Faith and Politics

Good morning, Crossbridge. We're so glad you came to spend your Sunday morning with us.

My name is Julie Foy. I serve on staff as the Women's Director, and we're so glad you're here.

Crossbridge exists to make growing followers of Jesus Christ that know God, grow intentionally,

and make a difference. We would love to help you with whatever your next step in your relationship

with Jesus is. One way for you to do that is if you're a first-time guest, you can stop by the

tent right outside. We would love to just say hi, welcome you, and give you a little gift.

We would also love to get a Connect card from you. So there's one in the seat back pockets around you

or underneath, depending on where you're sitting. Or you can scan this code right up here and do it

right on your phone. If you fill out a card, there's a lot of different options on there,

and we can get that from you later. We'll worship through giving, and you can drop it right in the

bags as it comes by. Today is a big day. I don't know if you noticed the sign. Yeah,

Crossbridge's birthday. 22 years old. It's a whole adult now, Crossbridge Church. We're real

proud. I don't know if you're new or if you've been coming here for a long time, but for me and

my family, we've been coming since 2010, and Crossbridge has become so special to my entire

family. And I hope it is for you too. And we're just happy to thank God today for all the blessings

He's given us as a church and just celebrate that time. All right, next we have coming up

our Next Steps lunch. So, oh no, we're having the men's retreat. We're having the men's retreat.

We're having the men's retreat. We're having the men's retreat. We're having the men's retreat.

We're having the men's retreat. I'm not, but the guys are. So, the men's retreat is going to be

November 7th through 9th. You can sign up now. Like, as you can see right there, if you sign

up early, you save a little bit of money. So, it's worth it to plan ahead. You don't want to

miss it. The guys have some great stuff planned for the men of the church. It's going to be

awesome. So, sign up now and mark it on your calendar, more importantly, so you don't get

busy and forget. Okay, yes, Next Steps lunch. That's what I thought was next. So, September 15th

at 1215, we host this. This is kind of a great opportunity for you to figure out how to get a

little more involved with Crossbridge. This is led by our lead pastor, Chuck, and it's a great time

to just kind of hear more about Crossbridge, where you can get involved, how you can serve,

what we're all about. So, you can sign up for that now on our events page. We do provide child care.

We have a new series this week. We're getting started on the table, but before we get started,

please stand with me for the reading.

Have God's word. Our passage today is Mark 12, 13 through 17.

And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk.

And they came and they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about

anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or should we not?

But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and

let me look at it. And they brought one. And he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription

is this? They said to him, Caesar's. Jesus said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are

Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. This is God's word.

Well, good morning, everybody. It's great to see you.

If we haven't met yet, my name's Chuck. I'm one of the pastors here. And thanks again for making

this part of your Sunday. As Julie said, we're celebrating our birthday today. We are 22 years

old. I was 22 when I got married. So I guess Crossbridge, you know, we're old enough to be

married now. I don't know what that means. But we had 22 years ago this Sunday, we had our first

public worship service at Sartarsha Middle School in New Territory. We don't have a picture of that

Sunday. We have a picture of one of our earliest worship services. This is us at Sartarsha.

And so we were set up and teared down. And yeah, that was back in my khaki era and my hair era as

well. Okay, Steve, you can get that off the screen as quick as possible there. But God's been faithful

to us over these years. And we've had our ups and downs and good years and hard years. But when we

started in 2002, there was a statistic that like 80% of new churches failed within three years. And

so we were kind of going against the odds. And so we were kind of going against the odds. And so we

were kind of going against the odds on that. And the Lord was really kind to us and really faithful

and was faithful to us while we were a portable church. He's been faithful to us here. He's been

faithful through us through the recession that happened, COVID that happened. And he's just been

and not just faithful, but we've been allowed to see people's lives change. People meet Jesus for

the first time. Families, you know, healed and put back together by the power of the gospel. We've

gone around the world. We've gone to El Salvador with some partnerships there. And God's really

used us in different ways over the years. And so I'm so grateful for that. And so I'm so grateful

for that. So it's always great to pause and, yeah, you can clap for that. And it's just great

to pause and just kind of remember like, oh, you know, the church you're at, whatever church that

is, you're here today. It didn't just appear. There were people that sacrificed. You're sitting

in someone's sacrifice because someone, you know, paid for that and volunteered to make things

happen so we could get here. And so I just want to encourage you, if you're not fully invested in

the life of our church, join us in this year. Come to the Next Steps lunch. Get in a community

group. Start serving on a team. Start giving regularly, sacrificially, and generously toward

the mission of the church. And so we really believe that God has some great things in store

for us. And we want to just keep, we don't want to just be faithful. By God's grace, we want to be

fruitful. And we want to see him do more. And so I want to pray and just thank God for his kindness

to us. And then we're going to jump into today's message.

