Jesus and Politics Pt. 1 // How Should Christians Engage Politics?

In this insightful message, Pastor Luke delves into the complex relationship between faith and politics, offering guidance for Christians navigating this challenging terrain. He emphasizes the importance of understanding our dual citizenship in the Kingdom of God and our earthly nation. Key points include the role of government in maintaining order, justice, virtue, prosperity, and safety, and the dangers of treating politics as a religion. Luke provides practical advice for Christian voters, including how to make informed decisions and when civil disobedience is necessary. This message encourages believers to engage in politics in a way that honors God and promotes human flourishing. 


This sermon was recorded at a Sunday morning gathering at Church of the Lookout in Longmont, Colorado.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast. Church of the Lookout is in Boulder, Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love. Visit us online at the lookout.church. How are you guys feeling this morning? You guys good? That was hardly convincing. You better be good because we're about to go deep. If you're a guest here today, um again, my name is Luke. So good to have you here. We're gonna open the word today. And uh it's gonna be good. So a few weeks ago, I was sitting across uh at lunch from Pastor Willie Ruminera, who some of you guys know. He came and preached uh several weeks ago here at this church. He's from Rwanda, and we were catching up on life and ministry and church and family and all things kind of Rwanda, all things United States. And uh I was asking him, as I asked pretty much all foreigners, I said, Hey, so what's your take on what's happening in the United States? And uh, you know, and he he you know, he expressed both of all his first his gratitude for the United States, but also like, wow, I mean, you guys are uh I I can't imagine what kind of division that you're facing. We can feel it all around the world. And I asked him, I said, So is it like this in Rwanda, like in your church? Is it like this during political seasons where um people are kind of dividing over elections? And he's like, oh, absolutely. I was like, how does that look like? He's like, well, right now, you know, half of our church is kind of pro-Trump, half of our church is kind of other things. And I was like, what? That was not the expect that was not the answer I was looking for. I was like, no, no, no, not like American politics, like your politics. You get divided over your politics. He's like, oh no, no, no. We're you know, we're we're dividing over American politics right now. And it's like, you my mind was blown. Can you imagine our church being divided on who the next president of Rwanda was gonna be? And like half of you walking out after the service. That would be insane, that would be why it's just it's just a wild thing, but it's not uncommon. I talked to another friend who does some work um with technology, some media and communications company in Iran. They do a lot of work with Iranian pastors, which many of you guys know are underground. Um it's it's it's illegal to be a you know a church over in Iran, and so they have to do it undercover. And he was talking about how even they, our Iranian pastors, are kind of on the edge of their seats thinking about what's gonna happen in America and how American foreign policy is gonna affect what happens in Iran. I talked to another friend who is a leader in Norway, and uh over the summer I was catching up with him, and he was talking about his concern about what was gonna happen in America and how that was gonna affect the Ukrainian-Russian war, and Norway shares a small border with Russia, and depending on what happens and what our foreign policy was, what that was gonna mean for Russia's expansion into Norway. And I could tell he was visibly uncomfortable. He was a little short of breath, he was a little lost for words, and and as he was kind of sharing with me how he was feeling about all of this. And so we're kind of in this point of time where as Americans we're kind of on the edge of the sea, but really globally, everybody is holding their breath for what's going to happen in the next week and a half. Right? And so today I do want to jump into a topic that everybody came to church to talk about, which is Jesus and politics, all right? And uh upon saying that, some of you are excited. You're like, yes, I've been waiting for this. This is awesome. I can't wait to see him agree with me on everything. Others of you, especially if you're a guest and you showed up today, you're like, oh, please, please, please, why did please don't do this? Why did I come today? Like, this is the Sunday I came to church. Um, but often here at our church, we don't, I don't get often into politics from the pulpit, not because politics don't matter, but I believe that one of my jobs for you is not to tell you what to do with every with all of your decisions and tell and tell you exactly what to what to believe, but more that the our purpose here in the church is to equip every believer to be rooted in the word, prayerfully discerning, knowing how to hear the voice of God and knowing how to discern our time so that you can be led by the Spirit, however God moves you to vote in the ballot box, okay? So you're not going to hear me today going all in and um sharing everything. I do have opinions and I do have some that are strong opinions, but I believe that the best use of my this this