How Christians Should Vote | Don’t Panic: Week 2

Your faith can and should drive your vote, but it’s not as simple as many make it out to be.

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    Politics, it's all over our news feeds.
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    My name's Lena Schuler and I'm the Crossroads Anywhere Community P
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    astor. We're glad to have you joining us from anywhere you are right now.
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    And we're in a new series this week called Don't Panic, Take Heart 2020.
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    We actually believe that there's a promise
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    that we can take heart in the midst of this election year,
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    regardless of where we are in the political spectrum.
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    And so we're going to be taking communion
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    a little bit later in our service.
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    And if you believe in the promises of Jesus
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    and what He says about taking heart, who He is,
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    then get something to eat or drink so that you can take communion
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    a little bit later.
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    But before we get into that, we actually went onto the street
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    to hear where people are and what they think
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    in the midst of this divisive election year.
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    Let's check it out.
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    TOME: Excuse me, sir. How are you?
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    - I'm doing wonderful.
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    - Do you mind talking politics?
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    - Where are you? On the right or are you on the left?
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    - I think I'm at somewhere in the middle.
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    - I feel like the right is very extreme
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    and the left is very extreme and I'm more towards the middle.
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    - Kind of a left-ish, but right now,
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    it's just it's too polarized on both sides.
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    - There's never a good choice for me.
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    I don't really fit in anywhere.
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    So election year comes around, I'm like, ugh.
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    - Yeah, they're both very extreme and I'm not an extreme person.
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    - This is wild, it's wild.
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    TOME: It is wild.
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    - I mean it's going on a turn for I think the worst.
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    TOME: How doesn't make you feel?
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    - Confused and angry.
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    They all just have their own ideas of what they want to do
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    and they aren't really listening to me.
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    It's like that song clowns to the left of me, jokers on the right?
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    - I'm so afraid to tell what I'm really feeling to my friends
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    because sometimes they're so like radically attached
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    to their viewpoint I don't like to share.
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    - We don't want to talk issues.
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    We just want to root for our team.
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    - You know, like out in social media,
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    like Facebook and stuff, it's just instant shut down.
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    - I frankly try not to think about it very much
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    because it's quite depressing.
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    TOME: What's depressing about it for you?
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    - Just all the hatred and anger.
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    TOME: Do you feel I'm angry with you right now?
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    Because I'm very angry right now.
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    Are you feeling that?
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    - A little bit, yeah.
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    - I think Republicans and Democrats need to hear
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    that just because you're Republican
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    or I'm a Democrat doesn't mean that we don't have a lot in common.
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    - Our elected officials, I just --
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    I don't have a whole lot of faith in them right now.
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    - It's very frustrating.
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    - I really don't feel like anybody represents me
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    because everybody has pushed
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    way to one end of the spectrum or the other.
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    - I don't feel like either party truly represents
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    all the policies or all the issues that I would fall on.
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    - It's a tough one. It's tough one.
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    I mean, there's a lot that I disagree with.
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    It's a lot that I will agree with.
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    But I'm all for change and going for something
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    that's going to benefit everyone of the majority.
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    So, yeah.
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    - Hey, my name's Robbie.
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    Great to have you here, as we're were in this election series
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    called Don't Panic or Don't Panic 2020 Take Heart.
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    We're going to -- We're gonna start our time together
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    right now by singing songs that have been sung for a few centuries.
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    And nothing helps us say something so succinctly as a song.
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    And there's a song that I grew up singing.
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    I called it the money song, but it's actually called The Doxology.
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    So it's real simple.
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    It goes like this:
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    Why don't you guys stand up?
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    Praise for the soul and all the.
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    God, we come to you right now with our eyes fixed on You
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    for our hope, not anything we see on the landscape,
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    but we lift our eyes to You.
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    We lift our eyes to heaven to say we want to hope in You.
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    So we're here because we want to encounter You.
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    We want to encounter Your truth, Your character, Your presence.
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    Would You would meet us here?
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    Would You see our steps into this place as
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    silent prayers of hope?
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    It's in that precious name, Jesus, that we pray.
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    Amen.
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    - I love worshipping with you week in and week out online
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    because it sets my week up really well to experience God.
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    One of the other things that I do that sets my week up,
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    my month up, my year up really well to experience God
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    is I get together with friends regularly in the midst of a group.
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    And as much as this has been good for me,
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    I hear stories time and time again of how it's been good for you
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    and other people who are part of our church.
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    I was meeting with Patti and Brian,
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    who are some of our group leaders in Michigan
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    just a couple of weeks ago.
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    And they were telling me a story about
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    how when they were meeting with their group,
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    Brian actually passed out and it was in the midst of passing out
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    and then going to the hospital from that group
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    that a medical issue was caught in his heart.
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    And this group of people that they were regularly meeting with
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    rallied around them and cared for them
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    in the midst of this unexpected, difficult time
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    where they had a medical emergency.
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    And they were just telling me how great it was to have friends
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    who cared so deeply for them and were there for them
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    in the midst of this difficult time.
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    And I want that for you.
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    I want you to have great friends who are with you
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    in the midst of unexpected, difficult times,
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    the way that Patti and Brian have experienced
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    and the way that I've experienced.
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    And so if you want that, you can head to Crossroads.net/groups
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    and see if there's a group meeting near you, maybe in a home
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    or a coffee shop or online week in and week out
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    so that you have friends who are going after God with you
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    and who can be there for you in the highs and the lows of life.
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    One of the other things that set me up really well
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    for the rest of my life was not just meeting in a group regularly,
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    but years and years ago, I actually experienced camp
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    as a middle schooler.
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    I experienced camp where I made great friends
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    who I laughed with and played games with
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    and who eventually stood by me on my wedding day a few years ago.
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    And it set up my relationship with Jesus for years and years to come.
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    And we have camps available for you if you're in middle school
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    or high school or you've got a student in your home or close to you.
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    We have summer camps happening for your students
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    to experience life change through Jesus
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    and through genuine friendships
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    and just some good old fun in the midst of the summer.
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    And you know, I was sitting around a table
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    with all of our community pastors a few weeks ago
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    across all of our Crossroads sites.
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    And the question was asked, how many of us experienced Jesus
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    and maybe received him for the first time
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    in the midst of a summer camp in middle school or high school.
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    And over half of that room raised our hands.
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    And so it might just be camp that sets your student
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    on a totally different trajectory for the rest of their life
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    and really solidifies a relationship with Jesus for them.
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    And I want that for your middle school or high school student.
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    I want that for you if you're in middle school or high school.
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    You can head to Crossroads.net/summercamp
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    to find out more
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    and sign up for a camp this summer,
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    regardless of where you live in the country.
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    And I want you to know that if you're a giver at Crossroads,
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    part of your money is fueling life change in kids and students.
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    So if you want to give for the first time today,
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    you want to become a giver and you want to see Jesus
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    break into the lives of high schoolers and middle schoolers around you.
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    You could do that by heading to Crossroads.net/gi
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    ve and becoming a giver for the first time today.
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    But we're in this series called Don't Panic, Take Heart 2020,
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    and today we get to hear from Chuck Mingo.
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    - If you are experiencing a bit of heartburn
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    after consuming heavy dose
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    of polarizing political posts on social media
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    with a side of inflammatory national news for breakfast,
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    and you can feel your blood pressure rising
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    and your anxiety skyrocketing, you are not alone.
