Hello, Life: A Pre-Election Reflection | Part 8

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Today we're closing out our series, Hello Life.

We've been journeying for the last today is eight weeks through this letter.

It's really a sermon written by the Apostle John.

It's called First John.

And as we close, the sermon titled Today is A Pre-Ection Reflection.

In just two days, the presidential election arrives.

Endless streams of political ads, smear campaigns, the overflowing mailbox will cease.

Many of us are holding our breath, aren't we?

How will this shake out and are hoping that, well, at least not terrible?

And for us today, let me ask you.

How are followers of Jesus to respond this election season?

Not what we see outside, not what we're seeing on social media, but how are we actually supposed to respond?

What does God want to say to his church before the election?

And it's here that you then hold your breath, wondering what your pastor is about to say about the election.

And honestly, we have a fairly divided church.

Awakening has both Democrats and Republicans, and chances are you're sitting next to someone who may vote differently than you.

Don't look.

Ethnically, culturally, generationally, and politically.

What a gift.

And what a challenge.

Learned early on that we couldn't do a one-size-fits-all parenting strategy with our kids.

It would have been amazing if we could.

We thought we could.

When our first was born, we stumbled and figured out some things and thought we maybe had it, you know, a plan.

And then the second was different than the first.

Let me give you an example.

One of our kids, we tell, this is we're telling them, take it easy.

Relax.

Stop doing, you know, so much homework.

Don't worry about your grades.

Another one of our kids, I won't sell any of them out.

We say, worry about your grades.

Do the hard work first and then have fun.

Why?

Because they're just different people.

They have different strengths and weaknesses.

And that is part of the challenge of preaching in this moment, is we are a church made up of different people with different strengths and weaknesses.

And there isn't a one size fits all here.

And yet, what sometimes what we forget is in both of those ways that we try to guide our kids is actually a fundamental principle that is true, just applied differently because of their personality.

And so what I want to do with our time is remind us of the foundational truth of God's word, the principle, and here's what I'm trusting is that the Spirit will speak to you personally in how to apply it.

And can we just for a second hold off on thinking about who needs to hear this message?

Okay?

I know your mom or your dad or your uncle or your sister or your cousin or your coworker or whoever else, at some point you're gonna go, man, they need to hear this.

And here's what I'm gonna ask Holy Spirit, let me hear this.

Let me hear from you today.

John closes out his letter sermon, and I think one of the more odd ways, it's a single sentence, and it's like a mic drop moment.

You know, remember, this is a sermon that he's given that's written to the churches in Asia Minor in Ephesus, and and he takes, you know, he doesn't end with a farewell, he doesn't end with, you know, grace and B to you.

He ends with this.

He ends by uh the verse right up there um dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Mic draw.

Now he hasn't said anything about idols for the entire book.

And he leaves us with one sentence at the very end, and I actually believe this is God's word to his church before the election.

And I love that he says, dear children, he says this multiple times throughout the epistle.

Dear children, we're family.

One, we're family.

You're sitting next to brothers and sisters in Christ.

We're family.

It's also our identity.

You're beloved.

You're a daughter or a son of the King Most High.

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Now, why in the world does John end this way?

Let me just give you a few thoughts.

First, and this is something they were aware of, but we often forget, neglect, or are completely blind to it.

We live among idols.

Idols are pervasive.

We live among idols.

We think of idols as like, well, American idol for sure, um, but we think of idols as an ancient thing, a relic of one of those things where there's, you know, the image made of wood or gold or silver, and that people bow down to this image and worship it.

And yet, idols are a human thing.

They are created from our hearts.

It's something we naturally do, something we naturally replace instead of God.

And so let me give you a definition for an idol.

An idol is when a good thing becomes an ultimate thing.

Idols are not, in general, a bad thing.

It's a good thing.

And so there are good parts to it.

And the minute it becomes an ultimate thing, there's still some of those good parts, but then it becomes a destructive thing in our life.

Sometimes an idol is a relationship, it might be a boyfriend, a girlfriend.

It might be a pursuit.