stage in this pulpit is to hold before us the Word of God and say, what is our responsibility as it relates to politics as citizens of the kingdom of God? And we do have a responsibility to talk about this. No, um no doubt what I share today in the next half an hour will only scratch the service. You're probably going to be left lacking, a little unsatisfied on some of these levels. But I I hope, I hope that for some of us and even as a body of believers, that this will be helpful and clarifying in some ways, and maybe even a conversation starter in others. And I realize as well the timing is a little bit off. Some of you have already mailed in your ballots, all right? Um, but for those of you who are still unsure or wondering what your posture should be, um I do want to offer some pastoral encouragement here this morning because as believers, we do need a well-formed theology of politics, okay? We need to know the traps that Christians often fall into, and we need a vision for how Christians are to navigate the political world. All right? Are you guys with me here today? Everybody take a deep breath. You're gonna be okay, all right? We're gonna make it through. There's a Broncos game this afternoon. It's gonna be awesome, all right? We're gonna be just fine. The big idea though, we'll start with here is this we are citizens of two kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the nation we belong to. The kingdom of God and the nation we belong to. We read this in Philippians 3 20, for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we participate in two different kingdoms. As we live as kingdom citizens walking here on earth, we don't get to just divide those two things up. It is our responsibility to be citizens of heaven and participate on earth. And so, what we have to look at though is as we seek to be engaged in politics, there's some traps that we fall into, and there's some problems that we have to face before we kind of get into the scripture. I'm gonna point out a few of things, a few of these things first. Problem number one, politics has become our religion. So, in it in the United States of America, in the modern West, um uh there has been an attempt to get rid of God in the public conversation. It's a result of mapping our religious zeal and other desires for salvation onto politics. And we expect now, and this is from Pastor John Tyson, we expect our politicians to deliver us, bringing the life that we long for and fix the world as best they can. Okay? And and everybody is talking about this right now. There was an article in the Atlantic just a couple years ago, and um they pointed out the same thing. All of our passion that was reserved for God historically has just been rechanneled into the political realm. Here's what the writer of the Atlantic article said. He said, but if secularists hoped that declining religiosity would make for more rational politics, drained of faith's inflaming passions, they are likely disappointed. As Christianity's hold, in particular, has weakened, ideological intensity and fragmentation have risen. American faith, it turns out, is as fervent as ever. It's just that what was once religious belief has now been channeled into political belief. Political debates over what America is supposed to mean have taken on the character of theological disputations. This is what religion without religion looks like. I think it's insightful, and you need to know this. We were all made to worship. You don't get to decide not to worship. Worship is always channeled somewhere. And when we remove God from our consciousness, your worship, your passion, your zeal will always be channeled somewhere. In our particular uh time in history, it's being channeled into politics, which is why most of our conversations are almost like moral immoral. Like you can't do this and you must do this. So the the truth is this no political party perfectly aligns with Christianity. All right. So one key idea here, though, is this our goal is not to see Jesus through the lens of our politics, but to see politics through the lens of Jesus. Can we agree on that? Problem number two, our news is making us more extreme. This is very unique in our time in history. This is a problem for us. Our news is making us more extreme. Part of that is because where we get our news is is shaping how we interact with it. So 53% of Americans prefer getting their news from social media. It's much higher, actually, in younger generations. Facebook 33%, YouTube 32%, Instagram 20%, TikTok 17%, Twitter 12%. Those are conservative estimates. Um, yeah, that's great. These are all non-biased, carefully curated, reliable sources of pure journalism. Right? Um, I I kid I kid with you. You guys know, and you're you're becoming aware, that we're becoming aware of this. The truth is, all of you know, our interaction with news, particularly online, are based on algorithms that are designed to be polarizing in nature. And we have to remember this that over time we're actually being discipled by an algorithm. We're being discipled into a worldview based on what the internet thinks that we're going to enjoy hearing more of, and it actually leads to these extreme poles of awareness. All right? So that's what's happening. So we have to pay attention to our new source and what it's doing to us over time. Problem number three, the church has had a bad track record with power. And a problem, I'm not gonna, I promise, I'm not gonna talk about problems the entire sermon. But we have to we have to look at