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    The good news is that you don't have to panic in 2020.
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    This is not the first time in human history
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    we faced a fractured and about to boil over political storm.
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    About 2000 years ago, things were looking pretty bleak
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    for people who follow Jesus.
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    You could say they had just lived through
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    the most important election of their lives, and lost.
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    OK, so there were no elections back then, only hostile takeovers.
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    And Jesus wasn't running for President.
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    He was unjustly crucified.
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    But you get the idea, these people were freaked out.
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    The guy they thought was going to literally
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    overthrow the Romans and the religious Jews
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    and run the country was dead.
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    Taxes were high. There was no health care.
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    No one could agree about who should be in power.
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    Sound familiar?
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    Followers of Jesus were so scared
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    they hid and huddled together.
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    Not knowing what else to do,
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    the women in their group went to the tomb.
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    And you know what happened next.
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    He had risen, just as He said.
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    In Luke 24 it says two angels had to remind them
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    of what Jesus had said to them just a few days before.
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    They said, and I quote:
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    remember how He told you this would happen?
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    It goes on to say: Then they remembered His words.
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    If the people closest to Jesus were so freaked out
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    by the political tension they were in
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    that they panicked and forgot what He said.
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    Then it begs the question, did H
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    e say anything to us that would be helpful
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    to remember during this election?
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    Turns out, yes.
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    Yes, He did.
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    This is the message that He gave to H
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    is followers about to venture out
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    into a fractured political culture:
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    Anyone who loves their father or mother,
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    insert political party, more than me is not worthy of me.
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    And anyone who loves their son or daughter,
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    insert their beliefs about climate change or immigration,
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    more than me is not worthy of me.
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    Whoever does not take up their cross,
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    insert forgive their Facebook and Twitter foes,
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    and follow me is not worthy of me.
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    Whoever finds their life,
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    insert puts their faith in winning the election, will lose it.
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    And whoever loses their life,
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    insert puts their faith in the kingdom of God,
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    for my sake will find it.
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    Jesus also said:
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    So no matter who you are, your party affiliation,
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    or growing fear over the outcome of the election,
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    you can win no matter who gets elected.
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    Because this is the promise of Don't Panic 2020 Take Heart.
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    - Man who wants that? Who wants to take heart like that
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    and feel that kind of hope, that kind of peace?
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    That's what we're talking about in this series,
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    Election 2020, Don't panic, take heart.
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    And if this is your first week in this series, you might be asking,
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    why is Crossroads doing this series again?
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    I know that's a question that came up a lot this week
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    And I thought Brian did a great job of framing it.
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    And I want to go right back to the words of Jesus
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    that you heard in that video and saw in that video.
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    We believe that by addressing this, by talking about this
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    as a community, more of us can actually experience
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    the words that Jesus promised in John 16:33, He said:
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    And we want to be in a place where we can engage
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    in the political process in a healthy way,
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    but also take heart no matter who wins in November.
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    Because right now the odds of your candidate winning
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    are about 50/50 unless you live in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky,
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    not too far from here where Brynn is still mayor
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    and everything is well in the world.
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    So I don't know if you know this or not,
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    but Rabbit Hash, Kentucky for years has elected a dog
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    to be their mayor. It's really small town.
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    And so you can imagine there's not much
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    political tension in Rabbit Hash, Kentucky.
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    which makes that like Mars compared to
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    everywhere else in our country right now.
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    You know, in some ways what an election does
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    is it just concentrates our hopes, our aspirations,
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    what we believe, our fears, our anxieties,
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    and it concentrates all those things onto one date on the calendar.
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    And it reminds me of what I used to do when I was younger,
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    when I would have a magnifying glass
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    and it was a hot summer day.
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    And I would take that magnifying glass and try to burn ants.
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    Am I the only person who tried to do that with real live things?
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    Yeah, paper too, paper too.
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    But it was always cool if you could try to catch an ant.
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    I never set an ant on fire, but that's what an election does,
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    is it kind of concentrates us to this point
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    and it gets us all fired up.
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    It burns us in that way.
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    And I want to say something very clearly.
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    There's real tension stepping into this,
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    stepping into this conversation.
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    What is our duty or what is our choice
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    as an American citizen who votes
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    and what is our duty or our response as people
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    who are either already in the kingdom of God
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    or who are interested in learning more about
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    what does it look like to respond to this
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    as a person who's in a kingdom of God?
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    And I also recognize there are issues of consequence
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    in this election, and I'm not minimizing that at all.
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    But every week in this series, we're coming against a myth,
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    a myth that may be true based on how the media
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    or pundits are talking about this election.
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    Last week's myth was that this is
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    the most important election of your life.
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    That this is the most important election of your life.
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    And Brian talked about that last week.
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    And what we've realized is
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    this is an election of consequence for sure.
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    And yet you can engage, you can step into this
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    and you can have peace regardless of who
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    the President is on November 4th, 2020.
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    And so this week we're leaning into another myth
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    and we're going to dive into that.
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    But here's what I want you to know.
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    Today what I want to do is prepare you for
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    what you do when you walk into that ballot booth.
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    So what you do before, during, and after the ballot booth,
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    that's where we're going today.
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    Let me pray as we jump in.
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    God, I ask that you would speak.
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    That You would speak a word that resonates with all of us deeply.
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    I believe that You can
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    and I believe that's exactly what You want to do.
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    That only happens when I get out of the way
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    and you, quite frankly, get more in the way.
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    And so we just give this time to You, in Jesus' name.
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    Amen.
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    All right. Let's take a look at the myths that we're busting today.
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    We've got our myth lever over here.
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    Here's the myth we're going after.
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    Oh, Chipotle is healthy.
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    Of course, Chipotle is healthy.
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    There's vegetables in there, beans.
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    Yes, Chipotle is healthy.
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    But that's actually not the myth for today.
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    Here's another myth we want to come after today.
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    You shouldn't pee in the pool.
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    How many people think it's OK to pee in the pool?
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    Don't raise your hands, please.
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    I don't even want to know.
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    I don't even want to know.
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    No, no, no. That's clear.
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    You shouldn't be in the pool.
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    So two very clear: Chipotle is healthy.
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    You shouldn't pee in the pool.
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    Here's the myth we're actually going after today.
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    All Christians vote this way.
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    That one is actually not as simple as it seems.
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    And if you're in here and you're part of the 61%
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    of people that by some polls would say are the frustrated majority,
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    you're asking the question, though, "OK, but how do I decide?"
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    Today I'm gonna give you that answer.
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    I'm going to give you that answer today.
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    And as I do that, let's just remember, I'm the Pastor you like.
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    Can we just be OK with that?
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    I'm the Pastor you like.
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    I'm your friend.
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    I'm Chuck and I'm the pastor you like.
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    So we're going to dig into that.
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    We're going to go straight at it.
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    And I think it'd be helpful for you to understand my political story.
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    So I think about myself growing up in my home.
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    I would say my parents were one lever Democrats.
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    That's what they were.
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    And what I mean by that is this.
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    I don't know what the voting booth looked like where you grew up.
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    Where I grew up in Philadelphia.
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    you would go into a booth.
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    You'd pull one lever.
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    That lever would close the curtain behind you.
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    And then you had a bunch of different individual choices.
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    But you also had two other choices:
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    You could pull one lever
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    and all the Republican ticket would be voted for
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    or you could pull one lever and all the Democrats would be voted for.