Father,

I thank you for your kindness and your faithfulness to Crossbridge Church.

And Crossbridge Church is not 1049 Eldridge. It is the men and women and children that have been

a part of this community for over the years. As people have come for a season and moved on for

whatever reason, as some people have been here for many years, and even a couple of families

in that picture we just saw have been, are still here, have been here since the beginning. And I

just thank you for the people of Crossbridge. I thank you for the people that are of Crossbridge

right now. I thank you for the people of Crossbridge right now. I thank you for the people

that are here, the people that say this is our church. And so Lord, we are thankful for your

faithfulness. We're thankful for the sacrifices of others. And Lord, we ask that as we start

another year of being a church, that you would pour out your spirit here. That the things we

want to see happen, the faith we want to see grow in our hearts, the faith we want to see

develop in the next generation, the impact in our community, those things will not happen.

Just by our best efforts and being the church that we all like, and it will only happen by

an outpouring of your spirit. And so we ask that you would do that. We ask that we would be

more fruitful this year than we've been in the past, that we would see more lives changed by

the power of the gospel, more people meet Jesus, more people take their next step in discipleship

and following Jesus. And you would start in our hearts, Lord. The church is not the

organization. The church is not the organization. The church is not the organization. The church is

not the organization. We are the church. So start in us and use us for your glory. Make us more like

Jesus. Help us to love you more in our regular everyday lives. And use us to point people to you

and help people meet you for the first time. And now speak to us, put power on this message.

Help us now. Help us to listen. Help us to hear your voice. In Jesus name.

Amen.

As Julie said, we're starting this new series called On the Table. And we actually, as we've

been kind of announcing this series the last few weeks, we actually did an On the Table series in

spring of 2023. And the graphic and the series title got this idea from a ministry that this

was the way that they titled it. We really liked the title, so we borrowed the title. But it's just

the idea of putting questions that we have about the faith just on the table and talking about them

from a biblical perspective. And I think that's a really good idea. And I think that's a really good

idea. And I think that's a really good idea. And I think that's a really good idea. And so for the

next five weeks, we're going to put different questions on the table. And when we say look at

the Bible, we're not trying to, you know, proof text our ideas from the Bible. We're actually

going to look at what does the scripture say and what does the scripture actually teach us as it

relates to these various questions. And so today we're going to begin by looking at faith and

politics. How should followers of Jesus engage with politics? Now, my parents taught me growing

up that politics was a subject you didn't talk about. You didn't talk about it. You didn't talk

about religion. You didn't talk about politics. And now you find yourself in a room. We're going

to talk about both. And really, I was taught growing up, and I don't know how you were taught.

I always find this interesting to talk to people about this. I was taught it was no one's business

who you voted for, that, you know, you didn't share that. That was something personal. That

was something private, you know, and that was it. And now everybody talks about who they vote for.

It's all the people posted on social media. It seems to be everywhere. And maybe that was just

my family thing. And I don't know if that was your family thing, but it just seems like it's

everywhere. And politics is talked about now in such a way, especially from the media standpoint,

that if you aren't with the team, whoever, whatever, the media channel, the person,

whoever it is, if you're not with their team, you're villainized. If you vote for the wrong

people, you're bringing the downfall of the nation, possibly humanity itself. And so you

just see over the past several elections, it just seems like the media is just riling things up,

and, you know, there's 2020, the 2020 elections found families estranged from each other,

that people actually stopped. Maybe this is your story. People actually stopped talking to family

members because they voted differently than other family members. I even remember some intense

discussions with people in my family when asking about voting to make sure that, you know, we're

all voting this certain way. And it was just, it was uncomfortable. It was awkward. It was weird.

And there's, you know, Facebook, I've seen, I'm not much on Facebook these days, but I remember one

day during the 2016 election that on the same day, different people wrote these posts. One person

wrote a post saying that the Democratic Party is the party that best represents Jesus in his

teaching. Same day, another person put a post, the Republican Party best represents Jesus and his

teaching. And so, you know, I'm not sure if that's true. I'm not sure if that's true. I'm not sure if that's true. I'm not sure if that's true.

We have these different views and both of those posts were people in our church.

Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, that's fine. But you have pastors getting up and saying, hey, you can't call

yourself a Christian and vote for, and you fill in the blank, depending on where you are in the

country. If you're more Northeast, there probably, you know, there's pastors come out and say, you

can't call yourself a Christian, vote for Republicans. There's people down South. There

was a big church in Dallas. Pastors say you cannot call yourself a Christian if you don't vote for

Republicans. And every, every kind of group seems to try to adopt Jesus, adopt Jesus, or just get

rid of them all together. And now, you know, I saw a graphic this week and I almost put it up on the

screen, but I was kind of disgusted by it, to be honest, because I don't like when people try to

adopt Jesus. Jesus is not to be adopted. He's to be bowed to and worshiped. There's pictures of

Jesus wearing a make America great again, ball cap, you know, and it's just like, you know, it's not

like what in the world, you know? And so, and we have all these algorithms and make no mistake,

friends. I was with some guys last night at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding and we were,

and they were both in IT. One works with the bank and one works with hospitals, but they knew a lot

about IT and AI and algorithms. They're talking about secure cybersecurity and all that. And they

were just saying, make no mistake, the algorithms, they are feeding our anger and feeding our fear.

