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1: Take A Stand - Faithful Political Witness at Work · 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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With this episode, we're kicking off a new
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series, Take a Stand, Faithful Political Witness at
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Work.
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As you may be able to hear, I'm
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getting over a cold, and as I was
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praying through this series with great trepidation, I
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just feel like God has given me the
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gift of a new depth literally in my
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voice as we press into talking about controversial
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issues and politics and having prophetic witness in
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the workplace and other things.
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So we're just going to run with that,
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that this is a blessing, that my voice
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sounds sonorous and deep as we talk about
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these serious things.
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But I do ask for your grace, that
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you'd pray for me as we enter into
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this series, even though I recorded it some
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time ago.
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I believe God can still use those prayers
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time-travel-wise to reach back to me
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in my little recording studio in my home
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here and help me.
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I had a lot of hesitation to even
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do this series.
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Politics this year in the United States and
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around the world is just as fraught as
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ever, and it's very difficult as somebody who
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teaches the Word of God from the Scriptures
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to navigate politics faithfully.
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But just because it's difficult doesn't mean it's
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impossible, and I feel like God's put this
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on my heart to speak to all of
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us who are seeking to live out our
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faith in the workplace every day.
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As the political issues of our time do
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impinge upon our life at work and come
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up at work, we need to know how
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to have a faithful Christian response, and so
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I want to speak to that in this
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series.
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So I pray for your grace with any
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way I may misspeak, and know that I'm
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seeking to do this from a place of
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faithfulness and courage, as I will also challenge
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you to do throughout the series.
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So with that little caveat, I want to
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just kind of introduce the series in this
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episode.
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So this is more of kind of a
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lay of the land mapping episode, and then
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we'll start digging into stuff a little bit
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more in the coming episodes.
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But the series title is Take a Stand,
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Faithful Political Witness at Work.
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And the structure of the series is also
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there in that title.
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So in the phrase, faithful political witness, that
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gives you the three parts of the series.
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So part one, faithful.
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What does it mean to be faithful in
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our political conversations and political actions in the
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workplace?
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And so that first starting place is really
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an answer to a question or a couple
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questions.
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The first question is a relatively easy question,
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and then there's a harder question.
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So the first, easier question, which is still
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kind of fraught, is what can you do
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as a Christian when politics comes up in
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conversation at the workplace?
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So just how do you navigate that particular
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social moment?
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Suddenly you're at the lunch table, or maybe
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even somewhere else, like in a meeting, and
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a political issue is suddenly being talked about
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in your workplace.
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What is a faithful Christian response in that
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moment?
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And maybe, should you ever be the one
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to initiate that moment?
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Is there opportunity sometimes to be the one
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who brings up politics, whether it's in an
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informal context like the lunch table or in
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a more formal context that may relate to
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work decisions?
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So that's kind of our first question is
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like, okay, how do we navigate that sometimes
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awkward, weighted, fraught social moment of suddenly we're
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talking about politics at work.
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Then the harder question that we're going to
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kind of use the first question to launch
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into is, what is faithful political action in
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the workplace?
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Now that can feel a little bit more
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abstract.
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Often, depending on what our work is, we
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might think of politics in kind of one
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realm of our life, like the way we
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vote, maybe the way we do some stuff
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in our community.
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And then our job is kind of a
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different thing in our life where we're just
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like doing our job at our job and
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it never the twain shall meet.
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They don't feel super connected.
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But the reality is all of our work,
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whatever it is, has political dynamics to it.
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There are political issues that affect our work
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and there's a way in which our work
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also affects our political life in your community
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and in your nation and beyond.
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And so it may feel a little bit
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abstract, but we do want to ask the
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question, wow, in as much as my work
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connects to political issues of our time, what
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is a faithful Christian way to think, speak,
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and act about those political issues?
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So that's the word faithful.
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How can we be faithful in those conversations?
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And we're breaking it down into four parts.
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So how can we be prayerful?
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How can we be thoughtful?
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How can we be gentle?
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And how can we be courageous?
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Now there's lots of other aspects of faithfulness
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besides those four, but as I was praying
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and prepping, I felt like those four are
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really important for our political conversations at work.
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What does it mean for us as Christians,
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as disciples of Jesus, to have prayerful, thoughtful,
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gentle, and courageous political conversations with other people?
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Okay, so that's the first part, faithful.
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Then we'll move into political.
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So faithful political witness, part two, political.
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What is politics?
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How do we understand politics writ large in
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relation to the kingdom of God as disciples
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of Jesus?
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And in this section, we're going to use
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the three key virtues that St. Paul mentions
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in 1 Corinthians of faith, hope, and love.
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These three remain faith, hope, and love, and
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the greatest of these is love.
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So we're going to look at faith and
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the idea of who or what are we
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putting our faith in?
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Where is our allegiance?
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And how does that affect the way we
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think about politics as Christians?
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Then we're going to move into hope.
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How does our vision of the future, the
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future of the world, the future of justice,
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the future of human society, how does that
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affect the way we think about politics as
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Christians?
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And then love.
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How does God's love for us, God's love
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for the world, our love for God in
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response and our love for our neighbors as
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an expression of that love for God, how
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does all of that affect the way we
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think about exercising political power?