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    Of course, I remember as a kid, my mom and dad
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    would work the polls regularly.
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    And I remember walking in and it was a two lever experience,
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    one lever to close the curtain.
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    And there was another lever to vote
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    the whole Democratic line down the down the edge.
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    That's what I grew up with.
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    And so that's how I grew up.
  • 00:25:06
    But this changed for me as I got more politically aware.
  • 00:25:10
    Does anybody remember something called Channel One?
  • 00:25:12
    Channel One. You were in school.
  • 00:25:14
    For me, it was in high school.
  • 00:25:16
    And it was like closed circuit TV.
  • 00:25:17
    And they would give you all kinds of information.
  • 00:25:19
    And I remember when it was George Bush running against Bill Clinton
  • 00:25:24
    for whatever reason that just sparked in my mind,
  • 00:25:26
    because they were showing that on Channel One.
  • 00:25:28
    I remember saying to myself, like, "I can't vote in this election,
  • 00:25:30
    but the next election I'll be voting."
  • 00:25:32
    And it just increased my awareness.
  • 00:25:33
    And I was kind of just like, hey,
  • 00:25:35
    this is something I need to pay attention to.
  • 00:25:37
    Fast forward, I would say that as I began to vote,
  • 00:25:40
    the way that I would define myself even today
  • 00:25:42
    is that I'm an independent voter with conservative leanings.
  • 00:25:44
    That's been true for me when I was in college.
  • 00:25:47
    That's been true for me even beyond college.
  • 00:25:48
    Obviously, that's kind of where I stood
  • 00:25:51
    in terms of the whole political landscape.
  • 00:25:53
    And then 2008 happened.
  • 00:25:55
    And I will tell you that as an African-American man,
  • 00:25:58
    the opportunity to vote for our first black President
  • 00:26:01
    was a moment of history for me.
  • 00:26:02
    Surprise, surprise. I voted for Obama in 2008.
  • 00:26:05
    And you're probably not surprised by that.
  • 00:26:07
    But for me, that was a historic vote
  • 00:26:09
    for a couple reasons that I remember.
  • 00:26:11
    I remember when he was elected and all the results were in
  • 00:26:14
    and he was in Chicago at that park
  • 00:26:16
    and he was walking onto the stage with his family.
  • 00:26:18
    I did two things in that moment.
  • 00:26:19
    I called my then 80 plus year old dad
  • 00:26:23
    who grew up in Jim Crow St.
  • 00:26:24
    with separate water fountains,
  • 00:26:26
    not being able to be treated as a human being.
  • 00:26:28
    He never thought he would see a black President in his lifetime.
  • 00:26:31
    And I called him and I just wanted to hear
  • 00:26:33
    what he was thinking that night.
  • 00:26:34
    And the next thing I did is I wrote a letter
  • 00:26:36
    to my then few month old son about
  • 00:26:39
    what just happened in our country that day.
  • 00:26:41
    So that was 2008, but fast forward to 2012.
  • 00:26:44
    And I will tell you, 2012 for me was not a clear cut decision.
  • 00:26:49
    It was not. It was not a no brainer
  • 00:26:51
    that I was going to vote for Obama a second time,
  • 00:26:53
    because for me, I knew as I was walking into 2012,
  • 00:26:57
    my decision had to be based on more than just my racial identity,
  • 00:27:00
    it had to be based on more than just my quote unquote, politics.
  • 00:27:04
    Here was the question that I leaned into aggressively in 2012,
  • 00:27:09
    and I'm challenging all of you to lean into in 2020.
  • 00:27:12
    And it's this: am I willing to put my faith filter
  • 00:27:16
    ahead of my political filter?
  • 00:27:20
    Or put it this way, how do I put my faith filter
  • 00:27:24
    ahead of my political filter?
  • 00:27:27
    And I will tell you this is hard.
  • 00:27:29
    In fact, it's so hard
  • 00:27:30
    that I think most of us think we've already done it.
  • 00:27:33
    We think we've already done the work on this.
  • 00:27:35
    But I want you to see today that it is not that simple,
  • 00:27:38
    that if you are using a biblical filter
  • 00:27:41
    for the way that you show up at the polls,
  • 00:27:43
    it is not as simple as we make it out to be.
  • 00:27:46
    This tension exists if we step back from the soundbites,
  • 00:27:50
    if we step back from the talking points and we look at scripture.
  • 00:27:53
    I could give a bunch of different examples of this,
  • 00:27:56
    but I'm just gonna pick three.
  • 00:27:57
    I've got an image here and I want what you just walk with me through this.
  • 00:28:00
    Three things that I know you're hearing about,
  • 00:28:02
    three things you probably have an opinion on:
  • 00:28:04
    immigration,
  • 00:28:05
    charity or you could call that how we take care of the poor,
  • 00:28:08
    and the environment.
  • 00:28:09
    These are things that are hot button debates, hot button discussions.
  • 00:28:13
    And can I just tell you, if you think the Bible
  • 00:28:16
    is overtly clear on one side of this or another,
  • 00:28:19
    I don't think you're reading the Bible that I'm reading.
  • 00:28:22
    I don't think it's that simple because the Bible says this about immigrants.
  • 00:28:26
    There's clear scripture that says we're to protect
  • 00:28:28
    and welcome the foreigner and the scripture teaches
  • 00:28:31
    that we're to obey the laws of the land.
  • 00:28:32
    Those are both in the Bible.
  • 00:28:34
    So I just don't think it's as easy as we make it out to be.
  • 00:28:38
    Here's on charity. Charity.
  • 00:28:39
    The scriptures clearly teach we're obligated to give generously to the poor.
  • 00:28:43
    And yet in 2 Thessalonians it says: if you don't work, you don't eat.
  • 00:28:48
    Those are on the same Bible I'm reading.
  • 00:28:50
    Here's another one on the environment.
  • 00:28:52
    Yes, humans are called a steward the earth.
  • 00:28:54
    We see that in places like Genesis,
  • 00:28:55
    but also the scriptures teach that humans are above all other creation.
  • 00:28:59
    That doesn't mean that we're to abuse nature.
  • 00:29:01
    But there's a difference between me and other creative beings
  • 00:29:04
    and you and other creative beings being created creatures on the earth.
  • 00:29:08
    And all I'm saying is this: if you're not feeling the tension on this,
  • 00:29:12
    then I want to ask you to read the Bible again.
  • 00:29:15
    If you're not feeling the tension on this,
  • 00:29:17
    I don't think that you're hearing and feeling it.
  • 00:29:20
    The question though is what do we do with this tension?
  • 00:29:22
    We're still on a two party system.
  • 00:29:23
    Right?
  • 00:29:25
    So how do we deal with this tension?
  • 00:29:27
    Well, for years, churches have made it real simple
  • 00:29:29
    for people to deal with this tension because
  • 00:29:31
    churches have published a voter's guide.
  • 00:29:33
    And the voters guide was very clear to tell you
  • 00:29:36
    here's who you vote for and here's what you vote for issues wise.
  • 00:29:38
    And it was super, super clear.
  • 00:29:40
    And I think some of you have been desperate for Crossroads
  • 00:29:43
    to give you that for a long, long time.
  • 00:29:45
    And I'm going to give it to you right now.
  • 00:29:48
    I'm going to give it to you right now.
  • 00:29:49
    I'm going to give you the official voter's guide right now.
