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Andy Stanley - Talking Points Part 2:- How Christians Should Approach Politics · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: So today we are in part two of this series
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Speaker 1: called Talking Points. The subtitle is and I came up
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Speaker 1: with the subtitle, you know, so blame me the perfect
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Speaker 1: blend of politics and religion, as if there could be
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Speaker 1: a perfect blend, right. This is a series designed to
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Speaker 1: make all of us uncomfortable and hopefully at the end,
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Speaker 1: to make all of us better, because, after all, the
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Speaker 1: church should be the safest place in the world to
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Speaker 1: talk about anything, right, And so the church should be
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Speaker 1: the safest place in the world for us to talk
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Speaker 1: about politics, although in our churches we rarely talk about politics.
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Speaker 1: Besides that, you're going to be talking about politics all
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Speaker 1: year long anyway, So we thought we should jump into
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Speaker 1: the fray. Now, if you're a Christian, here's the tension,
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Speaker 1: and this is where we left off last time we
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Speaker 1: were together. And if you're not a Christian, you get
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Speaker 1: to sit on the outside and judge us to see
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Speaker 1: whether or not we do this very well. In fact,
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Speaker 1: my hunch is this, if we had done better what
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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about today, you may be more
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Speaker 1: interested in the Christian faith, or you may have never
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Speaker 1: abandoned the Christian faith to begin with. So listen carefully
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Speaker 1: the tension For those of us who are Jesus followers
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Speaker 1: is this Are we willing or are we even able?
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Speaker 1: I think that might be the better question. Are we
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Speaker 1: willing to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter?
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Speaker 1: Are we willing to be christ Followers first? And Republicans
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Speaker 1: and Democrats and libertarians and whatever else you might be? Second?
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Speaker 1: Are we willing to follow Jesus? This is the tough one.
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Speaker 1: Are we willing to follow Jesus? When following Jesus creates
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Speaker 1: space between us and our political party, space between us
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Speaker 1: and our political platform spae or the platform of our
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Speaker 1: political party, and space between us and our political candidate. Now,
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Speaker 1: to be clear, I'm not suggesting that you not be political.
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Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that you not wade into politics, talk
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Speaker 1: about politics, or run for office. I think we should
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Speaker 1: all lean into what's happening in our nation, and for
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Speaker 1: those of you who feel called to enter the fray,
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Speaker 1: you should step right in. But what I am suggesting
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Speaker 1: is that we take what Jesus said that we looked
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Speaker 1: at last week seriously, that we not allow the political
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Speaker 1: climate to divide the church, any local church, or the
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Speaker 1: church in general. Because Jesus if you'll remember the one
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Speaker 1: thing Jesus prayed for than anything else he prayed for,
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Speaker 1: In fact, it was the thing he prayed for before
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Speaker 1: he was crucified, was that his body, his movement, his
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Speaker 1: ecclesia would not be divided, that we would be one,
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Speaker 1: that we would figure out a way which we are
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Speaker 1: to disagree politically because we always will, but at the
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Speaker 1: same time love unconditionally and begin to pray for unity. Now,
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Speaker 1: the interesting thing is this, in the first century, there
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Speaker 1: was something they had in common with what happens in
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Speaker 1: our culture as well. In the first century, when you
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Speaker 1: read the Gospels, it's so fascinating. Everybody wanted Jesus to
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Speaker 1: be on their side. In fact, they would, they would
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Speaker 1: question him, and they would sort of, you know, sort
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Speaker 1: of try to pigeonhole him and get him to a
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Speaker 1: corner to where he would agree with whatever it was.
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Speaker 1: Their viewpoint was everybody wanted a piece of Jesus. They
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Speaker 1: wanted him to choose their side. And that's true today
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Speaker 1: both parties are convinced Jesus would be on their side
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Speaker 1: if he were to come back to Earth. Today, Republicans
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Speaker 1: are absolutely convinced Jesus would be a Republican because of
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Speaker 1: their values. Democrats would say absolutely, Jesus would be a
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Speaker 1: Democrat because of his care is concerned for people, and
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Speaker 1: so everybody wants a piece of Jesus. And the interesting
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Speaker 1: thing is this, if I were given the assignment, Andy,
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Speaker 1: could you come up with a sermon that would demonstrate that,
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Speaker 1: in fact, the Republican party and the Republican platform is
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Speaker 1: in sync with the teaching of Jesus. I could do that.
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Speaker 1: And if somebody else are to come along and say, Andy,
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Speaker 1: would you create a sermon that shows that the Democrat
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Speaker 1: platform and their values is in sync with the teaching
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Speaker 1: of Jesus, I could do that too. Because when you
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Speaker 1: interpret the words of Jesus, when you interpret the words
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Speaker 1: of Jesus through the filter of you, through your political filter,
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Speaker 1: it's amazing. He's so red, he's so blue. It's amazing
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Speaker 1: how often he agrees with you. So if you start
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Speaker 1: with that filter, I mean, there's plenty. And the truth
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Speaker 1: is both sides quote the Bible and both sides quote Jesus.
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Speaker 1: The really funny thing is both sides actually use the
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Speaker 1: same verses. So the question is this, can we put
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Speaker 1: our Jesus following filter our faith filter ahead of our
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Speaker 1: political filter. And it's very, very difficult to do as
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Speaker 1: we're going to today, but I'm going to try to
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Speaker 1: show you the way forward. Now Tony Evans. Tony Evans
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Speaker 1: is a famous pastor. When I was in graduate school,
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Speaker 1: he was one of my professors. And I'll never forget this.
