Political Disciple's: A Party Worth Joining

Welcome to an audio teaching from Windsor Park Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand.

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Thanks for joining us, and we hope you're encouraged by today's teaching.

A couple of weeks ago I drove up to Youth Camp to spend some time with our young people.

I was looking forward to being at the camp and connecting with the youth and the leaders, uh, the times of worship together.

And I I was also really looking forward to the road trip out of Auckland in our camper van.

When I drive our camper, I just feel more relaxed.

Doesn't matter if I'm just taking it for a warrant, just getting in that camper just relaxes me.

And when I take it past the Otiha Valley exit, I get even more relaxed.

And this time this time the drive was going great.

I was singing, praying, thinking, and just getting my introvert time on.

After an hour, I'd relaxed to the point that when I spotted a hitchhiker wanting to head north, I indicated left and pulled over as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

It actually isn't for me.

In jumps Fred, not his real name, uh, a hitchhiker grateful for the ride, but as it turns out, a very intense conversation partner.

My introvert time was definitely over.

It took about two minutes for the conversation to turn to religion.

I mean, he's just been picked up by a pastor on the way to a youth camp, listening to Mumford and Sons, and with what was quite clearly a Christian living book in the middle seat in between us.

Many people would have been intimidated.

Fred was not intimidated.

Upon learning the purpose of my journey, he proceeded to explain in extreme detail why the Bible was exclusively written to true Israelites, and that God had only chosen them, and that he was not the God of all peoples or all cultures, but only the God of the true people of Israel, who were not the people living in Israel today.

And fortunately for my friend Fred, he had found out somehow that he was a true Israelite.

I listened and listened.

Mm-hmm.

Oh yeah.

Occasional true when I agreed on a little point that he had.

But I got very little opportunity to interject.

It was also raining pretty hard by now.

I was trying to concentrate on the road and listen to him.

And I was trying also not to be too resentful that I hadn't left him out there in the rain.

In my brief opportunities to share my perspective, and they were very brief, I suggested to Fred that although God had chosen Israel, in my view, he had not done so at the expense of the rest of the world, but precisely in order to reach the rest of the world.

I brought up a pivotal text in my point of view, Genesis chapter 12, where God calls Abraham and promises that all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Fred wasn't having it.

But hopefully you are, because that's the view that we'll be discussing today.

We heard last week that the Bible's central political message is that Jesus is Lord.

Underneath that overarching principle, Michael Rhodes defined two areas of politics, outpost politics and pilgrim politics.

And these are new terms, and it took me a while to get familiar with them.

So don't worry if they don't immediately make sense for you.

Essentially, outpost politics is about how we, as the people of God who agree that Jesus is Lord, organize our common life together.

Pilgrim politics, which we'll look at in future weeks, is about how the people of God engage with people and systems that don't agree that Jesus is Lord.

Today our focus is on the first one, on outpost politics.

And this brings us back to the point that I was trying to make to my road trip buddy: that the people of God are not meant to be exclusive, but attractive.

That they are called to organize their public life in such a way that it provides a compelling alternative to mainstream society that the people of the world are drawn to.

Now, some questions.

Have you ever walked home and smelt your neighbor's cooking and been almost dragged by your nose to their front door instead of your own?

Or had you ever heard in the heat of summer the splash and laughter and tunes coming from your neighbor's pool party, and all of a sudden that fence between your backyards is a barrier to be overcome rather than a privacy protector?

Have you ever been so compelled by a party that you wanted in on the action?

Today we're talking about how the people of God, originally as the nation of Israel and today as the church, are called to display such a compelling way of living that the world looks over the fence and says that is a party worth joining.

The major evidence that we're going to focus on is found in the first five books of the Bible, the Torah.

We'll then make shorter stops with Jesus and with the early church to show how this pattern and calling continues to today.

But we start within an enlightening passage from Deuteronomy, which reveals the connection between the law and the witness, as Moses explains to the people of Israel the effect that the law, if followed, would have on the nations around them.

So here we go.

This is a passage that actually Michael introduced to us last week.

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.

Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people?

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them in the way our Lord, our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Moses is saying that if the people follow the law, they will draw the praise of the surrounding nations.

And such a confident statement from Moses raises at least two questions for us.

The first question is that I bet you want to know, did it work?

Did the people follow the law and were the nations intrigued?

The short answer if we read the Old Testament is no, at least not completely.

British preacher G.K.

Chesterton famously said that the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.

And much the same could be said for the Torah ideal.

But whether or not it was actually lived out, the second question we could ask is why did Moses even think that the nations would be attracted by Israel's law abidance?

