Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - 4 Signs You’ve Turned Politics into an Idol

Episode Date: September 10, 2020

Politics can easily captivate our hearts, hopes, and mental energy. When is that proper civil duty? When does it become idolatry? Are there any tests we can use to determine it? Don't forget to sign up for our upcoming classes! Find out https://info.thecrossingchurch.com/who-would-jesus-vote-for (Who Jesus Would Vote For) and https://info.thecrossingchurch.com/how-to-be-skilled-at-life (How to Be Skilled at Life) in these Zoom classes with https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Pastors Keith Simon) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/patrick-miller/ (Patrick Miller). Interested in more content like this? Scroll down for more resources and related episodes, including https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/is-it-okay-for-christians-to-be-nationalists/ (Is It Okay for Christians to be Nationalists? )and our last series on https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcast-series/david-in-22-stories/ (David's Life in 22 Stories). Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. To learn more follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (Facebook) @TenMinuteBibleTalks Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to Tim Minut of Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Okay, Keith, I've got a little thought experiment for us to go through today. I want us to imagine that we're sitting in a room full of very genuine, sincere followers of Jesus, and we are debating this question. Would Jesus run as a Republican or Democrat? What do you think people would say?

Wow, it sounds a little bit like hell to me, A bunch of Christians debating whether Jesus would be a Republican or a Democrat. It feels like I've been a part of those conversations too often lately. It seems that more than ever, people are coming up to me frustrated because they think their political party is getting overlooked or mislabeled. So here's what I've figured out in all those conversations to go back to your thought experiment, Patrick, is that whether a person thinks that Jesus is a Democrat or Republican tells you more about them than it does about Jesus. Okay, why do you say that? Well, I just think that people pick and choose

what they want to emphasize of Jesus in order to make him fit their political party. It's so true. I mean, it's something people have been doing for a long time. In the Caribbean, where there was obviously a large slave trade and a huge number of slaves in the Caribbean back in the 1700s, the slave masters there made a Bible that they gave to their slaves. The only problem was they chopped out of it, all the parts of the Bible that said negative things about holding slaves, keeping slaves, how you should treat slaves, all of that stuff. They just cut it out of the Bible. And then they gave it to them. So you get these slaves who get a Bible without the book of Exodus, the story of God releasing and freeing slaves from Egypt. They just made the Bible into what they

wanted it to be. It's not very difficult to go through the Bible and pick and choose verses that make Jesus look like a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative, or a progressive. It's just not that hard to do. What's hard to do is to take the whole corpus of scripture from Genesis to Revelation to really understand the themes and the storyline of it and then try to say that Jesus is a Republican or a Democrat. When you know the Bible, that just doesn't really make sense. It doesn't make sense because the kingdom of God, which is Jesus' political system, that doesn't fit neatly into any human party that we have here on earth. You can look at some of the the social values, for example. We've talked about this on the podcast in the past. Tim Keller

draws out four different issues that he thinks the Bible teaches really clearly on, and I really agree with them. He'd say alleviation of poverty, issues of life and the protection of life, issues around race and racial justice, and issues around human sexuality. And he points out rightly that you're not going to find a political party today that gets all four of those issues correct. Back when I was on staff with Camps Crusade decades ago, I remember going to a conference and hearing a pastor from Dallas, I'm pretty sure. His name was Tony Evans, and he was a large man, African American, a passionate speaker. I just remember him saying that Jesus did not come to take sides. He came to take over. I think there's always a tendency to try to get Jesus to be on our side.