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Speaker 1: This was during a lecture. And sometimes when you go
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Speaker 1: to graduate school and you you know, study theology, and
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Speaker 1: a lot of the professors also preach. And Tony Evans
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Speaker 1: was at heart a preacher. So this half one afternoon,
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Speaker 1: in this lecture hall full of students, he was teaching,
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Speaker 1: and then he kind of got into preaching. He was
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Speaker 1: in black preacher mode, and it was amazing and we
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Speaker 1: were like clapping and cheering and that, you know. He
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Speaker 1: just kept going and he said something. This is almost
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Speaker 1: forty years ago, and I remember this. He said, Jesus
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Speaker 1: did not come to take sides. He came to take over.
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Speaker 1: But he said it a lot better than I just did. Okay,
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Speaker 1: it was so powerful. I never forgot that. And he's
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Speaker 1: absolutely right. Jesus came. Jesus came to introduce the Kingdom
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Speaker 1: of God to earth. The Kingdom of God values the
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Speaker 1: upside down kingdom where those with the wealth and the
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Speaker 1: power leverage their wealth and power and resources for those
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Speaker 1: that have less power, less or less resource. That the
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Speaker 1: Kingdom of God, where the King laid down his life
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Speaker 1: for his subjects, rather than demanding his subjects lay down
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Speaker 1: their lives for him. The Kingdom of God that was
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Speaker 1: so broad and inclusive that he said in everybody is
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Speaker 1: invited to participate in it. But the Kingdom of God
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Speaker 1: will always perhaps I think this is the case, but
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Speaker 1: this is just my opinion. The Kingdom of God will
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Speaker 1: always in some detail and at some level conflict with
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Speaker 1: the kingdoms of men. And the Kingdom of God will always,
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Speaker 1: at some level, in some detail conflict with your political
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Speaker 1: party and the platform of your political party and our
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Speaker 1: political candidates. There's always going to be attention. And this
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Speaker 1: is why it is absolutely foolish. It is so foolish
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Speaker 1: for the Church to ever be divided over a candidate
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Speaker 1: or over a political party, because at the end of
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Speaker 1: the day, no political party is probably going to line
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Speaker 1: up with the Kingdom values of Jesus, although each party
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Speaker 1: has a little bit of it, even though that's just
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Speaker 1: for some of us to acknowledge, But again, it's foolish
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Speaker 1: for us to be divided because we're supposed to be
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Speaker 1: kingdom people first and political people second. But that's very,
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Speaker 1: very difficult to do. So here's what I'm gonna do today.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to give you a template, a very simple
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Speaker 1: template to help us understand where agreement ends and diverse
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Speaker 1: opinions begin. To understand where agreement. Because we're supposed to
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Speaker 1: be one, we're not allowed that. We shouldn't allow any
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Speaker 1: political party or candidate to divide the you know, the
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Speaker 1: Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm going to
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Speaker 1: try to give you a little template to help us
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Speaker 1: all understand where does agreement in and diverse opinions, especially
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Speaker 1: diverse political opinions begin. So to start with the Apostle Paul,
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Speaker 1: who you know, we talk about all the time. The
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Speaker 1: Apostle Paul steps under the pages of history, as you know,
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Speaker 1: with somebody who hates Christians. He was a Pharisee, he
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Speaker 1: was brilliant, super educated, becomes a Jesus follower, and he
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Speaker 1: had the distinction of being a Roman citizen. So he
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Speaker 1: had all of this background, all of this stuff going
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Speaker 1: on in usse Paul and two of his letters, gives
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Speaker 1: us a phrase that I think gives us a great
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Speaker 1: starting point for putting together this template. And he uses
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Speaker 1: a phrase that perhaps you've never seen before because he
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Speaker 1: only uses it twice, and the letters that survived antiquity,
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Speaker 1: and the phrase is this he refers to the law
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Speaker 1: of Christ. The law of Christ. Now, the law of
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Speaker 1: Christ as we're going to discover. Was his shorthand for
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Speaker 1: Jesus' new covenant command that we talk about all the time.
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Speaker 1: When Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Final Passover,
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Speaker 1: he said, guys, I'm giving you new command. This command
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Speaker 1: is going to be a substitute for all the other
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Speaker 1: commands you had six hundred and thirteen, you had Torah,
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Speaker 1: but I'm giving you a new command because we're establishing
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Speaker 1: a new covenant. And as you probably know, the new
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Speaker 1: command was simple. It was, you are to love one
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Speaker 1: another with a caveat, as I have loved you. This
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Speaker 1: isn't just a love fest. You are to love one another.
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Speaker 1: This isn't one way. This is two ways. You're to
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Speaker 1: love one another as I have loved you. And then
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Speaker 1: he said this, by this, by this unique brand of love,
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Speaker 1: by this unique brand of new covenant love. Everyone will
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Speaker 1: know you're my disciple. If you love one another. It's
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Speaker 1: a two way thing. It's a community thing. It's a
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Speaker 1: family thing. It's an all skate, it's an everybody in
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Speaker 1: there loving one another, but not just loving one another.
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Speaker 1: Any way you want to love one another, you are
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Speaker 1: to take Jesus would say, you are to take your
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Speaker 1: cues from me. So the apostle Paul takes that idea
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Speaker 1: and he pushes it through all of his letters as
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Speaker 1: the uniting ethic for all Jesus' followers. And this phrase,
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Speaker 1: the law of Christ, is the phrase he uses to
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Speaker 1: take his readers back to that night and back to
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Speaker 1: that big idea, the kingdom ethic, the marching orders for
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Speaker 1: anyone who's a follower of Jesus. Here's a couple of examples.
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Speaker 1: He writes this in his letter to Christians living in Corinth.
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Speaker 1: He says, though I am free and belong to no one,
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Speaker 1: I have made myself a slave. Strong language, especially in
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Speaker 1: a day and age when there were slaves everywhere. You
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Speaker 1: couldn't go anywhere without seeing a slave. I have made
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Speaker 1: myself a slave to everyone, to everyone. Why Paul law
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Speaker 1: to win as many as possible pauses. Look, I'm on
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Speaker 1: a mission. I don't have much time left, and I
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Speaker 1: did a lot of damage to the church, so I'm
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Speaker 1: trying to make up for lost time, and I'm willing
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Speaker 1: to do anything short of sin to convince gentiles that
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Speaker 1: God has done something on their behalf in the world.
