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7: Hope and Political Visions of the Future · 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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Our current series is Take a Stand, Faithful
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Political Witness at Work.
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And in this middle section of the series,
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we're looking at that word political.
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How do we understand the idea of politics
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writ large in relation to the kingdom of
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God?
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And so in our last episode, we talked
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about the virtue of faith and how faith
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means allegiance within the context of covenant, that
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Jesus commands absolute allegiance.
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And we need to be willing to turn
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toward him, line up with him, even if
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it means giving up our citizenship or membership
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in some other political movement, if and when
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that movement comes into conflict with the teachings
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of Jesus.
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Now, in this episode, we're going to keep
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going through the three theological virtues of faith,
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hope, and love.
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So we get to hope in this episode.
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And hope is a key theme of politics
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and political leadership.
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So I looked at some presidential campaign slogans
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from US history.
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It was funny, one of them just popped
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into my head the other day, I woke
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up and I found myself saying, Tippecanoe and
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Tyler too, like I learned this in seventh
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grade civics class or something.
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That was the 1840 presidential campaign slogan of
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William Henry Harrison and his running mate, John
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Tyler.
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His nickname was Tippecanoe because he had won
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a battle at Tippecanoe.
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So their campaign slogan was Tippecanoe and Tyler
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too.
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In 1852, let's see, Pierce, Franklin Pierce ran
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with the slogan, we poked you in 44,
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we shall pierce you in 52, referring to
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James K Polk, a Democratic president who had
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won in 44 and obviously Franklin Pierce.
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So that, you know, going on of the
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name puns early on.
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But then we get to more serious campaign
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slogans as well.
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Lincoln's campaign slogan 1860, the union must and
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shall be preserved.
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Ulysses S.
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Grant's campaign slogan in 1868, let us have
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peace.
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Of course, after the Civil War, Grant being
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the victorious general saying now let's move into
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a time of peace, things are going to
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be different now.
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Then in the 20th century, appeal to people's
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economic interests.
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1900, President William McKinley, running for reelection, said
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four more years of the full dinner pail.
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Very clear what he wants people to imagine.
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He wants people to imagine we're going to
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have food, the economy is going to be
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working for us and in our favor if
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we reelect William McKinley.
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FDR, his first presidential election campaign.
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The slogan was happy days are here again.
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Again, telling people to look toward the future.
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And then, of course, we can think of
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more recent campaign slogans from the past several
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decades as well, whether it's make America great
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again, right?
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A vision of return to greatness or President
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Barack Obama's 2008 slogan change, we can believe
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in this promise of change.
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Things are going to get better.
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All of these slogans are slogans about hope.
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These are slogans about a vision of the
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future.
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And that's one way we can think about
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hope.
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Dallas Willard, who I often reference, wonderful philosopher
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and theological writer of the late 20th, early
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21st century.
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He defines hope like this.
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Joyous anticipation of good that is not yet
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here or is unseen.
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Joyous anticipation of good that is not yet
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here or is unseen.
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So what is a joyous anticipation of good
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that is not yet here?
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That's a vision of the future.
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We have a vision of the future and
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we see goodness.
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Specifically, we see God's goodness in that future.
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And so we're anticipating it with joy.
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But I would also say this.
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It's not just about the future.
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It's also about the present.
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So I would define hope like this.
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Hope is a vision of the future that
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calls forth action in the present.
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Because think about all those campaign slogans, all
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those wannabe presidents, what do they want people
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to do?
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They want people to vote, right?
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They're casting a vision of the next four
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years, but they want people to do now
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is vote.
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They want people to take action in the
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present because of the vision of the future.
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And this is true in all sorts of
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different political movements, obviously formal presidential campaigns, but
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also ragtag things.
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But we can even think of rebellions.
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Let's go to the Star Wars universe.
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Rogue One, one of the best Star Wars
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films created since Disney bought the rights and
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the associated television show and or excellent, excellent
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Star Wars television right up there with the
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Mandalorian.
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Some of the best out there if you're
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looking for a place to get started that
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actually has quality writing go for for Rogue
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One and Andor.
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But what's the catchphrase?
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The catchphrase from the heroine, Jin Erso, rebellions
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are built on hope.
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Now, what does she mean?
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She means the reason that you're risking your
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life to overthrow the evil empire is because
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you have hope, you have a vision of
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a different kind of future.
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You want a future in which there isn't
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this kind of oppression.
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You want a future in which there isn't
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this kind of injustice.
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And so you're willing to take action in
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the present, even to the point of being
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part of an armed rebellion, if that will
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help get to that promised future.
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So hope is a vision of the future
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that calls forth action in the present.
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This is just part of the stock and
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trade of political movements of all kinds.
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So this brings us to the question.
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Well, how do we understand this as followers
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of Jesus?
