Life in Exile

There were two basic topics that you are supposed to avoid at all costs if you were to enjoy a conflict free Thanksgiving with your family. Politics and religion. You can talk about sports. You can talk about the weather. You can talk about work even. But you should not wade into the areas of Politics or religion if you wanted to have a happy evening. Well you are in luck this morning, because I am going to talk about both of those things!

Is America a Christian nation? Has it ever been a Christian nation.

Much evangelical energy has been spent trying to either preserve or promote the notion of the US as being or remaining a Christian nation. Is that time worth while? Should we be spending our efforts preserving supreme court justice seats, keeping the Ten Commandments in courthouses and prayer in school, or under God in the pledge of allegiance?

I think that there is a more pressing question that we need to ask ourselves. Should we be trying to make our country a Christian nation in the first place?

Series

We have arrived at the last sermon in our series on Doormat Christianity. We have been looking at how to live life in a world that seeks to oppress us and take advantage of us. People treat us like human doormats and walk all over us. Should we resist and fight back? Should we fight for our rights?

The call of Jesus is counterintuitive. He calls us to lay down our lives to find them. Victory comes through defeat. Life comes through death. We are unimpressive on our own and have no image of our own to maintain. Humility is better than renown. Revenge is off limits. To serve is better than being served.

It is now time to wade into the political arena and ask how followers of Jesus are expected to live a doormat Christian lifestyle there.

Context

To do so we will be looking to the book of 1 Timothy, where the Apostle Paul instructs his young protege on how to lead the church and help it function successfully. It is no secret that the most important piece is the preservation of the sound doctrine of the gospel. But that gospel needs a stage to gain the best audience. That leads Paul to instruct Timothy to pray.

Pray for those in Power

1 Timothy 2:1–2 ESV

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings 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.

Paul calls Timothy to lead the church to pray for all kinds of people

He uses four different words for prayer, pulling out all of the language that he knows for prayer. He wants the church to spend a great deal of time praying for people. But there is one category of people that Paul wants Timothy and the church to focus on.

Paul calls Timothy to pray especially for those who are in power

Kings and those who are in high positions are those that Paul wants Tim to focus on particularly. Basically, the church is called to lift up the civil authorities before God. Kings, presidents, governors, senators, representatives, you name it. Christians have a responsibility to pray for who ever is in charge in the government where you live.

Why? Why should Christians spend so much time praying for the leaders over them in their various country’s?

The reason that Paul gives that we should be praying for these people is not usually what Christians in our country set out to pray for.

We pray for godly laws and for godly legislation. We pray for the conversion of leadership. We pray that God would put Christians in power. Some of this is good, some not so much, but none of this is what Paul is hoping our prayers accomplish.

We are to pray for those in power so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life. This is a far cry from praying to put Christians in power. Paul is saying “Pray so that those in power don’t even notice us.” Paul wants us to pray to be left alone to be able to fly under the radar and do our own thing.

Why do we want to be left alone? So that it is easier to live godly and dignified lives. Christians are weird. We are called to live lives that are set apart from those in this world. The world does not often approve of our choices or our beliefs. The less they notice us the easier it is to do what God has called us to do.

Rather than remaining under the radar, Christians in this country have chosen to engage in a culture war. Trying to secure power for ourselves is why the culture is so hostile to us. It’s why LGBT activists target Christian bakers and wedding photographers. It’s why there is strong media bias against Christianity. It is why colleges and universities are actively working to silence Christian voices.

We fight and protest and make this huge fuss to push our agenda. It is no wonder that evangelicals are predominantly viewed as a political demographic rather than a religious one. And it has severely hindered our mission.

God has a very different political agenda than the one we have adopted.

God’s political agenda

1 Timothy 2:3–4 ESV

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God’s agenda is to save all kinds of people by bringing them to the knowledge of the truth about Jesus.

God is not interested in securing civil power for his people. They already outrank all civil authorities under the sun because of their connection to Jesus. And Jesus is the supreme emperor of the universe.

God’s agenda is for more people to know Jesus as King.

This is why living quiet and godly lives pleases God. It allows him to shine the light of Jesus through our lives into the lives of those around us.

When we grab for political power we end up erecting walls in front of entire categories of people. Living the life of a culture warrior hinders the mission for all kinds of people to come to the knowledge of the truth.

There is only one hope for reconciling people to God and it is not found in our securing power. It is found in the ONE MEDIATOR.