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Speaker 1: He continues to those not having the law, talking about
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Speaker 1: the law of Moses the Torah. For those not having
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Speaker 1: the law, that's gentiles. I became like one of those
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Speaker 1: not having the law. In other words, I became a
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Speaker 1: gentile in order to reach gentiles, even though I'm Jewish.
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Speaker 1: This is the extreme to which he's willing to go,
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Speaker 1: but then he qualifies it. He says, though I am
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Speaker 1: not free from the law of God, to which a
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Speaker 1: Jewish reader would say, Wait a minute. You just said
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Speaker 1: you're not under the law. You're not going to act
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Speaker 1: like somebody under the law, but you're not out from
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Speaker 1: underneath the law of God. What are you talking about.
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Speaker 1: So you've pulled out from underneath Torah, but somehow you're
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Speaker 1: still under the law of God. Paul saying, yeah, I'm
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Speaker 1: still under God's authority. I'm just not under Torah. And
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Speaker 1: then he tells us what law he is under? And
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Speaker 1: here our phrase, he says, but I am under the
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Speaker 1: law of Christ. There it is so, I'm no longer
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Speaker 1: under the law of Moses, but I'm still under God's authority,
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Speaker 1: because I'm under the law of Christ. And what is
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Speaker 1: the law of Christ. You are to love one another
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Speaker 1: as I have loved you. In his letter to Christians
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Speaker 1: living in the Roman province of Galatia, he says this.
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Speaker 1: This is a little bit more descriptive. He says, carry
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Speaker 1: each other's burdens. When you see somebody who's burdened financially,
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Speaker 1: somebody's burdened with kids, somebody's burdened with work, somebody's burdened
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Speaker 1: with a physical ailment that has gotten tripped up in life.
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Speaker 1: You are to carry one another's. And again, this isn't
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Speaker 1: each other thing, This isn't everybody's in This is the
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Speaker 1: body of Christ functioning like the body. Carry each other's burdens.
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Speaker 1: And if you do look at this, if you'll do that,
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Speaker 1: you are fulfilling. And here it is again the law
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Speaker 1: of Christ. And what is the law of Christ. You
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Speaker 1: are to love as I have loved you. You are
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Speaker 1: to love one another as I have loved you. So
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Speaker 1: if you have a concern for someone or I should
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Speaker 1: say this way, when the can concerns of others concern you,
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Speaker 1: When the concerns of others concern you and you act
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Speaker 1: on it, you are fulfilling the law of Christ. You
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Speaker 1: are doing what Jesus told the disciples to do. And again,
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Speaker 1: the New Testament marching orders for those of us who
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Speaker 1: are Jesus followers. So here's the thing. As Jesus followers,
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Speaker 1: all of all persuasions, regardless of your political persuasion. If
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Speaker 1: you're a Jesus followers, the law of Christ, that is
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Speaker 1: your marching orders, and the law of Christ should inform
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Speaker 1: over time as we grow as Christians our conscience. That
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Speaker 1: our conscience should become hardwired into the law of Christ,
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Speaker 1: so that when we do something that is in contrary
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Speaker 1: so loving as Christ loved us, it should bother us.
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Speaker 1: It should ding our conscience. But not just our conscience personally,
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Speaker 1: it should ding our collective conscience. That we should all
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Speaker 1: be as a group, as a body, we should all
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Speaker 1: be disturbed, irritated, or convicted by some of the same things.
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Speaker 1: We should all be disturbed, irritated, and convicted when we
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Speaker 1: see injustice, to disturbed, irritated, or convicted when we accidentally
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Speaker 1: disrespect someone or accidentally don't give them what they deserve,
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Speaker 1: or we see somebody in culture being disrespected. When we
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Speaker 1: see people undermining their own future, undermining their health, undermining
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Speaker 1: their relationship with their kids, undermining the integrity of their family,
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Speaker 1: or the integrity of society, we should be moved by that.
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Speaker 1: We should be moved to action. It should bother us.
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Speaker 1: It should ding our conscience. Whenever we see somebody expressing
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Speaker 1: autonomy that undermines their family, autonomy that undermines the health
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Speaker 1: of a community, that should bother us. Anytime we are
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Speaker 1: somebody within the balands of Christianity, whenever we see them
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Speaker 1: violating this law of Christ, it should bother us. Collectively,
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Speaker 1: our conscience should kind of go off. And when we
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Speaker 1: see that outside the church, it should bother us as well,
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Speaker 1: and then we have to be measured in our response.
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Speaker 1: But our collective conscience the thing that just kind of
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Speaker 1: sets us back, that moves us to apology, moves us
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Speaker 1: to action. That it's all tied to this idea that
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Speaker 1: you are to love other people, respect other people, recognize
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Speaker 1: the dignity of other people. The way Christ said that
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Speaker 1: I did for you, that I left heaven for you,
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Speaker 1: that I am not afraid of guilt by association. If
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Speaker 1: Jesus had been concerned about guilt by association, he would
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Speaker 1: have stayed in heaven. Right. So look, he's saying, I
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Speaker 1: want you to take your cue about how you treat
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Speaker 1: other people and how you treat each other from me,
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Speaker 1: because according to Jesus, if you want to set policy,
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Speaker 1: what's good for people, that's what's good. What's best for people,
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Speaker 1: that's what's best. So the law of Christ should inform
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Speaker 1: our collective conscience. Let me give you a couple of
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Speaker 1: quick examples, because as simple as that is, this is
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Speaker 1: a powerful, powerful, powerful dynamic. In fact, this dynamic shaped
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Speaker 1: Western culture. You hear me say that all the time,
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Speaker 1: but it's absolutely true. For example, once upon a time,
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Speaker 1: all over the world, everyone in the world, every village,
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Speaker 1: every town, every kingdom, it was self evident, which means
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Speaker 1: it was obvious. It was unquestioned. It was like duh,
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Speaker 1: it was like why are we even talking about this?