Sometimes an idol is our pursuit, it might be sports that you're running after, it might be your career, it might be getting your education.

Idols also can be political things.

It is anything that occupies the place of God.

Idolatry is looking to some created thing to give you what only God can give you.

And by the way, in Silicon Valley, we have some specific gods of our valley.

Every region has some specific gods, some things that we worship, that we bow down.

And it, you know, we don't think about it as gold, silver, or wood, but but but we bow down to the gods of success in the valley.

We bow down to the gods of affluence and influence.

Who do you work for?

What do you drive?

Where do you wear?

How many followers do you have?

We bow down to these gods consistently.

It's all around us and it's pervasive in our culture so much that we don't see it.

The gods of power, of ideologies, of political parties.

First thing he says is we live among idols.

Martin Luther writes this whatever your heart clings to, that is your idol.

Let me ask you, what is your heart clinging to?

What captures your heart more than Jesus?

He says, Dear children, keep yourself from idols.

One, because idols are pervasive.

We live among them, they're around us.

Secondly, here's what happens in the church.

We ask God to coexist with our idols.

Idol are deceptive.

We ask God to, you know what?

I need you.

Yeah, God, I'm gonna sing these songs, but I actually need my job and I actually am worshiping my career or that relationship.

We ask God to coexist with our idols.

Notice, he's speaking to believers right now.

And he tells them, dear children, keep away from these things.

An idol mindset is this Jesus plus blank equals life.

Life meaning happiness, purpose, peace.

Anytime we go Jesus plus, and then you fill in the blank.

I don't know what your blank is.

The very first command of the Ten Commandments is you shall have no other God before me.

He will not share his glory with another.

We ask him to coexist with our idols, and he says, It doesn't work that way.

Sometimes I make this joke to my wife, it's not funny at all.

Um, but I say this joke to her, I said, Jenny, you're my favorite wife.

She's like, Why?

Why?

Because nobody wants to be a favorite spouse.

And we kind of do that with God.

Why?

Because you don't want one and only spouse, wholehearted dedication.

You're my only wife, you're my only one, and God says, No, I am your only God.

And the tension of our soul is we can get that, and then we subtly then go, you know what, God, you're my favorite, but I have some of these other things that I'm bringing along with me.

How would you fill in that blank?

Who or what are you looking to bring happiness, peace, or purpose to your children?

Keep yourselves from idols.

We live among them.

There's this tendency of our heart to ask God to coexist with them.

And the reality is, is the power of idols can be broken.

Idols are actually powerful.

They're not just pervasive, they're persuasive.

We kind of think, isn't this just the way it is?

Isn't this the just the way we go about life in Silicon Valley in America?

It's the way of the world.

He says, keep yourselves.

That word keep means to watch out, to avoid, to be on one's guard against, to protect or take careful measure of.

This isn't something that he says, well, you know, do your best, but you're not gonna make it.

The power of idols can be broken.

How do we do this?

I just want to give you a few thoughts from 1 John 5.

The first way that we do this is that we put first things first.

1 John 5 2, he says, This is how we know that we love the children of God.

This is how I know that I'm loving you most fully and well.

This is how I know I'm loving my neighbors well.

By loving God and carrying out his commands.

I'm gonna put first things first.

I'm gonna God put you in your priority of place.

I'm gonna say, you are the love of my life, and I am directing my heart and my attention and my affection towards you.

How do we break the power of the idols around us?

Put first things first, give Jesus your ultimate allegiance.

Love of God.

Then notice what he says, and carry out his commands.

When we're thinking about this in the election context, may we elevate biblical truths over political views.

There's a great book of how to engage as a follower of Jesus in the political sphere called Compassion and Conviction.

Highly encourage you to read it, written by multiple authors from different streams of life and professions.

In it, they write, do an inventory of where you stand on issues like immigration, criminal justice, abortion, and sexual ethics, and then be honest how you came to those conclusions.

Did you reach your opinion through the love and truth of the Bible, or have you been indoctrinated by a group identity that's outside of Christ?

