Beyond Left & Right: A Kingdom Perspective on Politics

[0:00] I don't know if you've noticed but there's an election on Tuesday and even if you're not from the United States you'd have to be living under a rock to not see it all over social media and everybody's sharing their opinions sometimes really loudly and really forcefully and not with a lot of nuance or charity or even basic human dignity in the way that we are treating each other and of course while that's true for the entire country at large the part that I think depresses me the most is that this is often true of Believers as well and it really shouldn't be of course being honest politics can tear people apart even people who genuinely love each other I'm sure you've seen it yourself maybe you've watched friends or family members draw hard lines stop talking or turn tense over something as small as a social media post or some political slogan and it's painful because we know these divisions aren't

[0:48] what God has called us to but here's the truth as Christians our true Allegiance doesn't fall in line with any political party any political entity any political figure our Allegiance belongs to a King and he rules over a kingdom over which we are now citizens and the king of that Kingdom calls us to love and live differently So today we're going to talk about how to hold to the kingdom in the midst of our divided world and in the midst of what might be the most politically fractious and divisive season in the United States since the Civil War I really didn't want to do this video I hate politics I didn't want to wade into it but I do think it's important for us to talk about it so buckle up cuz this one's going to be fun I come from a middle class family I'm sorry I could I couldn't I couldn't not do it I come from a family of five I was

[1:35] the youngest of three boys and I had my mom and my dad and my house my entire childhood and we were a very divided family when it came to politics my dad was a construction worker and general contractor who used to drive around in his truck switching the radio back and forth between John MacArthur and Rush limbo my mom on the other hand would be what you would call a bleeding heart liberal both of them were recovering hippies they both sort of looked at their approach to life in very different ways the s and 7s shaped them in very different ways my dad passed away back in 2018 my mom is still around though so this is just an interesting observation of my childhood experiences with politics my mom was more of the NPR type now of My Three Brothers I have two that are older than me I was the youngest one 6 years older and one 12 years older the one that's 12 years older is probably the person politically speaking that is most left of center that I personally

[2:22] know and I love him to pieces and he's brilliant and he's extraordinarily intelligent he can articulate his views in a really really good way my other brother is no less brilliant he's a very different kind of brilliant but he's an absolutely incredibly intelligent person and he would consider him right of Center politically conservative and so I grew up kind of knowing politics is important people have different views about things and they have different opinions on which policies are going to create the kind of nation they want to have that's important that's good that's normal and they'll disagree maybe even forcefully about those policies and about the different approaches that they think we as a country should take to alleviate different problems unfortunately it wasn't until I was much older that I feel like I discovered what was a path forward into a much more healthy kind of approach to people who disagreed with me on politics or disagreed with my brother and my other

[3:09] brother and my mom and my dad because there was disagreement all around and it was very divisive and it was very fractious and it involved a lot of invective and talking past each other and it wasn't until I came to see political parties political candidates and really human power structures in general for what the Bible calls them that I came to understand the solution and the path forward and it wasn't until I stumbled upon the sixth chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians that I really felt like I started to get a handle on what was happening when politics got involved especially in conversations we had with Christians of course Ephesians is its own book and there's all kinds of things happening in there and I'm skipping right to the end of a whole big long train of thought that would take a lot more time to unpack and would probably give us all sorts of beautiful Jewels if we were to do so but where I got to that really set the standard and set the stage for this discussion for me was all the way back

[3:58] in Ephesians 6 and I'm just going to read some of this and then we're going to talk a little bit about what it means and we're going to come back to things so let's start in verse 10 finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil for our struggle is not against flesh and blood for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this Darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the Heavenly places therefore take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything to stand firm and again as said earlier there's plenty to talk about and then we have this whole wonderful Treatise on the entire Armor of God and that would be a really fruitful study for another day but for now let's pull it back and let's try to