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Speaker 1: I mean, it was just so obvious. Once upon a time,
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Speaker 1: it was self evident that some people should be owned
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Speaker 1: by and controlled by other people that the whole idea
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Speaker 1: of slavery, that people owning people was so self evident
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Speaker 1: it was not a moral issue. It was not even
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Speaker 1: a question. It was just the way of things. It
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Speaker 1: was just the way of things. In fact, fourth century BC.
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Speaker 1: Aristotle a philosopher, a Greek philosopher, and a Greek philosopher
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Speaker 1: was their responsibility was to make everything make sense in
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Speaker 1: the world. We're gonna make science make sense with the
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Speaker 1: way that people act, the way that people behave. We're
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Speaker 1: gonna try to make it all work together. So there's
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Speaker 1: one holistic understanding of how the world works. And so Aristotle,
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Speaker 1: here's what he wrote. He said, for that some should
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Speaker 1: rule and others be ruled is a thing not not
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Speaker 1: only necessary, it's expedient. He's talking about slavery. It's not
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Speaker 1: only as slavery necessary, it's expedient. I mean, there's just
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Speaker 1: no way that the world would work without some people
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Speaker 1: ruling over and controlling and dominating and owning other people.
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Speaker 1: From the hour of their birth, some are marked out
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Speaker 1: for subjection and others for rule. I mean, I mean,
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Speaker 1: the idea of doing away with slavery, it's like, that's
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Speaker 1: not even a question. That's like saying the sun's not
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Speaker 1: going to come up. I mean, it was just obvious.
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Speaker 1: But fourth century AD, after Christianity had taken hold and
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Speaker 1: begun to take hold of the Roman Empire, Saint Augustine,
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Speaker 1: a fourth century Christian bishop, said, no, slavery is the
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Speaker 1: result of sin. And suddenly a brand new idea is
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Speaker 1: born from this brilliant mind. In a world where there's
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Speaker 1: still slavery was just a permanent part of the landscape everywhere.
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Speaker 1: Suddenly it begins to dawn on Christians as early, in fact,
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Speaker 1: earlier than that. But you know, this is Augustine, you know,
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Speaker 1: he's famous guy, Sant Augustine. He said, no, slavery isn't expedient,
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Speaker 1: Slavery isn't a part of nature. Slavery is the result
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Speaker 1: of sin. And as early as the fourth century eighty
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Speaker 1: Christians began having misgivings and began to see the discrepancy
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Speaker 1: between what the scriptures say about people being made in
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Speaker 1: the image of God and loving as Christ loved us,
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Speaker 1: and the you know, the horror of slavery. One more example.
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Speaker 1: Once up in a time it was self evident, it
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Speaker 1: was obvious. It was like nobody questioned it that in fanticide,
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Speaker 1: or in the Roman world they call it exposure, that
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Speaker 1: it's in fantaside, was good for society. In other words,
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Speaker 1: it was the right thing to do. In fact, there
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Speaker 1: were certain community laws and social laws in certain parts
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Speaker 1: of the Roman Empire where you were required to allow
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Speaker 1: your baby to die. And in some cases it was
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Speaker 1: because a girl. It was a girl, you didn't have
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Speaker 1: a boy yet, or you just didn't want a girl.
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Speaker 1: You could just you could expose your child. And the
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Speaker 1: way it would work. You just take your baby and
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Speaker 1: you place your baby outside the walls of your village,
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Speaker 1: place your baby on the edge of a forest. You
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Speaker 1: place your baby down by the river. Then you go home.
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Speaker 1: And legally you were not culpable for allowing your child
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Speaker 1: to die or killing your child, because the fates would
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Speaker 1: decide the fate of your child, so you were innocent.
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Speaker 1: And this was just the way it was. If a
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Speaker 1: man suspected that his wife was pregnant by another man
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Speaker 1: when she had the baby, you took the baby and
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Speaker 1: you exposed the baby. If the baby had a birth defect,
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Speaker 1: you exposed the baby. If you didn't want another little girl,
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Speaker 1: you exposed the baby. There were really no rules other
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Speaker 1: than you couldn't take the baby's life yourself. This was
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Speaker 1: just this was just the way of things. This was
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Speaker 1: self evident. But Christians from the very beginning disagreed. And
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Speaker 1: Christians from the very beginning condemned exposure, and condemned and fantaside.
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Speaker 1: And they would eventually go out into the edges of
17:48
Speaker 1: the forest where children were often left, and down by
17:50
Speaker 1: the river, and they would bring these children into their
17:53
Speaker 1: own small homes with a little bit of food they have,
17:56
Speaker 1: and begin to raise these children themselves. Why the Old
18:01
Speaker 1: neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament rewarded it
18:04
Speaker 1: or encouraged it. Right, scripture didn't require it, So why
18:09
Speaker 1: did they do it. There was no verse that says,
18:10
Speaker 1: here's what you're supposed to do. It's because love required it.
18:15
Speaker 1: As they began to understand what it meant to be
18:17
Speaker 1: made in the image of God, where they begin to
18:19
Speaker 1: understand the law of Christ, we are to love others
18:21
Speaker 1: as we have been loved. And to think about it,
18:23
Speaker 1: we were like little babies that were adopted into the
18:25
Speaker 1: Kingdom of God. We had no clue what was going on.