these three things. Problem number three, the church has had a bad track record with power. Um, over, you know, when you look historically, the church is constantly uh uh globally being seduced with promises of power and control. And historically, when the church relies on worldly power, we are compromised. And so it leads to this interesting thing, though, because some people ask, man, we should just throw in the towel, we should just withdraw. Like, why don't we even participate at all? Because the reason why we must participate is because when the church completely withdraws from politics, we are failing as part of our witness of another world. It's impossible actually to be apolitical because we are all participating in the shaping of society through action or inaction. We're all participating. Okay? And so when we see this historically, though, what happens when the church becomes seduced with power allegiances? The German Lutheran Church during the Nazi era was uh capitulated to Hitler, and the results were disastrous. On the contrary, you know, like during the Civil Rights era, many black churches rallied for civil rights and played a significant and helpful role in bringing justice to our land. And we can see both positive and negatives when the church uh participates faithfully without just being seduced by power, how how effective that is. So that being said, how do we as Christfellers make sense of what is happening right now and respond? Well, how should Christians think about politics? Now I'm gonna attempt to offer a few things this morning. And uh if you have your Bibles with you, let's open up to Mark chapter 12. I'm gonna read a passage from Jesus in the Gospels. And then what we're gonna do is talk about the five purposes of good of government, and then we're gonna hit a few uh a few QA's towards the end, okay? Mark chapter 12. We're gonna start in verse 13. Says this, and they they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you not swayed by appearances, but truly teach us the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not? But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it. And they brought one. And he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to him, Caesar's. And Jesus said to them, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And to God the things that are God. And they marveled at him. So this passage, likely you're familiar with, um, but so many passages in the Bible, when we get familiar with them, they lose their potency. But and we we can't forget that this particular passage is a powder keg of controversy. It completely upended everything that his listeners were thinking, or the paradigm that they came through. And just as context, this is Jesus, like last week of life. This is right after the cleansing of the temple. Thousands of people are in Jerusalem hoping that the Messiah, that Jesus is the Messiah, and he's gonna actually deal with these Romans and their power once and for all. He's gonna re-establish the theocracy and bring the kingdom of heaven to earth. That's what a lot of the Jewish thought was hoping was about to happen. And so the Pharisees and the Herodians, they came up with a trap for Jesus. And in the context, they actually hated each other. Pharisees and Herodians were not friends, but they found a common enemy. It's amazing how you can become friends once you find a common enemy. And so Jesus was a threat to them. And so they decided to unite to trap Jesus. And uh and they ask him this question before so before then they butter him up, and you know, and and they they talked to him, hey Jesus, you know, we know we don't care about anybody's opinion. You're not swayed by appearances. Jesus, like, all right, get on with it. All right, whatever. What's your question, right? And they finally get to it and they they they think they can nail him because no matter how he answers this, uh, depending on how he answers this question about the denarius and what they're supposed to do with this, they'll be able to kind of peg him as one or the other. Does that sound familiar of anything happening in our culture right now? And the taxes was a big deal for this group of people. Taxes are bad enough, right? As Americans, we're not huge fans of taxes, like the Canadians, right? We're not huge fans of taxes, but it's it goes more than that. Um, this tax is a step further. They were being taxed not just for like the property ownership or sales tax. They were taxed for being people. It was a people tax. And uh and this whole tax, every time they paid this tax, uh, they were reminded of their slavery in Egypt. They were reminded of what it meant to be an oppressed people, even though God had liberated them and they were living kind of in between two worlds. And furthermore, um the coin itself was very controversial. We have the picture of the denarius coin. The Jews were not allowed to carve an image of humans. It was considered idolatry in that culture. And on one side of the coin, this is Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus, in other words, Tiberius, son of son of God, because they believe that Caesar is God. Others, the other side is this pontiff maxim, which can be translated as high priest. And it's a photo of Caesar sitting on a throne with a scepter and an olive branch. So every time the the Jews would pay this coin as a tax, it was just this degradation of human value. And it was like an announcement that Caesar is God. So Jesus brings an answer that nobody thought he would say. And