Jesus is the only mediator between God and Man

1 Timothy 2:5–7 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

There is only one mediator between God and man

This means that there is only one hope for the earth. It’s Jesus. It is not a political ideology. It is not a donkey or an elephant. It is not a program. It is not an economic strategy. Jesus alone is our hope.

Jesus is the only hope available to all people because he gave his life as a ransom for all kinds of people. Jesus did not die for a single privileged demographic. He did not give his life for people who look and think and act like you. Every demographic, every people group has equal access to the Savior.

This is why an under the radar, quiet and godly life is so helpful to the mission of God. It allows us to fade to the background so that Christ and his gospel takes the center stage in our lives.

The godliness of our private lives in the midst of our friends and family can be one of the best validations of the gospel message. Following Jesus in the background makes Jesus look amazing.

This is what Paul dedicated his life to. He wanted people to know Jesus. And he saw forsaking power as crucial to reinforcing his message.

The Failure of American Christianity

For the most part, evangelical Christianity in America has not followed this strategy as outlined by Paul

We have bought into the lie that the advance of the gospel will come as the result of greater political power and influence.

How so? Trump enjoyed a higher percentage of support from white evangelicals than any other president before. Why? Because of his promises to empower them during his administration. That is why so many evangelical leaders in our country have continued to rally behind him, scandal after scandal, and defend even the most repulsive of behaviors.

Too many Christians in this country believe that the key to the success of the gospel in our country is having someone in power to enact the laws we want and who gives us a seat at the table. So yes we call our people to pray for our leaders, but it is prayers for leaders to empower Christians and enact laws we want.

At a meeting with Evangelical leaders in August, the president told the attendees that we as evangelicals were one election away from losing everything, a sentiment shared by many of the leaders in the room. The “everything” that Christians might lose would be political power.

Now, many evangelicals disgusted by the president and his supporters have switched parties and now champion the democratic party as the hope for our country moving forward. But this is just like turning to Egypt to help against Assyria. They have the same belief of those who back the GOP, that political power and influence is crucial to our mission.

Now, don’t hear me saying not to be involved in political affairs. We should be. We just need to keep politics in their right perspective AND be sure that our politics do not bring attention to us. Christians out to be deeply political people, bearing in mind that they actually represent the interests of a foreign power more than they do of their host nation.

I believe that the fundamental error that so many of us are making is a mistaking of our identity Christians, and the identity of the country we reside in. America is not our home. Yet so many of us act as though our nation is Zion and even host patriotic worship services and put up billboards draped in American flags that say Jesus saves. If America is Zion, we need people in power who enforce godly laws and restore us to being a “Christian” nation.

Newsflash: America is NOT a Christian nation and it is most certainly NOT Zion. There is a better biblical image for our country. America is Babylon. We are in exile here. And in our exile, Paul calls us to pray not for power but for quiet and peaceful lives.

Communion

On the night that he was betrayed...

Communion is a proclamation of the mediating work of Christ. We eat the bread and drink the cup to remember that it is the sacrifice of Jesus that our hope rests upon, and nothing else.

If you are a follower of Jesus you are welcome to take communion with us this morning. But before you do, I want you to reflect on how God would have you respond to his word this morning. We believe that God speaks to us as his people by his word, and expects us to act in faith and repentance as a result. What is God leading you to do?

Maybe this morning God has simply reminded you that this is not your home. It is so easy, isn’t it, to forget this truth? Yet we need to daily remind ourselves that we are citizens of a better country. If that is you, check it off on your connection card. And commit to remember you are living in exile in Babylon and looking for a better city.

Maybe this morning you have realized that you have neglected to pray regularly for those in power in a way that would allow Christians to lead quiet godly lives. If you are willing to pick up this practice regularly, check that off on your card as well before you turn it in a moment.

If you are not yet a follower of Jesus or if you are not sure, I would ask that you refrain from taking communion. Instead I want you to know the truth about Jesus.

The reality is that in the absence of Jesus people try to make all kinds of things give them ultimate meaning. Political ideology is a common source of meaning for people. It is why we are so divided as a country. People have built their identities upon the left or the right, and see those who disagree as a threat to their identity. It is why every election is pitched as the most important election of our lives. Because if my identity is built on my political preferences, and if the other side wins, my happiness is in jeopardy.

But there is a better meaning to life. I have something that can satisfy you so deeply that it is unimportant who is in office or making our laws. That something is a someone. It is Jesus.

If you would like to know more about what it means to start following Jesus, please talk with me after service.

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