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Well, what's our vision of the future as
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followers of Jesus?
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What's our hope in a way we could
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ask, where is our help coming from?
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And as you may know, I'm basically quoting
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a scripture verse there, Psalm 121, verse one.
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I lift my eyes to the hills from
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where does my help come?
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My help comes from the Lord who made
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heaven and earth.
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Now, that idea of looking to the hills,
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hills were often locations of political power.
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Right.
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Jerusalem was built on a hill.
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It's harder to be siege a city built
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on a hill.
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Right.
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That this way, Jesus references a city built
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on the hill and the sermon on the
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mount as well.
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Right.
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It can't be hidden.
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You know where it is, but it's hard
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to attack.
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There's political advantages to building a city in
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this way.
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And so when he says, I lift up
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my eyes to the hill, to the hills
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from where does my help come from?
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There's kind of this implicit sense of like,
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oh, is my hope, is my help coming
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from political power from the king in Jerusalem?
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And then he says, my help comes from
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the Lord who made heaven and earth.
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Not limited to one city, not limited to
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those four walls, not limited to one set
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of hills.
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The creator of everything is here to help
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us.
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That's good news.
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Now, for us as followers of Jesus, we
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have a more specific hope yet, which is
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how that goodness of God, that help of
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God is ministered through Jesus.
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Now, obviously, when Jesus was here doing his
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ministry of teaching and healing and ultimately going
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to the cross, there was ways that he
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was helping people at that time.
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Right.
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He was healing people at that time.
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He was teaching people at that time.
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He was declaring forgiveness of sins at that
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time.
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But then after Jesus' resurrection and ascension, this
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ministry is now carried out by the church.
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So is that our hope?
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Is our hope just eventually the church is
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going to get so good at doing the
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stuff that Jesus does, that this world is
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really going to turn around and things are
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going to be better.
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There have been times in Christian history where
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people have basically had bad ads.
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You're like, yes, our hope is in the
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church getting good enough at its job that
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things will get better.
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But this is not actually the hope that
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the scripture promises, although we do want to
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be active in the present.
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We'll get back to that because of our
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future hope.
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Our future hope is not about how good
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the church will get at doing its job.
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Our future hope is actually Jesus coming again.
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So this is from 1 Thessalonians 4, kind
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of one of these key passages about Jesus'
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return of the theology of the second coming
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of Christ comes from.
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I just want to read it real briefly.
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And then Nicholas Thomas Wright, Bishop Tom Wright
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of the Church of England is going to
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help us understand this passage a little bit.
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OK, so let me read here, starting in
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verse 13.
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This is the Apostle Paul writing to the
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church at Thessalonica.
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OK, there's a lot going on in that
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passage.
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Let me just tease out three things here.
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OK, one is that this is a statement
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about death and how we understand death as
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Christians.
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I'm recording this series in the season of
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Lent.
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I believe that it will be released long
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after the season of Lent, probably during ordinary
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time, after Pentecost even.
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I work ahead on the recordings here.
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But during the season of Lent, we are
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reminded of our mortality.
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On Ash Wednesday, the priest or the pastor
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or the lay minister that puts ashes on
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people's forehead says, remember that you were dust
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and to dust you shall return.
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We need to remember our mortality as disciples
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of Jesus.
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At the same time, our understanding of that
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mortality is different because of our specific Christian
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hope.
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So that's what Paul is saying in verse
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13.
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He says that you may not grieve as
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others do who have no hope.
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For since we believe that Jesus died and
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rose again, even so through Jesus, God will
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bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
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So Paul is using this phrase fallen asleep
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as a poetic way of referring to death.
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So Paul is saying those who have died
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in Christ as his disciples, part of his
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church, baptized into his movement, they will rise
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from the dead just like Jesus did.
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The power that raised Jesus from the dead
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will also raise them from the dead and
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they will be with God.
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God will bring with him those who have
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fallen asleep.
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Okay, so that's the first thing is that
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this theology of Jesus's return includes a hope
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of resurrection, that death itself will not defeat
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us when we put our faith in Jesus.
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But Jesus with the power of his resurrection
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will raise us from the dead as well.
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Okay, second thing, Jesus will appear.
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This is in verse 15, for this we
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declare to you by word from the Lord
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that we who are alive who are left
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until the coming of the Lord.
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Will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
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So there's this phrase, the coming of the
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Lord, there's a sense that Jesus is going
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to arrive.
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And this is where Tom Wright can help
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us.
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So Tom Wright, known on this side of
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the pond as N.T. Wright, is a
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bishop in the Church of England, a theologian.
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He has a wonderful book called Surprised by
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Hope from back in 2008.
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I recommend it in its entirety if you
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want to dig into these themes of how
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do we understand the present in the light
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of God's future more fully.