  • 00:29:52
    In fact, you might want to take your phone out.
  • 00:29:54
    You might want to have this with you
  • 00:29:55
    when you stand in the ballot box on November the 3rd.
  • 00:29:58
    I want you to be very clear, very unequivocally know,
  • 00:30:02
    here's how Crossroads wants you to vote.
  • 00:30:04
    Your voter's guide for 2020 is this: I want you to VOTE &.
  • 00:30:10
    I want you to VOTE &.
  • 00:30:12
    Some of you feel like you've been clickbaitedt, you haven't.
  • 00:30:16
    Some of you think this is a cop out, and it isn't.
  • 00:30:19
    And I'm going to show you why.
  • 00:30:20
    We're going to look at a scripture today that I think illustrates this.
  • 00:30:24
    And let me just be clear on what I mean when I say VOTE &.
  • 00:30:26
    I mean this.
  • 00:30:27
    I mean, on November 3rd, you should vote your biblically informed conscience
  • 00:30:32
    AND if you think your responsibility starts and ends at the ballot box,
  • 00:30:38
    you are sadly mistaken if you're a follower of Jesus.
  • 00:30:40
    That's what I mean by VOTE &.
  • 00:30:42
    There's a story where Jesus really walks us right into this example.
  • 00:30:51
    It comes from the book of Matthew 22.
  • 00:30:52
    Let's read it. It says:
  • 00:31:46
    What's happening in this story is too extreme factions
  • 00:31:51
    who would never come together on anything
  • 00:31:53
    come together to try to trap Jesus.
  • 00:31:55
    The Pharisees and the Herodians.
  • 00:31:58
    The Pharisees were absolutely people who were like,
  • 00:32:00
    "Look, we should not be aligned to this evil empire of Rome."
  • 00:32:05
    And yet you had the Herodians who were supporting Herod
  • 00:32:07
    and saying, "Hey, well, you know what?
  • 00:32:09
    These two factions would never have gotten together on anything.
  • 00:32:12
    They're trying to trap Jesus.
  • 00:32:14
    They come up with a really interesting dilemma.
  • 00:32:17
    "A simple question, Jesus.
  • 00:32:19
    Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
  • 00:32:22
    Now, if Jesus simply says, "Of course, you should pay taxes to Caesar.
  • 00:32:27
    This is Caesar's coin and Caesar has the coin of the realm,
  • 00:32:30
    he's in authority. Yes, she should pay taxes to Caesar."
  • 00:32:32
    If he only says that, they would have said,
  • 00:32:35
    "See, he's a collaborator with the evil Roman Empire.
  • 00:32:38
    There is no way he could be the Messiah."
  • 00:32:40
    And they would have discredited his ministry.
  • 00:32:43
    On the other side, if he says, "No.
  • 00:32:46
    Above and beyond,
  • 00:32:47
    whatever Caesar tells you to do.
  • 00:32:48
    There is a greater God."
  • 00:32:49
    If he only said that, they would've said, "This guy's an insurrectionist.
  • 00:32:52
    He doesn't support Caesar's authority.
  • 00:32:54
    He should die."
  • 00:32:56
    And in either case, they would have discredited and honestly killed him.
  • 00:32:59
    They would have destroyed his ministry.
  • 00:33:01
    So they're trying to catch Jesus in a trap.
  • 00:33:03
    But Jesus is always the smartest man in the room.
  • 00:33:07
    And so what does he do? He says, "Give me the coin.
  • 00:33:10
    Give me this coin that you use to pay the tax."
  • 00:33:13
    And a denarius on one side would have had the image of Caesar.
  • 00:33:16
    And Jesus, I believe.
  • 00:33:18
    and all scholars believe,
  • 00:33:19
    was holding up that side of the coin when he said,
  • 00:33:21
    "Whose inscription is this?
  • 00:33:22
    Caesar's? Yes, of course.
  • 00:33:24
    Pay to Caesar what is Caesar's?"
  • 00:33:26
    But there's two sides to the coin.
  • 00:33:29
    And on the other side of the coin would have been an image
  • 00:33:31
    of a Roman god or a Roman goddess.
  • 00:33:33
    Obviously in Jesus's perspective, a false god or a false goddess.
  • 00:33:37
    And so he turned the coin over and said, "And give to God what is God's."
  • 00:33:41
    What was Jesus saying?
  • 00:33:42
    Jesus was saying, absolutely, in this world
  • 00:33:45
    there are political governing authorities and they are to be respected.
  • 00:33:50
    And at the same time, God is a greater authority.
  • 00:33:54
    And so if you're going to look at this, honestly, you VOTE &.
  • 00:33:59
    Because, yes, we give to Caesar what is Caesar's,
  • 00:34:01
    but we give to God what is God's.
  • 00:34:03
    That's why I subscribe to the radical middle.
  • 00:34:07
    You've heard Brian talk about that.
  • 00:34:08
    And some of you are like, what's the radical middle?
  • 00:34:09
    It feels like a copout.
  • 00:34:10
    And I'm telling you, it's not.
  • 00:34:12
    It's way easier to pick a tribe.
  • 00:34:15
    You got people on your tribe.
  • 00:34:16
    You've got people who support your opinion on your tribe.
  • 00:34:19
    There's whole economic engines supporting the tribes.
  • 00:34:22
    It's way easier to pick an extreme.
  • 00:34:24
    It's a lot harder to sit in the radical middle
  • 00:34:27
    and help understand what Jesus means when he says
  • 00:34:30
    give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.
  • 00:34:32
    I'll just tell you, I live in the radical middle.
  • 00:34:34
    I've lived in the radical middle before we named it the radical middle.
  • 00:34:38
    Interesting, I came across a quote from an African-American activists
  • 00:34:42
    and musical artist, Christian music artist Sho Baraka, and he says this:
  • 00:35:02
    And I'll just tell you, man, he's starting to get it how I feel.
  • 00:35:07
    Because I'm just -- this is just Chuck.
  • 00:35:08
    This is just me talking.
  • 00:35:10
    As a black man, I am disturbed by the over and implied racism
  • 00:35:16
    that I hear in Republican Party politics.
  • 00:35:19
    Because here's the thing, oftentimes, I'm the only black man in the room.
  • 00:35:23
    And my my Republican brothers and sisters,
  • 00:35:25
    who are Christians I'm talking about,
  • 00:35:27
    they can forget that I'm in the room.
  • 00:35:28
    And I have heard things and had things said to me that deeply disturbed me.
  • 00:35:34
    And I am also deeply disturbed by the undermining of scripture
  • 00:35:38
    that I hear from Democrats who are also Christians.
  • 00:35:43
    Because sometimes I'm the only independent in the room
  • 00:35:47
    and my Democrat brothers and sisters, who are Christians,
  • 00:35:49
    can forget that I'm in the room.
  • 00:35:51
    And I hear things that deeply disturbed me.
  • 00:35:54
    And the question I have is this: I feel the tear.
  • 00:35:57
    I feel the pull.
  • 00:35:58
    Can I be a conservative black man who also is passionate about social justice?
  • 00:36:04
    Can I stand in that place?
  • 00:36:07
    Maybe you feel it this way: Can I be a woman
  • 00:36:10
    who wants to see women treated equally in the workplace
  • 00:36:13
    but also doesn't support abortion?