And, and, you know, and it's just a crazy,

crazy time. And so I want to have a just really honest, it's going to be simple. I'm not going to

answer every question you have about faith and politics today. It'd be impossible. I was telling

Ernie before the service, Ernie, our worship pastor, just telling him that, you know, like

you could just have all these little caveats and talk for like a couple of hours. So don't worry,

I'm not going to do that. But I do want to talk about the passage that Julie read, because it may

seem like a familiar passage if you've been around the church.

If you haven't been around the church, you may seem like, it almost seems like an irrelevant

passage. But as we dive into the context, we find that it's a very politically charged passage and

that Jesus was asked a very politically charged question. And he gives us, I think, some helpful

tools to how we should view politics as people of faith in Jesus. So let's look at the text again,

Mark chapter 12, verse 13. It's going to be on the screen behind me.

Now, who are they? They are the Jewish leaders that are offended by and jealous of Jesus. Now,

you have these two groups, the Pharisees and the Herodians. It's helpful to know who these people

are, you know, who's coming to Jesus and asking this question. There's four Jewish religious

groups in the New Testament. I won't go through all four, but the Pharisees are probably the most

conservative. And even though a lot of times, if you're, you know, around church, you hear that

Jesus critiques the Pharisees, but the Pharisees are probably the most conservative. And even though

a lot of times, if you're, you know, around church, you hear that Jesus critiques the Pharisees,

a lot. And they need a lot of critique. You know, they add rules. They say, well, God's rules aren't

good enough. Let's add more rules so we don't break God's rules. They seem to care more about

the rules and the heart and the people and all of that. So there is a lot to critique there.

But the Pharisees really were the most conservative group of their day that really cared about

obedience to the Hebrew scriptures, the Tanakh, and especially the Torah, the first five books

of the Bible, the law. And so they were seeking to be faithful to it.

And they were against Roman rule. The Romans, of course, at this time, you know, pretty much

ruled the known world and definitely ruled Israel and Jerusalem. And so they wanted the Romans out

of there. They're pagans. They're filthy. They feel like they're just terrible people with

terrible ways. The Herodians are a group of Jews who, they were a little bit more liberal in their

sympathy toward Rome. And they're called Herodians because they really were trying to get in good with

King Herod. And the way Rome was set up is you have Caesar, he's over the whole thing.

And he basically set up these little kings, tetrarchs, basically what we would call governors

today. But they called them kings. And Herod was one of those. And so it's kind of a puppet king,

a little mini king. He definitely doesn't have that much power. He's basically supposed to keep

the peace so Caesar isn't irritated. And so these Herodians were people that were,

kind of trying to get power and kind of, you know, kind of just shivvied up right next to

Herod and say, hey, let's be friends. And they were servants of Herod. The Pharisees and the

Herodians couldn't be more opposite on what they believed. But now they've come together because

they have a common enemy, Jesus of Nazareth. So they've come to him to trap him. So let's see

what the trap is. Verse 14. And they came and said to him, teacher, we know that you are true

not care about anyone's opinion, for you're not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way

of God. So they're buttering him up right there. Here's the trap. Is it lawful to pay taxes to

Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not? Now, this is not just a do you like taxes or not

question. This is a weapon. This is a question that's charged with implications. And most

scholars think that they're not just talking about just taxes.

They're talking about one in particular tax, the Roman imperial tax. The Roman imperial tax

was a tax for one year's wages, a denarius for every male. And it was hated by the Jews. They

could not stand this tax. And it reminded them that we're slaves to Rome. We're under subject

to them. And it was just an awful, awful tax. And so when Jesus asked for a denarius, most likely

it was a coin that actually had a picture on it. I have a picture of the coin, most likely that

Jesus held. One side of it has Augustus and one side has his son. And it is this whole idea. It

says on there, God, Caesar, Augustus. And so every coin they thought was almost like a picture of

idolatry, the worship of a false king calling this king God. And so it was hated. They thought it

was a bad thing. And so, you know, we're talking about the Roman imperial tax, but this is a

very important idea that we're talking about. And so this is a very important idea that we're

talking about. You know, the Roman imperial tax caused a revolt in 86, 680 that the Romans had to

come and put down. It caused another revolt in 60 AD that the Romans had to come and put down. So

here's the trap. If Jesus says, no, it's not or, you know, it's, it's, um, you can pay taxes. Yeah.