I remember CS Lewis used to say that we should never call something a Christian person. party because then that makes our own political preferences and things that are not rooted in the Bible, things that come and go and we change our mind on. It makes those boundaries of who can and can't be a Christian. So there is no Christian party. Can we get our mind around that? Well, and I think it's funny, maybe I'm just a contrarian, but if I was in this room and people were debating about whether Jesus would run as a Republican or a Democrat, at some point I think I would want to speak up, but I would simply say this, Jesus wouldn't run for. president. He doesn't have to. He is a king. And one of the problems with kings is that they don't run for

office. They are already in charge. He doesn't need to run for president. I will be honest, the White House is too small for Jesus. I love that. It just is. And so Jesus isn't going to run for president because he doesn't have to. He is already king. So if you're trying to fit Jesus into your political party, to be honest, you need a bigger Jesus, the real Jesus. You need a bigger God. You need something bigger to give your life to. You need a bigger kingdom. Because political parties and political debates, they're literally too small for Jesus. Not that he doesn't have something to say to them, not that the kingdom of God doesn't come and encounter our kingdom in this world and speak into it. Of course it does, but it's not going to fit inside your conception of a political

party. Now, the very fact that we tend to assume that Jesus agrees with me on all of my political perspectives, I think it shows something. It shows that politics is really quickly becoming a new religion in our country. Have you seen that? There's been several articles I've read in different magazines that have argued that politics is the new religion. And these aren't necessarily even written by people who identify themselves as Christians or as religious people. But what they're noticing is that as belief in God is on the wane, then what replaces that human need to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to find righteousness and justice in the world. If you're not going to find that in God, now I find that in my political party.

And if I don't have this confidence, this belief that Christ is king and that he is coming to reign and fully establishes kingdom, then I've got to find someone else who will bring in a more just world. Because we all agree that the world is screwed up. Now, how is it going to change? How are we going to bring about transformation? And once I lose God, once I write him out of the picture. Now I end up finding my hope into a person or a party or an idea or a movement. And so that's what they mean by politics is the new religion. They even have different ways of making people conform their behavior to the political party they're a part of. They shame people. They guilt people. There's redemption. If you will open your eyes and come back to the truth as defined by their party.

And so there's a lot of similarities between politics and religion in today's world. We obviously believe that we live in a two-story world. I don't mean two different stories. I mean like a house, two-stores. We have this earth that we live on, and God rules and reigns in heaven. And the problem with a secular society is that we tend to chop off the top story. We end up living in a one-story world. All that matters and all that really is is what's happening here on Earth. Why it's a problem is because we humans were made to live in a two-story world. So if you take God away, we don't stop having gods. If you take God away, we don't stop. having hopes. We don't stop wanting change. We just take all of those aspirations, all of that longing, all of that worship, and we direct it in a different direction. The Bible calls this idolatry. When I think of idolatry, I tend to, at least at first, think of people literally bowing down before idols, little carvings of gods in their houses or in temples. Now, most people in the secular world, we don't really do much idolatry like that anymore. At least I haven't seen much of it in my life. but that doesn't mean that we still don't have idols. It doesn't mean that we still aren't

giving the prerogatives of God to things here on earth. And even if we're not getting down on our knees and worshipping, that doesn't mean that we aren't committing idolatry. So one of my big concerns in the midst of this political season is that we are, like you're saying, turning politics into an idol. So I think it's helpful for us maybe to give some signs. You can think about that's a way of maybe checking your own temperature of, hey, am I turning politics into an idol? the very first thing. A great sign that you're turning politics into an idol is that you can't differentiate Jesus' platform from your political platform. On our Facebook page, there have been some people who have gotten riled up by a few posts that we've made, and we think of those

posts as very nonpartisan, but people have gotten riled up and have said things like, obviously Jesus would have been a Republican. Can't you see that, you fool? Now, that's not their exact words, but it's pretty close to it. They are amazed that Patrick and I are blinded by the obvious fact that Jesus would be a Republican. But my question for this, and it kind of goes back to what Patrick is saying, that we can't differentiate Jesus' platform from our political platform, is do you really think that you can contain the kingdom of God into any political platform? Just think about how Jesus spoke.

