Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
Big Idea: The transformation of our society depends on Jesus in you, not political power
Hook
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
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
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
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.
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