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3: Thoughtful Political Conversations · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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course.
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Check it out at FindingGodAtWork.org.
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We're continuing our series, Take a Stand, Faithful
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Political Witness at Work.
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And in this first part of the series,
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we're looking at the idea of faithfulness.
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What does it mean to be faithful?
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And teasing that out in four aspects of
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faithfulness, being prayerful, being thoughtful, being gentle, and
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being courageous.
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So today we get to thoughtful.
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In our last episode, we looked at Hannah
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in the book of 1 Samuel and how
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she's this icon of a prayerful posture, responding
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to her own grief and anguish by going
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into the presence of the Lord.
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And by doing that, unbeknownst to herself at
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the time, entering into God's eternal redemptive purposes
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for the people of Israel and ultimately in
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Jesus Christ.
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And so when we have a prayerful posture
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in regards to the political issues of our
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time, we, by coming to God, can knit
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our feeble, weak response to those political issues
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to his eternal purposes, which will carry the
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day.
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Okay.
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As we do that work of prayer, we
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also want to be doing the work of
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thought.
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We want to love God with all our
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mind, as we talked about in our wholehearted
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series.
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And we have to go through the mental
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anguish of dealing with complex ideas in order
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to love God with all our mind and
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love our neighbor as ourself.
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Okay.
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Now the extent to which that kind of
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like difficult, complex thinking about political issues is
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part of our life with God is going
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to depend on our personality and our position
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in the world.
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So if you have a personality that's not
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very bent towards examining political details, that's okay,
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right?
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You need to understand what it means for
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you to love your neighbor in the context
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that you're in.
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So I have a friend who's a musician,
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she's an artist, she's a mother, she does
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very important things in her community through all
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of those ministries and vocational works.
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And she just doesn't really like political theory,
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right?
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Like it's not her thing.
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That's okay.
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That's okay.
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If it's not your thing, that's okay.
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But if you have a personality that has
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a bent towards understanding things, if you're fascinated
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when you open the newspaper and you're trying
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to understand the economics and the political forces
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that drive different things, then like lean into
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that.
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That's probably part of how God created your
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mind.
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You should lean into that.
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So the extent to which we try and
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have a more refined understanding of political things
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is going to be different for different people.
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But all of us are students of the
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scriptures.
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All of us are disciples of Jesus.
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And so we want to pay attention to
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those dynamics that scripture explicitly speaks to as
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they inform our political thinking.
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And so that's doing our best to love
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God with our mind, understand things thoroughly according
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to what makes sense for us in terms
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of the depth of understanding we can get
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about political things.
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And regardless of how deep that is for
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any given one of us, are we students
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of the teaching of scripture and letting the
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scriptures inform all of our political thinking?
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And so I want to go to one
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specific text today and kind of let that
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text help us be more thoughtful about political
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things.
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And that's Psalm 14.
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So this is kind of a key text
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when we think about faith and politics.
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Psalm 14.
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And just by way of introduction here in
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our last episode, we talked about this idea
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that Dallas Willard calls the great inversion, that
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God exalts the humble but humbles the exalted.
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And that might have raised a question for
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you because it could seem as though it's
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just sort of like leftist faith, like, oh
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yeah, fist bump.
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God is going to cast down the oppressors
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and exalt all of the proletariat, the people,
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power to the people.
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So it could seem like a very skewed,
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like, okay, if we're thinking about the politics
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of the left versus the politics of the
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right, that sounds pretty leftist, you know, like,
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yay for the poor, down with the rich.
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Okay.
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So is that what's going on?
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Is it just like the Bible is a
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leftist text and, and we should care about
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the poor and cast down the rich.
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And that's that.
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I don't think so.
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I don't think so.
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So let's actually look at, at what the
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Bible is saying in its complexity and nuance,
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let it challenge us.
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And I think it will in fact have
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a challenge for people on the left and
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on the right.
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So we'll get into that.
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But first we got to read our text,
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Psalm 14 for the director of music of
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David.
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The fool says in his heart, there is
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no God.
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They are corrupt.
