I don’t know if you saw the video that happened in a church in Texas a few month’s back. I had multiple people bring it up with me in conversations, so I thought it may be worth addressing here. I originally started this that week, but I wanted to give time to distance my thoughts from that moment and to see if I really felt led to preach it. It’s such a touchy subject, but I think that we can and must enter into it with a Jesus perspective. That is sort of what we do in all issues. We enter into them without taking the us versus them views of the world. We refuse to adopt or identify primarily with a worldly tribe. Our tribe is the Jesus tribe, and in that tribe, we passionately view everyone as made in the image of God.
I debated on showing the video and decided not to because it crosses a line for what should happen in a church despite it being a video of something happening in a church. The video itself shows a worship leader encouraging a church to chant “Let’s Go Brandon!” And briefly, for those who don’t know the phrase, a NASCAR racer named Brandon Brown won a race. The crowd started a vulgar chant directed at Joe Biden. It was coming through during the interview and the NBC interviewer said that the crowd was chanting “Let’s Go Brandon!” And so the more socially acceptable chant replaced the vulgar one within days.
So that’s the background.Now to look at our local context here in the middle of rural Midwest America. I know that if I wanted to grow a club in the disguise of the church, I would preach gun rights, Trumpism, sports, rugged individualism, and, in this case, the idea of Let’s Go Brandon every week. That would grow a church in our community. I see pastors doing that in some places to much success.
But that is not the kingdom of God. It isn’t even close. It’s folk American religion.
As Christians, we often speak truths – we have an obligation to speak truths – always in love - that the community we live in doesn’t want to hear. That is how we change things. We can’t change things for the better by just conforming. We are different than the world around us and one of those ways is shown in how we enter into the politics of the day.
Jesus offers an alternative way to live in this
world. We will get to that more in just a bit.
I enter into this knowing that Christians can be
Biden or Trump supporters. They can be for or against the vaccination. I
personally do struggle with whether a Christian can be for the mandates, but I
will offer grace and love to those that disagree with me on that subject. But it
makes no sense to me that a Christian would make someone lose their livelihood
and ability to provide housing and feed their family, but I talked about that a
few months back.
It has always been my goal, whether it has been realized or not, to have a
church filled with Democrats and Republicans. Socialists and Libertarians. Even
Buckeyes and Wolverines fans. I find in this world of divisiveness that this
goal being realized is very hard because everyone wants you to agree 100% with
their views or they won’t respect you. And so they’ll go find a church that
doesn’t challenge them on an issue or that just agrees with them on it.
Our approach to interacting with the world – as it gets more heated and more
full of hate toward people in other tribes has to be different than the way
people who don’t know Jesus interact with those that disagree with them. The
way we express our feelings about political leaders on the other side of the
aisle, whether that’s Trump or Biden – Pelosi, McConnell, DeWine, Holcomb,
Whitmer or even local opposition has to be different than the way the world
interacts with their opposition.
So let’s look back 2,000 years to Scripture and see if we can get some timeless
truths that we can apply today to show how we are supposed to behave in this
environment.
In the time that Paul wrote his letters, the world
wasn’t a big fan of Christians either. In this passage we are going to read,
Paul is writing his young protégé, Timothy, to teach him how to interact with
the world as a follower of Christ.
"I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to
help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way
for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet
lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior,
who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, He gave his
life to purchase freedom for everyone." 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (NLT)
Pray for all people. Give thanks for them. Pray for kings and all who are in
authority. This seems to be the exact opposite from what was going on in the
church that I’m not showing the clip of.
It’s hard when specific issues are on the line -
when we feel that our rights are being violated – to be loving toward the
people who we may feel are wronging us or even oppressing us. Yet even in that
case, Jesus told us to love our enemies. Bless those who persecute you.
The Jesus way isn’t our normal instincts. It isn’t the way of this world. But
it must be the way we handle ourselves in this world.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t call out a lie. This doesn’t mean to blindly
follow. This doesn’t mean that you can’t disagree, but it does mean that when
you call out a lie, that when you rebel, that when you disagree, you will do it
in love.
Another thought that is expressed in Scripture is
that we are taught that the prosperity of bad leaders leads to even our
prosperity.
Jeremiah wrote:
"This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,
says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes,
and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have
children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren.
Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the
city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will
determine your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:4-7 (NLT)
Again, it’s noted that we should pray for those who harm us.
But this passage provides further clarity.
In a world that may cause us to be disillusioned, we’re called to continue on
living. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Marry and have children. Then
encourage them to have children.
I like the idea that we are to live in such a way that those around will still
believe this world is worth bringing children into. I fear so many are living
in such fear, hate, and isolation, that nobody would want to bring children
into their world. But we are called to be different.
We live – like Jeremiah said to live in those times – for the prosperity of the
evil nation around us. For Babylon.
We are called to be a blessing, even when we feel that the world around us may
be opposing us. That’s the Jesus way. A way of not conforming with the
oppression of the governments around us. But also seeking for the welfare of
the nation we find ourselves in.
We pray for our leaders. We seek their blessing. For in them being blessed, we
will also be blessed.