Pay the taxes to Caesar. It's lawful. You know, it's. Go ahead and do that. Then it's like, well, you're not a real messiah because the real messiah is supposed to free us from Rome.

and so you're a fraud. If he says, well, you know, yes, oppose the tax. We should not pay taxes at

all. Then they can turn him over to the authorities, because now he's saying, don't pay Rome their tax,

and he's against Rome, and Rome can prosecute him. It's a heads I win, tails you lose scenario.

So they bring this to him, and they wait for his answer. Verse 15, but knowing their hypocrisy,

he said to them, why do you put me to the test? Bring me a denarius, and let me look at it.

And they brought him one, and he said to them, whose likeness is inscription is this?

They said to him, Caesar. And Jesus said to them, render to Caesar things that are Caesar,

and to God the things that are God, and they marveled at him. Now, why did they marvel

at his answer? Because Jesus said,

some starling things in that statement. One, he basically tells them, I'm not here to bring a

revolt against the Roman government. You should be a good citizen and pay your taxes.

And the next thing he says, but God should have your ultimate allegiance. This would have been

a statement they had never heard, because the Messiah was supposed to bring revolution.

Jesus has come to bring revolution, but a different kind. And so he is basically saying,

Roman pagan government is legitimate, and you should pay your taxes. Now, that brings us to

the thing that we should talk about, is what is a good theology of government? The word theology

just means thoughts, biblical thoughts, thoughts about God. What is the theology of government?

Is government something man invented? Absolutely not. Government, governing things, politics,

the policy by which we govern things, has been around since the beginning, since creation,

when God gave.

Humanity, the creation mandate. When he said this in Genesis 128, and God blessed them,

and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have

dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on

the earth. From the beginning, we've been told to govern the earth, to have practice dominion.

Now, government's purpose is for God-ordained,

human flourishing. Governing the earth, the whole purpose at the beginning was that we would

have this God-ordained, human flourishing, to bring order out of chaos. Now, Jesus is not saying

here that Romans are bringing God-ordained, human flourishing. He's just saying, this is still

legitimate government, bringing order out of chaos. The apostle Paul writes extensively about

government in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 13, verses one through seven. It's a little

lengthy passage, but I think you guys can handle it. We're going to read every word of it. This is

what he says. 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. Therefore, whoever resists the

authorities, resists 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, a ruler is supposed to bring about justice and safety and

all of that. Verse five. 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 or

ministers, not minister like a pastor. Ministers, that word should be better translated servant,

not ministers, because that can be confusing. That's the same. It's the word in Greek for

servant. They are ministers of God attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed them,

taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to who revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is

owed, honor to whom honor is owed. So Paul is saying right there. Now, it's interesting. The

apostle Paul is writing a letter to the Christians in Rome who are sitting under Caesar's authority,

who wants to be worshipped. And he is saying, look, the government's here. It's here because

God is allowing it. It's here and it's bringing order out of chaos. It's here and it's trying

to bring order and stuff. And we should respect it because God has put it there. Now, does that

mean everything about that government is good? Obviously not.

Everything about the Roman government wasn't good. It wasn't promoting at that time the worship

of Jesus. And everything about every government isn't always good. But in general, Paul is saying

that the government is a tool by God to bring order. Then we look over in the letter that Peter

wrote, 1 Peter 2, verses 13 through 17. This is what he says. This is not just, well, that's just

Paul. I mean, who likes Paul? Well, Peter says the same thing. Be subject for the Lord's sake,

to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme. We're going to come back to

that phrase in a second. Or the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil, to praise those

who do good. For this is 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. That word servants there is the same word that they

translated ministers in the other passage. Why they translate that, I don't know.

I'm going to make that decision. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor.

Now, what's fascinating about Paul's passage and Peter's passage, to me at least,

is they both will be executed by Rome. Paul will be beheaded, according to church tradition,

and Peter will be crucified upside down as enemies of the state. That they both write,

two followers of Jesus, two disciples, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, honor them.

Honor them.

God set it up. We're not trying to take it down. We're not being these revolutionaries.

And I find that very fascinating, because we don't really speak with honor

about people in authority these days. In fact, we question authority, sometimes as bumper sticker.

I mean, our whole country started because we made a declaration of independence.

You know, it's like, you're not the boss of us. But you got to ask yourself a few questions.

It probably is worth asking. The way Christians talk about the presidents, do we obey 1 Peter 3.17?

I mean, I noticed it changed right around President Obama's election. My whole life growing up,

it was always President whoever. President Nixon, even though, you know, that guy,

holy smokes, you know, I'm not a crook. Well, really? History might show differently. But

President Ford, President Carter, President Reagan, President Obama, President Obama, President Obama,

President Obama, President Obama, President Obama, President Obama, President Obama, President Obama, President Obama,

President Obama, President Reagan, President Bush, President Clinton, President Bush Jr.