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Their deeds are vile.
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There is no one who does good.
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The Lord looks down from heaven on all
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mankind to see if there are any who
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understand any who seek God.
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All have turned away.
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All have become corrupt.
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There is no one who does good, not
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even one.
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Do all these evildoers know nothing?
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They devour my people as though eating bread.
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They never call on the Lord.
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But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for
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God is present in the company of the
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righteous.
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You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
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but the Lord is their refuge.
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Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out
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of Zion when the Lord restores his people.
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Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
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This psalm is a beautiful and sobering and
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challenging text.
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I want to look at how it talks
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about the presence of God.
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So the first verse says, the fool says
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in his heart, there is no God.
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Okay, so pause right there.
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If the fool says there is no God,
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corollary, the wise person says, there is a
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God, right?
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Specifically, there is the God of Israel, the
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God who is worshiped through these psalms and
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throughout the scriptures.
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And so the fact of God's presence is
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of ultimate significance.
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That's the first insight of this psalm.
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The fact of God's presence is of ultimate
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significance.
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But what kind of significance?
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Okay, so we keep going.
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Verse 2, the Lord looks down from heaven
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on all mankind to see if there are
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any who understand any who seek God.
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So if someone has true understanding, if they
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perceive the way things really are, if they
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have a good grasp of reality, then their
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response is to seek God.
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And so it's not just that God's presence
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is consequential, it's that God's presence can be
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sought.
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God desires to interact with us, to welcome
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us into his presence.
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That is in fact the most penetrating, insightful,
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smart thing that a human being can do
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is to seek the presence of God.
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So another way we could say the same
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thing is that God is good for us.
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We said in an earlier episode that that's
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kind of the great claim of the Bible.
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The great claim of the Bible is that
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God is good for you, that human beings
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were meant to abide in the presence of
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God.
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Another way we could say is the presence
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of God is our greatest good.
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Okay, so that's kind of the stream of
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water underneath this psalm, the babbling brook.
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The given assumption is the presence of God
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is our greatest good.
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The presence of God is our greatest good.
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That's why it's the fool who says in
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his heart there is no God.
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That's why the Lord looks down from heaven
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on all mankind to see if there are
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any who understand, any who seek God.
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But this psalm is a psalm of lament
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that people ignore the presence of God, that
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people do not seek God as their greatest
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good, that they become willfully ignorant, right?
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The fool says in his heart there is
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no God.
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They're corrupt, their deeds are vile, there is
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no one who does good.
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All have turned away, all have become corrupt.
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There is no one who does good, not
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even one.
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Do these evildoers know nothing?
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So the psalmist is crying out about the
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wickedness of humanity, but he's also making a
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connection between their wickedness and their concept of
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God, or rather the lack of their concept
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of God.
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He's saying if people really understood that God
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was good, that God was their greatest good,
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they wouldn't do these things.
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They wouldn't do these things.
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They wouldn't treat people like this.
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You see this expression of how they treat
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people.
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They devour my people as though eating bread.
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They never call on the Lord.
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You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor.
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So he's drawing a direct connection between how
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people are ignorant, willfully ignorant of God, and
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the way they oppress other human beings.
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Now why is that a connection?
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Well, I think it's pretty clear if we
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just reflect on, well, why do people oppress
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other human beings, right?
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People oppress other human beings to garner more
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wealth for themselves, to garner more power for
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themselves, sometimes to garner more pleasure for themselves,
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right?
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In the colloquialism of our time, money, sex,
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and power, people want more of that, and
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so they get more of that, even if
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they have to step on other people to
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get it.
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And this becomes systematic, cultural, deeply embedded patterns
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of injustice over time as people continue to
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oppress particular vulnerable groups, whether those are immigrants
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or people without economic influence or foreigners or
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in the biblical parlance of widows and orphans,
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people who do not have the capacity to
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advocate for themselves with the same kind of
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political effect as others, these people are easily
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taken advantage of, and others climb the ladder
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towards wealth and power and pleasure by shoving
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those people down.
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That happens in every culture.
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It certainly happens in the United States today.
