A Better Foundation: Free To Serve

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

A Better Foundation: Free To Serve

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Uh which means uh the fact that we believe that Jesus is better the the message of the Gospel that he went to the cross and the empty tomb because of that we get to live in the reality of grace because of that truth we as Christians and as a Church fight to stay rooted and centered in that and one of the ways that practically shows up on a sunday morning is that we are our gatherings are centered in the word so you're going to hear the some Scripture read this morning our songs come from the word of.

God we're going to preach that comes out of the word the word is what keeps us centered in the Gospel our groups do this as well our groups are smaller groups of our Church family that live life together uh in everyday life and also meet uh during the week one of the things we do regularly in groups is we open up the word because God has spoken a lot of times we're trying to figure out and pray and figure out what.

God wants for us which is good but he also has spoken in his word and in our groups we get to be molded and shaped into the image of Christ by studying his word so that's an encouragement for us as a Church not just in groups not just on sunday but to be also be in his word on a regular basis as we seek to live out being a Gospel centered community on mission uh if you are new welcome if you're joining us online.

For the first time welcome we're glad that you are joining us one of the easiest ways to get plugged into our Church is to check out our community groups you can go to our uh our website meal citycasey.com you can look at our community groups page you can fill out a form there and we would love to uh to to reach out to you to tell you about our groups tell you where they meet uh but we're glad you're joining us this morning we hope this morning is a blessing to you.

If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give and to continue to give generously you can give by giving in the gift slots you can also give online as well but we walk out the Gospel in generosity and that is also opening up our wallets all right so just a couple of quick housekeeping tips first all the lights are not on in here and that's for a reason we're trying to keep it cool uh as we are getting ready in the next few weeks to change out the hvac unit that powers this which is a part of our larger construction plans which.

If you walked in you saw it's starting to change but one of the first changes that you'll notice is that that part of the hallway and those bathrooms are off limits so we have a couple different bathroom options if you need to use the restroom in this building right next to us if you are a man you can go downstairs into our kid city space we're not having kid city so you can go down there and use the restroom there for our ladies in that building right there you can also go up into our office and around the corner and there's a bathroom there also.

If you don't want to climb steps our fellow our fellowship hall two buildings over is open uh and you can use the restrooms there there's a men and women's restroom there all right so let me pray for us the guy prepare our hearts for worship and then i'm going to open us from psalm father thank you so much that we get to come and sit under the authority of your word that we get to hear it we get to read it together we get to sing songs from it and you get to mold us in shape as the preaching of your word got to pray that you would meet us here this morning we ask.

This in Jesus name amen if you're able stand i'm gonna call us to worship from psalm oh sing to the lord a new song sing to the lord all the earth sing to the lord bless his name tell of his salvation from day to day declare his glory among the nations his marvelous works among all the peoples for great is the lord and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods for all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols.

But the lord made the heavens splendor and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in a sanctuary would you see with us call for songs fix the and here i am is is one two three we have been justified we have been justified by faker Jesus Christ but solely by his grace we stand once found thy sin and shame now slain righteousness making Jesus is glory of God oh great joy to sing about the lord savior Jesus Christ Jesus oh a reading from ephesians chapter 2 verses 2 12 through 18.

If you would please read the underlying portion portions along with me remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two.

So a little bit last week we're going to take another step into that and really it's this if the if government is super supposed to promote what is good and hold at bay what is evil then you have to know what is good and what is evil you have to have an answer for that you have to know what is good and what is right and what is wrong and what is true and what is false we have to be able to answer those questions.

So that in order for us to agree on what government ought to do we have to have a fundamental answer to what is good and what is bad what is right and what is wrong and everybody's got to find that answer somewhere you need to be able to answer that question what is good how do you know or what is good why this is something i learned when i had a three-year-old who would ask why to everything you said and i realized i had a couple of options i could lose my mind seemed like it would be bad.

For the overall joy of our household and functioning i could just tell him to shut his mouth but i went with the third option which was try to make a game out of it and see how many of these questions i can answer and what i found was that if you hit me with a string of why questions long enough we will make it to God the father creator of the universe to the trinitarian God who has made all that we know.

So we stop in the truck and why'd we stop it's a red light why is there a red light and we would go and we would go from invention and creation to the dignity of human life because vehicles should just run into each other why we don't want people to die why don't we want people to die because God created man and woman in his own image he poured dignity and value in them why because he's good because he's trinitarian because he loves and he created humanity why that's it we made it to the end we're going to have to start a new line of questions.

But what i found was that my foundation if you ask why enough i made it back to God and the reality is we have to be able to answer questions that way why is this policy good why is this bad why is this wrong why why why eventually you'll make it back to your foundation you'll make it back to the root of your understanding of how things ought to function and so as Christians we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people.

So we participate differently i usually different three times we'll explain it better as we go but that's where we are we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people so we participate differently we don't look the same as the rest of our culture because we are believers so we just read in verse 13 but jump back up to chapter 2 verse 4. now this Paul is Peter is not directly addressing government and politics what he's talking about is much bigger.

But we're looking through the lens of how we ought to think about government and politics and i think this passage is helpful so first Peter chapter 2 verse 4. as you come to him that's Jesus a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for it stands in Scripture.

Behold i am laying in zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame that's Christ so the honors for you who believe but for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone stumbling at a rock of a fence they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do as Paul's there for a second Christ is our cornerstone and we are being built up off of him.

Now a cornerstone was the chief stone they laid it first and it gave direction and alignment to the rest of the stones so we work our way back to Christ and he gives us direction and he keeps us in line but the rest of the world does not have Christ as their cornerstone does not work their way back to him as their foundation does not work their way back to him as their answer to why why why why why so we are fundamentally starting in a different place than the rest of the people around us even.

If they agree with us on certain things about unemployment benefits or the size of government or how voting ought to work we have a fundamentally different foundation from which we begin that he keeps us in line that he gives us direction and they stumble over they trip over this that they have not placed their hope in Christ they have not seen him as their foundation they're not built off of him those who do not believe in Jesus are starting from a different place and they do not obey and i love that i want to pause.

For just one second and point that out he's our cornerstone and they stumble over him because they disobey the opposite of that is what we do which would be obey yes it hurt to even think about it didn't it we obey i think that's really helpful because it doesn't say they stumble over him because they disagree and we agree they disobey and we obey the reason this is helpful is that as a Christian there is much in the Bible that you might begin in disagreement with that's to be expected you came to Christ.

Because you were a sinner because you realized that there was something wrong about you and the way you've treated people and the way you thought about the world and that you needed to be redeemed you needed to be fixed you needed hope you needed someone to die for you to make you write and then you read something in the Scriptures and you're like well i don't like that of course not you're messed up if you could have perfectly written this down you wouldn't have needed to.

Jesus to die for you there are things in here that we disagree with what do we do we obey that's extremely helpful specifically when it comes to us setting our alignment when it comes to what we ought to vote for and work for sometimes they're going to be things in here that we don't like that we actually like how our culture thinks about it ah i don't like that but i do like capitalism i don't like that but i do like what this professor has been teaching and the reality is they don't have the same foundation we have the same foundation and you have to stay in line with the cornerstone.

So we obey they disobey they stumble over it but here's the reality we use Christ to set for us our line to mark for us what is good what is right what is inbounds what is out of bounds that's what a cornerstone does now he does this in a spiritual way that he redeems us and makes us into a spiritual house but we're talking about our approach to politics our approach to government so this also applies and i think it's helpful.

For us but the reality is everybody is getting an answer to what is justice what's injustice what's equality what's inequality what's right what's wrong they all have to have an answer somewhere they have to have something that backs that up we have a foundation the rest of our world the rest of the us most of whom don't believe that there is a God don't have the same foundation i'd argue don't really have any foundation i want to read a bit from an article this was in the duke law journal it was written by arthur allen left he's a professor of yale law at yale law school and he's talking about law he's talking about where.

We get our laws and how we keep our laws and why do we hold to certain laws and not other laws that's what professor does so he's writing about this and his article is called unspeakable ethics unnatural law what he means about that ethics what's right and wrong law the system of government we have out of that what he means about that by being unspeakable and unnatural he's addressing the idea that there is objective moral law that is not made up by man.

But exists outside of humanity it's unnatural that's what he means by that and it's unspeakable meaning we didn't come up with it as Christians we believe this there's a God he speaks it down to us he gives Moses Moses doesn't go up on the mountain with the elders and they come up with their best idea of what the law should look like God hands him the law and says take it back down he argues that that doesn't exist that all law all ethics all morality all good bad and otherwise is made up by humanity that's the point of his article.

But at least he's honest about it he says this doesn't exist and then he says that's terrifying that life would be better if there was objective morality outside of us but it doesn't exist there is no God there is no objective morality all of it is us making it up that's what he talks about he says that we have to be able to answer what he calls the grand says who he says the ultimate bar room and school yard says who someone tells you you can't do that you can do this this is wrong it says who who puts you in charge who's to tell me what's right and wrong and he says the reality.

Is if we're the ones making it up we have no answer to says who other than says us says the majority says what i think is right we don't have anyone to appeal to there's no teacher in the classroom there's no one that speaks the law down to us does that make sense what he's talking about okay so this is how he ends his article all i can say is this it looks as if we are all we have given what we know about ourselves and each other this is an extraordinarily unappetizing prospect i i agree with him.

If we're all we have that is extraordinarily unappetizing that sounds awful looking around the world it appears that if all men are brothers the ruling model is cain and abel so he's honest he's intellectually honest he says there is no God and then he says step two uh-oh that sounds awful if we look around that's what we've got and it's gonna be bad he keeps going he says neither reason nor love nor even terror seems to have worked to make us good and worse than that there is no reason why anything should only.

If ethics were something unspeakable by us could law be unnatural and therefore unchallengeable so he's saying if it came down from God then it would be beyond us and we wouldn't be able to challenge it but since it doesn't and we've just made it up we're in trouble and this is what we said last week that this is where good government is a good gift to us breaks down that it can't make us good it can't fix us so he keeps going as things.