And then we get to Obama. And we had funny jokes. Thanks, Obama. You know, oh, it's hot in Houston

today. You know, thanks, Obama. You know, and we kind of dropped the president, especially with

Trump. We dropped the president. And with Biden, we dropped all that. And it just become jokes

about him. You know, I mean, you have to ask yourself the question, can I obey 1 Peter 2.17?

And I'm going to be very, because I've seen people wear this. And if I step on your toes this

morning, I'm trying to. Can you obey 1 Peter 2.17 and wear a Let's Go Brandon shirt?

I would think long and hard about that.

See, this is where the scripture then begins to say, okay, who's in charge?

Who's governing your life? How are you going to live as an American citizen?

You should live as an American citizen,

who is honoring Jesus above all. Now, two points of application that I want to make from all this.

First point of application is this. Christians are to be good citizens. We're to be good citizens.

And that starts with, we pray for our nation and our leaders. 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 and 2 says this.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayer, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made

for all people, for kings, and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and

quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. I mean, this is a command of scripture. So it begs

the question to us as followers of Jesus, do you pray for those in power? You may not like the

current president. Do you ever pray for him? You might not like who the new president's going to

be, but will you be committed to pray for them? And listen, when it says there may lead a peaceful,

quiet life, godly and dignified in every way, Paul's not thinking that so we can,

he's not thinking of the 21st century suburban family that just wants to, you know,

raise their kids in peace and, you know, maybe go to the lake one weekend, let their kids play ball

and all that kind of stuff. He's not thinking that. He's thinking, I don't want anything to

disrupt the gospel. And so let's, let's pray for them that it all stays peaceful and quiet

so we can keep spreading the gospel and we can have peaceful, quiet life that's telling others

about Jesus. And so Christians are to be good citizens. And part of that is we pray for those

in leadership. We pray for those in church. We pray for those in church. We pray for those in

even if we disagree with them, even if we don't like them, even if we think they shouldn't even

hold the role they're in. We pray for them and we can even pray, you know, Lord, I don't think this

person should have that role. When the election comes, will you remove this person? Will you add

this? We can pray those things, but go back to our prayer series. We're always submitting our

prayers with, but your kingdom come and your will be done. The next part of being a good citizen is

we work for the good of where we live.

We work for the good of where we live. When Israel was being disciplined by the Lord and

taken into exile into Babylonian culture, pagan culture, God spoke to them through the prophet

Jeremiah. This is what Jeremiah says, Jeremiah 29 verse seven, but seek the welfare of the city.

That word welfare is the word Shalom. We've talked about the word Shalom before. Sometimes it's

translated peace. It means human flourishing.

Seek the flourishing of the city where I've sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf

for its welfare, its flourishing, you will find your flourishing. So where we live,

we should be seeking the flourishing of where we live and the people next to us where we live.

So can a Christian be involved in politics, the making of public policy

to govern the world?

We're in the land we live in, of course, because Christians bring a lot to politics. We bring a

vision of human dignity because all are made in the image of God. We bring a heart for the

vulnerable. We bring a vision of treating people fairly. We also know the heart can be led astray

and we should have checks and balances in our government. We bring a healthy skepticism because

we realize we can be over-marketed too. I mean, you realize that. Christians are marketed too

in political campaigns.

We have to have that renewed mindset, that kind of looking through all that wise as serpents,

innocent as doves, as Jesus has told us to. And we can offer grace and truth when we talk about

certain issues and speak the truth about issues in a way that is not unloving. So since we want

the best for where we live, we should be involved in local politics, school boards, city councils,

city government, state and state and national level.

Now, are there challenges for followers of Jesus? The more you're involved in the political sphere?

Absolutely. One of my friends who's on staff at another church in the city, his brother is a

senator. Lots of challenges for him. I'm not a senator. He's a representative. Lots of challenges

for him as a follower of Jesus, but he's seeking to be faithful. He's seeking to be faithful to

serve the people that he represents and serve Jesus most of all. We see biblical examples of

people in the church that are not unloving. We see biblical examples of people in the church that are

not unloving. We see biblical examples of people in the church that are not unloving. We see

Joseph in the book of Genesis. We see Esther, the queen. We see Nehemiah, who was basically like a

secret service agent, who was the cupbearer of the king. He would taste the drinks to make sure

the king wasn't poisoned. Used by God to bring flourishing back to Israel. We see Daniel. We see

all the good kings. There weren't very many of them. The actual good kings of Israel.

And so in all of that, it's again about seeking the good of where we live.

We work for the good of where we live.

We're to be a light for Jesus.