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Now, if these people really believed in a
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God of justice, a God who would hold
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them accountable for how they're treating these other
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human beings, they wouldn't do that stuff.
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People who fear the Lord, who have a
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sense like God cares about human beings and
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God will hold you accountable for how you
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treat human beings, they do not do these
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acts of oppression because they fear the Lord,
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because they do not want to be held
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accountable by God someday for the way that
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they've treated other human beings.
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So when you have the pride to say,
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I'm going to treat this person like crap
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and I'm going to get away with it,
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what you're saying is there is no God,
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regardless of what you might verbalize in terms
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of, you know, using God language to garner
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power for yourself or however that works for
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you, in your heart, you are saying there
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is no God if you treat other people
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like that.
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That's what Psalm 14 is all about.
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Do all these evil doers know nothing?
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They devour my people as though eating bread.
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They never call on the Lord.
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It is willful moral ignorance, willful theological ignorance
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to enter into these patterns of oppression and
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evil.
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So what's the alternative?
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Well, remember that that babbling brook, that basic
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assumption of this psalm and of the scriptures
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as a whole, that God is good for
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us, that the presence of God is our
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greatest good.
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If you believe that the presence of God
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is your greatest good, you're okay forgoing a
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certain measure of wealth or power or pleasure
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if it means doing right by other human
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beings.
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If you believe God is my greatest good,
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then when you have that chance to cut
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ahead to deceive someone or to steal from
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someone or to defraud someone, you just won't
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do it because you believe that God is
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a greater good for you than that ill
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-gotten wealth would be.
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Because you believe that God cares about those
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human beings created in his image just as
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much as he cares about you.
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So you see how the knowledge of God,
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the knowledge of God's goodness, the conviction that
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God is good for us, that God's presence
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is our greatest good, is immensely protective against
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political evil.
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When people believe that there is a God
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in heaven who will judge the earth and
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when people believe that there is a God
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available to us by his presence right now
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who is good for us, they are able
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to say no to the temptations of political
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oppression.
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And when people do not believe that, when
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they do not hold that conviction, they will
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say yes to the temptations of political oppression
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no matter what they give lip service to
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in terms of their religious phrases.
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Okay, so this is also a psalm that
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speaks to the great inversion, the fact that
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God exalts the humble and humbles the exalted.
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So this this is at the end of
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the psalm starting in verse 5.
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But there they are, overwhelmed with dread, for
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God is present in the company of the
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righteous.
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You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor,
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but the Lord is their refuge.
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So this is the great inversion, more fully
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stated.
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This is the great inversion in light of
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the reality of how good the presence of
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God is.
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We could say it like this, no matter
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how wealthy you are, if you do not
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have the presence of God, you are poor.
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No matter how powerful you are, if you
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do not have the presence of God, you
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are weak.
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No matter how happy you are, if you
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do not have the presence of God, you
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were bound for misery.
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And no matter how poor you are, if
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you do have the presence of God, you
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are rich.
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No matter how politically powerless you are, if
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you have the presence of God, you are
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strong.
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No matter how much you have to mourn
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right now, if you have the presence of
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God, you are bound for eternal joy.
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What is the the resounding conclusion of the
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Psalm?
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Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out
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of Zion.
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When the Lord restores his people, let Jacob
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rejoice and Israel be glad.
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We are confident that if we possess the
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presence of God, we already have everything we
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need, and we are praying and longing for
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God to restore our fortunes, for God to
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establish justice in the earth, for God to
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bring what is right, and we have faith
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that someday he will do that in full.
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And because we have faith that someday he
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will do it in full, that energizes us
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to work for that now, not to ignore
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issues of injustice now.
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We trust that we work for justice now,
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that we work for the plight of the
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poor and the oppressed and the downtrodden now,
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because God will bring that to ultimate fruition
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and fulfillment when he establishes justice in the
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earth.
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And there are movements in this Psalm that
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cut against the norms of the political right
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and the norms of the political left.
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And I know there's limitations to using that
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right-left language to convey the complexity of
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political thought, but hopefully to speak simply and
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not simplistically.