Now stand everything is up for grabs think about that we're actually watching that play out right now everything is up for grabs because everybody's coming in with a different foundation about what is right is it what the majority says that's why you see all these polls that just say this many americans now believe blank because the idea is that if the majority of us believe it then it's okay there's some people who are pushing for the biggest thing at the back of this is personal freedom or equal opportunity or equal outcome or private property or happiness everybody's got something at the back of of why does this matter says who and we're seeing this play.

Out right now where everything's up for grabs but then he says this nevertheless napalming babies is bad starving the poor is wicked buying and selling each other is depraved those who stood up to and died resisting hitler stalin amin and pol pot and general custer ii have earned salvation those who acquiesced deserve to be damned there is in the world such a thing as evil altogether now says who God help us he says there's no God therefore we're in trouble conclusion not base it's it's like point a point b point green it does not follow that name palming babies is bad it does not follow that standing up to evil is bad or that there.

Is even such a thing as evil it doesn't fit in his logic but he says we know this it doesn't fit that's his whole point says who God help us and he's argued the whole time there is no God i 100 agree with this person except for his foundation he stumbles over the cornerstone and then comes up with a very logical premise out of that and the reality is this last part where he ends and says napalming babies is bad the reason why we currently culturally believe that is that we're riding a 2 000 year wave of judaism and christianity we keep running this out we may not believe that anymore once we stop having.

Objective morality everything's up for grabs everybody's standing on the same footing and eventually it can fall down to who's the strongest who's got the majority who has the most power we're fundamentally coming at this differently than everyone else we believe there is a God there is an unspeakable ethic there is a natural law and it is unchallengeable i buy us and we obey it this is why you'll see that some people will say well we know this is wrong and they're appealing to something that actually doesn't fit in their logical framework.

Because how do they know if they're logical and they'll stick to it my cousin i had a conversation with him and he was saying that logic that the rules were based on who is mostly in charge what the majority believes my cousin the first generation nigerian-american i asked him do you think it was okay in germany because the nazi party was in charge that they eradicated jewish people and black people because they were in charge and he was willing to stick with his logic and he said i guess.

If they were the people in charge i'm not okay with that i don't think that's how this works i think that this guy's right that that is evil and they ought to be stood up against but that's where Christians come from we have a cornerstone that keeps us in line so we fundamentally are coming at this differently and we have direction in the Scriptures that tell us things about marriage about murder about the value of human life about what parents are.

For over and over again in the old testament we're told things in in the leviticus in Exodus leviticus deuteronomy they give personal moral law about lying and adultery but they also give rules about how we ought to interact with each other that the criminal justice system ought not to be bent towards the poor or the wealthy how people in the society are supposed to handle their money how wages are supposed to be handled how business practice sexual sin high interest loans how people treat foreigners how capital punishment works like there's all this stuff that has to do with.

Because God is setting for us what things ought to look like that we get to look to the Scriptures to set for us a guideline not a political platform of what our current people pundits are running and what they say they're going for but we get to look to the word to help keep us in line and it's going to say some things you disagree with it ought to i would argue that if you read if if in your Bible reading it perfectly agrees with you all the time you aren't reading your Bible very.

Well if this never corrects you you're not reading it correctly there's some places where it ought to push you but we're told about how to treat the poor that hard work is good adultery is bad drunkenness is bad gluttony is bad that's in proverbs but then the prophets come in and they say that God's going to judge people for bad business practices and the treatment of the poor or how they care about wealth more than the poor you see we have a lot in the Scriptures that helps give us what our foundation is meant to guide us in and we ought to be people of the book who obey the word and that's going to.

Make us look different from the rest of our culture and it's going to make us appeal to a grand says who that they don't agree with okay but we don't get to change what our cornerstone is so we're coming at this differently so we participate differently so we have a different foundation which makes us into a different people verse 9 keeps going so he says they stumble over this but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people.

For his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light i think if we sat in that verse we might have a amount of political clarity that we lack you're a chosen race in Christ he redeems the race that you're given your current race that you were born into is not primary you're a royal priesthood that we're meant to represent man to God and God to man that's what a priesthood does we're a holy nation and and it doesn't after that chant usa usa or aussie aussie aussie your people.

For his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into a marvelous light that we've been made into a new people because we have a new foundation we've been redeemed and rescued by Christ once you were not a people but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy don't you love that the primary identifier of us as a people is that we've received mercy isn't that beautiful that you're not going to get what you deserve you're going to get grace that you're loved and you're welcomed and that's foundational.

For us as we walk in Christ he says beloved i urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul keep your conduct among the gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation he calls the sojourners in exiles a sojourner is a traveler who does not live here and exile is someone who does live here.

But this isn't their home i'll be honest with you a lot of times when i listen to political candidates when i think about the future of the united states i feel very at home here and when i feel very at home here i feel very worried about things at times i have a lot of fear that rises up because i feel like i belong here i'm a citizen here my future is at stake and the reality is i'm a traveler and an exile this isn't my home i have a home i'm on my way to it i get to live in a certain way.

Now but i have a home and i'm going to be honest with y'all i love the united states the home i'm headed to is so much better it's glorious it's beautiful i'm redeemed and welcomed i receive mercy there i get to live here as an exile and a sojourner but my home that we're headed to is beyond compare and if we lived like that we're currently trying to help support uh the rockies as they move to honduras to be missionaries and the reality is they're going to show up and it's going to unlock some things in their brain.

Because they didn't weren't born there it's going to free them up in some ways to show up and go oh yeah the main point is to help people love Christ and to make this place better they're not going to show up and be like all right let's start promoting a candidate let's find out who's running for honduras house seat for our area i don't even know if they have a honduras house they may just be like let's pick a new i don't know what they got el presidente spanish i don't know.

But you know they're not going to they're exiles they're sojourners they're here to make this place better to love the people around them and the reality is some of us are far too at home here we fit better amongst our political party and we fit better amongst other americans who were born in a similar place to us who have similar skin tone who have a similar taste in food and music when we're meant to be sojourners and exiles working for good we've been made into a different people three we're back to.

Verse 13 now so we participate differently be subject for the lord's sake to every human institution whether it be to the emperor as supreme or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good for this is the will of God that by doing good you should put the silence the ignorance of foolish people we're supposed to be doing good which means we're supposed to have a definition for what is good and it's supposed to be in line with the cornerstone in obedience to the word.

So we're supposed to know our bibles love our bibles love Jesus trust Jesus when we disagree with him and then be actively a part of doing that in the world government is meant to praise good we're meant to do it i think sometimes we think our role is to vote and then they better do it no we're meant to to do it we're meant to be the ones actively doing good and he says this for that's the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people live as people who are free not using your freedom as a cover-up.

For evil but living as servants of God live as people who are free remember who you are live like it i was growing up i loved the movie Peter pan and then the movie hook came out with robin williams and i loved that movie that movie is like a sequel to Peter pan and it's kind of terrifying because hook Peter pan like marries a lady moves the world forgets he was Peter pan he's just trying to live his life and move on.

But hook's in neverland growing more and more psychotic every day and he comes up with a plan to come to the real world and steal Peter pan's children he's going to abduct his children and this is a two-part plan and it's brilliant it's to get Peter pan to come back and fight him but if Peter pan won't come back he'll just raise Peter pan's children as his own back up revenge and when i watched that i was a little kid and the idea that captain hook could come bust in and steal me take me to neverland like the cartoon is like oh cool i get to go to neverland and hang out with Peter pan.

And then the sequel is like oh no captain hook might just take me to neverland and raise me as this child but the part of the movie that's playing out is that captain hook in neverland kind of makes you forget and captain hook's trying to make these children think they're his and they're these moments where they kind of forget who their father is and so they become really at home in neverland and then there are these moments where they shake out of it and they.

Remember wait wait no i know who my dad is and i actually don't belong here and sometimes i think we're we're having to play that out as we walk through life that there are times where we just feel really at home here and we kind of forget where our home is and who our father is who our allegiance allegiances to and then there are other times where we can kind of shake out of it and go oh no no no no this is actually isn't what is primary.

For me this is what matters the most to me and i'm supposed to be participating very very differently from the rest of the people i'm supposed to be getting my marching orders from here not cnn or fox news not msnbc or npr i can get some information from them they don't keep me in line this does they don't give me my foundation this to us i think sometimes we have to shake out of it but he says you're free so Church family.

For those of you who when you think about politics when you think about november your chest tightens up and fear wells up inside of you you are free your hope is secure your salvation is locked in Christ your future your home participate like someone who is free it doesn't have to work out the way you want it to it doesn't have to work out the way you think it ought to the reality is a lot of times God's good work on earth looks really really bad.

For the people of God God's good work on earth looks really bad for the people of God read this for a little while and remind yourself that he's good even though there are times where it doesn't work out well for the people who love him or know him where they aren't liked where they don't fit in hebrews 11 where they're sown into they have a better hope and a better country you're free and for those of us who because it's so corrupt or.

Because we're so jaded or because we're kind of lazy and just don't care that much we don't participate he says don't use your freedom as a cover for evil your servants of God so do good serve we're free to serve to serve him to fight for what is good to do good amongst the people we live near my parents host a family reunion they've started this couple years back and when we go to our family union we cook a pig we swim in a pond stuff you would assume my family does we all you know i don't know have a big splatoon.

For all the ladies to sit around chew tobacco whatever that part's not true but we do swim in a pond and we were swimming with my cousin and my brothers and i we go down and swim at my parents house some in their pond and so we had grabbed these little floats we knew what they were we were sitting in the water and we're either sitting on a float or you're just standing on one it's just a little like foam surfboard thing and my cousin's there swimming with us and we're all just sitting there floating around talking.