We are to love our neighbor.

And our neighbor is not people who just look like us, think like us, want to vote like us.

They are just people near us.

We love our enemies because that's what Jesus told us to do.

And when people persecute us, and let's be frank,

I mean, we can experience some of that, but most likely we just think disagreement sometimes is persecution.

We pray for them.

Pray for those who persecute you.

So when it comes to the vote, my conviction is that we should prayerfully look at someone's policies,

character, and competencies to understand their vision and then use discernment to vote our conscience.

And since we're all different, unique beings,

it probably makes sense.

We will not all vote the same way.

And if we are followers of Jesus, we must be okay with that because Jesus's priority is the unity of his body.

Because how we treat each other, how we love each other, how unified we are under the gospel and the rule and reign of Jesus is part of our witness to the world.

Can we be a human community that has different opinions on important issues, but we all come together?

Understand?

Understand.

I mean, there are churches that are just, they are, you know, and I'm not trying to throw stones at the body of Christ,

but there are churches that make decisions that we will be a left-wing church.

We will be a right-wing church.

And we're all going to go that certain way.

And there can become this thing, we'll become too, I think we should, as people that live here, again, seek to support our nation.

I mean, we have several people.

in our church that have served or are serving in the military. My dad served in the military.

That's an honorable thing. You're serving for the welfare of our nation. So this isn't anti-American

to say we should be careful not to put the flag over the cross and the scripture.

That's not anti-American. That is actually pro-Jesus. And Jesus is not about building the

American dream. He's about seeing the kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven. And so for

all the failures of Christians in history, history actually shows that Christians are good for our

country. Christians are the ones that start hospitals in history. Christians are the one

who start literacy programs. Christians are the ones who start hospitals in history. Christians

if you read your history, Christians are the one who spoke out against the African slave trade.

Now, are there Christians that try to use verses to say slavery was permissible? Absolutely.

Christians blow it all the time. But history shows more than it doesn't that Christians are

actually good for a country. Followers of Jesus should be good for the United States of America,

not just because we're good Americans, but because we're the lie of the world.

We're the salt of the earth.

we walk with the values of jesus so christians should be good citizens that's what i think we

get out of jesus saying render unto caesar what is caesar's but that's not all he says he says

and to god the things that are gods and so our second point of application would be this

a christian's ultimate allegiance is to jesus the coin the coin the imperial coin had caesar's

image on it but humanity has god's image on it so let caesar have his coin and let let's let's okay

promote the welfare of human society in the end i bear the image of god if you're a christian i've

been saved by jesus i'm indwelt by the holy spirit

i mean again

that would to to bow to roman culture was a claim augustus claimed to be god his son tiberius who

was caesar by this time he claimed to be the son of god and jesus is saying in this statement pay

your taxes but caesar is not god your ultimate allegiance belongs to god who has revealed himself

in jesus while we are to be good citizens our final accountability and loyalty is to god so

and and as to how god has

revealed himself in jesus we are to be good citizens our final accountability and loyalty is to god

who has revealed himself to us in scripture and friends i just have to tell you and you don't have

to agree but but i i i'll tell you i've read it several times america's not in here okay

and when we try to make verses about america that are in the scripture we're taking them usually out

of context and that's not what the word is hermeneutic the study of scripture we're not

we're not we're not practicing a good hermeneutic when we say this verse

is about america i know this verse is about eagles has nothing to do with a bald eagle okay

but oh so you know there's this idea you might hear about about christian nationalism

and you know i don't know all those people so to make a wide sweeping judgment statement

is ill-advised but again our over any political party our allegiances to jesus

over any ideology our allegiances to jesus

lean whatever way you need to lean politically but bow only to jesus

and and and follow the ways of jesus which means again we love our enemies we talk graciously to

people who disagree with us we don't villainize the people who vote for the other side and if we

need to say you know i i just can't see how a person could vote that way you're right you just

can't see it what if you practice a little curiosity and humility

and found someone that votes differently than you that claims to be a follower of jesus and say

help me see what you see i want to learn from you and i'm not saying you say that to change your

vote maybe you walk away going okay i understand why they picked that but i don't agree and we

live in such a time where we think the tolerance is everyone's got to agree with everything

no tolerance is we can disagree and still be friends you can say star wars is the worst and

i don't think you're a horrible person

i used to but now i've grown in my spiritually

and so we have to put the ways of jesus over the american way

our commitment should be the loving unity of the body of christ over our political party

and human governments does have its limits now here's the thing the romans passage the

first peter passage it doesn't answer every question about government is there times when

something is wrong you have to ask jesus Fi right is that a promise of understanding

and on the inside of the church when i um i got two robots that just want to help you

matter and you have to say but i know that i want you to assuming we have

converts going on and that's not a problem at all and you have governments talking on

phone yes they do when we're doing the work obviously these governments are not just telling

you what your services are and whatever you're building is secure i want you to get to the

bottom line the problem is that i them answers that i'm looking at never color

some RFP you could say none of them and it's not but jesus did ten of them fill up

Save me i sent my tried to build imagine how that would work

yes nishubi sorry if you think about the way in one page eventually i read hitler i

read three of his ripe to team practice i saw the worst here Bob

street. We see civil disobedience. We even see Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this German pastor. Most of

the German church caved to Hitler. Bonhoeffer left. He fled. He went to New York. But while

in the States, was convicted that he should go back and be about the flourishing of his people.

