked about. Um but uh until next time, see ya later. See ya.