I mean, what is so compelling about a bunch of boring law?

No, there are two things that Moses specifically says will impress the nations.

The first is God's intimate presence in their midst.

You see, God's intention has always been to dwell among his people, but God is so radically holy and powerful that to be in his presence without proper precautions could result in death.

Talking to Moses in Exodus 33, 20, God says, You cannot see my face, for no one may see my face and live.

So we have a holy God who desires to dwell among his people, but we have an unholy people who are not capable of living alongside their God.

And much of the law is about what it means for a holy God to dwell among his unholy people.

You could call the law guidelines for hosting the presence of God.

Michael Rhodes says that the book of Leviticus, which for many of us is the ultimate Bible in a year killer, is actually seeking to answer the question: what would it take for every aspect of our lives to be informed by the idea that God wants to dwell in our neighborhood?

What a great question.

And that's what Leviticus is trying to answer.

You see, God's desire is to be present among his people, and that continues throughout the Old Testament.

And at times we see powerful instances of his presence in their midst.

One such occasion is at the dedication of Solomon's temple.

This is a huge moment.

This temple is built as the first permanent temple for the Lord.

And after the priests bring the hugely significant Ark of the Covenant and place it in the most holy place, we read this.

Imagine that today.

In Solomon's temple dedication prayer, later on in that chapter, as he dedicates the temple and prays this beautiful long prayer, he makes this connection between God's presence and witness to the surrounding nations with this surprising prayer.

As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel, but has come from a distant land because of your name, for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm.

When they come and pray to this temple, then hear from heaven your dwelling place, do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and know that this house I have built bears your name.

What a beautiful prayer.

We had asked what is so compelling about the law.

And one thing that was so compelling was that the law made a way for ordinary sinful people to, in the words of another Old Testament scholar, Ellen Davis, host in their midst the radical holiness of God.

The second element of the law that was compelling was the wise and just way of living that it prescribed.

Now, wise and just may not be the words that come to our mind when we think of Old Testament law.

Many of us may actually think of the law as irrelevant or problematic or even oppressive.

Very few of us might jump to words like wise or just.

Now, a while ago there was a trend for straight outer t-shirts.

The original was straight out of Compton, but now you can get straight out of anything.

You can get a straight out of Windsor Park t-shirt made if you want.

I reckon Old Testament scholars like Michael should walk around with straight out of the Old Testament shirts and then on the back have some of the amazing Old Testament one-liners.

Here are a few examples of wise and just straight out of the Old Testament instructions.

The first being the Sabbath.

Something that many people still wrestle with today.

How do we balance inequality?

And then let's talk about workers' rights.

And we can read from Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse 14.

Deuteronomy 24:14

Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.

Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and counting on it.

Otherwise, they may cry out to the Lord against you and you will be guilty of sin.

Again, a powerful, wise uh instruction that is actually compelling to us today.

And these are just a few examples of the wise and just way of life that Israel was called to.

And note I'm using the phrase way of life intentionally.

Israel wasn't simply being asked to believe different things, they were being asked to organize their common life differently.

And that's what outpost politics is all about.

The Torah's vision for Israel's communal life, if realized, would have resulted in a flourishing and equitable outpost society within which God was delighted to dwell and one that was attractive and welcoming to outsiders.

Unfortunately, the execution was far from perfect.

But one day, a perfect Israelite came along who took this compelling outpost vision to a whole new level.

You see, the two themes that we've repeatedly hit on today, God's presence among his people and a just and wise way of life, are ultimately taken up and fulfilled in Jesus.

See, Jesus comes along and takes this vision to a whole new level.

God's presence is no longer encountered primarily in a temple.

John says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

God comes among us in person.

And at this time in history, Israel hosts in their midst the radical holiness of God physically in Jesus.

And Jesus is not just present, but Jesus announces the arrival of God's kingdom and begins forming a new kind of community around himself, known for their wise and just way of living.

Jesus' teaching, especially the Sermon on the Mount, is still widely regarded as the most influential moral teaching ever.

Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, give generously, refuse retaliation, do not worry.

Jesus isn't just proposing a private spirituality for the quiet of our bedrooms.

He is talking about what faith looks like when you step out your front door.

As we've seen on our journey through Luke's gospel, in Jesus, the king has come, God is present, and the kingdom has come.

And people are drawn to it.

They're drawn to Jesus, they're drawn to his way of living.

And this flow continues into the early church as the early Christians establish what it means to do life and faith together after A.D.

33.