And eventually, he was executed as an enemy of the Nazis. He was hung and was participating in

a way to take out Hitler. Now, you know, is that right? And war and all that. And, you know,

that's a whole nother sermon about war, the just war theory. Oh, that's a whole nother sermon for

another day. But there are moments when civil disobedience is called for, and it's got to be

practiced with discernment. Because we'll lose our witness if we don't protest when the need

arises. But also lose our witness if we protest in an ungodly manner. So it's definitely discernment

has to be practiced.

It's definitely nuanced. It's definitely that line of grace and truth. I mean, there may be a day

that's coming. And I'm not an alarmist. And I don't bow to fear. And maybe a day that's coming

if I or you at your company or wherever, your school, or I up here in church, we preach about

God's ordained way of sexuality, that we get fined for it. Or even spend a little time in jail for it.

I'll start a GoFundMe. It'll be fine, you know. And all that. Start a prison ministry, you know.

And I make light of that. You know, I probably shouldn't. But we can't be scared.

Because our goal should not be, if you're a follower of Jesus, our goal is not the American

dream. And you got to understand that America, for all its faults, has some really great ideas

that haven't been tried in world history.

A balanced government. That has an idea that's not been tried in human history.

The idea that people can come and that it can build a life for themselves.

You know, and they can come from anywhere and be a melting pot. That's an idea that hasn't really

been tried in human history. Are there faults? Are there things wrong with it? Do we need

continual reformment? Absolutely. That's why we keep, we don't give up. But in the end,

I'm not, I can't live.

I can't live for the American dream. I will compromise my faith if I live for the American

dream. And so will you. So I have to live for the way of Jesus. I have to live with my ultimate

allegiance as Jesus. No matter what way I lean, I only bow to him. See, the New Testament, when it

talks about Christians, it calls us exiles. You should read 1 Peter this week. It's only five

chapters. It's really a short book. But Peter's great about how to live as exiles in a culture

that's not Christian. He's great about how to live as exiles in a culture that's not Christian.

And Peter's the one that said, honor the emperor. The emperor who was burning Christians and will

kill Peter. That's amazing. That he would say, honor him. That doesn't mean you always agree

with him. That means you're not praying his heart doesn't change and he's out of power.

He says, just honor him. And Peter says, we're exiles, we're aliens, we're strangers.

And because the New Testament calls us that, friends, I don't believe there's any such thing.

There are Christians in nations. But a nation is filled with people and not everyone is a follower

of Jesus. Our home is not here, but it's in God's kingdom. So our primary loyalty is to his kingdom,

his people, his mission, his word, and his purposes. Our hope is the coming kingdom of Jesus.

No candidate can fully bring the flourishing that will come at the second coming of Jesus.

Our hope, we just sang about it. Our hope is, the living hope is Jesus and his kingdom.

And no matter who it is in office and how much you agree with them and how much you're excited

if they win the election, there will be a limit to what they can do. And they will not be able

to bring full human flourishing to the planet. So we can't put our hope in any candidate.

For those of you terrified,

because I find so many Christians afraid. I find so many Christians say, I'm just so afraid what's

going to happen to our country. I'm so afraid what's going to happen to the country my children

are going to live in, my grandchildren are going to live in. I understand that. No one wants their

children or grandchildren to come to harm. I totally understand that. But we're Christians.

We're disciples of Jesus. Then look at our legacy. No government has ever been able to stop the

gospel. China kicked all the missionaries out.

What's happening in the church in China now is on revival epidemics. And it doesn't make CNN or Fox

News. The biggest revival right now in world history is happening right now. And it's happening

in places we never hear about. It's happening in the Middle East. It's happening in Central America.

It's happening in places that we might call enemies of our country. But it's happening.

And it doesn't mean those governments are Christians. Actually, far from it. It's probably

because the government is anti the faith. It's probably because the government is anti the faith.

The faith is flourishing. We usually flourish when we don't have power.