he shocks them and he says, in response to the question, render to Caesar what is Caesar's. And in doing so, Jesus for the first time is actually legitimizing the role of the Roman government. Okay? He actually legitimizes, like, just give back to Caesar the thing that has Caesar's face on it. But he does that without diminishing their allegiance to God the Father as the King of the universe. And he says, give to God what's God's. See, nobody had talked like this before. The Jews, Jewish leaders would have never expected this response because they're they're coming from a paradigm which Israel had its own theocracy, and there was no other government that they were to submit to or obligated to respond to. And they were waiting for God's government to come in a new form, but in one moment, Jesus suggests that this government and even bad governments serve a purpose on this earth. Okay? Now, when we when Jesus starts to proclaim a new kingdom and his followers start to say Jesus is Lord, it doesn't get more political than that. Bruce Ashford notes that Jesus' title, The Christ, is political in nature. He says this, Jesus demonstrated that he was Lord, and then when the early church declared Jesus is Lord, as we were just singing, the net effect was to declare that Jesus was the Lord and Roman Caesar was not. It doesn't get any more political than that. So that's why we cannot play this game where we say I keep my faith separate from my politics. You actually can't do that. It's actually a foolish idea that you can keep your faith separate from your politics. Everyone votes according to a worldview and that value system that we subscribe to, right? So there's a and when we when we refuse to um uh acknowledge that, what we're when we abdicate our role as engaging in politics, what we're doing is we're surrendering our ability to bring a worldview to shape our nation and allowing others who have no problem bringing a worldview into the shaping of our nation and the affecting even of our children. And so that's why it's actually impossible to be apolitical. To be apolitical is still to be political, and to be a Christ's follower, if you're gonna proclaim Jesus as Lord, you are declaring war against every other kind of kingdom and government. I shouldn't say declaring war, you're ordering your allegiances with Jesus at the top and the center. That's what it means to say Jesus is Lord. And so we believe as a church, you know, the church and state, prop proclamation and politics remain distinct, but we cannot live in such a way where they are utterly separate. We live in a world where when we live in Christ's sacred secular compartmentalization is not a thing. We believe that all of the earth is God's, and we are called to live faithfully in the world. We are called to do good, to seek good, to love as embodied citizens of a world that is future and present. And so we get to participate. What Jesus is saying in this passage is like, listen, you are going to participate with what Caesar's doing. You're also going to participate with what God is doing. And you have to know the purpose of both. Okay? So at a fundamental level, though, we have to remember this. Government is an institution that God established to shape society so that it will flourish. Government is a God idea. And this is all through the scriptures. And I like this definition. The purpose of government is for God ordained human flourishing. God ordained human flourishing. Okay? So in the scriptures, in the Old Testament, Jesus, or I should say, uh, God the Father is as he's leading his people, he gives them keys for government. He gives them keys for how to organize as a people. And it's a representative government. Uh, it's a government that allowed the people to have a voice and had all the tribes participating. But I don't want to share just a few qualifications or features of government as we believe that God has established it for the sake of God-ordained human flourishing. I'm going to share five things. Some of this was taken from a book called City of Man, written by Michael Gerson, Peter Wayner, and uh Pastor uh John Tyson, also Linda Cope's Old Testament template. Okay, so five things. Government is established by God to number one bring order. Government is necessary to maintain public order and prevent chaos. Without order, society would descend into anarchy and violence, as human beings are flawed and prone to disorder without rules and enforcement uh mechanisms. Okay? James Madison in the Federalist number 51, he said this if men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls of government would be necessary. But we're not. We're not governed by angels. We're governed by humans, right? And even our founding fathers were kind of inherently suspicious of those in positions of power, which is why they set the government up in the way it is with checks and balances, because they knew that when the government ends up being a concentration of power, it doesn't always, it doesn't, it doesn't end well for the people in which that nation is governed. And so we have we have to bring order. When you give prairie dogs the right to dominate an entire field or plot of land, they take over. They just have no bounds, all right? And that's what's happened right out here. It's like, let's just give them dominion over the land and let's not say anything about the paradigm. Okay, well, that's what's going to happen. So decisions are made that brings order to things, and that's what all of life really is, and all of the different