He spoke not just about our behavior, but our heart. He went to not just what we do, but our motives of why we do it. Jesus is bringing about a kingdom of love, justice, and mercy. He is freeing the oppressed. And what we are oppressed by is something greater than a political party could ever hope to release us from. And yet, there are people who are pretty sure that they know how Jesus would vote. But the kingdom of God is not a democracy. We're not voting on Jesus. Jesus cannot be contained in any political ideology. I think we have to name the fact that our political systems are temporary political systems. They will not last into eternity. They are systems which have been affected by human sin,

and they are systems which are built and full of people who are both following Jesus and not perfect, and people who aren't following Jesus and not perfect. The Apostle Paul was clear. When we deny God, God gives us over to a debased or degraded mind. In other words, our relationship with God really does change how we think and perceive the entire world. I don't want to break the news to everybody, but people on both sides that left and the right are not following God. And whether you are or aren't following God, you still have sinful patterns and behaviors that are going to shape how you think about the world. I'm only saying all is to say. It's kind of key's point, we should not expect any group of humans, whether it's on the left or right, to come up with

a platform which is perfectly aligned with Jesus. That would be an absolutely irrational. I mean, just be a crazy, crazy idea to think that people on Earth were going to actually get that close to what Jesus wants. A second sign that you have turned politics into an idol is when you trust your party, or maybe even the government in general, to be the one who provides for you. That was always the temptation in Canaan. When the Israelites came into the promised land, God said you're going to be tempted to worship these Canaanite gods that really aren't gods at all. there are false gods. But what was the temptation? Well, in Canaan, the people worship gods that they thought provided for them. Maybe it was a fertility goddess or a goddess of rain, a god that provide food for them. And so one thing that idols do are false gods is they promise to provide for us.

And right now, all these political parties are saying, I will solve your problems. I will take care of you. I understand where you are and what you need. Look to me. to be the one who will provide all the important things in life that you need. That is idolatry. And again, it's really interesting. Some people think that they aren't idolizing the state because they say, well, look, I'm not stupid. I don't believe that the state is the all-powerful God. What they don't understand is that back in ancient times in Bible world, they didn't think that their gods were all-powerful. If you worship the fertility God, you didn't think that the fertility God had anything to do with bringing the rain, you were worshiping one God among many gods. And that's kind of the point we're

trying to make here. It's not that people have mistaken the state for being an all-powerful God. It's that sometimes we look to the state and the state's solutions and expected to bring things that only God alone can bring. We expect it to be the one who is really going to provide for us in the end. Third sign that you're turning your politics into an idol is that you assume negative things about people based on their politics. In other words, you don't just disagree with someone on some issues. They are bad people. You demonize your opponents. And it's always easier to work up your party against the other party. If you can make the other party, not just people who are good people who care about their country, who care about their families, and who just have a different

perspective, but instead they're bad people, they're evil people. So that one person on our Facebook page said that all people on the left are Satanists. Well, I mean, really? Are they really? Because I know a lot of people who think of themselves as more progressive politically that love their kids and that are good people and that love Jesus and want to follow them. And they don't think that the progressive cause is perfect at all. They understand there's holes and issues that their party believes that don't quite line up with Jesus, but they're trying to navigate it the best they can. They're open to persuasion, but they're not really open to being called Satanists. And the same thing goes the opposite direction. I've talked to people on the left who look at people on the right.

And if you simply say, I voted for Donald Trump or I view myself as a conservative or a Republican, they will assume all of a sudden that that person is maybe a racist, maybe that they're uneducated. There's a kind of elitism that happens sometimes. They'll assume that maybe they don't care for people. If you really care for people in need, you can never be a Republican. You can never vote for someone like Donald Trump. Again, if you know people who are conservative, I know people who are conservative who are deeply compassionate people who are committed in their communities to giving, to giving their money, to giving their time, to giving their love and relational capital to people who are in need. They're people who are not racist. They don't have racialized ideas. They're not stupid. They're often