  • 00:36:15
    Or can I be a successful white male entrepreneur
  • 00:36:18
    who's a capitalist and believes in free markets,
  • 00:36:20
    but also cares deeply about taking care of the poor?
  • 00:36:23
    Or maybe you feel like I can be someone who's really concerned
  • 00:36:26
    about the overreach of government and cares for the planet?
  • 00:36:30
    Or maybe you're asking can I be a first generation American
  • 00:36:33
    who wants stronger borders and a clear immigration policy?
  • 00:36:37
    And friends, the answer biblically is yes.
  • 00:36:39
    Yes, we can. We can stand in this place of tension and be who we are
  • 00:36:44
    because I'm not here to try to support or maintain
  • 00:36:47
    primarily the unity of the United States of America.
  • 00:36:50
    That's great if that happens, but we must maintain the unity of the church.
  • 00:36:54
    And in the church, you should be able to stand in those different places
  • 00:36:57
    and still be brothers and sisters in Christ.
  • 00:36:58
    [applause]
  • 00:37:02
    We should be able to stand that way.
  • 00:37:05
    So vote your biblically informed conscience.
  • 00:37:07
    Hear me very clearly, recognize that it's never going to be clear
  • 00:37:10
    and it's never gonna be perfect.
  • 00:37:12
    And you can do that as long as you embrace the &.
  • 00:37:16
    So what is the &? What is the &?
  • 00:37:19
    I'll give you three practical ways to VOTE &.
  • 00:37:22
    The first is VOTE & bear one another's burdens,
  • 00:37:28
    because we are complex beings living in a complex time.
  • 00:37:32
    Galatians 6:2 says this:
  • 00:37:43
    There's a guy named Rufus Miles,
  • 00:37:44
    and he used to lead the Office of the Budget in government.
  • 00:37:47
    And he has a principle, a law that's named after him is called Miles' Law.
  • 00:37:50
    And he said this:
  • 00:37:55
    Isn't that true? Where you stand depends on where you sit.
  • 00:37:58
    What is he saying?
  • 00:37:59
    Our cultural perspectives determine --
  • 00:38:02
    our cultural context, I should say, determine our perspectives in life.
  • 00:38:05
    If you grew up middle class,
  • 00:38:07
    you have a middle class perspective on life.
  • 00:38:08
    If you grew up poor, you have a poor perspective on life.
  • 00:38:11
    If you grew up wealthy all the time, that's your perspective.
  • 00:38:14
    If you grew up African-American.
  • 00:38:15
    If you grew up Asian.
  • 00:38:16
    If you grew up Hispanic.
  • 00:38:17
    If you grew up in a family that was a one lever Democrat.
  • 00:38:19
    If you grew up in a family that was a one level Republican.
  • 00:38:21
    Regardless of how you grew up, where you stand depends on where you sit.
  • 00:38:25
    So let's not act like our political opinions were shaped in a vacuum
  • 00:38:29
    because they weren't, for any of us they weren't.
  • 00:38:32
    And we just need to understand that.
  • 00:38:34
    And we also have something working against us.
  • 00:38:37
    Actually we're going to have a guest next week
  • 00:38:39
    who's going to dig into this even more detail.
  • 00:38:40
    I think you're gonna love what he has to say,
  • 00:38:42
    even though it'll be challenging for us to go beyond what he has to say.
  • 00:38:45
    But man telling you, we all have a fundamental cognitive error
  • 00:38:49
    that gets in the way when it comes to things like this.
  • 00:38:51
    It's called the fundamental attribution error.
  • 00:38:53
    And here's a definition of it.
  • 00:38:54
    It's a cognitive bias that causes us to attribute
  • 00:38:57
    another person's behavior to their character,
  • 00:38:59
    what kind of person they are,
  • 00:39:01
    while attributing our behavior to social and environmental factors.
  • 00:39:06
    Let me give you an example.
  • 00:39:09
    Don't we all have that person who's always late for the meeting?
  • 00:39:13
    Right? Right?
  • 00:39:14
    Or the person who's always late for the family function?
  • 00:39:16
    You know who I'm talking about, right? You know what I'm talking about.
  • 00:39:18
    If you can't think of who that person is, you know what they say, right?
  • 00:39:23
    Might be you. Might be you.
  • 00:39:25
    But, hey, we all know that person.
  • 00:39:26
    And here's the thing, when they're consistently late,
  • 00:39:29
    what do you think about that person?
  • 00:39:30
    Do you think they're lazy?
  • 00:39:31
    You think they just don't respect other people's time?
  • 00:39:33
    That's exactly what you think.
  • 00:39:36
    What do you think when you're late?
  • 00:39:39
    I mean when we're late it's legitimate, right?
  • 00:39:40
    I mean, there was a conversation that couldn't end
  • 00:39:42
    and I had to finish the conversation.
  • 00:39:44
    Or the traffic today, I planned, I prepped, but it --
  • 00:39:47
    It was just there was an accident. There was something.
  • 00:39:48
    We always have an excuse, but when it's another person's issue,
  • 00:39:51
    we say it's their problem.
  • 00:39:53
    nd that's exactly the problem with our politics.
  • 00:39:55
    You know what? The Democrats are all corrupt.
  • 00:39:58
    The Republicans are all heartless.
  • 00:40:00
    Who are we fooling, all the Democrats are closet socialists.
  • 00:40:03
    We know that.
  • 00:40:04
    Who are we fooling, all Republicans are closet racists.
  • 00:40:07
    We know that.
  • 00:40:09
    And so we go back and forth in this thing
  • 00:40:12
    because we fall prey to the fundamental attribution error.
  • 00:40:15
    We all struggle.
  • 00:40:16
    And here's the thing, fundamental attribution error,
  • 00:40:19
    it drives ad sales, it makes a lot of money,
  • 00:40:23
    and it's terrible for relationships.
  • 00:40:26
    And again, remember, I'm Chuck.
  • 00:40:28
    I'm the Pastor you like.
  • 00:40:30
    Hang with me here. I'm the Pastor you like.
  • 00:40:33
    Mature, emotionally intelligent people don't fall for that
  • 00:40:39
    and you're better than that.
  • 00:40:43
    You are better than to buy into the lie
  • 00:40:46
    that your brothers and sisters who vote differently than you
  • 00:40:49
    are somehow evil or don't know Jesus.
  • 00:40:52
    You're better than that.
  • 00:40:53
    Friends, were better than that.
  • 00:40:55
    We're better than to judge a book by its cover.
  • 00:40:58
    We are better than that.
  • 00:41:00
    You are better than that.
  • 00:41:04
    So let's bear one another's burdens.
  • 00:41:06
    If I could prescribe one thing for all of us to do
  • 00:41:09
    between now and November, it would be to listen to people
  • 00:41:12
    who experience the world differently than you do.
  • 00:41:16
    And I mean that across the entire spectrum of things.
  • 00:41:19
    I mean, haves and have nots spending time together.
  • 00:41:23
    I mean, Christians and non-Christians spending time together.
  • 00:41:25
    Young and old, married and single, new citizens and old citizens,
  • 00:41:30
    those who love the military and those who despise the military.
  • 00:41:33
    If you could sit down with people who are different from you,
  • 00:41:36
    not to fix, but to listen and understand where they're come from,
  • 00:41:41
    especially people who who believe in Jesus the same way you do.
  • 00:41:45
    Man, think about what that would feel like
  • 00:41:47
    and what that would do for our ability to VOTE & bare one another's burdens.