disciplines and law. It's the ordering of rights for the sake of justice and freedom and business. It's an ordering of the economy to create opportunity and wealth creation. In the arts, it's the ordering of creativity for the sake of beauty. Government exists to bring order for the sake of human flourishing. Number two, though, we the government exists to work towards justice. Government exists from God to establish justice in the land. To promote justice by rewarding good behavior and punishing wrongdoers. A just government seeks fairness, ensuring that people are treated with dignity and laws are applied equally and to all, especially the weak and the voiceless in society, including children, women, the unborn, and immigrants. And justice systems exist to help every person find a way to flourish. And Paul re-emphasizes this in Romans chapter 13. He's again it writing from Rome, writing from a prison cell in Rome. In Romans 13, he says, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Now that's pretty intense. That's pretty intense. But and again, Paul is not writing from a beach in South Florida, right? He's writing from Rome. And they're seeing like legions of Romans in and out of that city all the time. It's this concentration of power and even wicked power. And but Paul is saying part of the function of government is to establish justice, to reward the uh reward what is good and punish what is evil. And here's here's the sobering reality though. When a government begins to celebrate evil and punish what is good, the end of that nation is near. When a nation collectively begins to celebrate evil and punish what is good, it is not going to lead to prosperity or human flourishing. Justice matters to the heart of God. Are you guys hanging with me? Okay, we're gonna keep going. Number three, to cultivate virtue. The government is established by God to cultivate virtue. Now, virtue is an interesting one because it's virtually non-existent. I mean, it's it's really hard to detect in our modern landscape of politics. And so governments, while not responsible for dictating religious beliefs, should seek to uphold moral laws that reflect the well-being and flourishing of every member of society. That includes laws that protect life, human dignity, and rights. And uh, Benjamin Franklin was the one who pointed out, though, that when virtue goes to the wayside in a nation, that's when the people have to be restrained from the outside in. He said this only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more of a need for masters. And so it's very important as a nation, as we talk about freedoms and fighting for rights, that we also talk about responsibility and ownership and become a virtuous people with high character that fight for what is good. We can't have both, or we can't we can't have one without the other. Even Victor Frankel said if we're gonna have a statue of liberty on the East Coast, we ought to have a statue of responsibility on the West Coast. And so virtue is important that it's actually embodied within the government. Fourth thing is to champion prosperity. Well, government is not the source of personal wealth or well-being, it's responsible for creating an environment where people can thrive economically and socially. Good governance facilitates the conditions for prosperity by protecting property rights, enforcing contracts, and encouraging free enterprise and innovation. This is all part of the Jewish vision of prosperity as well, where each tribe and family could own their own land, they could have children, grow gardens, cultivate what was given to them for the flourishing of their society and future generations. It's a good thing to have a land where each family and each person is able to prosper. Okay? And the fifth thing is to provide safety. Government has a responsibility to ensure domestic tranquility and maintain peace, both within its borders and through diplomacy with other nations. It should protect its citizens from internal unrest and external threats. Okay? So the government could be more than all of these things, but I just want to offer these things for us today as we're thinking about what how we interact with government and what we actually expect as followers of Jesus, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, as we seek to engage and to shape and to create the culture in which we live. These things are critical, they're paramount, that we use these as a filter through which we even go to the ballot box. When we vote and we think of parties and candidates, we have to think what best encapsulates this framework for flourishing. And we can look at policies, we look at character, we can look at competencies to understand what is this person's vision for our nation, and then we vote accordingly. Now, that's easier said than done, right? Easier said than done, because it's probably a lot of us in this room have been a little conflicted of like, what if whatever party or whatever candidate that I, you know, I'm told I'm supposed to like or want doesn't perfectly embody those five things. And probably likely they won't perfectly embody those five things. So a couple, a few questions here at the very end. What if I don't like either candidate? Some are have felt this tension. And many, many, many, maybe even here, and you have felt exhausted because you have a lot of you have a lot of sources of input in your life, and you're told what you should want and what how you should vote. And here's in our culture, it's um only Christians