Tim Keller, as he is writing and unpacking the first century church, and it really says there's five social projects that were core to the early church.

One was that the early church was a multiracial, multi-ethnic community.

Second, they were highly committed to the poor and the marginalized.

Third, is that they were non-retaliatory.

They had were marked by this incredible uh commitment of forgiveness.

Fourth, they strongly practiced and practically were against abortion and fanticide.

And fifth, they had a revolutionary ethic when it came to sex.

He writes this the early Christian community was both offensive and also attractive.

Believers did not construct their social project in some strategic way to reach Roman culture.

Each of the five elements was there because Christians sought to submit to biblical authority.

They are all commanded.

They are all just as category-defined, both offensive and attractive today.

The first two, ethic, uh ethnic ethnic diversity and caring for the poor sound liberal.

The last two, abortion and sexual ethics, sound conservative.

The third, of course, that meaning non-retaliatory, marked by forgiveness, sounds like no particular party.

Churches today are under enormous pressure to jettison the first two or the last two, but to not keep them all.

Jesus is not aligned with the political party.

He's not Republican, he's not Democrat.

And the call for us is to put first things first.

Love for our God, and then out of his commands, what did you say?

You know, one of the things that Jesus said, He said, take the log out of your own eye before taking the speck out of your neighbor's eye.

We have an incredible capacity to demonize whoever is on the other side of our view while neglecting our own inadequacies and uh things that are discrepancies in our own views.

What would it look like where we just simply go, you know what?

Here's the areas where we have to grow and be really honest about that.

First, how we break the power of idols is put first things first.

Secondly, get your source of hope right.

Are you tired?

I mean, obviously, all the noise and I'm ready for, you know, to not get political text anymore.

So effective.

But the rhetoric on both sides is this is the most important election in human history.

This is the fight for democracy.

But it was four years ago, too.

And it was eight years before that.

And we have subtly shifted our hope to a political party, to a presidential candidate.

Get the source of your hope right.

First John 5, 5.

Who is it that overcomes the world?

Well, the person that wins this week, the presidential seat?

No, actually.

Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

John, right now, is writing in the shadow of the Roman Empire.

To Christians who would undergo great persecution as a result of their faith.

And he says, You're actually an overcomer.

In the Bible, the scriptures talk about three kingdoms.

He says, Who is it that has overcome the world?

First, there is the kingdom of God.

That's where Jesus invites us to pray, and we're going to close our time praying this way: your kingdom come, your will be done.

It's the recognition that God's kingdom, his reign, his will is not being done on this planet.

There's the kingdom of God.

When Jesus came, he said, Behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand because Jesus, the king, is present and is breaking forth everywhere a follower of Jesus aligns their will with God's will.

So there's a kingdom of God.

There's the kingdom of me.

My will be done.

And then there's the kingdom of Satan.

When he's talking about the world, it's a world system.

And you look around, and it's easy to go, man, the world's dark, isn't it?

The world has always been dark.

Why are Christians shaking in their boots right now?

Well, because our hope is misplaced.

Where's your hope?

Who is it that overcomes?

Only the one who believes, who's put their full faith and allegiance and trust.

Jesus, you are the rescuer and leader of my life.

Who is it that overcomes is the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

So our hope is not in this election.

America is not the promised land.

The hope of the world is not a political party, but the person of Jesus.

Your hope is not in the economy.

Your 401k, your job.

The return of Jesus, not the return of American values, is our hope.

There's an old hymn that goes this way.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus' name.

All of the ground is sinking sand.

All of the ground is sinking sand.

Worship is a part of our weapons to reorient our hope.

Worship is simply our prayers in song form.

We didn't do this.

But I want to do it now.

I'm going to invite Robbie to come forward and remind ourselves.

I want you to say that.

I dare not trust the sweetest phrase.

Just in his followers are before in Christ and the weak eight song in the save of He is Christ our cornerstone where the weakness wrong in the Savior's heart and through our stones He is Lord Lord of all through the soul He is Ord Lord.

Maybe just put that song on repeat this week.