  • 00:41:53
    VOTE & bear one another's burdens.
  • 00:41:55
    Here's the second one: VOTE &
  • 00:41:57
    get proximate to the problems we're trying to solve.
  • 00:42:02
    Bryan Stevenson wrote a book called Just Mercy,
  • 00:42:04
    it's also an incredible movie that's out right now
  • 00:42:06
    for those of you who have seen it.
  • 00:42:08
    And he says:
  • 00:42:13
    Let me tell you one thing that Washington or Columbus
  • 00:42:16
    or City Hall gets wrong every election.
  • 00:42:20
    They make you believe that the deal ends once you vote for them.
  • 00:42:24
    But Jesus wants you to put your money where your mouth is.
  • 00:42:27
    He wants more from you than just to show up at the ballot box.
  • 00:42:30
    Think about what it says in Micah 6:8, it says:
  • 00:42:43
    There is a call for us beyond the ballot box to be about the things.
  • 00:42:47
    So hey, vote for the issues you care about, but recognize
  • 00:42:51
    that a kingdom person is called not only to vote,
  • 00:42:54
    but to engage in this broken world.
  • 00:42:57
    How does that look? How does it look?
  • 00:42:59
    Again there's a whole bunch of issues we could apply this to.
  • 00:43:01
    I'm going to give you two, I'm going to give you two just as examples.
  • 00:43:04
    One is abortion. One is abortion.
  • 00:43:06
    Let me be very clear.
  • 00:43:07
    The Bible is clear that a baby is a fetus in the womb.
  • 00:43:10
    I mean, a baby is a person in the womb.
  • 00:43:12
    That a fetus has a soul.
  • 00:43:13
    That's very clear from scripture.
  • 00:43:15
    So if you're going to vote pro-life, if that's your thing,
  • 00:43:18
    then VOTE & take care of orphans and widows.
  • 00:43:22
    Are you called to adopt?
  • 00:43:23
    Are you called the foster?
  • 00:43:24
    Are you called to support the families who adopt and foster?
  • 00:43:27
    How about this one?
  • 00:43:28
    Are you called to advocate that felons can get their rights back
  • 00:43:32
    so they can take care of their own children?
  • 00:43:34
    If you're going to care about that issue, VOTE &
  • 00:43:37
    get proximate to the problems you're trying to solve.
  • 00:43:41
    Hebrews 13:3 says:
  • 00:43:51
    If you're going to vote for social issues, you need to know
  • 00:43:54
    that the word justice shows up 450 times in the Bible,
  • 00:43:57
    so there's biblical precedent for voting that way.
  • 00:44:00
    But if you're going to vote for that on social issues,
  • 00:44:02
    VOTE & support those programs that don't just give a hand out,
  • 00:44:07
    but give a hand up, because a hand out never helped anybody alone.
  • 00:44:12
    And recognize that people need to be growing in their ability
  • 00:44:15
    to take care of their own responsibilities in their own families.
  • 00:44:18
    That's how generational poverty is ultimately broken,
  • 00:44:21
    not just dependence.
  • 00:44:22
    So if you're going to vote social issues, VOTE & be about those things,
  • 00:44:27
    get proximate to those problems.
  • 00:44:28
    Again, 2 Thessalonians 3:10:
  • 00:44:38
    Tension. We don't get to escape the tension.
  • 00:44:41
    It's hard, any decision in life that's of consequence is hard
  • 00:44:45
    and we have to hold the tension in this way.
  • 00:44:47
    VOTE &.
  • 00:44:48
    And so ask yourself, whatever the issue is for you,
  • 00:44:51
    whatever things you're passionate about, ask yourself,
  • 00:44:54
    what am I doing as a citizen as I VOTE & what's God calling me to do
  • 00:44:59
    beyond my vote to get proximate to that problem?
  • 00:45:04
    And I'll just tell you, I go I'll go back to 2012.
  • 00:45:06
    For me, as I thought about 2012 and the election,
  • 00:45:09
    what I recognized from me was the thing that I was passionate about,
  • 00:45:14
    that I believed Obama was passionate about,
  • 00:45:16
    was bringing about equality, equality.
  • 00:45:18
    That was a big deal for me.
  • 00:45:20
    And what I had to recognize though, is my vote is not the only way,
  • 00:45:24
    nor is it the main way that God has called me to engage in that issue.
  • 00:45:28
    And so it's probably no surprise that a few years after that,
  • 00:45:31
    Undivided was birthed.
  • 00:45:33
    And Undivided as this movement of people
  • 00:45:35
    who have stepped into a conversation around race,
  • 00:45:37
    not just to have a conversation, but to actually mobilize to action
  • 00:45:41
    to bring about racial justice in local communities.
  • 00:45:44
    We have had 5000 people go through Undivided just at Crossroads.
  • 00:45:47
    We've had another 14 states where people are engaging in Undivided.
  • 00:45:50
    And Undivided is poised to go beyond that this year.
  • 00:45:53
    And it isn't just that people are getting together for the conversation.
  • 00:45:56
    There has been real action taken by people coming out of Undivided
  • 00:46:00
    that is righting racial wrongs right here in our city and beyond.
  • 00:46:05
    VOTE &.
  • 00:46:06
    And I'm not saying everybody has start another program.
  • 00:46:08
    I'm not saying that you have to do that,
  • 00:46:09
    but I'm asking you, ask the Lord what is He calling you to do?
  • 00:46:13
    Because that was a call they put on my life that I had to step into.
  • 00:46:17
    And I'm so glad that I did.
  • 00:46:18
    In fact, one of the things that I would say is, while Undivided --
  • 00:46:21
    I mean, I don't think Undivided would have lived
  • 00:46:23
    if it had gotten political right off the bat.
  • 00:46:24
    I don't think that it would have lived if we said
  • 00:46:26
    here's the side of the political party that we're going to stand on.
  • 00:46:29
    I'm glad that we've been able to live in a space of a radical middle with that.
  • 00:46:32
    I think we've learned how to do that through things like Undivided.
  • 00:46:35
    But can I tell you this?
  • 00:46:36
    It didn't mean that I didn't get political, because I did.
  • 00:46:40
    I did.
  • 00:46:41
    In 2016, I got political about an issue I got proximate to.
  • 00:46:45
    And it was the power of providing quality preschool education
  • 00:46:48
    for kids in our city who didn't have access to it.
  • 00:46:51
    And the data on this is super clear.
  • 00:46:52
    This is a bipartisan understanding that
  • 00:46:54
    if you can give a kid access to quality preschool,
  • 00:46:57
    it literally changes the dynamics for them,
  • 00:47:00
    not just at third grade with reading, but in high school, graduation,
  • 00:47:03
    honestly, incarceration, all those things are connected.
  • 00:47:06
    And so I got proximate to that.
  • 00:47:07
    And as I got proximate to that, I got political.
  • 00:47:10
    I actually campaign to raise my own taxes.
  • 00:47:16
    I actually did commercials to raise my own taxes.
  • 00:47:19
    I was a spokesperson for that campaign.
  • 00:47:22
    And many of you in here knocked on doors.
  • 00:47:24
    And many of you in here voted for it,
  • 00:47:26
    because it passed by the largest margin of any
  • 00:47:28
    school levy in the history of Cincinnati.
  • 00:47:31
    Why? Because our passion overrode our politics.