vote for this kind of person. Um Christians should never vote for this kind of thing. And listen, if if you're there um and you've arrived to that, uh I respect that. But around this room, I know who you are. I know who you are, I know the feedback I'm gonna get after this sermon, all right? Um, I know who you are. And some of us feel that internal tension of where where do I go? What do I do, what do I do with a candidate that doesn't perfectly embody everything I believe as a Christian. The reality is um you can vote third party, but we all know that we're gonna probably get just one of two parties, and uh and one of those parties is going to shape and dramatically shape the vision of the future for the next at least the next four years, even beyond that. And so when what happens when neither candidate gets it 100% right? I think what my encouragement to you would be this when you think about what the nation will become years from now, not just for our generation, but for generations to come, what kinds of things, what kind of nation would produce the kind of country that we want to hand to our children years from now? And I know that you already think about that, but what's gonna happen is you're gonna realize that not everything, every particular policy or position or platform on either side is really gonna do that for you. But I'm telling you, there are some things that matter even more than other things as we're kind of working through that. And you have to, with prayer and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and wise counsel, look through. Do your work. Don't just vote for whoever your friends and family tell you to vote for. Do the work, hold it in prayer and say, God, as I imagine the nation moving forward, what are the types of things that seem to make for a strong nation that's gonna be the type of nation that's gonna lead to God ordained human flourishing for years to come? And you need to pray for wisdom and you need to seek wise counsel. And guess what? Whoever you vote for is probably not gonna nail it on every issue, but decide which one or two things seem to outweigh the others. Are you guys with me? It's not always as clear-cut as this is God's ordained person and this one is not God's ordained person. It's not always as clear-cut as that, which means we have to do the hard work of knowing how to find what is going to lead to flourishing for the long haul, despite the rhetoric and the messaging and all the debates and all the things. Okay? It's hard work to have to do it. Now, as we're voting that way, and as many of you have already voted, another question as it relates to government is this when is it right to resist the government? And this is a great question. Well, Jesus, he did establish the legitimacy of the government when he said, give to Caesar what is Caesar's. He also said, give to God what is God's. And this means there are times when we as citizens of the kingdom of heaven do have to resist the government. And there are times, now and in the future, where protest is okay and it's the only responsible thing to do. Okay? Because we have to remember that government is a human institution, human institution. State authority is not definitive but is derivative. It is derived, it derives its power from God. That's what we believe. It's not an end-all be-all. Government is not an end-all-be-all. It derives its power and authority from God. And so long as it so long as it serves God's purposes, it's good. But the moment a government asks you to do something immoral, you have a moral obligation to resist. Are you guys hearing me? You have a if if if the government asks you to do something immoral, you have a moral obligation to resist. Now, what does that look like? Well, right now the churches in China and Iran, they're doing that. They're resisting the government. They're they don't have the ability to gather, and they're going to gather it anyways, because their allegiance is not to what the government tells them to do and not do, it's to the kingdom of Christ. Okay? Now, with it within this, this is important, within this, posture is everything. Okay? In times of civil disobedience, the church ought to be theologically measured, biblically informed, self-controlled, and sacrificial. And we lose so so we lose our witness if we don't protest when the need arises, but we also lose our witness if we protest in an ungodly manner, which basically means the mob mentality is not the way forward as the church. That's not what we do. I I think the best uh the best example in recent history would be Dr. King's uh philosophy of nonviolent resistance. His and I'm thankful for what Dr. King led our nation through in the civil rights movement. Nonviolent, they resisted what was happening, but it was not a mob mentality. It was so that their enemy might become their friend. And it was in a way that was self-controlled, it wasn't reactionary, but it was specific. And listen, I think we're headed in times where there's going to be more of a need. We're not going to be, while we honor and submit to government as best as we can in the function of government to bring order into our land of justice in our land, there's times where when uh the government, should the government stray away from uh morality and start to create laws that are in contradiction with our obligation to be disciples of Jesus and live faithfully to a different kingdom, then it is our responsibility to peacefully resist. Okay? Everybody smile at me. Is there such a thing as a Christian