In fact, when Rome became a Christian nation and Constantine made Christianity the official

religion of Rome, you can begin to see how Christianity's influence and kind of fire

kind of dimmed in Rome. And so maybe it's a good thing that we're, you know, that Christianity's

getting kind of pushed away in our country because maybe that will bring up our fire

and our flame. And so I think it's a good thing that we're, you know, that Christianity's getting

pushed away in our country because maybe that flame for Jesus will rise. That's just, that's just

a thought. I don't, that's just a thought for me. The communism has not been able to stop. The

spirit advancing the kingdom, the Roman empire wasn't able to stop it. And so we have to continue

to say, Jesus is our hope. The rally cry of Christians cannot be, let's win this or make

America great again. It has to be Jesus is Lord. It has to be Jesus is Lord above all things.

It has to be Jesus is Lord above all things. It has to be Jesus is Lord above all things.

And so we're going to be a church where you can vote wherever your conscience goes.

Let us not be a church that villainizes other people. Let's be a church that listens to each

other. Let's be a church that makes every effort, Ephesians 3 says, to maintain the unity of the

peace, the unity of the body in the bond of peace. Let's make every effort to do that.

And if we disagree, let's disagree in loving kind ways. Let's remember what we're really about.

People are dying and going to hell. People need Jesus. We're supposed to live for the kingdom of

God. We're supposed to say, Jesus is Lord above all. Let that be what we're about.

You know, practice whatever conviction you need to practice with our country.

Stand for the national anthem. You know, and if you're like, you know, practice respect for

people that have served the flourishing and the safety of our nation, but we don't bow to it.

We don't bow to it. We bow only to Jesus. And so friends, I just want to say that to sum it all,

to wrap it all up, and you probably have questions and caveats. I got questions and caveats. And what

about this? What about that? This is just to get us thinking overarchingly biblically about how we

should approach living here. Political parties cannot deliver what we're looking for. Only the

kingdom of Jesus can bring the joy, peace, and well-being of our nation. And so, I want to say,

let's not be a church that makes every effort to do that. Let's make every effort to do that. Let's

make every effort to do that. Let's make every effort to do that. Let's make every effort to do that.

We long for it. No government, when you fail, is going to die in your place and forgive you.

No government is going to take upon themselves your sins.

The kingdom of God is based on Jesus himself taking our sin, our shame, in our place,

so we might be reconciled to our creator, to live under his government. Remember the Christmas

verse his name shall be called wonderful counselor there's a line that says in his government shall

have no end hit the governing power of Jesus to bring flourishing to humanity that's what we bow

to that's what we worship and I think it's fitting today that we we celebrate communion to remember

that as we drink this cup and eat this bread it's it represents Jesus him giving his life

in our place him dying on a Roman cross which was a political symbol of Rome's tyranny

but has now become a symbol of forgiveness of hope of new life in Christ his blood was shed

to cleanse us of our sins to make rebels into saints I mean there's truly nothing like the

kingdom of God and so our

allegiance is to Jesus and we are to be a light while we're here will you pray with me

father there's probably more questions that we didn't get to today and when you put something

like a topic like this on the table you could talk for weeks but I hope today by your spirit

that anything that was of me that was not of your word will you just flush it and will you let your

words that we've read and talked about in the scripture all the different passages by your

spirit would you please pray for me and I'll pray for you and I'll pray for you and I'll pray for you

to lodge that in our heart and help us be a people that love and pray for the United States of

America that we search this we we actually do seek to the welfare of the United States of America we

seek the welfare of this this area that we live in of the state of Texas of the city of Houston

Sugar Land Stafford Katy Missouri City wherever we're living but all is your people as servants

of the most high as the light of the world and as the light of the world and as the light of the

world as the salt of the earth may we remember there are our rally cry is Jesus is Lord

and said Jesus we worship you now

there's no flag of any nation next to your throne

there is just you the lamb who was slain the lion of the tribe of Judah ruling and reigning

and so in this act of communion now we worship you we give you our allegiance

we remember that you gave your life for us you died in our place for our sin

and we give ourselves to you

if you have the elements if you'll open them if you don't there's tables back at the end of that

row and back at the end of that row over there you can just pop up and get those real quick

open the cracker and hold it we'll be right back

we'll take them together open the juice

be a little careful with that

scripture tells us this the apostle Paul wrote in first Corinthians for I received from the

Lord what I also passed on to you on the night when he was betrayed the Lord Jesus took bread

and we had given thanks broke it and said this is my body which is for you this is my

body which is for you

do this in remembrance of me the body of Christ take and eat

in the same way also he took the cup after supper and said this cup

is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it

do this as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me the cup of Christ take and drink

for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes

so church all over our country people are proclaiming all kinds of things they want to

see happen with the upcoming election but with this simple act of the Lord's death I'm going to

you've proclaimed the hope of the world the hope of the world we sum up in these three statements

that if you are a follower of Jesus I invite you to say with me right now Christ has died

Christ has risen Christ will come again would you stand with us and let's worship him in response