  • 00:47:34
    And when we got proximate, we recognized we could VOTE & do something.
  • 00:47:40
    And I know, I got push back for that.
  • 00:47:42
    I got push back for that.
  • 00:47:43
    I understand that.
  • 00:47:44
    I also know that there are kids in our church who are in preschool
  • 00:47:48
    because of what many of us helped to bring about for them.
  • 00:47:52
    And I'm proud of that. I'm proud of that.
  • 00:47:54
    [applause]
  • 00:47:56
    VOTE & get proximate to the problems.
  • 00:47:59
    Here's the final thing:
  • 00:48:02
    VOTE & pledge allegiance to a King and a Kingdom above all.
  • 00:48:07
    Because at the end of the day, as Christians,
  • 00:48:09
    our ultimate reason for hope doesn't rest in any candidate.
  • 00:48:13
    It doesn't rest in any politic party.
  • 00:48:15
    It doesn't rest in a political system.
  • 00:48:16
    It doesn't rest in a country.
  • 00:48:18
    It rest in a King and in a Kingdom,
  • 00:48:20
    who has inaugurated hope for everyone in the world
  • 00:48:23
    through the death, burial, and resurrection of himself, Jesus Christ.
  • 00:48:27
    That's the ultimate vote.
  • 00:48:29
    That's the ultimate thing that we stand for.
  • 00:48:31
    Jesus put it this way in Matthew 6:33, he said:
  • 00:48:40
    What is it that you're freaking out about?
  • 00:48:42
    Let me tell you what, if you seek him first
  • 00:48:46
    all these things will be added unto you.
  • 00:48:48
    Let me ask a question: What would it look like
  • 00:48:49
    if Jesus was in charge of your neighborhood?
  • 00:48:53
    What would it look like if Jesus was in charge of your city?
  • 00:48:56
    What would it look like if Jesus was in charge of your country?
  • 00:48:58
    What would it look like if Jesus was in charge of the world?
  • 00:49:01
    Our Christian hope is that we are marching toward a day
  • 00:49:04
    when that's going to be true, where everything in the world
  • 00:49:07
    is going to operate the way the King desires it to operate.
  • 00:49:10
    And so we are to be people who participate now in the coming of that Kingdom.
  • 00:49:16
    There are some people who've been nominated,
  • 00:49:19
    and it's you and it's me.
  • 00:49:20
    We've been nominated to participate with Jesus
  • 00:49:23
    in the bringing about of his Kingdom.
  • 00:49:26
    There's a verse that has a phrase tied to it.
  • 00:49:28
    And I just want to explain it to you,
  • 00:49:30
    because oftentimes I think the phrase is misused.
  • 00:49:33
    In John 17:16 Jesus is praying for the church.
  • 00:49:37
    How we doing? You guys are quiet.
  • 00:49:38
    Are we good? Everybody good?
  • 00:49:39
    Let's just take a break.
  • 00:49:42
    I'll tell you one thing that was really funny about preparing for this weekend.
  • 00:49:45
    I had to be super intentional about the clothing I wore this weekend.
  • 00:49:51
    If you go to Crossroads often, you know, I have a lot of blue shirts
  • 00:49:54
    and I have a lot of red shirts.
  • 00:49:55
    Those are like my shirts.
  • 00:49:56
    Those just happen to be my shirts.
  • 00:49:58
    So I'm leaving -- I'm leaving and I'm like,
  • 00:50:00
    "I cannot wear a blue shirt or a red shirt this weekend."
  • 00:50:03
    Guys, I'm talking about a shirt.
  • 00:50:05
    I was freaking out about this.
  • 00:50:06
    I'm like, OK. So green. I green is green neutral?
  • 00:50:08
    I'm spilling water on it, but green is neutral.
  • 00:50:11
    Now, you think I'm money hungry or something?
  • 00:50:12
    I don't know what you would make from green, but anyway.
  • 00:50:15
    There was a Green Party, wasn't there?
  • 00:50:17
    That was -- see, I can't even win with green.
  • 00:50:20
    Oh, my goodness. I can't even win with green.
  • 00:50:21
    So back to what I was saying.
  • 00:50:23
    Back to the Bible.
  • 00:50:24
    Let's go back to the Bible.
  • 00:50:25
    So Jesus is praying for the church and John 17:16, he says:
  • 00:50:32
    And so there's this phrase that comes from this where we say,
  • 00:50:35
    as followers of Jesus, we are in the world but not of the world.
  • 00:50:40
    But oftentimes I think that phrase is used
  • 00:50:43
    to justify retreat from the world.
  • 00:50:46
    So let's just keep reading two verses later.
  • 00:50:49
    What is he to say about that?
  • 00:50:50
    He says:
  • 00:50:55
    So if you're a follower of Jesus, you are in the world, but not of the world,
  • 00:50:59
    but you were absolutely called to engage the world.
  • 00:51:03
    And when is the church at its best?
  • 00:51:06
    When is the church best equipped to engage a broken world?
  • 00:51:11
    It's when we're united.
  • 00:51:13
    It's when we are one.
  • 00:51:14
    It's when we are unified.
  • 00:51:16
    Jesus says in John 17:21:
  • 00:51:31
    How can we be one when we disagree on these issues?
  • 00:51:36
    How can we be one? We can be one when we choose
  • 00:51:39
    to put our faith filter above our political filter,
  • 00:51:44
    when we choose not to be divided over the person
  • 00:51:47
    who's going to sit in an Oval Office for four years
  • 00:51:50
    and instead unite under a King who's going to reign forever.
  • 00:51:55
    That's how we do this.
  • 00:51:56
    What does it look like practically?
  • 00:51:58
    Well, I can think of any number of people in my life
  • 00:52:01
    where I have different political perspectives from them.
  • 00:52:03
    And one of the things that was helpful for me with this message
  • 00:52:05
    is I ran it through all of those people.
  • 00:52:07
    I talked to people who were different from me
  • 00:52:09
    in how they think about these things, because you know what?
  • 00:52:11
    At the end of the day, we might disagree on those issues,
  • 00:52:14
    but we're one in Christ.
  • 00:52:16
    So we choose to give each other grace.
  • 00:52:18
    We choose to keep talking about the tough issues.
  • 00:52:21
    And at the end of the day,
  • 00:52:22
    we choose above all else to be together, to be one.
  • 00:52:25
    And we can all do that.
  • 00:52:27
    Let me tell you my vision is for Crossroads.
  • 00:52:30
    My vision is that we would be a radically inclusive
  • 00:52:34
    and radically engaged church, a church that embraces the &,
  • 00:52:39
    a church that believes that you don't have to check
  • 00:52:41
    your political affiliations at the door, but a church that says
  • 00:52:44
    we're going to be people who elevate our unity in Jesus above partisan politics
  • 00:52:49
    and be about the business of bringing about the Kingdom of Jesus right here.
  • 00:52:54
    Right here. We're gonna VOTE & so that the world can believe
  • 00:53:00
    that He is the one that got has sent.
  • 00:53:05
    So I got two things for us to do as practical,
  • 00:53:08
    so what?
  • 00:53:09
    Now, what kinds of things.
  • 00:53:10
    And the first is I think we collectively need to repent.
  • 00:53:16
    We need to repent.
  • 00:53:18
    Repentance is a word in the Bible that means to change direction.