nation? No. There's no such thing as a Christian nation because we are all exiles, dual citizens in both our country and the kingdom of God. And so our hearts and vision on every level as a nation are always going to be clouded by sin, no matter how well-meaning we are. Now, so we so we have to acknowledge, and every nation, every nation has to acknowledge its wrongdoings and its um redemptive purposes, right? So in our particular nation, our nation's founding, um, we know that our fourth fathers, there's some things that they got wrong. And there's a lot of things they got right. And it's okay to acknowledge both, okay? And we need to celebrate that. So despite some of the problems, despite our our history, particularly with slavery or First Nations, um, we still can celebrate, and I honestly wholehearted believe this, that our constitution, our governmental structure is still the best in the world. I I think if you hold it up to like, you go to Saudi Arabia, like you're like, wow, I really, despite the problems our nation has, I really love our constitution. And it's a I have no problem saying that. Now, that being said, I think so much of our constitution, governmental structure was very influenced by a Judeo-Christian worldview, as much of the world in the West was at that point in time. That doesn't necessarily mean we are a Christian nation through and through. That's that's impossible until we realize the fullness of life in the kingdom of God. But while we're here, we get to participate as Christians in our nation, shaping it as best we can to preserve the freedoms and the rights of all for human flourishing. There's a reason why refugees are flour are fleeing to America and not other countries, because we have figured some things out as well, despite our problems. I believe America is still beautiful. I believe it. I believe the United States is still beautiful. So there's things that we lament and we should lament, and there's things that we can uphold, and we don't have to be ashamed about that. I love the posture and the philosophy that so many of our forefathers brought to America. And so our primary job is to, our primary loyalty is to be the people of God and live on the mission of God, influencing culture with redemptive participation. We pray, we vote, we protest, we practice principled pluralism because we know that the solution to the problem of politics in our modern world is to declare Jesus is Lord. You can say amen to that. I know this is a lot to kind of absorb, so I don't mind your silence on some of those. Here's a last question, and then we're gonna actually bring it out of the head back down to the heart, okay? Do we believe Christians should take over society? So there are streams of evangelicals who believe God's vision is to remove all non-Christians so that Christians can be at the top of every part of society, of Christian CEOs and civic leaders, and this whole kind of brand of theology is called dominionism. And I would offer that it's not biblical, okay? So over the course of the scriptures, we see all kinds of God-fearing men and women, Daniel, Joseph, uh, many others who served other kings, and they had positions of influence and power within government without having to be the top dog. And even in the New Testament, Paul had many people around him who were in civic spaces, embedded into the fabric of society as servants of society. Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're gifted or anointed for government. We need people who are gifted and anointed for government, and we need to pray that they're surrounded with uh with kingdom people to help shape and protect an environment and surround them on every side. So that there'll be influence for kingdom purposes, all right? So our witness, this is really important that we mention this. Our witness as believers does not come through domination, it comes through servanthood. We are not seeking control, rather, righteous influence in every part of society. This is so good. We're seeking righteous influence. That means, listen, the the way forward isn't separation, it's to be embedded and to pray for our leaders and to be in every sphere of society, but not for the sake of control and domination. That's not God's heart. God's heart is the freedom to choose him or to not choose him, right? The Christian's role isn't to impose religious belief, it's to protect freedom and rights so that all men have the ability to choose God or whatever. And that is actually a biblical worldview. That we would have the ability to have freedoms and rights. And that's what I love about this country, and that's what we're praying that moving forward, that that continues to be the case, moving forward, that this is this is a nation where the righteous are able to influence the conscience of and the soul of our nation without needing to dominate it from every part. Uh, Dr. Martin Luther King said it like this, and we'll come into land. In fact, Byron, you can come up and play. Dr. Martin Luther King said this in a sermon called A Knock at Bidnight. He wrote this The church must be reminded once again that it is not to be the master or the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state and never its tool. We are a separate people. We are not to be mastered by the state. And we're also uh we're not to be master of the state, and we're not not to be the servant of the state, but the conscious of the state, which means this. And other people have said it like this the church is the soul of a city. We bring