[4:46] see what we're supposed to take from this passage I hope you didn't lose sight of what he said because it's extremely important we know this passage but for some reason most of us don't apply it to our political battle he says very clearly we wrestle not against flesh and blood does that mean it means that if you are ever eyeball to eyeball with another human being you are not looking at the real enemy and you know what it could be that they are in Allegiance With the Enemy and you might be tempted to think that if they're on the opposite political party of yours that that might make them your enemy or you might think that your political party is in keeping with God's will for the world and the political party of your opponent on the other side isn't and the truth is that these are the things that Paul has in mind when he refers to the powers Paul expands his language to include the powers that are at work in this darkness

[5:33] in the Heavenly places but he doesn't say that all of the powers that are at work in this Darkness are ones that are in the Heavenly places did you catch that it's almost like he's saying power structures in general are supposed to be things that we view with a little bit of Suspicion if there's a power structure that is claiming your Allegiance anywhere in the world what it is doing is it is trying to draw Your Allegiance away from your king and onto itself which is a fundamentally un Christlike action listen as Christian we're told that our Allegiance is first to Jesus and his kingdom not to any Earthly power or party but what does that really look like I would argue firstly that it means refusing to let ourselves become divided from people who are also made in God's image no matter which party we're drawn to and I certainly have my opinions we are called to an allegiance that stands

[6:20] above political divides and here's why the kingdom of God is eternal while political systems are temporary and every human power structure is captive to the power poers that oppose God's Kingdom at work fundamentally choosing to align ourselves with God's kingdom Keeps Us anchored in Christ's vision for the world rather than the shifting Sands of political agendas and so we're called to choose the kingdom that lasts with love as its foundation and again politics often tries to turn people into our enemies but the Bible says that our struggle isn't with those other people when we start to see those who disagree with us politically as enemies we lose sight of this true battle in fact we're participating in this true battle but now we're working with the Enemy no human being is our Real Enemy when we Embrace that truth it changes everything about how we interact with others even those with opposing political views we can disagree but we must never forget

[7:09] every person is loved by God now I had a thought recently I decided to post something on my Facebook profile pointing out that this Tuesday isn't as simple as a decision between the elephant and the donkey as Christians we have to take into account the lion the lamb the beasts and the dragon what does that mean importantly all four of these are Biblical images that in one way or another demand our allegiance The Lion and the lamb are two different ways of looking at Jesus when Jesus's contemporaries heard the lion of Judah especially his contemporary Jewish folk what they had in mind was someone of a political leader who was going to rise up with sword in hand and take out the Romans that's what they anticipated now the lamb in most people's eyes even Christians I would say is kind of the opposite picture and if you've been following along with my video series with Sam Carter on the atonement you'll

[7:57] know that there's a certain way people talk about the sacrifice of Jesus where they almost make him out to be this helpless figure that needed to be just punished and sacrificed in our place and it's like he just pushed us out of the way of the oncoming train to take the hit for us when it was going to be us instead and so on the one hand you have people who think of Jesus as this great military leader and even their eschatological hope is that Jesus is going to come out with the sword and he's going to destroy all of his enemies and they Envision him at work doing something similar in the here and now or you have the people who you might call pacifists who just want us all to get along and they want to have Jesus be this great Beacon of Peace where there's no there's no like there's no conflict and there's no justice necessarily there's just forgiveness and and peace for everyone the truth is that both of those images come from the Old Testament

[8:44] and then they get woven together in one of the most interesting ways you'll ever find in the fifth chapter of Revelation now there's a good chance that you've never noticed this but there's something really interesting that happens in The Book of Revelation when John hears something then turns to look at something often he will hear someone call out the thing that the Jewish people had been hoping for for the longest time and then when he turns and opens his eyes and sees what he's been invited to look at it looks different from what he'd heard if you've never noticed this in the Book of Revelation I recommend that you go back through and do it but here's a perfect example so the fifth chapter of Revelation introduces this scroll and says I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back sealed up with Seven Seals and I saw a strong angel procla claiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open