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He's writing about this specific passage and that
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word coming, right, the coming of the Lord.
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And he points out that the Greek word
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is parousia, that's the word coming.
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And he says, this word is used, quote,
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when a person of high rank makes a
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visit to a subject state, particularly when a
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king or emperor visits a colony or province.
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The word for such a visit is royal
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presence in Greek parousia.
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So this is a political word.
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It's like if if the emperor Caesar went
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out to some Roman colony on the outskirts
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of the empire and showed up and decided
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to rule in person, that would be his
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royal presence, his parousia, his coming.
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And what what Tom Wright is telling us
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is that that's what Jesus will do.
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Jesus will arrive with a royal presence to
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rule the world in person.
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It's like Jesus is hidden now after his
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resurrection and ascension.
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But one day he will appear and will
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rule in person.
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OK, so first thing, there's a promise of
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resurrection rooted in Jesus own resurrection.
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Second thing, there's a promise of Jesus coming
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his royal presence to rule the world in
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person.
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Third thing, just the final couple of verses
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here.
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So we will always be with the Lord,
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therefore encourage one another with these words.
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Here, Paul links the future to the present,
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right?
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He's saying right now in the present, encourage
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one another because of our future hope of
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always being with the Lord.
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That royal presence of Jesus is his presence
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with us.
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And because of that, we can take heart.
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We can take courage in the present.
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OK, now in the light of this hope,
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how does that affect our thinking about politics?
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One thing that it does is this this
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Christian hope, this hope of Christ's return with
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a resurrection, with a royal presence, presence with
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us that encourages us in the present.
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One thing it does is it relativizes the
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hope of political good before Jesus's return.
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Relativizes the hope of political good before Jesus's
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return.
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So think about all of those presidential campaign
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slogans from the 18th through the 21st centuries
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in the history of the United States.
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Every one of them represented a promise of
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change in some way.
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A promise of a better future or a
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continuing good future or a return to an
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admired past.
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And yet we know that injustice has persisted
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for all the things we can give thanks
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for about the US political order.
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There's still a lot of mess and a
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lot of problems.
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There's still a lot to be wished for.
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There's still a lot of justice that hasn't
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yet arrived.
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And and this should not surprise us as
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disciples of Jesus.
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We have an ultimate hope of justice that
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will be established when Christ returns.
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And so that relativizes our hope for justice
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in the present.
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It's not that we don't care about the
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present.
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We work for justice in the present.
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Right.
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But we don't expect full justice to arrive
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through weak and limited and sinful human institutions.
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We know better than that.
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We know that human beings do not have
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in themselves what it takes to achieve complete
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justice.
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And he right and surprised by hope kind
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of paraphrases this idea by saying Jesus is
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Lord and Caesar isn't.
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He goes on to say Jesus is the
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reality of which Caesar is the parody.
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OK, now, now that's given Caesar kind of
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a hard time, right, like a parody, really.
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But but I think we could nuance this
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by saying, OK, you can have bad kings
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and you can have good kings.
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You can have bad rulers and you can
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have good rulers.
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And Caesar, all of the different Caesars on
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balance, were usually bad rulers.
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There was a lot of injustice.
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There was a lot of oppression.
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There's a lot of conquest.
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OK, so when Caesar is a bad king,
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right, when the ruler is bad, then it's
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a parody of Jesus is true, good, humble,
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life giving lordship.
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But even when the king is good, right,
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even when we have a political leader who
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you really admire, whoever that is, if you
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can think of somebody throughout history, who you
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think, man, that person was a good ruler.
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For me, I think of Vaclav Havel, the
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poet and playwright and first president of the
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Czech Republic, led the Velvet Revolution post-communism.
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Really inspiring fellow.
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Read his story the way he was able
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to champion democratic norms in a new way
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in the history of that area of Europe.
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Really incredible blend of his kind of artistic
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vision and his political vision.
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But even somebody like that, even somebody really
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inspiring like Vaclav Havel is to me.
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It's still just a faint echo, a smudged
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outline of the greatness and goodness of Jesus's
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rule that we look forward to when he
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returns.
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Jesus will rule with full justice, with true
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humility, with infinite generosity and with abundant grace.
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And with every human attempt to establish such
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things to shame.
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OK, so our hope of Jesus's return relativizes
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our hope for political good, for human justice
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before his return.
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But it also redeems our efforts in the
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present, leading up to his return.
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So just like Jin Erso, rebellions are built
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on hope, you know, throw your lot in
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with the rebel cause because it's worth it
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for this vision of a different future.
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Our vision of what Jesus is accomplishing when
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he comes again motivates us to do whatever
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we can to establish justice in any way
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we can in the present, because Jesus redeems
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those efforts.