highly educated. And these are all assumptions that are, again, they're mean, they're hurtful. And I think where this comes from, at least one place it comes from, is that we are being played upon because of fear, that each political party tries to gin up their base by telling their supporters that the other party is bad and evil. And when you're getting played, when people are trying to get you scared, be careful. Watch out. What's happening? Why is it they're trying to play on my fear? They've found a deep human emotion, and they're trying to exploit that in my life, in your life, and all of our lives for their own gain. But Christians are told, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. You have a Heavenly Father who knows your needs,

who loves you, who's king of this universe, who's sovereign over all things. We do not need to be afraid, and don't let your natural fears be exploited by politicians. I was talking to a friend. I was talking to a friend who worked in a church, and he shared with me that he didn't hire someone because of their political perspectives. He said, I would never hire someone who thought that way about politics. And I thought, well, this has become an idol because you said otherwise. This is a great candidate, great person I'd love to have on my team, and you weren't giving them opportunities, not because they have any sort of deficit in their relationship with Jesus, but because they just don't agree with you on politics. That is a bad hiring practice, whether you work at a church. And I promise

this happens outside of the church as well. Yeah, I've seen Christians say that they would rather their kid marry a person who's not a Christian, but has the same political beliefs, than marry a person who is a Christian with different political beliefs. You're making that up. No, no. So do you get that? Just think about this for a second. You have a child, and we're just going to say you're a conservative. You have a child. You're a Christian. You care about Christ, you'd rather your child marry a conservative non-Christian than a Christian liberal. Because in some people's world, Christian conservative or Christian liberal, they're oxymorons. And it happens both ways.

Happens both ways. I don't even have words. Would you rather Iris marry someone who is Christian or a person who comes to your political beliefs, whatever they happen to be? That is about the easiest question you've ever asked me on this podcast. Because of course we should want our kids to be marrying people who are walking with Jesus. And by the way, if there's anyone in here and that's where you're at, and I get that. We're all in different places.

Some of us who are like, gosh, you know what? That's true of me. And I want that to change. And that's great. But the amount of marital conflict that you are going to have, if your spouse is someone, and I know people like this. You've got Christian Joe and non-Christian Jane or the other way around. And the spouse is someone who not only doesn't agree with them about Jesus and whether they should

bring their kids to church and how they should raise them, they're married to someone who has an incredibly difficult time apologizing. who says, I never make mistakes. I never, but you know what? Liberals and Republicans, they both make mistakes and they'll know it, especially if they're following Jesus. You're going to have a better marriage. Okay, you just took me off this crazy. You're going to go down a marriage. This now turned into like a I can't believe this is real. Paul Tripp marriage class. Okay, hang on a second. But let's go back to this. See, here's the core thing is that people believe that they have more in common with people of the same political persuasion than they do people who have the same foundational Christian.

gospel beliefs. What's primary in your life? I mean, just ask yourself for a second. What do you take in the most of? What gets you most fired up? What are you most enthusiastic about? What do you find yourself debating or arguing? What stirs your emotions? Is it the kingdom of God? Or is it your political kingdom? I mean, that's a hard question to answer because right now in our world, I think that a lot of us, maybe me included, maybe all of us included, are more stirred up by politics. have more in common, at least we think, with people of the same political party than people who follow King Jesus. Yeah, that is really convicting. And it kind of goes back to the first thing we said, that you can't differentiate Jesus' platform from your own political platform. I would challenge

anyone listening to this, wherever you lie on the political spectrum, can you name at least one, ideally two or three or maybe even four, areas where in your political arena, your perspective has changed as a result of you following Jesus. If you cannot name a single area in your, again, just your political area, that Jesus has challenged you. They've challenged your politics. Jesus has made you think differently about something. If you can't name one area where that's happened, it is a virtual guarantee that you've made an idol out of your political party. Don't think that Patrick and I are saying that you shouldn't care about politics. Politics are important in our world. They affect people's daily lives. And so it's important how we vote. What we're

saying is hold all that loosely. Hold it loosely. Hold to Jesus tightly and hold your political passions much looser than you'll hold to Jesus. One reason, frankly, to hold it loosely is, and if you read any study out there from psychologists about politics, they will tell you again and again and again that our perspective on politics actually has less to do with us coming to reasoned conclusions about the facts. It has far more to do with how we identify ourselves. If you already see yourself or your community as Republican or Democrat, you are de facto just far more likely to believe the same things that your fellow Democrats or Republicans believe. But this goes back to Key's point.