[9:31] the scroll and to break its seals and no one in heaven or on the earth or under the Earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it so there's a scroll and it's apparently a really big deal and we need to go and find someone who's worthy to open up this scroll and everywhere this everywhere this angel looks there's no one who's worthy to open the scroll and it's apparently a very consequential deal because John begins to weep greatly because no one's worthy to open the scroll or read it then one of the elders said stop weeping behold the lion that is from the tribe of Judah the root of David has overcome so as to be able to open the scroll in its Seven Seals so here's that political military leader language you're expecting yes the the one who is Worthy is the leader is the

[10:19] one who has you know golden breastplate gleaming in the sunlight and sword held a loft drenched in the blood of his unrighteous enemies that he's destroyed with his great might and that's what makes him worthy to rule and to lead right what does it say and I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slaughtered having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God set out into all the Earth and he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne when he had taken the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 Elders fell down before the lamb each one holding a harp and golden bows full of incense which are the prayers of the Saints and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to break its seal for you were slaughtered and you purchased people for God with your blood from every tribe language people and Nation you have made them into a kingdom

[11:08] and Priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth I hope that you understand the gravity of what just transpired in that passage because it's phenomenal this is the presentation of the king of the universe if you are a Christian this is the one to whom you owe Your Allegiance and some think of him as a conqueror While others think of him merely as a sacrifice the truth is that he is both and the way that John puts these IDE together is that he overcame by his sacrifice that is so colossally important we cannot move past that until we understand you see the powers of this world whether they be Republican whether they be Democrat whether they be other nations whether they be other power structures powerful companies any other human power structure that raises itself up and gathers power unto itself to create the world in its own image it does so by force it does so by exercising its power

[11:57] over others to work against their purposes in order to establish its own how much of the political rhetoric around the United States is who is going to best Advance the interests of the United States how much of the rhetoric around what's happening in Israel and in Gaza Strip right now is around who has the right to establish their way of life and their way of doing things who has the right to establish their own authority structure in that region you think about major companies like Google Apple YouTube who has the right to decide how their businesses are run and under what practices will they be allowed to operate and this will introduce us into the concept of beasts here in just a moment but listen as a Christian you follow a leader who led by dying for people who led by bleeding by laying his life down on behalf of others

[12:47] when he was under no requirement to do so and you know what the Bible tells us about who those others were when Jesus laid down his life it says that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly meaning that while we could still rightly be called his enemies he died to bring us rescue and life when we didn't deserve it and so now the Temptation Falls to us are we going to treat our political Rivals our political enemies as though they shouldn't be given the same kind of forgiveness and Grace and love that we ourselves have received it's incredible how quickly we lose sight of this the way that the kingdom of God conquers it conquers the evil powers make no mistake the evil Powers will be brought to nothing by the work of Jesus and by the work of his followers what does that look like does it look like converting people at the end of a sword like they tried to do in the Crusades does it look like enforcing our particular view of morality whether

[13:36] that looks like a democratic platform or a republican platform in order to sort of try to bludgeon and force people into our worldview or does it look like genuine others focused love even directed at people who look and act and think and believe nothing like us and don't think about the people on the other side of the person you're going to vote for on Tuesday night think about yourself think about how you think about your enemies think about who you consider to be the real person who is your adversary anytime you are eyeball to eyeball with another human you are looking at someone that Jesus especially loves and valued enough to die for and the reason that he is worthy of all existing beings more than anything and anyone that exists anywhere the reason that he is worthy to Reign and to rule John says is that he was slaughtered and he has purchased a people for himself

[14:25] from every tribe people nation and tongue I know Believers on both sides of this political aisle they have their reasons and I have my opinions but we must not ever lose sight of the fact that the king that we worship that we follow whose Allegiance we to whom we owe our Allegiance it's Jesus and he is The Lion and the lamb the Conqueror and the sacrifice power and humility United you may be drawn particularly to one or the other but here's the truth you can't have the lion without the lamb or the lamb without the lion he is the Lamb who was slain yet also the lion of Judah who Reigns his kingdom is not one of power alone or sacrifice alone but power through sacrifice as his followers we are called to embody this balance in how we interact with the world reflecting his authority and his gentleness through how we transform the World by giving of