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What does it mean to have a politics
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of love?
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Is that even possible?
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And we'll look at a few different thinkers
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who can help us along those lines.
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So that's part two, political.
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We'll look at faith, hope, and love for
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how we think about politics in the kingdom
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of God as followers of Jesus.
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And then part three, witness.
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Faithful political witness.
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Now witness is a New Testament word primarily
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used to describe witness to the resurrection of
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Jesus.
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So there were witnesses, right?
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When Paul's summarizing the gospel, he says, you
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know, what was of first importance.
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I proclaim to you that Christ died for
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our sins according to the scriptures, that he
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rose from the dead on the third day,
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according to the scriptures, and that he appeared
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to Simon and to others.
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And it goes on and discusses some of
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those appearances, like right there, the fact that
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Jesus rose from the dead and that he
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appeared to witnesses like Simon, like John, like
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James, like others, is part of the good
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news itself.
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That this really happened, that people saw it
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happen, and that affects everything.
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So witness is this idea of how do
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we look at all of reality in relation
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to the resurrection of Jesus?
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And so within the context of faithful political
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witness, we're going to be looking at particular
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political issues.
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And how do we look at these particular
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political issues in the light of the resurrection
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of Jesus?
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And so just to have a few concrete
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issues to look at, we'll be looking at
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three.
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There's obviously hundreds of political issues, but hopefully
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the way that we navigate and process these
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questions around these three issues can kind of
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help lay a template where you could then
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look at other issues as well, whatever they
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may be and think through, okay, how does
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the light of the resurrection of Jesus shine
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on this political issue?
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So there's three that we'll look at are
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immigration, abortion, and food insecurity.
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And I'm including food insecurity because in my
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other work life, I'm a food banker, and
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so I want to draw on some of
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my experiences there.
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Again, could have chosen other issues.
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These are ones that I felt like in
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my own reading and study and friends who
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I have access to, I could speak to
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in a little bit more of an informed
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way.
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So again, I ask for your prayer.
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There's no way to do a series about
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politics like this that doesn't step on somebody's
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toes or bother somebody or go against somebody's
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particular political convictions.
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But I really believe that in this fraught
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moment in our nation and in our world,
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that God has something for us to learn.
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And so I do want to speak very
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briefly about what's going on in the bigger
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political context here.
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As I've prayed about what Mission Central is
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for and what this podcast Finding God at
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Work is for, I really feel that this
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is not a current events podcast.
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I hope that I will speak clearly to
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the teaching of Scripture and to particular political
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issues in a way that helps make connections
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with current events, but I'm going to let
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you, the listener, make those connections.
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Part of that is I feel that this
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is in terms of what God has asked
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me to do as I understand it, as
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imperfectly as that must be.
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This is a teaching ministry more than a
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prophetic ministry.
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So my goal here is to shepherd Christians
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more than it is to speak truth to
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power in this particular podcast.
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I'm trying to help you figure out, okay,
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how do I navigate the warp and woof
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of my particular workplace environment whenever politics becomes
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part of that environment, right?
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This is a teaching podcast.
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It's not primarily to go confront the civic
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powers with the testimony of Jesus, which is
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extremely important ministry that I believe that local
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pastors are called to do and other teachers
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of the Scripture are called to do and
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certain people with a particular kind of civic
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oriented vocation are called to do.
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So I deeply care about everything that's unfolding
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right now.
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I just won't be making reference to too
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many current news articles as time goes on
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for that reason.
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But if any questions that come up make
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you think like, wow, how does this idea
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that Chris is talking about on the podcast
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relate to this news story this week?
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And you want to have that conversation, get
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ahold of me.
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Many of you already have my cell phone
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number.
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You can find my email on the Mission
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Central website.
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If not, I would love to grab coffee
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with you and talk through how do we
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faithfully respond to this little particular moment in
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our history as Christians.
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But I won't be trying to break that
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down in the podcast series itself.
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Okay, so just to wrap up today, because
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we don't have time to get into a
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thorough teaching, having done all of this groundwork
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to lay out the series, I just want
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to read a couple of verses from Proverbs.
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And then we'll dig more into this idea
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starting with our next episode.
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So this is Proverbs 3, 33 through 34.
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The Lord's curse is on the house of
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the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of
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the righteous.
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Toward the scorners, he is scornful.
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But to the humble, he gives favor.
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Lord Jesus, thank you that you give favor
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to the humble.
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We ask for humility for ourselves as we
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step into all of these questions in the
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series.
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Show us how to be open to you
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and to your blessing.
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That your blessing would be on our dwelling.
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That we would be humble to receive it.
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And that you would show us how to
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bless the people around us in a midst
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of great political turmoil.
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That we would trust that your kingdom is
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coming and your will is being done on
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earth as it is in heaven.
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Jesus, do your work in us as we
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do our work with you.
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Thanks for listening.
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Finding God at Work is a production of
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Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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life.
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You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
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listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
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of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
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and Thursday.
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To get resources to go deeper with each
12:55
podcast series, read our blog, and get info
12:58
about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
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go to our website, missioncentral.church.