And then one of our little floats shot out from under our feet and we swam over and got it my cousin goes you all have floats we were like yeah and we've been hanging out for a while he'd been treading water for like 30 minutes he was exhausted he got afloat he was sitting there he was like oh he said i kept telling myself if they can do it i can do it if they can keep themselves up i'll keep myself up he said and i was really impressed.

Because everyone saw y'all be talking to both your hands would come out of the water and i thought goodness these guys know how to tread water the reality is as we participate in politics as believers we have something holding us up we have a hope we have a future if it gets rocky if it gets exhausting everybody else around us is going to be freaking out they're going to want us to freak out with them everyone else around us is going to be anxious and tired.

Because they don't have the hope we have and the reality is if all we do is join them we act as if we we deny the hope that we have when we ought to be pointing them to the hope that we have we ought to be proclaiming the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness and into marvelous light the reality is as we get around people who want to talk to us about how if this doesn't work out everything's going to fall apart you get to say hey guess what i know a story and everything does fall apart and everything does work out and it really just depends on has Christ redeemed.

You or not we get to be the only people who keep our heads when everything else gets difficult we get the own the only people at ease and very complicated difficult painful situations and we ought to be you're free to do good because our hope is set in Christ our foundation is set in Christ and you ought to be able to take your political opinions and ask why why why why why and work yourself back to here and if all your political opinions work back to culture political candidate this seems right to me.

But we don't have it tied off here we have a problem so we ought to be people of the word with the hopes that secure in Jesus who are the only ones who are able to keep our heads because we have a foundation when nobody else does the band's going to come back up we're going to sing to Christ we're going to all be able to keep our heads in the middle of a political season when everybody else is losing theirs take a deep breath you're free and from that position of freedom let's do good let's know what good is and let's be actively a part of it in our culture that's our hope that.

We would grow in that as people redeemed by Christ let's pray God we thank you for your grace we thank you for the love that you have shown us and that you joined us that you might die to redeem us so that we might have a hope that is held secure as first Peter chapter one says because you walked out of the tomb we have a hope that is held secure by your power in the heavens waiting for us so may we be your servants here who are exiles sojourners that do good as people who are free as only we can.

Because this does not have to work out for us here because everything will work out for us in Christ by your spirit lead us to be servants to be free to have hope and to not be swayed by everything that's around us in Jesus name amen would you stand with us as we worship hi is to use oh is he was i stand shall we she oh is oh Jesus paid it he was you may be seated all right a couple announcements before we get out of here.

Today i want to apologize to our people online was not your fault the internet cut out but we're continuing to work on that make that better another announcement dr ken uh was our transitional pastor and was a part of our Church up until this past week so it is a bittersweet announcement he is not wasting his retirement uh he is using it for the glory of God and one of his uh his his his calling his primary calling in retirement is uh to help churches in this area and he accepted the interim position at saluda baptist Church around 378 which is bittersweet.

For us sweet because they are getting a pastor who we love dearly and we know he's going to do a great job bitter because we will not be seeing him as much anymore so we love him uh as pastors we love him this Church loves him we owe so much to him we thank Jesus for him so if you're friends with joy on facebook send a message over uh continue to reach out them how much we love them um but that is the update on that.

If you are not a part of a group we would love you to be a part of a group and chet is going to be down in the construction area to be able to answer any questions you might have and tell you about our groups if you have any questions about our Church he'll be down there uh to answer them uh if you are part of this Church we invite you to give we have the giving slots you can also give online i'm going to close this with a word from.

First thessalonians 5 verses 23 through 24 now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our lord Jesus Christ he who calls you is faithful he will surely do it amen you guys have a great day.

Good Government

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

Good Government

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors of Mill City Church of casey so this is our second week in a row where because of some coveted exposure we're being cautious and we're live streaming so you're joining us online welcome uh glad you're joining us uh we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else because this is true we get to be a Gospel-centered community on mission which is really important for us individually and as a Church right.

Now as culture is is raging as there's all types of of chaos whether it's coveted whether it's the economy or right now in a heightened political climate which is why we're walking through this series messiah 2020 that no matter what we are walking through we don't have to shift with the rest of culture we have a hope that is secure we are Gospel center that our hope is completely bound up in Christ crucified and raised from the grave that our hope is eternal and we live as eternal people in this world living out the Gospel together that's the hope that we that we celebrate on sundays as we sing songs and worship as we sit.

On the authority of God's word it's also the hope that we get to be grounded and centered in in community groups so one of the things we have in our Church is we have community groups which are smaller groups of our Church family that that live life together that that meet regularly that open up the Bible that eat meals together when it's not in a season where we have to not eat meals together uh but we do this to live out the Gospel together to celebrate who.

Jesus is to keep us centered in the Gospel as a Church family so if you're new welcome we'd love to invite you into that to connect you to some of our groups one of the easiest ways to do that is to go to our website millcitycasey.com and you can go to our community groups page you can fill out some information and we can connect with you and kind of tell you more about our groups which one might be good for you to check out.

If you are not new and you call this Church home we invite you to give we believe that our response to the Gospel is generosity and we open up our wallets in doing that so if you're part of our Church family you can give online you can also come by during the week and drop off checks at our office so i'm going to uh to pray for us that i'll prepare our hearts for worship and i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95.

Father i thank you that we get to worship because of your great love because you came and you rescued us and you redeemed us that we get to uh sit in an eternal reality and out of that we get to praise we get to sing songs i pray you prepare hearts for worship prepare our hearts to to be to sit under your word we ask us in Jesus name amen i'm going to call us to worship from psalm 95 it says this oh come.

Let us sing to the lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with thanksgiving let us make a joyful noise with songs of praise for the lord is a great God and a great king above all gods in his hands are the depths of the earth the heights of the mountains are his also the sea is his and he made it and his hands form the dry land oh come let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the lord our maker for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand wherever you're joining with us today let's worship together praise the lord the almighty oh my adoration shelters us under have you not seen how our desires have been granted surely his goodness if this praise to the lord oh let all that is in me adore all that hath life and breath come now with praises before again me again.

Lord now my my life is our first treasure may i reach heavens still be my vision i once was lost in darkest nights first i would refuse to upon display your suffering is hallelujah all i have is Christ hallelujah is my life the truth in any way you choose is is Jesus God all we have to claim before you is Jesus and we're thankful this morning that as your Church we are thankful for the cross of Christ we're thankful that he rose from the grave.

Lord this morning as your Church we pray that you would speak to us that that would be the cry of our heart that all we have is Christ and so we pray that you would reveal yourself through your word that you would speak through chet as he comes to preach in Jesus name amen my fellow americans good morning my name is chet phillips i'm one of the pastors here we are in our second week of our messiah 2020 series we're only doing three weeks on this we're taking a brief pause from the Gospel of Matthew to try to get some sound footing to kind of catch our bearings in the middle of the american political.

Season which seems to be unending at this point but we are in an election year and we wanted to address and begin to ask the questions how as Christians ought we to approach politics how should we think about it what should we do what shouldn't we do and just try to catch our breath and get some firm footing so the primary goal of this series is to help us understand that Christians ought to approach politics distinctly from the rest of our neighbors that we ought to have a distinct approach and understanding to government and two politics.

Because we are first and foremost Christians before we are citizens of any earthly place we said last week that we think we ought to look more similar to believers around the globe than just those who happen to vote like us in our own nation and so that's our goal we've got three weeks to do it what we said last week was that we cannot approach politics in the same way as our cultural allies and those who are across the aisle from us we can't approach it the same way.

Because the way we're currently pushed to approach politics is to have a high amount of fear so that we'll give our sole allegiance to a political party or a political leader and then work with a bit of anger and animosity and venom to conquer our political enemies that ultimately our culture is telling us we need a messiah we need a savior we need someone to come in and fix all of our problems to give us a hope and a future and we already have a messiah we already have a savior we already have a hope and a future we are already citizens of an eternal kingdom.

Therefore our approach to politics has to be distinct and so we just tried to dismantle some things last week and this week we're beginning to build it back up a little bit so we're asking the question is okay if we shouldn't approach it as if we need a messiah and if we shouldn't approach it with this amount of fear and anxiety and anger how should we look at politics how should we approach this is government good should we have a government that's kind of where we're starting it's like what's a what's a baseline approach to an understanding of how the Bible treats government.

Because some of us in christianity and some of in our Church family would want to say well politics is just too corrupt our system is too broken Christians shouldn't participate at all others would say well Christian's primary role is the Gospel and the proclamation of the Gospel and that we're spiritual beings and that we ultimately need to see God work so we just need to preach the Gospel and let the world sort itself out but reality is we're called to love.

God and our neighbors and that does mean that we have to live in the place we are and interact in the place we are i have two sons i have a five-year-old and a two-year-old and the two-year-old is just beginning to speak uh he's just kind of putting some stuff together and there's times where they'll be off playing together and um you hear him laughing you'll hear him play and then all of a sudden there'll just be chaos screaming shouting arguing.

And then i'll hear the pitter patter of little feet down the hall my two-year-olds are running down the hall crying and he his brother's name's archer but he pronounces it shasha or arsha he hasn't gotten it yet but he'll come down the hall and he'll say and i know what he's saying he's looking at me and he's saying father i beseech you without your good governance it's anarchy it's become lord of the flies the strong rule over the week and you must come rule and give some boundaries.

So that we might have life and have it flourishing i look at him and say i understand son but really he's asking for good government and the reality is we all need good government and God designed government to be good for our sake in the garden prior to sin he tells adam and eve that they would rule and have dominion and that they would multiply and flourish but God meant for there to be some guiding principle some rules some leadership prior to sin and we don't outgrow government we aren't saved from government we're actually saved into a government that.

Jesus is a king and we're told in isaiah that his of his government and his peace there will be no end so we're not moving to heaven and entering into this free no government system we're moving in and having a king that God's design for government is good and that we're in the middle now where there is sin and it's meant to function in a certain way and so we need to understand how to approach it so what we're going to try to aim at.