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It's like all of our are faltering and
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failing human efforts to establish justice.
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They are these broken pieces and Jesus supernaturally
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catches those broken pieces and puts them into
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a mosaic of his justice that he will
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accomplish when he comes again.
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Jesus takes what's weak and warped and like
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a faint smudge of his eternal goodness in
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the present, and he carries it right into
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his future because he redeems it.
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That's what he does.
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He takes what's bad and what's faltering and
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what's incomplete and he redeems it and he
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makes it part of the good thing that
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God is doing in the world.
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It's what he delights to do.
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It's what he's always done.
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It's what he will continue to do no
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matter what political trials we face in any
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circumstances in the present until he comes again.
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And I think it's this feature in particular
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of our hope, this redemption of our weak
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and faltering efforts that actually is most relevant
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to our conversations in the workplace when political
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things come up.
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And this is in a couple of different
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ways and both of them I call coloring
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outside the lines.
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So we're going to color outside the lines
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with encouragement.
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What do I mean by coloring outside the
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lines?
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Well, in the passage, it says encourage one
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another with these words.
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Like obviously, it's easier to encourage someone who
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shares your hope of the resurrection about the
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return of Jesus than to encourage someone who
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doesn't share that hope.
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But we can color outside the lines.
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One way we can color outside the lines
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is we know that other people's efforts matter
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because of Jesus's redemption of those efforts, even
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if they don't.
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So this is this is part of the
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idea of common grace, which we've explored in
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other episodes, like there's special grace, right?
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Jesus redeems those who put their faith in
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him.
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But there's also common grace.
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All of the good stuff that people who
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are not disciples of Jesus do, those good
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things are still gifts of God.
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They're still the result of God's creativity and
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his energy and his preserving power in their
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lives, even if they don't specifically realize that
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it's God revealed in Jesus Christ who's doing
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that.
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And so because that's true, because God is
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redeeming the efforts, even of people who don't
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yet know him or haven't been reconciled to
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him through Jesus Christ, that means that all
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of our coworkers, whenever they're doing anything that's
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good, we know that that will be redeemed
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and come into the future that Jesus brings
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as well when he returns.
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And so when somebody is really discouraged about
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their work for whatever reason, and we have
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a chance to encourage them, we can say
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with more confidence than anyone, your work matters.
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Because we know that Jesus is good for
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anything that's good about their work for eternity.
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No matter how imperfect it is in the
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present, anything that's good, Jesus will preserve.
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And so we have all that we need
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to confidently say in the moment to somebody
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else, whether they're a Christian or not, your
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work matters.
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It matters deeply.
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It's making a difference.
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OK, so that's one way we can color
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outside the lines with our encouragement, super abundant
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encouragement.
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But obviously, the encouragement is the most powerful
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of people actually come to faith in Jesus.
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And so also, when political conversation happens at
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work and people are expressing discouragement or disillusionment,
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this has been happening for me in conversations
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with coworkers a lot this year.
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And I'll be honest, I've shared in some
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of that disappointment and disillusionment.
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But one thing that we can do, right,
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that's maybe different than what people are hearing
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from everywhere else, is we can reveal what
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gives us hope, given that there are so
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many disappointing and disappointing things.
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And disillusioning things going on in the political
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realm.
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We can reveal, hey, you know, I'm angry
21:56
about that, too.
21:57
I'm sad about that, too.
21:58
I'm upset about that, too.
21:59
I wish that was different, too.
22:01
And also, I have hope for ultimate justice
22:06
in Jesus Christ, regardless of what happens with
22:09
this current administration or even in our lifetimes.
22:14
Now, you got to figure out the way
22:15
that makes sense in your context and your
22:17
friendships to say that.
22:18
But I think that's a perspective that maybe
22:20
people aren't hearing, right, that that there's something
22:23
beyond the here and now that gives us
22:26
hope no matter how bad it gets here
22:28
and now.
22:29
That's the good news that we can share
22:30
with others.
22:31
That's also coloring outside the lines, inviting people
22:34
into the lines, inviting people into that hope
22:36
of Jesus's return.
22:40
Lord Jesus, thank you that you relativize broken
22:44
human systems of justice and political leadership and
22:48
that you redeem our efforts and gather them
22:51
into your great and good future.
22:54
Give us hope that motivates us in the
22:57
present to keep going no matter how bad
22:59
it gets.
23:01
Jesus, do your work in us as we
23:02
do our work with you.
23:04
Amen.
23:08
Thanks for listening.
23:10
Finding God at Work is a production of
23:11
Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
23:14
dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
23:17
life.
23:18
You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
23:20
listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
23:22
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23:24
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23:25
To get resources to go deeper with each
23:27
podcast series, read our blog, and get info
23:29
about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
23:32
go to our website, missioncentral.church.