18:28
Speaker 1: While we were still sinners. Christ gave his life for us,
18:31
Speaker 1: and suddenly there was a tension around Well again, it
18:34
Speaker 1: was just an expected tradition or expected practice all over
18:37
Speaker 1: the Roman Empire. Then they began to rescue these babies,
18:41
Speaker 1: and as Christianity began to take a hold and began
18:44
Speaker 1: to make inroads into the Roman Empire, and as the
18:46
Speaker 1: Empire's conscience began to be affected by the teaching of Christianity.
18:52
Speaker 1: In the year three eighteen, after embracing Christianity, Emperor Constantine
18:57
Speaker 1: declares infanticide a crime. Why the change, because suddenly it
19:02
Speaker 1: became a conscious issue. Why did it become a conscious
19:05
Speaker 1: issue because of the teaching of Jesus and the unity
19:08
Speaker 1: of the church around the teaching of Jesus. In the
19:10
Speaker 1: year three seventy four, Emperor Valentinian made exposure. Just setting
19:15
Speaker 1: your baby somewhere to die a capital offense. You could
19:18
Speaker 1: lose your life if your baby lost its life because
19:21
Speaker 1: of your neglect. This was amazing. But when the law
19:25
Speaker 1: of Christ, when the law of Christ informs an individual
19:30
Speaker 1: or a village or a city, or a nation's conscience,
19:34
Speaker 1: things change. And there has been so much changed even
19:38
Speaker 1: in our nation because of this very same dynamic, because
19:41
Speaker 1: it's so brilliant. Jesus single New Covenant command was so powerful,
19:46
Speaker 1: it was so ahead of its time, It was so
19:49
Speaker 1: modeled and baked into the Crucifixion and the Resurrection that
19:53
Speaker 1: it is trans cultural and it is transgenerational. It sits
19:56
Speaker 1: at the epicenter of the Kingdom of God. Values will
20:00
Speaker 1: never go out of day. It doesn't have a shelf life.
20:03
Speaker 1: We are forever and ever every generation to do for
20:06
Speaker 1: others what God through Christ has done for us. And
20:09
Speaker 1: that kind of ethic and that kind of morality is
20:12
Speaker 1: to inform our conscience, and as we have influence in
20:15
Speaker 1: the world, to inform the conscience of people who aren't
20:18
Speaker 1: even in the church and could care less about the church.
20:20
Speaker 1: This is why, this is why the church is so important,
20:26
Speaker 1: because part of our responsibility is to be salt in light,
20:29
Speaker 1: and being salt in light is we are to be
20:30
Speaker 1: the conscience of the nation and shape the conscience of
20:32
Speaker 1: the nation. It's also why we cannot be divided. We
20:37
Speaker 1: dare not be divided, especially over political issues, especially over
20:42
Speaker 1: candidates that come and they go, political parties and platforms
20:47
Speaker 1: that come and they go, and they change, and so
20:50
Speaker 1: it is incumbent upon us to figure out how to
20:52
Speaker 1: be one as Jesus prayed we would be one in
20:55
Speaker 1: spite of our political differences. And that leads us to
20:58
Speaker 1: the third part of our template, and that's this, The
21:00
Speaker 1: law of Christ informs our conscience, and to an informed conscience,
21:04
Speaker 1: we are to incorporate knowledge and wisdom. And let me
21:08
Speaker 1: explain why this is important. One of the great advantages
21:12
Speaker 1: of the human race is we are able to collect
21:15
Speaker 1: information and pass it to the next generation. Okay, I've
21:18
Speaker 1: had several dogs. They're all equally dogs. None of them
21:22
Speaker 1: came in going Okay, I got this because my mama
21:24
Speaker 1: taught me and her mama taught her. Okay, they just
21:26
Speaker 1: can't do it. They're just they just they're dogs, right.
21:28
Speaker 1: Animal kingdom, which is wonderful, but humanity, because of writing,
21:33
Speaker 1: writing allowed one generation to gift the next generation with
21:36
Speaker 1: everything they've learned, which gifted the next generation with everything
21:38
Speaker 1: they've learned. So consequently, every generation is smarter than the
21:42
Speaker 1: generation before. And with knowledge comes extra wisdom and extra insight.
21:48
Speaker 1: And so as people of the twenty first century, as
21:50
Speaker 1: we think about what does it look like to live
21:53
Speaker 1: out this kingdom ethic, we should add to our informed conscience,
21:56
Speaker 1: the knowledge of science, the knowledge of psychology, and the
22:00
Speaker 1: wisdom that comes with understanding how our world works and
22:03
Speaker 1: understanding how we're made. So all of this works together.
22:06
Speaker 1: Another way of thinking about it is this. If somebody
22:09
Speaker 1: ask you where do babies come from? Your answer to
22:13
Speaker 1: that question is determined by the age of the person asking. Right,
22:17
Speaker 1: when a four year old ask, you don't lie to them,
22:20
Speaker 1: but you give them an answer. You accommodate to their capacity.
22:23
Speaker 1: When a fifteen year old ask, you would say you
22:25
Speaker 1: should know by now. Okay, So if a twelve year old,
22:27
Speaker 1: in other words, every age, if a twenty five year
22:30
Speaker 1: old is asking this, you know this question in a
22:32
Speaker 1: graduate and graduate school context, in other words, we don't lie,
22:36
Speaker 1: but we always accommodate to the capacity of the person asking.
22:39
Speaker 1: This is so fascinating, your heavenly father, God accommodates to
22:44
Speaker 1: the capacity of his people. So when we look at Genesis,
22:48
Speaker 1: we see God accommodating to the capacity of an ancient ancient,
22:52
Speaker 1: ancient pre science, you know, pre tile and all never
22:56
Speaker 1: took a warm shower group of people. Right. When Jesus
23:00
Speaker 1: manifests himself, he says, the kingdom has come and I
23:03
Speaker 1: have come as the king son, I've come to dwell
23:06
Speaker 1: with you. He explains God, but he explains God in
23:09
Speaker 1: a way that the Old Testament it doesn't quite explain God. Well.