Today is the understanding that government is good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote good for the good of those governed the government's good because it was instituted by God to limit evil and promote what is good for the sake for the good of those governed and that as Christians we ought to participate but we ought to participate as those who have an eternal perspective so let's pray and we'll jump in God we thank you for your grace we pray that as we seek to be good citizens of your kingdom who have been placed here that we would be good citizens of where we are with an eternal perspective working towards.

The good of our neighbors we thank you for government and its intended design for us and we pray that we would grow in our understanding and appreciation of it today in Jesus name amen go to romans chapter 13. we're going to be looking at romans chapter 13 verses 1 through 7. this is Paul writing to the roman Church and he's talking to them about how they ought to think about government he's done a lot about how they ought to interact with each other and how they ought to approach the.

Lord but he's talking now about how they ought to approach the being citizens in where they are so it says this romans 13 verse 1 let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God i'm going to read that again for there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God therefore whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment.

For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad would you have no fear of the one who is in authority then do what is good and you will receive his approval for he is God's servant for your good but if you do wrong be afraid for he does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer therefore one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath.

But also for the sake of conscience for because of this you also pay taxes for the authorities are ministers of God attending to this very thing pay to all what is owed to them taxes to whom taxes are owed revenue to whom revenue is owed respect to whom respect is owed honor to whom honor is owed so Paul says that all institutions are instituted by God and that there are for our good for your good and i can feel it even as i'm reading that.

Because i can feel it in myself but i can feel it in us that we we just want to hold on i got a question like there's the the ultimate american question that just rises in us is what about bad governments what says don't don't resist them but but i have what about bad governments what about in algeria where they're shutting down churches what about in china when the government's overreaching when they're saying that you can't even be a Christian when they're rounding them up or arresting them or making them have only certain places and certain ways that they can meet what about.

When there's a king who puts taxes on your tea but won't let you have representatives in parliament what do we do when there's blatant governmental evil and overreach that's the question we want to ask immediately to push back on this because the idea that God is over all institutions that he's working through all of them for our good does not seem like that always plays out that way and there are times where it feels like the government is overstepping we currently in our culture right.

Now have people who are standing against government authority we have those who are marching who are standing in roads and blocking off bridges and protesting we have churches that are saying even though the local authorities have told them they can't meet they're going to anyway and it really depends on which side of the aisle you fall on as to which one you're saying yes and amen and oh how dare you but we currently have this question even playing out with us and it's what do we do.

And so i think we have to answer that quickly before we can get into God's good design one the good news for bad government is that all government is under the authority of God the good news for us in bad government is that all government is under the authority of God which means that it will be judged it will be held to his standards and judged according to his purposes and that even in the midst of bad government God can work good he does this throughout the old testament he raises up leaders he lowers leaders he raises up kings he lowers kings he raises up nations he lowers nations they work at his discretion he.

Can revoke them or install them as he wills and so that those that do evil at times are used for God's purposes even pagan kingdoms the babylonian kingdom was used for God's purposes for his people to to punish them to correct them as judgment on his people but then he sent the persians in to punish and correct the babylonians and to bless his people and God does this throughout history so even in the midst of a place where Christians are in a bad government they can hope and trust that.

God is good over it secondly the primary role for Christians is not to just transform our governmental systems or to seek power but to testify to an eternal truth to testify to an eternal kingdom that's our primary role that's what pastor wang yi who's a pastor in china who was arrested by the communist government he had pre-written this and told his Church to publish it if he had been arrested for more than 48 hours i want to read an excerpt from this he says as a pastor my disobedience is one part of the Gospel commission.

So he's disobeying the government by having house churches Christ's great commission requires of us great disobedience the goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world he goes on from that to say that he doesn't believe that Christians ought to be changing the institutions but that they ought to be primarily focused on eternal things he says this all acts of the Church are attempts to prove to the world the real existence of another world the Bible teaches us that in all matters relating to the Gospel and human conscience we must obey.

God and not men for this reason spiritual disobedience and bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious king so that the primary role of Christians is not just to transform government not to have all the policies that we wish we would have but to proclaim another kingdom and so when there is a bad government we still have a primary role to play in proclaiming another kingdom which does at times mean as weighing ye is walking out some form of disobedience.

For the greater purposes of God but not for the greater purposes of our political candidate party or system of choice if this is attention that you're trying to work out i would encourage you to read first Peter chapter two i would encourage you to read all of wang yi's letter it's called my letter of uh faithful disobedience i would encourage you to read dr martin luther king jr's letter from a birmingham jail as a kind of a starter on how to ought we to think about Christians interacting with governments.

When government's not operating properly but primarily today we're looking at God's good design so we're going to focus on that not when it goes wrong because it does go wrong in sin and we do have hope that God is an authority over it and we'll judge it but what's his good design for government you see government matters because people matter life matters joy matters there's the people around you matter and so God has designed it for us to have government the reality is without government there are those who would say wouldn't it be better.

If the government just wasn't involved wouldn't life be better if there just was no government the answer to that is no it wouldn't without government the strong make the rules the weak are pushed to the side sin reigns every time a even an evil government falls immediately it's not like oh good the government's gone now everybody can be nice to each other that's not what happens when a bad government falls there's sin women are raped children are abducted people are murdered.

God instituted government however flawed for good purposes so this is what he says that we ought to be subject to the governing authorities and even there as he walks this out Christians ought to begin looking different than those around us he says be subject to the governing authorities pay your taxes you ought to pay what is owed to those who tax you it says pay honor oh give honor to those whom it's owed so that Christians ought to be respectful you ought to be able to speak about whoever's in leadership over you in a gracious respectful way even as you disagree with them and that right.

Now just doing that will make Christians look distinct from those in their political party that if we can see the good in others and we can speak to the good and others if we can acknowledge where they're right acknowledge where we're wrong and speak in an honorable way of those that we vehemently disagree with will begin to look more the way he's designed for us to look but see the primary role of of good government is to discourage what is evil and to encourage what is good and he gives more attention on discouraging what is evil that's the basic approach the basic role of government it's that to be under God's authority discouraging evil carrying.

Out God's wrath on the wrongdoer and promoting what is good i mentioned my boys earlier but that's the system primary system of governance at my house i want my boys to grow up i want them to love Jesus but much of the work i'm doing with them is i'm just looking at discouraging what is bad and encouraging what is good and if you're a new parent start there is this behavior good will it help them live in our house does it make me like them is this the type of person i want to be around will this help them live in society encourage that is this behavior bad does this make me not want to.

Live with this person you see children have parents for a reason they're meant to have some governance they would not be better off without you they will make terrible decisions and you're supposed to help them grow into a person that can live in the world very simply at my house one of the rules is if you cry and throw a fit you don't get what you're crying and throwing a fit for it makes my decision easy you don't get to watch that you don't get to eat that you don't get to do the thing you wanted.

Because if i give it to them after they cry and throw a fit what i've taught my children is that in order to be happy they need to be miserable and that's not good for them and the reality is that small scale picture of parenting is ultimately what govern government is supposed to do for us as we are adults and still sinful that they're meant to hold evil at bay and encourage what is good he gives again more attention to discouraging evil.

But let's talk about the encouraging good for a second that they're there for our good this means that governments the Bible doesn't give us a system kings parliament a senate a house of representatives a president voting not voting it doesn't give us that it just says that government was designed these things are instituted for our goods so that there would be some system some oversight and someone who avenges what is wrong and promotes what is good so some of the ways that happens here you can we.

Then get into debates about how big should it be how little should it be how much should they promote how much should they discourage but the reality is under God's authority then there's just some how are they going to practically walk that out as long as they're in line with what God says is good and bad so some examples our government promotes generosity it promotes charitable work charitable organizations don't have to pay taxes our Church doesn't pay income tax we don't pay uh property tax we don't pay tax on the land that we live we people who give money to charitable organizations get tax benefits that's them encouraging things that they think are good our.

Government gives money towards education that's them encouraging things that they think are good that help for human flourishing and that's okay that's inside the bounds of the role of government they discourage evil and there are some places where they they maybe don't discourage it but they least shouldn't encourage it the reality is it's not a it's not against the law to lie if you want to tell people that your benchmax is higher than it really is if you want to tell people that the fish you caught was way bigger than it actually was.

If you want to tell people that you caught a lot of fish when you didn't that's all sin but there's no government control over that but then the government does step in when there are places where people are lying in business or they're lying about a business ben johnson was telling us in lebanon they the government recently took up 40 tons they confiscated 40 tons of expired chicken the chicken was dating back to 2016 that was being sold in markets there they came and confiscated it.

Because the government was like this is unhealthy this is unsafe and you're lying about it and the government's put some restrictions around that and they're discouraging something that's bad it's not good for their people to all be sick with eating bad chicken so they step in and those are some of the roles of government how much how far where those are the things we get to discuss but that's inside the realm of God's good design for government the Bible says that they carry the sword he is the servant of.

God an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrong doer that he does not carry the sword in vain this is one of the primary functions of the government to have a military to have police that's good they're servants of God for our good one of my favorite scenes at the end of the movie the guardians of the galaxy and if you haven't seen it it's like a heist movie but in space one of my favorite scenes is after these criminals who are the main people you're following they save this planet.

And so they tell them that their criminal records have been wiped clean because they saved the planet because they came together and did something good they wiped their criminal records clean and so they're talking to the police officer and one of them says okay well let me ask you a question now that my my slate's wiped clean what if i see someone who has something that i want more than they do and i just take it the police officer says yes that's theft that's that's against the law you will go to jail.

Because that make any sense i want it more than they do and they just kind of push him out of the way and then one of the bigger meaner guys on their team looks at him and goes okay well let me ask you something if someone does something that i find irksome so i remove his spine and the police officer looks at him and goes yeah that's that's murder that's like one of the worst things you can do you would also go to jail and as that's meant to be play out.