[15:12] ourselves and being willing to sacrifice ourselves even to the point of death on behalf of those who we might even be tempted to call our enemies because Christ first loved us and first died to adopt us into his own family and to transmit us into his own kingdom legitimately his enemies and the battle that he wages against the powers now is often derailed into all of these fractious divisive nonsense conflicts when what he would have us really focus on is loving him with all of our heart soul mind and strength and then loving our neighbor as oursel every one of our neighbors anybody who is in proximity to my life whatever they believe is someone that I'm called to love so if the lion of Judah and the lamb represent Christ and his kingdom marked by love and sacrifice what about the beasts and that Dragon well the word Beast where ever you encounter it in the Hebrew Bible

[16:01] always refers to a human power structure go ahead and read Daniel 7 and read about the beasts that come up out of the ocean and how helpful is it that there is an angel right there ready to interpret to Daniel that what he is seeing is human kingdoms and it's this beautiful passage where the Ancient of Days opens books and Thrones are placed and then judgment is being pronounced on these kingdoms because these kingdoms are behaving like beasts they're trampling people they're destroying and creating all kinds of havoc and then God who is the Ancient of Days exalts a human who is the son of man and then it's the son of man who pronounces judgment over those kingdoms and then the kingdoms are given to him but that image is what's being used everywhere in Revelation wherever you hear the Beast talked about and there's a whole fun conversation around what the Beast is and the mark of the beast and all these things you don't need to worry about like microchips and things like that that's not what I'm talking about what

[16:49] I'm talking about is that you need to recognize that beasts can look like elephants and beasts can look like donkeys and they're both beasts and they're both the powers and they're both captain to the other powers that are in the Heavenly places Desiring to create conflict and disunity and Division and Brokenness and Chaos everywhere that they turn and if you can find a better set of words to describe our current political environment in the United States then I invite you to try and it's ultimately because the dragon the last Beast with which we have to contend in this discussion is the Devil Himself and all his Legion and this gets us to the nub of the real conflict on the one hand you have God who all over the pages of scripture defines himself and describes himself and demonstrates through his own actions and choices that he is a being of love and care and Grace willingness to forgive patient long-suffering kind who's a being of order and beauty and

[17:39] life who wants to create generously and share his authority with creatures and collaborate with them to take the good world that he made over which he is Sovereign some place beautiful and his kingdom is characterized by things like light and life and love and then on the other side of this divide opposite to God but in no way his equal is the devil principally and then his all and then all his Legion and then all of those principalities and powers that he deputizes to go and create chaos and you want to know what the works of those beings are wherever you find them it's Discord it's chaos it's hatred it's death it's Decay it's brawling it's slander it's lies it's dishonesty it's Envy it's covetousness it's any kind of sin those are the things that characterize the kingdom of darkness and depending on how we engage in the political battle here on this plane when we're left and right and we're

[18:27] organizing ourselves into these groups and hurling insults and onliners and slogan earing at each other it doesn't matter which side of the Divide you're on if you're engaged in that kind of behavior you're operating in the kingdom of darkness I'm not saying there's no conflict I'm saying it's how you occupy that conflict how you act in the middle of conflict and disagreement that betrays your true allegiances the Beast and the dragon are these worldly powers and the systems that often lead us away from God and the way that his kingdom operates when we identify more with these Earthly symbols than with Christ himself we lose sight of what he's called us to so where does your heart lie really is it in these Earthly kingdoms or is it in God's Kingdom so how can we love people who disagree with us politically Jesus showed us how he didn't only love those who agreed with him he loved those who stood against him even prayed for those who persecuted him