23:12
Speaker 1: People's capacity has changed, things have changed, and in every
23:14
Speaker 1: generation our knowledge increases, our insight increases, and God's ability
23:18
Speaker 1: to help us understand how he made the world and
23:21
Speaker 1: how the world works increases. And as Christians, and this
23:24
Speaker 1: is kind of a tension point. As Christians, we should
23:28
Speaker 1: be on the forefront. We should never resist science, we
23:32
Speaker 1: should never resist discovery. We should be the most curious
23:35
Speaker 1: people because our faith is tethered not to an interpretation
23:39
Speaker 1: of a text. Our faith is tethered to an event
23:42
Speaker 1: and history, the resurrection of Jesus. So we don't need
23:46
Speaker 1: to fear new and we don't need to fear science.
23:49
Speaker 1: And every once in a while a generation comes along
23:51
Speaker 1: that kind of gets in a running gun battle or
23:53
Speaker 1: spitting match with science, and it's so foolish. So we
23:57
Speaker 1: should incorporate into our informed conscience is the knowledge and
24:01
Speaker 1: the wisdom that comes with this age that's been handed
24:04
Speaker 1: to us by the people that came before. So the
24:07
Speaker 1: knowledge and wisdom combined with an informed conscience. That is
24:10
Speaker 1: what we should use, and that's what we should leverage
24:13
Speaker 1: to determine which policies and platform and legislation we support.
24:18
Speaker 1: So let me go through it one more time. The
24:20
Speaker 1: law of Christ, if you're a Jesus follower non negotiable,
24:24
Speaker 1: an informed conscience. Over time, as you learn more and
24:26
Speaker 1: more and follow Jesus longer, your conscience is going to
24:29
Speaker 1: be shaped according to the law of Christ, knowledge and wisdom.
24:32
Speaker 1: This is a bit intuitive, okay. This is why when
24:35
Speaker 1: your children get sick, you don't call me. You call
24:38
Speaker 1: the doctor. Once upon a time, when the children got sick,
24:41
Speaker 1: they called the priest. But now you don't call the
24:43
Speaker 1: priest anymore. You call the doctor. Not because you don't
24:45
Speaker 1: believe in the healing power of God, but because we
24:47
Speaker 1: have accumulated knowledge and wisdom in terms of how the
24:50
Speaker 1: human body works. And as Christians, we don't see any
24:53
Speaker 1: conflict between those two things. And I'll pray for your child,
24:55
Speaker 1: but you don't even call for prayer, right for the
24:57
Speaker 1: most part, because you go to the doctor, understands how
25:00
Speaker 1: the body works, and off you go. So we naturally
25:03
Speaker 1: and intuitively incorporate knowledge and wisdom into our thinking but
25:07
Speaker 1: here's the rub. All that is kind of yeah, I
25:11
Speaker 1: didn't you know, Andy, I knew that I didn't think
25:12
Speaker 1: of it in those terms, But no new information yet.
25:14
Speaker 1: Here's the rub when it comes to this, When it
25:18
Speaker 1: comes to this, there will always be disagreement among Christians.
25:23
Speaker 1: When it comes to this, there will always be disagreement
25:27
Speaker 1: among Christians. And the reason we will always disagree here
25:31
Speaker 1: and this is where we have work to do. And
25:33
Speaker 1: this is where I hope that you'll be willing to
25:35
Speaker 1: move and that you'll be willing to be a little
25:37
Speaker 1: bit open minded. The reason that we will always have
25:40
Speaker 1: work to do here is this, because where you stand
25:46
Speaker 1: depends upon where you sit. Where you stand, where you
25:51
Speaker 1: take a stand depends upon where you sit. This is
25:55
Speaker 1: you may have heard this before. This is called Miles law.
25:58
Speaker 1: It was named for Rufus Miles, who is a part
26:00
Speaker 1: of the Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Johnson administration. And this
26:05
Speaker 1: was his statement, and to kind of tease it out,
26:07
Speaker 1: here's here's what it means that our cultural context, that's
26:11
Speaker 1: where we sit, where you live, who you're related to,
26:14
Speaker 1: how much money you have, what you know, your cultural context,
26:18
Speaker 1: where you sit determines your perspective in life. It determines
26:22
Speaker 1: what you see, what you experience, how you see it,
26:26
Speaker 1: and how you interpret it. And this is true for
26:28
Speaker 1: all of us. This is why if I could kind of,
26:31
Speaker 1: you know, push on you a little bit. This is
26:33
Speaker 1: why most of you don't see any conflict between your
26:36
Speaker 1: faith and your politics, none at all. You are loving
26:39
Speaker 1: this series because you have some friends who need to
26:42
Speaker 1: hear it, right, But you're good. It's like, yeah, amen,
26:45
Speaker 1: if this was an amen, church, Amen. Any people need
26:48
Speaker 1: to put their faith first and their politics second. And
26:50
Speaker 1: that's why I'm a Republican because when I put my
26:53
Speaker 1: faith first, clearly the Republicans are right, Amen, into your right,
26:56
Speaker 1: I'm with you, one hundred percent with you. I got
26:59
Speaker 1: my faith first. That's that's why I'm a Democrat. Right maybe,
27:07
Speaker 1: but probably not because your political views, you know this,
27:13
Speaker 1: they weren't shaped in a vacuum. And pausing to recognize
27:18
Speaker 1: this and pausing long enough to incorporate this into your
27:22
Speaker 1: thinking is what it means to be mature. And oh
27:25
Speaker 1: my goodness, do we need a little bit more maturity
27:28
Speaker 1: in the political discussion in our nation right now? Right? Okay?