We read about the lifestyle and the witness of the early church in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The early church was a party worth joining, and people joined.

The church became an outpost of another kingdom and people wanted to be part of it.

And this continued after the time period of the Bible.

The early church, then an outpost within the Roman Empire, is well known for its radical care for the poor, the sick, the orphaned who were abandoned by mainstream society.

This was so notorious that the fourth century Roman Emperor Julian complained about the Christians.

He said nothing has contributed to the progress of the superstition of these Christians as their charity to strangers.

These impious Galileans provide not only for their own poor, but for ours as well.

They were so loving, it annoyed people, it frustrated people, but other people were compelled and wanted to join.

Today, the calling of the church is still to live out a compelling outpost politics.

And one place I saw this compelling kingdom living was with some of our overseas partners in South Asia.

The organization we were with exists to bring hope in places of extreme poverty and modern-day slavery.

When Grant and I visited last year, I was struck by the commitment of those who have relocated to be part of the mission.

And the commitment of those who have converted to Christianity at huge social cost.

The sacrifices and the challenge were obvious all around you, but so was the tangible impact of seeing Jesus' kingdom outworked among the lost, the last, and the least, the very people that were so close to Jesus' heart when he walked the surf.

Our last night with them happened to be Sunday, so we got to join their evening rooftop worship gathering.

As we sat on the dusty floor, worship lyrics were projected onto a bed sheet, and stale biscuits were received with gratitude for communion.

I looked around and I saw not just Kiwis or overseas supporters, but also locals who had gone from strangers to neighbors to friends and to brothers and sisters in Christ.

People who had found a party worth joining, drawn in by the compelling presence of God and a just way of life.

As this unexpected group of people gathered on a rooftop, an outpost to defiantly do what they could not do on the streets below, I realized this was the kingdom.

The upside down kingdom.

The kingdom in but not of the world.

The kingdom now, but not yet.

The kingdom of seeing Jesus come in people's lives, but still experiencing suffering and hardships.

This was one experience I had of outpost politics.

But there are many local examples too.

I think of Shah's place out the front of our Mardangi Bay site, a physical outpost representing Haven pregnancy support, a Christian response to unintended pregnancy.

So as we come towards a close, let's ask some questions.

The people in your life who don't call themselves Christians yet, be they friends or family, co-workers, teammates, neighbors, what do you think comes to their mind when they think of this church?

And to take it more personal, when they consider your lifestyle, what do you think they think?

Do they see people who live with a deep sense of God's intimate presence with them, who treat people differently, who handle money differently, who use power differently, who care for the vulnerable, who forgive differently, and who disagree differently, and who welcome outsiders.

Do they look over the fence to our church or to your lifestyle and think, I want some of that?

It's a challenging question to think about.

As we close, we we're gonna sing a song called Re-surrender.

It's a song all about the church.

It's a song asking God to clean us, to purify us, to set us apart as his church, to make us a party worth joining, and to make us a place where he delights to dwell.

In the words of the song, make this our prayer.

God, for your glory, make us holy like you are.

Amen.

You're turning over tables and calling for return to my lives upon the altar, the things we did at first.

You're cleaning up the temple, you're cleaning up the start, we're gonna be the temple.

Make us holy like you.

I see a holy nation of God to consecrate a chosen generation of people God to pray.

So help us, God, to please you, where only you can see for every moment matters in eternity.

We are your people, you are our God, we are your temple, make us holy like you are, we are your children, set us apart, God for your glory, make us holy like you are people with your press make us a place where you delight to dwell, may we head your hands' correction?

Oh Lord of Shepherd, you do all things well, your love as it is enough.

Your love is perfect and your judgment should as we run to rester.

You will restore what we return to you.

You are restoring as we love you.

We are your people, you are our God, we are your child, make us hold, we are your children, get us, not for your calling, we're coming, we're not walking, we're running, God, we need resurrender, so we resurrender, your calling, we're coming, we're not walking, we're running, God, we need resurrender, so we resurrender, your colleague, we're coming, we're not walking, we're running, God, we need resurrender, so we resurrender, your colleague, we're coming, we're not walking, we're running, God, we need resurrender, so we resurrender, your colony, we're coming, we're not blocking, we're running, God, we need resurrender, so we resurrender your colony, we're coming, we're not lucky you running, we surrender, we surrender, be on your temple, make us long we are your children, set us up high God for your glory, make us wrong your home, we're coming, we're not walking, we're running.

God, we need resurrender, so we resurrender, your calling, we're coming, we're not walking, we're running.

God, we need resurrender, we resurrect.