an awareness from the inside out of what God is doing and being able to call people into a God awareness in every part of our society. That is our witness. We get to bear witness to a different world. Are you guys hanging with me today? Okay. We bear be we bear witness to another world, which means that if you don't fit perfectly, if you feel like your political party doesn't quite fit perfectly in every regard, that's probably a good sign. If you feel like your political party just nails on every single level, I'm like, gosh, really? Because we're we are meant to be exiles in this in this world. And we do live in an important time, guys. I do believe, and the rest of the world is hanging on the in the unbelievable influence our nation has in this world. There are things that matter. And that's why, as the people of God, we have to be given to the voice of God, discerning the Spirit of God, the plumb line, and say, God, what is going to lead to the nation that you have in mind? What is the nation that you have in mind for us here? And guys, I just want to encourage you, if you haven't voted yet, please go vote. Please vote. Please do your part. Stay engaged. Don't just vote on the federal level, vote on the local level, be involved, do your homework, do your research. It starts on the local level, it starts in our hometowns, it starts in our neighborhoods, and it moves out from there. Let's vote, let's be active because we believe that God has given us not to be disseparate, distinct in identity, but embedded so that all of the world will flourish. God ordained human flourishing. God ordained according to his principles and his ways, human flourishing. And as we kind of wrap this up, so today, listen, this is kind of part one, next part two. Next week, we're gonna talk about how do we survive another election.

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That's next week. How to survive an election without blowing apart at the seams, okay? In two weeks, there will be a new president elect. Can you just can we just acknowledge that? Can we agree on that? That's going to happen. And whoever that is, we're going to pray for them. I don't know who it is, but I'm just telling you right now, I will pray for that person from this stage. We will pray for them. Because we ought to. In the meantime, we are learning how to be citizens of the kingdom of God, given to the purposes of God, because we believe our God reigns, and we get to live lives that demonstrate that. The rulership and the reigning of Jesus Christ. As we go from this place, the hope is this as a people that you take this seriously, that you don't get co-opted into messaging strategies. You don't get co-opted and seduced by the appearance of good. That's actually, it's evil disguised as good. That you become a discerning perceptive people who can see underneath and underneath and underneath and underneath. And say, God, I know this decision maybe isn't perfect, but I'm going to do my best to participate because that's what you've given me to do. And ultimately, our promise here was prophetically declared by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 9. I just want to invite you to close your eyes across the room. I'm going to read this out. It's a promise of the Messiah, Jesus Christ who would come. In Isaiah chapter 9, it says this for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, and the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do it. So, Jesus, I pray for us as a body of believers, just one body of believers, God. Our desire is to live faithfully in such a way that our nation rises to its redemptive purpose, God. We thank you for what you had in mind when you established this nation. And as we move forward, Lord God, we bless the United States of America. We bless the United States of America. We bless the nations of the world. And we thank you, Lord God, to make us a people who seek your face above other faces, who seek your voice above other voices. We thank you to lead us from the inside out. We thank you to fortify our relationships, Lord God, to help us sharpen each other where we don't see the full picture. And I thank you, Father, that the government is on your shoulders. I thank you, Jesus. There's coming a day where you will have your way in every nation on the world. All will bow to you. And we start now by saying that you are Lord. And it is our good. It's our pleasure, God, it's our honor to follow you and to bow a knee to you because you're good. So we surrender today. God, I pray for those of us in this room who've just been exhausted in this season, just have just felt living under the weight of all of this. God, I thank you that again, it is a good news that the government is on your shoulders. Not on our shoulders, it's on your shoulder. So we participate as best we can, but we thank you that you are the wonderful counselor, you are the mighty God, you are the Prince of Peace, you are the everlasting Father, and you have been given to us. So we thank you, God, that we serve a king and a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Amen. Let's stand together. Let's stand together across the room. Turn to the person next to you and say, it's gonna be okay. Hey guys, listen, listen. This is good. We get to move forward with joy, we get to move forward with confidence. We have a father who loves us and he has not abandoned us. We get to speak our voice, we get to share boldly our convictions, and we get to move forward in the confidence the Holy Spirit's given us.