If you see yourself as a follower of Jesus primarily and far more than a Republican or a Democrat, that is going to shape your political values. In fact, I will go this far. I think it will make you into a much more politically open-minded person than you would be otherwise. The church that Patrick and I pastor is politically diverse. There are people from all kinds of different perspectives who call this their church home. And I am really excited about that. I mean, I might even in the right way to say proud of that.

But on the other hand, it's hard. It's difficult. Getting people to talk, listen, love, make room for, interpret things charitably, believe the best about people. It's really, really becoming difficult to do. Do you go to a church that's political diverse? Like, do you have friends that are politically diverse? Is your small group or your Christian friend group politically diverse? If it's not, that might be another sign that politics is more important to you than Jesus.

Maybe, just maybe. My small group is very politically diverse. I think we've got people all over the diverse. But it's one of my favorite things about my small group. On our little text chain and in our conversations, sometimes we make fun of each other in a fun way that helps us to think differently. At other times, we get into some heated debates, but we know what we share fundamentally. and that's Jesus. And I think all of us, if it weren't for those relationships, would probably be more entrenched in worldly perspectives about politics than more Jesus-centered perspectives. So one last sign.

We've done four signs if you turned politics into an idol. First of all, you can't differentiate Jesus in your political platform. Secondly, you trust your party to provide for you. Thirdly, you make negative assumptions about other people based on their politics. And lastly, number four, you'd rather win a political argument than win people to Jesus. Now, maybe none of you would say I'd rather win a political argument than win people to Jesus. But I disagree because I see that the way Christians talk about politics on social media or the way people talk about politics in social settings, it shows that they care a lot about politics, but what they don't realize is they're turning people off to following Jesus.

People who are of a different political persuasion than you are not going to be. to be one over to Jesus because you're yelling at them that they are killing babies or that you're yelling at them because they're perverts or that you're yelling at them because they're Satanus or because they have given their mind over to Antifa or to whatever political group out there. Yelling at people about their political beliefs is not going to win people to King Jesus. Every person who follows Jesus has to take seriously their words. There's actually a shocking amount of commands in the Bible about how we speak. And I think part of that means that when we're on social media, we need to be really thoughtful about what we say and how we say it. If we start saying that my political agenda is the thing that I not only want to post about the most and make everything about all the time, it might be a sign that we think, look, politics are really the thing that matters. They're the practical thing. They're the thing that changes the world. and King Jesus, that's kind of a secondary thing. So I never talk about that stuff on my social media. I'm staying on the political stuff. But like Keith is saying, the irony is we end up repelling people

from Jesus because the stuff we're saying is so antagonistic towards the other side. So our concern here is not that Christians care about political things. Again, Keith and I both read a lot of political things. We both have a lot of political thoughts. We both care deeply about politics in our nation. That's not the point. And we think that Christians should care about that stuff and that Christians should speak about. One of the reasons why we always get in trouble is because we don't back off, even though we know we might offend someone on the left or the right with this particular perspective, we're more about Jesus than we are about the left and right. And so we end up offending everyone. And my challenge, both to myself and to everyone else in this

upcoming season, because I know it's going to be tempting, is to keep taking your own temperature. keep asking yourself, am I making politics into an idol? Am I putting my political party, my political interests, my political hopes above King Jesus? And if the answer to that question is ever yes, it's a simple next step. We repent, we turn away from it, we confess it to Jesus, and we put that hope properly where it belongs back in his hands. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. that helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with?

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