For humor but the reality is with no laws with no one enforcing what is good with no one avenging what is wrong the smartest the strongest the meanest often succeed people just do what's right in their own eyes they just take advantage of those who are weak those who are smaller that government is meant to be a good avenger on your behalf in romans chapter 12 the chapter before this Paul's talking to them and he tells them that God is the primary avenger don't be avenged.

When someone does you wrong but leave it to the wrath of God that God is the avenger of all wrongdoing but then in romans 13 he says secondarily God has given the sword to governments to avenge on his behalf for our good my brother is a police officer he's a sheriff's deputy and he is according to romans a servant of God for our good that when someone breaks into someone's home and takes what doesn't belong to them when someone harms someone.

When someone uh because they're bigger physically abuses someone that God has instituted for there to be those who are avengers for the good of those who live in this area that they might have someone to call they might have some resource to go to that God has designed this for our good they're those in law enforcement in our Church family those who've been in military and our Church family and that's a good thing to do they're servants of God for our good.

And so they ought to act as servants of God for our good the the part there that that adjusts how we approach politics and how our politicians act and how our military and police is that they serve God first and foremost and so they ought to act in line with him and therefore work from there so this plays out that that is one of the primary ways that we get to push our government towards what is good is by bringing them in line with the word of.

God and we're going to talk more about that next week and how we we actually get to play that out personally as we interact with our world and as we live out as people who live here but some examples of how this has worked in the past william wilberforce became a believer and he began to push the english government to get to abolish slavery he began to say that you're under God and slavery is wrong so you're out of bounds and what you're allowing and you need to abolish slavery he also pushed.

For uh good treatment of animals because of the same thing he was like no you ought not there ought to be some laws that prohibit this sort of behavior in the u.s one of our greatest thinkers and writers and speakers is frederick douglass who was a freed slave who had no political agency whatsoever could not vote had just earned his freedom had been property most of his life but he began to push he began to speak he began to proclaim he was a amy pastor at one point and he began to push those in leadership and said government ought to be in line with.

God and he pushed for the abolition of slavery he pushed for better rights for women because he said this is what God has designed for us and our government ought to be in line in promoting what is good and holding back what is evil and it worked him and others were able to push to get us to line up with more of God's will and God's good design for us and this is one of the ways that we get to participate as americans you get to vote you get to call your elected officials we live in a place where we have representation that we're supposed to have those who are in our leadership represent us.

Spencer was telling me this week that he had heard that they were getting rid of the adoption tax credit that some of the leaders in south carolina specifically those in the republican party were pushing for this because we live in a primarily republican state and most of our leaders are in the republican party they were pushing for getting rid of the adoption tax credit and so he said he called he called every leader in every in the districts he was in.

So his senators his congress people and he said if you're a republican and you're saying you're pro-life then you also need to be pro-adoption you need to help promote this that's what he called and told them and they ended up not passing it and so two of our pastors right now are in the process of adoption and they get to apply for this tax credit so spencer asked me to tell them on his behalf matt razzier welcome spencer fought for what was good.

So that we might promote what is good in our government and we get to do the same thing that God designed government to be a generic grace-filled good for the world that we're meant to have it and so we ought to be in subject in subjection to it paying taxes honoring those that are our leaders praying for them because God designed this to be good to help us but the reality is while government is good and is meant for our good it does have limitations.

So go back just a few pages to romans chapter 8. so in romans Paul has been walking through salvation he's been walking through our need for Christ by the time we've made it to romans 12 13 and forward he starts giving more practical advice but prior to this he's been giving a lot of theological understanding and so in romans 8 he's talking about the law of God to the law that God gave to Moses and the people of Israel so this is ceremonial law this is the law that of how of his moral law how they ought to relate to.

God this is uh state law how they ought to relate to one another this is the law that God handed to Moses so when it says law here in a second it doesn't just mean the laws we have on the books it actually means the law that God gave to Moses so here's what it says romans 8 verses 3 and 4. for God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

For sin he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit so what Paul is getting at there is that the law that God gave to humanity could not ultimately fix human hearts it could not redeem them it could not change them it was a good law but it could not do he says God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do the reason i want us to.

See this is that if the law that God gave to Moses could not change human hearts i hate to break this to you but we will not pass a law in the united states that will be capable of doing it if the law given to the people of God after the Exodus could not ultimately fix them but was meant to show them their inadequacies and their need for Christ then any law we pass any good we promote any evil we prohibit will not ultimately be able to fix our hearts and this is important.

For us as Christians to understand government was given as a good for us but it cannot ultimately fix what is wrong with us it can hold evil at bay it can promote things that are good but Christ has done what the law cannot do he has come in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin to condemn sin in the flesh Jesus Christ came that he took on sin that he died for our sin so that as we place faith in him we might walk in the spirit not in the flesh that we might be changed internally that our hearts might be changed that we might be made new we touched on this idea last week.

When we read a quote from russell moore but what he was getting at was that we could actually get the the right president the best president the right congress the best congress the right policies the best policies but if we do all of that and get the wrong savior we have failed and so Christians are not looking for a savior we have one but we understand that government is good and therefore we ought to participate and promote it as those who understand it is good.

But it is not ultimate we cannot place all our hopes there we cannot place all our trust there we cannot believe that it will fix us that it will save us it will change everything for us that we know ultimately it's good but it's limited and therefore we participate in what is good but we trust that only Jesus will ultimately save us and change our hearts and so we work towards that end i love this quote from martin luther king jr getting at this idea he says it may be true that the law cannot make a man love me.

But it can keep him from lynching me and i think that's pretty important i love that quote and i think it gets at this idea that we believe that government is good that we ought to have it that it's good to have police it's good to have those promoting what is good and prohibiting what is evil and policing that and overseeing that and caring for that and working towards that that they're servants of God for our good so we appreciate our politicians we appreciate those who are in leadership we pray.

For them and we hope for good ones and we trust that God oversees all of that and that ultimately laws will not fix what is broken in us that we have hope for God to do that for our good through Christ so we participate but understanding the limitations we do not give our full hope and our full heart to it we trust that Jesus will ultimately change us and that we need him over and above the good government that God has given us.

So i want to push on those who are politically apathetic have no desire for it it's such a drain on you you think it's a waste of time i want you to see that God designed it for good and that we need good loss we need good oversight we need good to be promoted and evil to be prohibited and i want to encourage you to begin participating there are some people in our Church who should run for office we should have Christians that are holding public office and they should be Christians there's this idea that they should check their christianity at the door.

But nobody else has to do that the the secular humanist doesn't have to check that at the door in order to help make good laws and so we don't believe Christians should either we think you should go and be a Christian and you should help promote what is good and discourage what is evil and that you should use the Bible because ultimately all authority is derived from God you should use that as a good example of how you ought to do this.

So we think some should run for government run for office we think that those who would say but it's too corrupt and therefore you don't want to participate i would push back and say if it's too corrupt we ought to participate all the more we're given avenues for it as Christians in the united states there are some places where we wouldn't but we ought to push we are to participate we are to seek to have that changed so that this can be a good that.

God has given us you ought to vote and here's the thing about voting it's difficult when we only have two parties and you don't like either of the candidates the reality is if you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who has holds a policy that you disagree with or you as a Christian are not allowed to vote for anyone who holds a moral position a personal position moral action that you disagree with you will not vote so we need to be able to vote understanding that it is not a full endorsement of the character it's not a full endorsement of everything.

But that we've looked and said we think a good bit of this lines up with the heart of Jesus for the good of our nation and we're going to participate and where they're wrong and where they're off we're going to acknowledge it we're going to push for better we're going to practice different things in our personal life that help make up for the fact that i voted here but now i've got to make sure that i come up with some of the deficiencies here.

So you can vote it's not a full endorsement but then you ought to participate in a way that helps compensate start local if you're having a hard time getting motivated to be involved in politics start local this is something i need to grow in is paying attention to our local officials our local leaders caring about them knowing what they're for knowing what they affect but we ought to be involved in the local politics of our city not just our national politics pray that we're meant to pray.

For those who are in authority over us pray for their good not just pray that they would do what we want them to do but that the lord would use them that he'd give them wisdom that he would guide them that he would save them that we would pray for our leadership and lastly trust Jesus government is good and it's a blessing and we should be thankful for it we should be thankful for those who serve for our good they serve under.

God and his authority but we should ultimately trust him that even where things are bad and difficult and things where things are mishandled because we have sinners filling all the offices in our land we would trust that Jesus is working that he will judge what is evil and that all governments are ultimately instituted through him and therefore work at his will and when they get out of line he can remove them or he can bless them and he works through them.

For his good purposes even though we can't always see them so trust him to change hearts trust him to oversee the government we're in and participate in a healthy way understanding that it's good but it's not ultimate so for those of you who have placed too much hope in our political systems too much hope in a political party i would encourage you again this week to repent to begin to detox to begin to break that down so you might understand that it's good.

But ultimately we need God over top of it we need God down here with us changing our hearts and for those of you who've rejected all of this i'll push you to be involved to be engaged because it's a good gift from God that's meant for our good and for the good of our neighbors let's pray God we thank you for your grace your love towards us we pray that you would bless our nation that you would bless our leaders that you would change their hearts that you would give them wisdom and that they would be good servants of yours to discourage evil to promote good.

For the good of those who live in this land i pray that you would help us to not place too much hope in political parties or political systems but to trust you and we pray that you would help us not to be falsely wrongly apathetic towards something a gift that you have given us that we might be engaged for the benefit of our neighbors oh my God like you there is your grace your love exceeds the heaven's reach my my your faithfulness my my guilt and cross laid on your shoulders in my place you broke my bones glory to your.

Lord all right so uh just a couple announcements before we close out uh if you are are new we'd love to uh love for you to check out one of our groups one of the easiest ways you can do that is go to our website go to our community groups page and to fill out some information we'd love to be able to journey with us as we walk through this series as we uh walk through the Gospel together every week in groups come join us uh we'd love to get you connected there.