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On the political right, there tends to be
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an emphasis on personal individual responsibility and personal
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accountability.
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On the political left, there tends to be
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an emphasis on cultural or communal responsibility and
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communal accountability.
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So just to take a basic example, say
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somebody steals a loaf of bread.
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The general response on the political right would
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be that person should be held accountable for
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theft individually.
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Whereas somebody on the political left might say,
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well, wait a minute, what's the bigger societal
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context?
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Was that person starving?
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Is there a social context that's so dire
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that somebody is willing to risk stealing just
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to feed themselves?
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And this is the premise of the play,
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Lame is Rob, for example, Jean Valjean steals
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a loaf of bread.
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And it explores all these questions of law
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and order and justice and accountability.
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Okay, so that's just an example of kind
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of like an issue where there might be
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a response from the right or the left.
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Well, what does the Bible say?
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Okay, here in verse three, we see both
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of these ideas kind of being pushed back
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against.
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Verse three says, they have all turned aside,
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together they have become corrupt.
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There is none who does good, not even
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one.
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So there's both a communal aspect, right?
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Together they have become corrupt, but it also
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names the individuals.
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There is none who does good, not even
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one.
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So there's a sense that each person is
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individually responsible for the way they've turned aside.
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But there's also kind of a communal dynamic
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of how people have turned aside.
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And that continues in verse four, have they
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no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up
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my people as they eat bread and do
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not call upon the Lord.
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This is not just talking about like one
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bad apple who's doing some evil, one bad
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apple who's eating up the poor.
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It's talking about a systematic cultural thing where
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the poor are being disenfranchised and oppressed by
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people who are more powerful than them.
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And so the Bible pushes back against this
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idea that, oh, that there isn't systematic injustice
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that we should worry about.
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Like, no, it's saying there is systematic injustice.
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There are powerful entrenched people who are together
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becoming corrupt and oppressing the poor.
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But there's also a constant theme of individual
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accountability.
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In spiritual terms, each person is responsible to
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individually repent and turn to the Lord.
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Similarly, kind of by extension in political arena,
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each person should be responsible for their own
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behavior.
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Okay, so what does that mean in terms
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of being thoughtful in political conversations at work?
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Well, one is to always temper your own
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political leaning with humility before God.
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So maybe you lean more towards the left.
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If so, you need to temper that with
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the strong sense of individual accountability that's clearly
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here in this text, that every single person
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has turned away from God and God cares
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about that and God will hold people to
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account.
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If you tend to lean towards the right,
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you need to be aware of the fact
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that God will hold people accountable for how
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they've participated in systematic oppression, among other things.
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And so when you're in a conversation with
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someone else, just that knowledge that there's something
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in your faith that cuts against a simplistic
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leftist view or a simplistic right view, rightist
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isn't really a word.
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That's kind of funny.
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It can be leftist, but can you be
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rightist?
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Yeah, weird grammar thing.
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But the point is that you can have
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humility to know, ah, I need something to
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counterbalance the direction that I lean politically.
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And I need to remember that the center
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is always the goodness of the presence of
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God.
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So then when I'm having a conversation with
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someone else and they may say something that
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gets my political hackles up, I can also
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have the humility to try and really hear
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what that person is saying, knowing that there
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may be some critique in what they're saying
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that can actually be part of that counterbalance
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to my perspective, to not immediately write somebody
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off because they're coming from a different political
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ideology than me, but to try and really
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listen to them, to let that enter into
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how I thoughtfully try and integrate all of
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these things as a servant of the living
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God.
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So we're prayerful, we're thoughtful in the way
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we engage these conversations at work.
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Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out
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of Zion when the Lord restores his people.
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Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.
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Lord Jesus, thank you that you are good
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and that you reveal a God whose presence
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is our greatest good.
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Help us to hang on to that as
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we recognize all the ways that you exalt
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the humble and humble the exalted.
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Help us to have humility as we have
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conversations, to engage them thoughtfully.
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Do your work in us as we do
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our work with you.
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Thanks for listening.
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