[19:16] if our true Allegiance is to the kingdom of God that Allegiance should reshape how we respond to every person especially those with whom we don't see eye to eye loving across political divides isn't about ignoring these differences or just about gathering around a c campfire with a guitar singing kumbai It's about putting love and grace above any allegiance to a political identity this is the kingdom way Earthly kingdoms and governments rise and fall but God's kingdom is unshakable Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world and it operates by entirely different principles of is better to be understood as from by the way just because God's kingdom isn't from this world it doesn't mean that it's not actively operating within this world political systems again they're temporary they're built on power plays and fear and often decep but the kingdom of God is eternal it's built on love Justice and the promise of Eternal

[20:03] renewal for those who put their hope in Jesus when we put our hope in the king and when we fix our Allegiance in his kingdom we're investing in a foundation that can't be shaken and in a world so divided by politics this eternal hope this eternal perspective this eternal focus is the grounding we need to keep our faith and our witness strong and to be about our father's business 1 John 4:20 gives us a strong reminder if anyone says love God and hates his brother he is a liar the Bible makes it clear that loving God means loving others even or especially when they don't share our views it's easy to think that loyalty to our beliefs gives us a free pass to look down on or argue with others but our love for God is measured in how well we love others whether they be our brother or our sister in Christ as John says or whether they be those who would make themselves our enemies even if they hate us we have no right but to love them so instead of letting

[20:52] politics divide us let's focus on how we can build relationships that point us back to God's kingdom and refocus us on the mission he's at work in the world furthering the reunification of Heaven and Earth in Jesus Christ so again as citizens of the United States we're staring down the barrel of perhaps the most politically divisive election in our lifetime certainly of mine I'm only 32 but it's been quite the decade of political upheaval now as Citizens we are entrusted with the duty to vote voting is essentially hiring a leader for the country which is a privilege and responsibility while we're called to exercise this civic duty we must never forget where our highest Allegiance lies we have only one true King Jesus Christ and any Earthly leader is ultimately accountable to him so by all means vote make your voice heard in this world choose the person that you think best points us as a country in the direction

[21:40] of Kingdom values you may have to plug your nose when you cast your ballot if you do so enthusiastically I might be a little confused but remember presidents and parties change but it's Jesus and his kingdom that stand unshakable forever because again it's not as simple as choosing between the elephant or the donkey we need to take into account the lion who is the Lamb and the lamb who is the lion we need to take into account the beasts and the influence that the beasts have on our own parties and our own country and all the countries in the rest of the world and we need to not lose sight of the Dragon the battle for our Allegiance goes beyond what we see and who we're going to vote for on Tuesday and where we put our Allegiance determines how we'll treat those who put their allegiance elsewhere we must not lose sight of the actual battle we must always remember who the real enemy is that flesh and blood is never the real opponent and as this election season wraps up and we Face the aftermath I

[22:27] want to encourage you to keep your eyes on the true king engage vote stand up for what's right do all of that but remember when the dust settles our identity and our hope remain in Christ alone we aren't defined by political victories or losses we're defined by our allegiance to a kingdom that outlasts every nation every administration every human leader so let's be peacemakers showing others that we serve a God who calls us to love even in times of division and tension let's set an example speaking with Grace Reaching Across divides reflecting the love of Christ who loved those who were nothing like him and was surrounded by people who loved him though they were nothing like him because what marks us off as people who belong to the sacrificial conqueror is that we conquer through our own self-sacrifice and our love of those who would even hate us so as you go through this week May the peace of

[23:15] Christ guard your heart and mind may you be filled with a love that transcends differences a wisdom that brings Clarity in the face of confusion and a steadfast hope that's rooted in God's unchanging Kingdom if your person doesn't win on Tuesday or the person that you're hoping to win does not make it through the other side as the President of the United States may you instead choose to be a light that reminds others of the one who Reigns above every Power and every nation to whom we will ultimately give an account and may you be blessed with the courage to face difficult conversations to show compassion on those who disagree and to exude joy in the truth that our King is on the throne now and forever and engage in such a way that you represent the Kingdom of Light rather than the kingdom of darkness may God bless you continually as you seek to follow and Obey and honor him further up and further in