Jesus taught,
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor and hate
your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In
that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he
gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just
and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there
for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to
your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But
you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT)
Love your enemies. That’s one of Jesus’ more
radical teachings, yet it is one we must exemplify. We must be different than
the world around us. We cannot join in on the divisiveness and hate.
It’s easy to love those who love us. It’s easy to
love those who are on our side. But Jesus wants us to love all – even those who
persecute you. And when we do this, Jesus says that we “will be acting as true
children of your Father in heaven.”
We as the people who follow Jesus are to be
identified by our love. Chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” in a church would tell
people who are Democrats that we don’t love them. And we need to not do that. It
would say that we are not welcoming. Not loving. And political affiliation is
not what we should alienate people with. There may be certain political issues
we have stances on that will naturally alienate people just by having our
convictions, but the celebrity of politics and attacking an individual should
not be one of them.
Personally, I dropped my affiliation with a political party in the last few
years. That doesn’t mean that is the right or wrong approach. It’s just how I
figured out how to navigate these times. I stand up for issues and don’t have a
loyalty to political people or a party. I have found this liberating. It may
look different for you as you learn to navigate these times. That’s okay, but your
political life needs to be defined by love. Love for the person attacking you.
Love for the person opposing you. Love as a root of the views you have.
If we were a massive congregation, I would get us
all to start chanting, “Bless Joe Biden.” Then we could put that up on Youtube
for the world to see. For that is what the sentiment of the church should be
toward our President and all other political leaders, whether they are on the
side of the issues we want them to be or not. For as Jeremiah noted regarding
Babylon, “For its welfare will determine your welfare.”
Following Jesus really isn’t about getting a counter video on Youtube though.
It’s about us living this Jesus life when it’s hard. In our daily lives. And
it’s so different than the world around us.
Muhammad Ali said in The Greatest: My Own Story: “I'm a fighter. I believe in the
eye-for-an-eye business. I'm no cheek turner. I got no respect for a man who
won't hit back. You kill my dog, you better hide your cat.”
And that sentiment resonates with us. Vengeance is
really a carnal instinct. It comes naturally. But forgiveness and love of enemy,
like Jesus shared on the cross, is so difficult yet so divine. Redemptive and
healing. Kingdom bringing.
The world says vengeance. And then I hear the whispering voice
of God telling us this is why I call you to love your enemies. To bless those
who persecute you. To pray for those who wrong you. To forgive those who need
forgiven. We are called to break the cycle of violence and hate. When Jesus,
hanging on the cross and dying, can declare, "Father, forgive them for
they know not what they do", I can do the same. I can forgive the monsters
who seem unforgivable. I can forgive those who want to or have wronged me. Who
oppose me. I can live in this kingdom of
faith. I can be an exile in this sad, foreign land bringing light and hope. We are, as the Barbara Johnson first said,
Easter people living in a Good Friday world.
So when it comes down to it, even when we are going through the worst
circumstances, we are called to remain loving and forgiving. Because we know
that following the death of Jesus on Friday comes the resurrection on Sunday.
We know that God is at work turning what is meant for bad into good. God brings
that about through us living in the land of faith as Jesus did. As exiles in
our materialistic world. And living to bring about things that are better than
the current reality shows us.
Eugene Peterson wrote: "Believing without loving is what gives religion a bad
name. Believing without loving destroys lives. Believing without loving turns
the best of creeds into a weapon of oppression. A community that believes but
does not love or marginalizes love, regardless of its belief system or
doctrinal orthodoxy or “vision statement,” soon, very soon, becomes a “synagogue
of Satan” (page 261 of Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places.)
Our belief, when mixed with love, brings about the will of God even in the
darkest of situations. Our lives aren't typically as dramatic as Jesus' life.
We probably won't be executed by society like Jesus was for not conforming to
their standards, living differently, and teaching revolutionary ideas. But the
call to love in all situations is still there. We will be wronged. We will have
people hurt us, intentionally and unintentionally. We need to still echo those
words of the perfect exile, who while be murdered on a cross said,
"Father, forgive them." We can forgive those who seem unforgivable.
Even when they know not what they do. We must forgive those who seem
unforgivable. We must love our enemies. We must bring a different flavor into
this world. We are the ones to stop the cycle of hate in personal relationships
and in the world at large. If not me, then who? If not you, then who?
Yet to do that, I think there is one point we must
grasp: We are all sinners. And Jesus has died for and loves us all. We may
individualize the death of Jesus a little too much in saying that Jesus loves
me. It's true that Jesus loves me, but he also loves the people we love the
least. He didn't just die for you and me; He died for everyone. This means that
the person who you aren't forgiving is worthy of forgiveness just as much as
you are worthy of it. They are also loved by God.
CS Lewis taught, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God
has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
This is the route to a better world.
Jesus is teaching an exile way of living. It's
different than the ways of the world. Praying for leaders we don’t like and
asking God to bless them when the world around us is saying the exact opposite
is hard. Loving our enemies does not come naturally to us, but many of the
exile things don't. Many things in the way of Jesus don’t. That's part of being
an exile. We're in a culture that teaches us incorrectly on how to deal with
being wronged. But Jesus is God in the flesh. And I concede that the creator of
all of us knows the best way that we should live. And that is to love our
enemies. To pray for those who lead us – even if we feel that they persecute
us.