  • 00:53:21
    It's to recognize I've been going a way that doesn't honor God
  • 00:53:23
    or I've been going a way that actually isn't helpful for me
  • 00:53:25
    and I need to change my direction.
  • 00:53:27
    And I believe that as it relates to this 2020 election season,
  • 00:53:31
    we need to repent collectively as a community.
  • 00:53:35
    Some of us need to repent for taking our vote too seriously
  • 00:53:41
    and being so wrapped up in the partisan politics of what's going on
  • 00:53:45
    that we put more eggs in the earthly political basket
  • 00:53:48
    than we have in the Kingdom basket and we need to repent.
  • 00:53:53
    Others of us need to repent for taking our vote way too lightly.
  • 00:53:57
    And because it's contentious and because it's complex,
  • 00:54:00
    we've chosen to disengage when you need to be engaged and we need to repent.
  • 00:54:07
    And I think others of us need to just be honest and say
  • 00:54:09
    political differences have put space between you
  • 00:54:13
    and people who Jesus said well worth dying for.
  • 00:54:17
    And we need to just recognize that those things don't need to divide us
  • 00:54:20
    and that Jesus wants us to be one
  • 00:54:21
    despite the differences we have on these issues.
  • 00:54:26
    So I want to invite us to have a moment of repentance right now.
  • 00:54:28
    A prayer that if you want to do that, if you want to say
  • 00:54:31
    to God right now, "God, I want to have a different perspective.
  • 00:54:34
    I want to be in a different place, particularly as it relates
  • 00:54:36
    to You and Your kingdom and to other people around me."
  • 00:54:39
    Then I want to invite you in this moment of repentance
  • 00:54:42
    to pray this prayer with me with every eye closed.
  • 00:54:44
    Right now this is between you and the Lord.
  • 00:54:46
    This is not between you and me.
  • 00:54:50
    If you know that this is what you need,
  • 00:54:51
    then I want you to pray this prayer after me.
  • 00:54:53
    You can say, Jesus, I lay all my party affiliation,
  • 00:54:58
    all my political rights, all my social goals,
  • 00:55:06
    and worldly identities at your feet.
  • 00:55:10
    Unite my heart to fear your name
  • 00:55:15
    and submit every other allegiance to Your throne.
  • 00:55:24
    I want to play that again.
  • 00:55:28
    And in some people, I think you were hesitant to pray it,
  • 00:55:31
    out of fear because you didn't know what the words were.
  • 00:55:38
    I'm just going to invite you to pray again.
  • 00:55:41
    Jesus, I lay all my party affiliation, all my political rights,
  • 00:55:48
    all my social goals, a nd worldly identities at your feet.
  • 00:55:57
    Unite my heart to fear Your name
  • 00:55:59
    and submit every other allegiance to Your throne.
  • 00:56:05
    Amen.
  • 00:56:12
    The second thing that we're going to do is this act of unity
  • 00:56:17
    that has united followers of Jesus across all kinds of regimes,
  • 00:56:22
    whether it was an empire, a dictatorship, a democracy,
  • 00:56:26
    wherever followers of Jesus have gathered,
  • 00:56:28
    this act has united us all, it's communion.
  • 00:56:32
    This symbol of unity, this symbol of solidarity,
  • 00:56:35
    where we celebrate and solidify that we are one under the blood of Jesus Christ,
  • 00:56:40
    that the thing that unites us ultimately is
  • 00:56:42
    that God of the universe thought we were worth dying for
  • 00:56:45
    and He offered Himself to us through His broken body and His blood.
  • 00:56:48
    He brought us into a family, he's adopted us and now we are one in Christ.
  • 00:56:53
    Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians, 10:16-17:
  • 00:57:16
    So, friends, we're going to take communion at our sites.
  • 00:57:18
    If you're online, you're going to be able to participate with this.
  • 00:57:21
    But I just want you to think about for this year, what's your guide?
  • 00:57:24
    It's VOTE &.
  • 00:57:26
    Vote your biblically informed conscience,
  • 00:57:28
    recognize it is never going to be clear
  • 00:57:30
    and it's never going to be perfect, but VOTE & bear one another's burdens.
  • 00:57:35
    VOTE & get proximate to the problems we're trying to solve.
  • 00:57:38
    And VOTE & pledge allegiance ultimately to a King and His Kingdom.
  • 00:57:43
    Let's pray God. God, I ask that in this time, in this moment,
  • 00:57:46
    You would seal people who are engaged in this right now
  • 00:57:50
    with a solidarity and a oneness and a love that only You can provide.
  • 00:57:55
    Help us to take that out to others.
  • 00:57:57
    Help us to be salt and light and love in the world around us.
  • 00:58:01
    In Jesus' name, Amen.
  • 00:58:03
    - So if you want to take communion right now from home or wherever you are
  • 00:58:07
    as a way to remember Jesus
  • 00:58:08
    and be brought together with other believers and followers of Jesus
  • 00:58:12
    that have been doing this for thousands of years,
  • 00:58:15
    you could take communion with us right now
  • 00:58:17
    if you just have something to eat and something to drink.
  • 00:58:20
    If you don't have something to eat and drink,
  • 00:58:22
    you actually can pause this video and go grab
  • 00:58:24
    something to eat and drink and do this with us right now.
  • 00:58:29
    So when Jesus was sitting around the table with his best friends,
  • 00:58:32
    with his followers, he said to them,
  • 00:58:34
    "I want you to do this, to remember me."
  • 00:58:37
    He said this bread, in my case, this doughnut right here,
  • 00:58:42
    this represents the body of Christ that is broken for you.
  • 00:58:47
    Eat it. And remember him.
  • 00:58:51
    Then he took the wine that he had at the table.
  • 00:58:54
    I have some Crossroads coffee right here.
  • 00:58:56
    Whatever drink you have in front of you, take it.
  • 00:59:00
    And the drink that you're about to drink,
  • 00:59:02
    this is representing the blood of Jesus that shed for you.
  • 00:59:06
    Drink it and remember him.
  • 00:59:08
    You know, we get to Take Heart in 2020
  • 00:59:11
    because of what Jesus did years ago thinking about us today.
  • 00:59:16
    So I hope that you go into this week taking heart,
  • 00:59:19
    remembering what Jesus has done for you so that you have hope
  • 00:59:22
    and know that you are united with other believers of Jesus
  • 00:59:26
    all over the globe for generations and generations because of what He's done.
  • 00:59:30
    Join us next week for week three of Don't Panic, Take Heart 2020
  • 00:59:35
    where we actually are gonna get to hear from a special guest speaker.
  • 00:59:38
    We'll see you next week.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend Follow Up.

  1. Let’s start by doing a little group imagination exercise. Let’s say Jesus was here today, ran for mayor of your city and was elected. How would your city look and feel if Jesus was at the helm?

  2. Next, let’s talk about taxes. (Cause who doesn’t love taxes?) In Matthew 22:15-22 Jesus was asked about paying taxes. His response was, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” According to you, what do you believe is Caesar’s & what is God’s?

  3. Your faith can and should drive your vote. Let’s say you’ve got 100% of one vote to give. (That makes sense, right?) What percent of your vote is dictated by your faith, and what percent it dictated by the world? And why?

  4. In John 17:16 Jesus is praying about being in the world but not of the world. Is that something we can do? How?

  5. In John 17:17 Jesus asks God to purify us with his truth. Each take turns praying for God to show us what his truth is.

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Feb 15, 2020

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