27:32
Speaker 1: So yeah, I go. That was a golf club. I know, amen,
27:37
Speaker 1: don't get me going right. In fact, pausing to recognize
27:41
Speaker 1: this is the way forward. Pausing to recognize this is
27:44
Speaker 1: how the extremes, if they're mature, are willing to move
27:47
Speaker 1: toward the middle. Now understand, I'm not suggesting that we
27:51
Speaker 1: all get in the middle and we have a kumbai
27:52
Speaker 1: Ya moment and we all become some new party. We
27:54
Speaker 1: all agree on anything. Let me say it again, that
27:56
Speaker 1: fourth line that I had up here a minute ago.
27:58
Speaker 1: There's always going to be disagreement when it comes to policy,
28:01
Speaker 1: platform and legislation. And that's okay. As long as we
28:05
Speaker 1: are mature enough not to allow it to divide us.
28:07
Speaker 1: And if we're mature enough not to allow it to
28:08
Speaker 1: divide us, we will be better for the conversation. It's
28:12
Speaker 1: a step toward political unity, and it's a step toward
28:15
Speaker 1: unity in spite of I should say political diversity. So
28:19
Speaker 1: political views and values. You know this, Political views and values,
28:22
Speaker 1: like all of your views and values, are shaped by
28:25
Speaker 1: a variety of things, most of which we had or
28:29
Speaker 1: have no control over. And if we can acknowledge this
28:33
Speaker 1: and take a deep breath, we all learn something and
28:36
Speaker 1: we don't change what we believe, but we gain understanding
28:40
Speaker 1: in terms of why other people act the way they
28:42
Speaker 1: do and believe the way they do, and we won't
28:45
Speaker 1: experience division. Here the thing, here's some of the things
28:47
Speaker 1: that impact the way you think and believe politically. Right
28:50
Speaker 1: where we live, how we were raised, where we were educated,
28:54
Speaker 1: if we were educated, what we've been told, what we've seen,
28:59
Speaker 1: what we've experience, and what we've seen others experience. These
29:04
Speaker 1: are the factors. And these are just a few. These
29:06
Speaker 1: are the dynamics that shape our political viewpoint. Perhaps the
29:10
Speaker 1: best evidence of this is if you think about your
29:13
Speaker 1: parents' political viewpoints. If I were to say to you,
29:16
Speaker 1: why do you think your dad was Republican? Why do
29:18
Speaker 1: you think your mom was just absolutely committed to be
29:20
Speaker 1: a different why? You would have an answer, and you
29:22
Speaker 1: would relate it not so much necessarily to their theology,
29:25
Speaker 1: but to the world they grew up in. And the
29:27
Speaker 1: same is true for you, and the same is true
29:29
Speaker 1: for me. And that doesn't mean that we have dismissed
29:31
Speaker 1: the significance of our faith, not at all. It's that
29:34
Speaker 1: when these two things come together, we have a tendency
29:37
Speaker 1: to use one to prop up the other. We all do,
29:42
Speaker 1: but what if? What if? Especially over these next few months,
29:47
Speaker 1: we were able to step back and begin to view
29:49
Speaker 1: it just a little bit differently, not change what you
29:52
Speaker 1: believe or who you vote for, but to just see
29:54
Speaker 1: it a little bit differently again, because where you stand
29:58
Speaker 1: depends on where you sit, and recognizing this allows us
30:05
Speaker 1: to open our hands and open our minds and open
30:10
Speaker 1: our hearts without changing our political viewpoint. But beware, when
30:17
Speaker 1: you start down this road, you may change some of
30:21
Speaker 1: what you think and even some of what you believe.
30:23
Speaker 1: But that's not the goal. That's just an unintended consequence
30:27
Speaker 1: or an unintended outcome. So, putting it all together, here's
30:30
Speaker 1: what looks like law of Christ and form, conscience, knowledge
30:32
Speaker 1: and wisdom, policy, platform and legislation. Now that's not dynamic,
30:38
Speaker 1: that's just kind of an is. So I want to
30:40
Speaker 1: spend the next four and a half minutes making a
30:42
Speaker 1: suggestion in terms of what we do with this and
30:46
Speaker 1: what we do about this. And this isn't complicated, and
30:49
Speaker 1: this isn't new, and this isn't anything you haven't heard before.
30:52
Speaker 1: But sometimes you just got to say what everybody knows,
30:54
Speaker 1: so everybody remembers to do it three things so simple.
30:58
Speaker 1: Begin to listen. Listen, and specifically listen to people who
31:04
Speaker 1: don't experience the world the way you do. Listen to
31:08
Speaker 1: people who don't experience the world the way you do,
31:12
Speaker 1: not just the haves and the have nots, the Christians
31:15
Speaker 1: and the not Christians, young and old, black and white,
31:19
Speaker 1: gay and straight, married and single, new citizens, old citizens,
31:25
Speaker 1: people who've been in the military, people who despise the military.
31:28
Speaker 1: Begin to listen to people who have experienced the world
31:32
Speaker 1: differently than the way you have. And number two, once
31:36
Speaker 1: you start listening, learn something. Okay, don't just well, I listen,
31:40
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna think. No, learn listen. Come on,
31:43
Speaker 1: we're Christians again. Our faith is tethered to an event.
31:46
Speaker 1: We don't need to be afraid of new information. We
31:48
Speaker 1: don't need to be afraid of new knowledge. We don't
31:49
Speaker 1: need to be afraid of new opinions. Be curious. I
31:52
Speaker 1: stole this from Sam Harris, my favorite atheist. Pay attention
31:56
Speaker 1: to the frontiers of your ignorance. I love that. Pay
31:59
Speaker 1: attention to tell myself that all the time. Andy, don't
32:01
Speaker 1: turn away, don't refuse to read that book, don't turn
32:03
Speaker 1: that off just because it disagrees with your worldview, pay
32:06
Speaker 1: attention to the frontiers of your ignorance. Be a student,
32:10
Speaker 1: not just a critic. You're you're an amazing critic, without
32:14
Speaker 1: one single lesson amazing, You're just an amazing critic. Right,
32:17
Speaker 1: I mean, some of you mute the television so you
32:19
Speaker 1: can do your own commentary. To your family, they love that.