We need to constantly remind our hearts.

We need worship because our hearts are easily adrift from God.

And it draws us back to Him.

So how do we do this?

Put first things first.

Get your source of hope right.

You are an overcomer because Jesus is King, nothing else.

He defeated sin, death, and Satan.

He is resurrected and he sits at the right hand of the throne of the Father.

And he will return and restore and make all things right.

This is our confidence.

This is our hope.

And so the final thing John tells us is to be confident in prayer.

It's funny, we're confident about so many things of inconsequence.

And we're deeply confident in our political opinions.

We're far more confident in those than we are in our prayer.

John writes this: this is the confidence we have in approaching God.

Like, isn't this amazing?

Like you can have confidence in approaching God.

That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Prayer, by the way, is not somehow to get God to do our will.

Prayer is to move our will unto God's will.

And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we ask of him.

Prayer.

I love how Oswald Chamber says it.

We do not pray in order to do the greater work.

Prayer is the greater work.

Wherever prayer focuses, the power of God falls.

We spend so much time spinning out worrying, toasting, complaining, griping.

Be confident in prayer.

The God of the universe hears you.

Prayer changes things.

God invites us to this.

What your heart needs.

What this world needs.

In two days, and in two years, and in two millennia.

Have an unshaken hope in him.

And as a result, I'm not running to other people.

I'm running to the source.

I'm running to Jesus.

I'm running to my Savior.

And I'm bringing it all to him.

So I just want to close with a prayer.

Just a time of prayer.

Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.

We call it the Lord's Prayer.

And I just want to walk us through that prayer and guide you in a time with your Heavenly Father.

And so if you would just sit back and relax, and if you want to close your eyes, you can.

If you want to keep them open, that's fine.

Begin to settle your soul.

Jesus says, this then is how you should pray.

Our Father in heaven.

Hallowed be your name.

Not distant deity, but personal Father.

Perfect, good, all-wise, all-kind.

Compassionate Father.

It says, Hallowed be your name.

Let your name, your character, who you are, be sacred to me.

I don't want to bring you down to my level.

I want to move my thoughts to you.

And so would you worship?

Would you look up and see God for who he is?

Would you remind yourself that he is your perfect loving father?

Sometimes the best way to worship is just to thank God.

Start going through areas of your life that you're grateful for.

God thank you.

God thank you for the breath of my lungs.

God thank you for this moment to be with you.

God thank you for this space, this church, this community.

Jesus begins with worship and then he moves to surrender.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

It's a prayer of surrender.

Recognizing that there's the kingdom of me.

God, I surrender my will to your will.

Your kingdom come, your will be done in my life.

It's got to begin personal.

Not my will, but yours be done.

Pray that over your home.

Pray that over your school.

Pray that over your word.

Pray that over this valley.

Pray it over our country.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

One of the most amazing things is God invites us to ask.

And he delights to answer.

And he moves to request.

Give us today our daily bread.

I don't know what you need today.

But would you ask it of your heavenly father?

God, I'm needing, I'm needing hope.

I'm struggling with that.

God, I'm just struggling with my emotions.

I'm needing help.

I feel so lonely, lost.

Bring what you need to Him today.

God, would you give me today?

Tomorrow's too much for me, but would you give me today?

There's something powerful about repentance.

Jesus invites us and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.

To confess simply means to agree with God.

Would you confess?

God, would you forgive me?

What are the areas?

What are the things that you're carrying in?

Jesus saying, I've already died for that, I've paid for that.

And then who do you need to forgive?

Could it be a family member or a co-worker?

A friend.

And then this prayer of protection.

Lead us not into temptation.

But deliver us from the evil one.

You know, we all have a natural bent away from God.

And moments like these can sometimes bring out not the best in us the worst.

God, would you lead me from temptation?

Would you guard my lips?

Would you guard my heart?

Would you guard my mind?

And we recognize that there is an evil one active.

As Peter says, be alert.

Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

God, would you deliver us?

Would you protect us?

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.

Forever and ever.

Amen.

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