If you are a part of our Church just a reminder again you can give online uh by going to our website and you can also give by coming by the Church coming out of the building during the week and dropping off checks i want to close us with a word from hebrews 13. it says now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our lord Jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good they may do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through.

Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen you guys have a great day.

American Idol

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.

American Idol

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here uh obviously we expected to be live in person this morning but because of some coveted exposure we want to be safe so we are live streaming online if you're joining us we're glad you're joining us here we as a Church we believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this we get to be a Gospel-centered community on missions so this morning that looks like worshiping from home that looks like singing songs listening to the word of.

God being preached and responding in faith and repentance but it also means that we get to be a collection of community groups that meet throughout the week it's one of the things we talk about that are our community groups our smaller groups of our Church family they're not events they're not something that you go to it's not it's not a function it's your people it's your people that you get to journey through life with that you get to go through good times and bad times with you get to come and bear burdens you get to come and celebrate what.

God is doing and and learning about the Gospel together so for some of you this week that's going to be through facetime or jitsy or zoom or or skype and our encouragement for you is to be present it's not an event uh it is better to be together but it's not an event that we just uh that we get to skip out on it's a people that you get to see face to face that's in person or through a screen there are people that you get to gather with uh and walk through the Gospel with and walk through this sermon series that we are walking through the next three weeks.

So that's a little bit about who we are as a Church and if you're new we want to invite you into that one of the ways you can find out about community groups in our Church is to go to our website millcitycasey.com you can go to our community groups tab uh and you can fill out a connect form when someone can follow up with you and tell you about our groups tell you uh what groups you can go and check out.

But we're uh glad you're here with us this morning tuning in online uh if you are part if you are a part of our Church family we invite you to give you can give online at our website we have a giving tab you can also drop off checks here at the office uh throughout the week so i want to pray that uh right now God prepare our hearts from worship wherever we're tuning in from and then i'm gonna read from psalm 100.

Father i thank you that we get to worship wherever that is we get to sing your praises we get to sit under your word you get to form us and shape us and mold us into your image God i pray that you help us be present that you help us focus that you help us join in worshiping you we ask this in Jesus name amen all right this is a reading from psalm 100 make a joyful noise to the lord all the earth serve the.

Lord with gladness come into his presence with singing know that the lord he is God it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving enter in his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name for the lord is good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations let's sing together worthy of worship worthy of worship worthy of the grace souls we can.

See father creator you are worthy savior you are and wonderful worthy of worship and praise of reverence worthy of fear worthy of love and devotion worthy of all this and added to these father creator you are worthy save your sustainer you are almighty father master and lord king of all kings and redeemers savior and source of a life without in worthy and wonderful i got a firm foundation alright the only solid ground the nations rise and fall kingdom comes one strong.

Now shaken we trust forever in your name the name of Jesus we trust the name of Jesus you are the only king forever almighty God we lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious knee will bow we bring our expectations our hope is anchored in your name the name of Jesus we trust the name of.

Jesus you are the only king forever almighty God we lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious the name of Jesus from age 28. you are the only king forever almighty God will lift you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious you are the only king forever almighty God will let you higher you are the only king forever forevermore you are victorious a reading from.

First Peter 1 3-9 blessed be the God and father of our lord Jesus Christ according to his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time in this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials to the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise.

Glory and honor at the Revelation of Jesus Christ though you have not seen him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith salvation of your souls how great the castle then lay between us how high the mountain i could not in desperation i turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul the work is finished the end is written.

Jesus Christ who could imagine so great a mercy what i could fathom such boundless grace the God of ages stepped down from glory to where my sin and bear my shame the cross has spoken i am forgiven the king of kings calls me beautiful savior i'm yours forever Jesus Christ hallelujah praise the lord who set me free hallelujah death has lost his script on me you have broken every chain there's salvation in your name Jesus Christ death has lost its grip on me you have broken every chain this salvation in your name.

Jesus the Christ that sealed the promise your very body began to breathe out of the silence the roaring lion declare the grave then came the morning that sealed the promise your very body began to breathe is set me free hallelujah death has lost its grip on me you have broken every chain this salvation in your name Jesus Christ oh God you are my living God we're thankful this morning that we get to claim Jesus as our living hope Jesus who came of his own will came of his own purpose to rescue us to redeem us we are grateful this morning who lived a perfect sinful life a sinless life he died on the cross.

For our sins and rose from the grave God that that's our hope this morning and i pray that we would put our hope in Jesus uh as we open up your word this morning we pray that you would speak to us you would help us learn help us grow we ask this in Jesus name amen well good morning i uh i really like that bumper i'm excited that we are getting to start a series together looking at politics but as we do that we we need to kind of set uh some ground rules and be able to come in this.

Well so we talk a lot about politics in the united states we talk about them almost unceasingly and we are in the middle of an election year and so you might already be overwhelmed by how much you're having to hear about political candidates and political parties and political hopes and dreams and political fears but we wanted to take some time as a Church family to discuss politics and our approach as Christians to politics so even as we begin that i know that.

For some of you that brings up a lot of fear or frustration or a desire that we as a Church would never discuss these things maybe you even believe that the Church should never discuss these things others of you may be very excited and want to talk about politics maybe you're like finally we should have already been talking about this and i'm willing to bet there's a big mixture of all of that across our Church family we want to be able to discuss this in a healthy biblical way just.

Because something is tense or difficult in our culture does not mean we have to shy away from it or we ought to shy away from it often it means we we ought to press in we as a Church ought to investigate and discuss and look at and so as we move into this series together i want to give a few things for us one is it's not going to be that long of a series we're only taking three weeks we're not going to get to say everything that ought to be said about it.

But we're also not going to spend a ton of time on it what we're trying to do is set a foundation for how we ought to approach politics and since we're in such a heated political climate we need to have some biblical wisdom as to how we ought to approach we understand that our Church family differs on policies and politics and we we we think that's beautiful and that ought to happen inside the Church but we want to have a baseline.

For how do we as Christians engage in the political processes around us without losing our mind or without losing our souls and so as we walk through this realize it's a three-week series not everything will be able to be said certainly not everything will be able to be said in each sermon if there is something that frustrates you makes you angry makes you aggravated don't value your politics above being Church family and let's press in and talk about these things come talk to me let's clarify what i said what i meant to say go talk to the people in your group as we walk through this.

But we're going to try to as best we can look like God look God like and graciously walk through this as Christians as we move forward so the point of this series is that we believe that Christians ought to look different from our culture when it comes to our political engagement that Christians ought to be distinct from those around them and how they think about and approach politics we believe that we believe that we ought to have a different viewpoint and a different starting point.

And so that you should look more like the Christians on the other side of the globe that when we boil down your life and your hopes and your aspirations and the way you walk through life that you should look more like a believer in china or india or russia than just someone who looks like you and votes like you in the united states that we ought to have a distinct way we approach politics as believers over and against those who we would technically be in the same political party as that's what we're trying to discuss.

Look at for the next three weeks specifically today we're going to look at the fact we're going to take kind of a zoom in on our current political climate and look at how our culture demands that we approach politics and ultimately what they're asking of us is to approach a political candidate or a political party as a hero and a savior to elevate one party one candidate as a messiah who will lead us into a bright future and to understand that the other candidate the other party is evil and destructive that they ought to be feared that's kind of the current political climate that we have.

So we're going to investigate that a little bit and try to see how we as Christians ought to approach this step away from that and have a different on-ramp to our approach to politics so let's pray and we'll begin to look at that this morning God we ask for your grace and your wisdom as we walk through this we know that just live streaming and then gathering in our groups is not our ideal not our desired way to approach this but we also know that through the power of your Holy Spirit and through the the way you work in your Church which is not a location or an event.

But a people that will be just fine as we study your word together and seek to be good missionaries in our city and so we pray that you would bless this as we study together and as we get to gather together in community groups that we would grow in our understanding of who you are and how we ought to approach government and the political process in the place that we live we ask for grace in Jesus name amen if you'll grab your bibles and go to Philippians chapter 3.

That's where we'll spend our time today it's going to take us a minute to get there but go ahead and flip there get to Philippians 3 we're going to be looking at verse 17 through and we're going to have to talk through a few things before we start in that passage so that we can kind of set the groundwork for what we're looking at but we will get there politics is neutral in general the idea of politics is just taken from the greek word polis which means city and it's how do we organize ourselves as a city how do we organize ourselves as a group of people what's inbounds what's out of bounds what works.

Towards human flourishing and what doesn't these are the questions that politics have to answer so in general politics is neutral now we use the word with a negative term because we've filled up politics with people and once we do that we get partisan politics and we get someone being political which just means they're maneuvering things so that they can get the most benefit without any skin in the game and so but when we're talking about this as we approach it it's the idea of government is good it's a common grace blessing from.

God it is something that we ought to participate in celebrate and enjoy that the idea that humans should collectively have ways that they govern themselves and that they keep society in order and work towards human flourishing is good and it's a gift from God and we will talk specifically next week and the week after about how we ought to engage and how we ought to press them but as we start today we want to just approach understanding how we get to where we've elevated political parties and political candidates to the position that they're in or we are really in some ways at our heart level looking.

For a savior looking for a messiah someone that we can hope in some party that we can trust in something that would put us at ease and at rest and deliver us to the promised land so as we were working on this i got with josh pabone and inspired by old political cartoons we drew up well josh drew up the government octopus and so here it is this is the the octopus of government now this is not meant to scare you.

If you're scared of octopus i'm sorry this is meant just to show you how the government can attach to and be involved in so many things that matter to us so if you look at his little headband that's the government if you see tucked up behind him he's got comfort and power because ultimately that's what happens if the government has some power and it offers us power if we're in line with it it offers us some comfort it kind of has these things that we care about and pursue and it touches all these things that really matter to us justice schools health money happiness we're going to do something that we haven't done before.