32:22
Speaker 1: It's like, dad, thank you. If we know what you think.
32:25
Speaker 1: Could you turn the volume back up? Right? I mean,
32:27
Speaker 1: we love it? But would you would you pause? And
32:31
Speaker 1: would you become a student not just a critic? Otherwise
32:37
Speaker 1: I push at you a little bit. Otherwise you're gonna
32:40
Speaker 1: discount every bit of information. You're gonna discount anything that
32:45
Speaker 1: doesn't fit perfectly in your current flawed worldview. If you
32:53
Speaker 1: don't listen and you don't learn, if we don't listen
32:56
Speaker 1: to each other and learn from each other, we will
32:59
Speaker 1: discount anything that doesn't fit perfectly within our flawed world view,
33:05
Speaker 1: and we quit learning. And when you quit learning, something
33:09
Speaker 1: bad happens on the inside. And you're better than that,
33:13
Speaker 1: and we should be better than that. Let me put
33:16
Speaker 1: it this way. If you're a Democrat, your Republican brothers
33:20
Speaker 1: and sisters, aren't crazy. They're not. If you're a Republican,
33:28
Speaker 1: you're Democrat. Brothers and sisters, they're not crazy. Nobody's crazy.
33:34
Speaker 1: They just sit in a different place, so they see
33:38
Speaker 1: the world in a different way. And as long as
33:41
Speaker 1: we catch ourselves saying, I don't know how anybody could
33:43
Speaker 1: believe that You've just confessed something about you, not them,
33:47
Speaker 1: I don't know how anybody can believe that, Well, then, Andy,
33:49
Speaker 1: you don't know something. Learn it. I don't see how
33:52
Speaker 1: anybody could behave that. I don't understand how anybody could
33:54
Speaker 1: behave that way. Well, there's something I don't understand. I
33:57
Speaker 1: don't know why anybody would react that way. Well, there's
33:59
Speaker 1: something out understand. So why wouldn't we, especially within the
34:03
Speaker 1: Body of Christ, take time to understand? Because everybody's behavior
34:10
Speaker 1: makes perfect sense to them. Everybody's response makes perfect sense
34:16
Speaker 1: to them. Everybody's viewpoint, everybody's politics makes perfect sense to them.
34:21
Speaker 1: And when we don't understand, it's because we don't understand.
34:28
Speaker 1: In fact, if you're a Republican, you need to know
34:30
Speaker 1: that Democrats are really just like you. And if you're
34:32
Speaker 1: a Democrat, you need to know the Republicans are just
34:33
Speaker 1: like you. They're taking a stand based upon where they sit.
34:39
Speaker 1: Last thing, third l word love. Never please, never ever
34:47
Speaker 1: ever burn a relational bridge over a political view. Never
34:51
Speaker 1: ever ever burn a relay. Well these say, well they
34:53
Speaker 1: started the fire, Okay, well they started the fire on
34:55
Speaker 1: they're into the bridge. Don't and like, don't start a
34:57
Speaker 1: fire on you're into the bridge. Never burn a bridge,
35:00
Speaker 1: a relational bridge, because of over a political view. Because
35:04
Speaker 1: this goes back to Jesus commandment, This goes back to
35:07
Speaker 1: the Cross, This goes back to the epicenter of what
35:09
Speaker 1: we believe is Christians. The you besides you is more
35:12
Speaker 1: precious to God than your potentially flawed view of you
35:16
Speaker 1: that you changed ten years ago of you that you're
35:19
Speaker 1: going to change five years from now. Do not burn
35:23
Speaker 1: a relational bridge over a political view. That you beside
35:25
Speaker 1: you is more precious to God than your potentially flawed view.
35:30
Speaker 1: While you and the person you're burning the bridge down with,
35:32
Speaker 1: while both of you were yet sinners, Christ died for
35:36
Speaker 1: both of you. How dare I? How dare I burn
35:41
Speaker 1: down a relational bridge with someone for whom Christ died?
35:45
Speaker 1: And how dare you do the same thing? If you're
35:48
Speaker 1: a Jesus follower. So come on, let's listen, learn and love.
35:55
Speaker 1: And again, like I said last week, I know you
35:57
Speaker 1: can't help but think this, Andy, this's so naive you
36:01
Speaker 1: really think that's gonna make any difference. You just remember this.
36:05
Speaker 1: Once upon a time there were a handful of Jesus
36:08
Speaker 1: followers crushed between an empire and the temple, and they
36:13
Speaker 1: gave to Caesar what was Caesar's, and they gave to
36:18
Speaker 1: God what was God's, their lives. And now the empire
36:23
Speaker 1: is no more, the Temple is no more. Rome's most
36:27
Speaker 1: famous emperor is nothing but a footnote in the story
36:32
Speaker 1: of Jesus of Nazareth. Kingdoms colm, kingdoms, go, empires rise,
36:38
Speaker 1: empire's fall. Jesus said, I'm gonna build my ecclasea and
36:42
Speaker 1: nothing is ever going to stop it. And he did,
36:48
Speaker 1: and we've been invited to be part of it. And
36:50
Speaker 1: it is still the way forward. And our responsibility, especially
36:56
Speaker 1: in a season like this, is to show our divided
36:58
Speaker 1: nation and our divided world war what it looks like,
37:01
Speaker 1: and that it's even possible to disagree politically, to love
37:05
Speaker 1: unconditionally while we pray for unity. Because at Cavalry, at Calvary,
37:16
Speaker 1: at the cross, we lost our right to do anything
37:21
Speaker 1: less than that. So listen, learn and love, and don't
37:29
Speaker 1: miss Part three of talking Points