But we're going to try out as we're trying to learn how to do this well i'm going to stand to the side here and we're going to try to have this pulled up over here so that we can see it it may move around a little bit as we get it adjusted adjusted but this is the neutral not meant to scare you government octopus that touches all the things that matter and you can see how we begin to place a lot of hopes in who's in power.

Because the government affects justice what happens in our court system what do you go to jail for are there jails are there prisons who runs them how long do you have to stay there what are the conditions there how do you seek justice if you've been wronged who decides what is right and wrong you see every government whether it's big or little whether it's a a democracy or a dictatorship it's going to address some of these issues it's going to have answers to some of these problems.

If people are going to exist with one another so government attaches itself to justice and has to answer some questions for us and sometimes when it doesn't give an answer it's that's an answer it pushes it into the market it puts it into how people will handle it on their own schools so that this government octopus can address schools which is our children are they safe are there standards that all schools have to meet or is it just if you have enough money you can get a good education.

And if you don't you don't are there health standards are there safety standards who's teaching them what are they learning are they being indoctrinated in all the good things we want them indoctrinated in or they being indoctrinated in all the evil things that will lead them to stray see this matters this is why when we talk about government it matters to us our health is tied up in this what happens when you go to the hospital is it clean is it nice is that just based off of whether you have money or the area you live in has money are there standards that that medicines have to meet are there standards that doctors have to.

Meet who sets those standards who controls that how much does it cost who pays for it these are questions that government answers or chooses not to answer and just pushes out into the world but it matters it matters the type of care you get the type of care your family gets if you look at happiness we have that on there the way we've worded that in the u.s is this idea of a pursuit of happiness that the government is meant to help you not be infringed upon by them and not be infringed upon by the people around you that you can have some level of freedom this isn't the case everywhere.

But it is here and it does matter as we're trying to talk about our political landscape can you own property can you defend it or not can people take it from you is there some amount of upward mobility can you work certain jobs or not depending on who you are your skin color your race your family of origin whether or not you started off wealthy or poor like there's this level of what kind of boundaries do i have the government affects our money they set a currency is it a good currency is it a bad currency how much do you earn.

When you work does the government control that how many hours can your employer ask of you all these things government effects and so all these things matter to us and so you can begin to see how we would begin to elevate this and in reality in a culture where we step away from God where our culture drifts from understanding that God is sovereign that he rules over everything for us this matters more and more and more this idea of this government octopus matters more and more.

If we're to trust it over and against trusting God as he works it always has mattered but the more our culture shifts away from God the more we begin to look for this to deliver us the kingdom this to deliver us the promised land this to keep us safe this to give us a hope and a future and so this is where political parties begin to step in this is where political candidates begin to step in because all these things matter to us they're tied to our hearts.

And so it's easy for us as they're clumped together for us to look to political hopes as our true hope so if this is good if it's your political candidate of choice then everything is awesome everything works out beautifully it's like this governmental octopus is not just touching these things but it's hugging them it's protecting them it's keeping you safe if your candidate is in office or if your hopes and dreams are being fulfilled by those in congress maybe if you're in another part of the world and you have a benevolent dictator this is the way it works that this offers a lot of security a lot of safety it helps you.

When you walk through the world to know where your place is but if it's not your candidate of choice it's terrifying if it's not your party this this octopus is now snaking its way around it's sucking the life out of you it's it's here to harm you and destroy you this is easy for us to believe it's easy for us to feel this because the government has an effect on so many things for us it's easy for us to be able to.

See this and there's part of this that's absolutely true you start looking at it and go no the government does have a large role to play and what your day-to-day life looks like the government has a large role to play in and what your whole life looks like whether it's good or bad and so we begin to place a lot of hope a lot of intense passion around how is this going to play out but the reality is Christians cannot approach it the same way that our culture has begun to call us to here's what i mean the cultural push right.

Now is kind of a three-step process first they're going to convince us that the stakes are high and that's easy to do this idea that the stakes are high is easy to convince us that we ought to place a lot of hope in how this would work out because if it goes bad it goes really bad but if it goes good it can go really good and so this is why we've begun to give a lot of rhetoric and language towards how this plays out that we've got to give a lot of rhetoric and language tours who is to be trusted who is to be elevated you hear things like donald trump is an existential.

Threat to america he's an existential threat to democracy that our democracy the united states won't exist i saw somebody post recently on facebook or on twitter that this we were facing the fight of our lifetime and if donald trump was not elected it could mean the end of christianity we've begun to elevate this language and what happens on both sides is we start to pump up one leader or one party as the hero and we begin to pump up the other one as the villain and we're told by everybody.

When you turn on the radio when you turn on the news when you flip through your news feed on your phone nobody is coming to you and saying hey calm down it's going to be all right we're gonna we're gonna last beyond this we're gonna be okay everybody is working us into a frenzy to tell us how high the stakes are i've only seen a few elections but what i know about them is that the stakes were highest they'd ever been the.

First one i ever saw and then they were the highest they've ever been and they got higher and i'm going to go ahead and tell you that in 2024 when we're having another election i seriously doubt they're going to come on your news feed and say hey the stakes are a little bit lower than last time i feel like we're going to continue to barrel towards this cataclysmic future because the more we fear the more we approach politics with fear the more we.

See how this is snaking in and could either protect us and guard us or or snatch life away from us and so they build this up on one side you have a Christ and on the other side you have an antichrist and you may say that's that's a bit strong well the reality is i we lived through an election where the the candidate was called an antichrist i actually remember leading a Bible study in college and some of the guys on our football team came and asked me hey i've been hearing that obama is the antichrist do you think that's true i said no i don't i don't think that's true i think people politically.

Don't like him they disagree with his politics i don't think he's the antichrist but we've begun to elevate this so on this side you have a hero and on this side you have a villain this side we're going to exalt them we're going to exalt a party this side we're going to vilify it this side we have a Christ and an antichrist someone who will lead us to the promised land someone who will give us a hope and a future and someone over here.

If they're elected there will be blood in the streets you will be hunted everything you hold dear will be taken from you everything you've ever hoped in or trusted will be gone everything that you've ever built or loved the type of person you are will be snatched from you your children will be destroyed this is the type of language we see that over here we have a savior and over here we have the devil and over here we have a 75 year old white man and over here we have a 75 year old white man.

Well that one's the same but you can see how we build this up to a fever pitch and it doesn't matter the language is the same the rhetoric is the same and you can insert whichever party you want and sometimes it doesn't just get wrapped up around the candidate often it gets wrapped up around the policies or the party but they want us to believe that the stakes are higher than they've ever been and that you ought to be afraid secondly once we are rightfully fearful we're told to join a tribe you got to pick a team it's not just a team this is a tribe this is the people to whom you belong what.

They're demanding is not just pick some policies you like but they're saying no pick a party to which you give allegiance wholehearted devotion because when there's a tribe we cannot show weakness when there's a tribe we can't have internal fighting if we have weakness over here that's how the other team wins if we're fighting things out on our side if we don't have agreement on our side so everybody has to step in line you have to perfectly agree you have to defend your tribe over and against the other tribe i have two brothers my dad uh consistently told us that we were a team that it was us to me and my two brothers against.

The world even to the point at one time i told on my other brother and my dad called me a narc told me i was singing like a canary and he said it's not you and me against your brother it's you and your brother against me and i thought this is a weird family dynamic but okay but what he was trying to put in me was that my brothers would be my brothers forever and he would say these are your brothers you don't disagree with your friends over against your brother you don't you defend your brother he told us that.

If we were out somewhere and one of our brothers one of my brothers got himself into trouble by running his mouth or doing something wrong it was my job to help defend him and then when we got alone i could hit him upside his head for being a but i couldn't do it when we were out i had to defend him the reality is that's what we're told about our political tribe blood level allegiance you line up with us perfectly once we're fearful once we've picked a tribe the.

Third one's simple win destroy your enemies this is what's asked of us in our political landscape that you need to understand how much is at stake you need to be afraid you need to join our team and we must win at all costs this is the fight of our lives we must take them down you don't understand how they will rob you of everything you hold dear how they would snatch it from you everything will be destroyed we must win they want us to be outraged they want us to be angry they want us to hate the other side.

If we can see them as a big block of something dangerous rather than humans who were walking out life trying to figure things out then all the better the reality is as Christians there are things we ought to be outraged over there are things we ought to be angry about but not constant fear-driven anger over every little thing not anger that's only against one political party and not the other but anger for the things of God it's a slow anger that continually works towards things that matter justice mercy the value of life there are things that we ought to be outraged over.

But we don't just shout it out we work towards good ends but the reality is they want us to be fearful give our full allegiance and on the attack ultimately they want us to pick a and have a savior do you see how that's a problem for us do you see how Christians can't really join that let's go to Philippians 3. hopefully you're already there i said it take us a minute to get here but this passage is so helpful for us this is Paul writing to the Church in philippi he says brothers join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us who are.

Our leaders Christians who do we keep our eye on godly faithful men and women who follow Jesus for years who do we get our political marching orders from Scripture and those who love Christ not just the political candidates of choice so he says keep your eyes on them that's not exactly he's not talking about a political thing here but i just wanted us to see that that's we join in imitating those who've come up before us verse 18 it says for many of whom i have often told you.

Now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ their end is destruction their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with mind set on earthly things says those who are opposed to Christ their God is their belly meaning their passions their desires their lusts their desires of the flesh that they glory in their shame meaning all the things that are terrible are the things that they uphold as wonderful they brag about their greed they brag about their promiscuity they brag about all the things that are sinful and broken they glory in them their minds are set on earthly things all they can.

See is here and now what most benefits me here and now so he says there's this whole group of people that are walking as enemies of Christ and their end is destruction we have a picture of this to try to help us see this when when our culture tells us the stakes are high and what they mean is the political future of america is in danger if you don't act your political hopes and dreams won't be lived out the reality is we're already in a situation where the stakes are high all of creation is groaning waiting.

For God's Revelation of himself groaning waiting for him to redeem the Church and the reality is all of creation is going to be either redeemed or judged every person we know is going to be redeemed by Christ they're going to have a Christ-filled eternal future or they're going to be condemned in their sin those are the stakes that's the situation we find ourselves in and so when Paul says this he says their end is destruction their God is their belly and they glory in their shame he doesn't say this smugly he doesn't say this pridefully he says i tell you this even with tears they walk as enemies of Christ the reality is uh the.

Enemies are not political enemies they're not enemies of this party or that party they're enemies of Christ and Paul says this with tears with the hope that there would be so few of them that most people would walk into the freedom that's offered through Jesus and salvation and have an eternity with him so when they tell us the stakes are high the reality is the stakes are far higher than they know and we don't have political hopes that will fix them we have an eternal game that we're playing we have an eternal hope that is set we have an eternal judgment that is he coming.

So Christians cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over our short run political future Christians cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over a short run political future because we come from a different place understanding who the true fear is that we ought to fear him who can do more than kill the body but can also destroy the soul that we ought to fear him who rules over the cosmos and rules over history and who raises and lowers nations and who redeems in Christ in Christ alone we cannot participate in the fear they want us to have over short-run political situations and scenarios.

When they tell us to join a tribe to give our allegiance they're saying pick who you think will save you listen to this policy listen to this listen to that weigh it out and then pick one and join and fight for that end there's a scene in monty python's quest for the holy grail it's a really dumb movie they're running around questing for the holy grail that's what they're gonna go find one they go to this castle they announce that they're on a quest to find the holy grail and the guy leans over the edge of the castle and says we've already got one.

And then he ducks down and says i've told him we've already got one he's just messing with him but he he says we've already got one we already have a holy grail we don't need to join your quest and that's how i feel that Christians ought to respond when they say pick a tribe we've already got one i already have a savior i already have a hope this is what he says in Philippians 20 3 chapter 3 verse 20. but our citizenship is in heaven you already have a tribe you already have a people and from it we await a savior the.

Lord Jesus Christ we already have a messiah we already have a hope and a future we already have a glorious promise of progress so when they tell you that you ought to be afraid and you ought to join a tribe you need someone to save you we already have someone to save you and i'm awaiting a savior i'm not awaiting a savior from the republican party we're not sitting and awaiting a savior from the democratic party we're not waiting for their policies to come in to redeem and rescue we already have a savior we already have a hope we already have a future i recently watched the play hamilton.

Because it's on disney plus spencer talked about that about a week ago i thoroughly enjoyed it i think it was well done i liked the artistic nature of it i enjoyed my wife and i more enjoyed getting to see the history of things we kept looking up stuff to see if it was true we looked up to see who hercules mulligan was which by the way i know that our Church family keeps having new babies hercules mulligan is a sweet name and has the benefit of being gender neutral boy or girl would work excellently that's less true.

But it's a really good name and so we're watching this and i i enjoyed i enjoyed watching and seeing the history and thinking through this and how the united states fought against the largest empire in the world at this time and and won their independence it's fun for me to celebrate that and see that i like that we got rid of a king and got a republican democracy a democratic republi republic that's the word i was looking for it's the same thing kind of.

But we got a democratic republic i love that the queen can't show up and get rid of all of our governmental officials like she can in i don't know other places around the world like australia i appreciate that we have this but the reality is i long for the day when the king rides in and overthrows this democracy i long for the day when i no longer get to vote because i'm a servant in the house of God and all the good things are taken care of.

Because i already have a savior and from heaven we await our hope we are citizens of heaven and we can participate in the good things that government has now but our hope does not reside here and our allegiance cannot be given here because it's been given to Christ we cannot participate at the same level that those who have no hope can we ought not to this is a quote from russell moore in his book onward he's the president of the southern baptist ethnic ethics and religious liberty council he says this it would be a tragedy to get the right president the right congress and the wrong Christ he goes on to say that.

If we accept anybody who says they'll be a they're a Christian as long as they have our political leaning and we elevate them even though they show no marks of being a Christian what we're actually demonstrating to the world is that we love politics over Christ we're actually demonstrating what our real hope is and who our real savior is and it's a problem we're told then to destroy our enemies the reality is the enemies are enemies of the cross of Christ and we do not approach them with hate.

But with tears we're told that we ought to fight against our enemies that we bought ought to be outraged that those who would destroy america but the reality is their end is destruction because they're destroying themselves because they walk as enemies of the cross of Christ and so we join with our God who died for his enemies who told us to love our neighbors and love our enemies we cannot participate in the anger and the outrage they want us to have against the political party.

Because we are not just playing out a political hope we can't participate in the fear we can't give our allegiance and we can't walk in the anger they want us to have because we understand how the world actually works Christians ought to have a distinct approach to politics and to government we're called to participate we're called to work actively in them we're going to talk more about that but first we've got to repent of where we've elevated a political party to a hope into a messiah that can give us the future we want and and denigrated the.

God who has already done that for us in Christ and from whom we await salvation we need to repent this is as he continues out in verse into verse 20 he says we await a savior the lord Jesus Christ and he says who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself i want to finish up by reading two quotes that i think are helpful for us and we'll spend some time this week in our community groups walking through uh some questions that help us begin to.

See and untangle where we might have begun to worship and elevate a political party over our savior brett mccracken wrote this for the Gospel coalition i think it's helpful he says here's the hard truth for believers wanting political influence in these times consistent faithfulness to Scripture will never square with total alignment with any political party a Gospel agenda is not set by partisan think tanks in washington dc it's set by Scripture a Gospel agenda may align with some aspects of one political party and some of another and should spur us to engage in those areas.

But it also decidedly rejects some aspects of both God's agenda is better bigger and more glorious than any one party nation culture or time the mission of Jesus will outlast every white house tenure it will outlast america itself for the Christian the right side of history is always the side that places faithfulness to the eternal God above loyalty to a temporal tribe if we have begun to elevate our political party and our hopes are set in them and you'd feel more comfortable knowing that your political candidate won and that you began 2021 with the right political candidate and you care more about that than who's on the throne in the eternal heavens ruling over history.

We have a problem if you're more willing to evangelize for your political party of choice but have no words for those who don't know Christ we have a problem but the reality is we await a savior who redeems and works and transforms and has everything in subjection to himself and we have hope so we come in from a different angle hebrews 12 28 says therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and let us offer to.

God acceptable worship with reverence and all some of us have begun to worship political parties we've begun to worship political candidates we've worshipped our way into this and we need to worship our way out for us to begin this as we approach following the lord well we need to begin setting our hearts and hopes on Christ and not political agendas we've been being stirred up in fear and tribalism and anger and we need a reset we need to spend time this week in our Scriptures before the face of.

God reminding ourselves of the eternality of the mission we've been sent on it's not a short run one the reality is there will be a king who rules forever and we have hope only as we have hope in him we'll finish with this leslie nubigen he's a missionary went to india went back to the uk and saw that there was that as he had gone to india to be a missionary when he finally came back he realized that the uk had drifted as.

Well and this is one point he talks about our hope not being governmental he says the point is that a transformed society is not our goal great as that is our goal is the holy city the new Jerusalem a perfect fellowship in which God reigns in every heart and his children rejoice together in his love and joy and though we know that we must grow old and die and that our labors even if they succeed for a time will end will in the end be buried in the dust of time and that along with the painfully won achievements of goodness there are mounting seemingly irresistible forces of evil yet we are not dismayed we know.

That these things must be but we know that as surely as Christ was raised from the dead so surely shall there be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness and having this knowledge we ought as Christians to be the strength of every good movement of political and social effort because we have no need either of blind optimism despair we get to begin in a place of hope and certainty we get to approach the political landscape of our nation distinctly from our neighbors who don't know Christ we understand the reality of the eternal situation we're going to walk in.

And so we ought to worship we ought to celebrate that we have a kingdom that will outlast all kingdoms that we have a kingdom that cannot be taken shaken or destroyed and we have to begin there if our starting point is not that our savior is Christ and that we are brothers and sisters and citizens of heaven we won't be able to even begin understanding how we ought to approach something temporary and good like politics let's spend this week repenting let's spend this week confessing let's spend this week re-setting our hearts and hopes.

So that we might move forward participating fervently for the good that is in government but doing so without either despair or blind optimism understanding that we have a savior let's pray God we thank you for your grace we pray that we would be politically active but that we would be politically active as Christians who have a hope and a future who have a citizenship in heaven secured by Christ and Christ alone help us to repent this week as everything around us calls us to fear and allegiance and anger may we live as.

If we believe in Christ amen may your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever you reign swelling lives we will be the Church to live our your heart oh God rise up in us we'll show the world how you love Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation over us the fight was one on the cross to take may your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

For yours is the kingdom the power we will be the Church to live out your heart oh God rise up in us we'll Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation voices make a joyful noise make a joyful noise and raise your voices make a joyful noise oh God rise up in us we'll show the world how you love Jesus take our heart and make it yours salvation over for you have overcome the world all right before we uh let's get out here.

Today before you guys tune out uh a couple announcements uh we encourage you if you're not a part of a group to jump in with a group you can go to our community groups page you can find out some more information there fill out a contact form and we can connect you uh to a group uh for our Church family that's in groups we invite you to to be present in group this week whether that's uh through uh facetime or jitsi or whatever or it's in person uh be present and uh and let's walk through this very difficult subject together let's watch this with a lot of grace and repentance also.

If you're part of our Church family we invite you to give you can give online on our website you can also drop off checks at the office during the week uh we hope to be back in this room uh this coming uh this next sunday uh but we're gonna have to wait and see so there'll be more information on that at the end of the week so let me pray that we respond well as we walk this out as a Church family.

Father i thank you that you give us your word and that it pierces our hearts it exposes the thoughts and intentions of our hearts so that we can walk and repentance so that we can see that you are our ultimate king and your kingdom is not of this world God i pray you give us grace for one another this week that we walk through this together that you would keep us safe we ask us all in Jesus name amen.