Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The True Politic of Jesus | Christmas | Isaiah 9:6a

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we are in our Christmas series. We're exploring the stories around Jesus's birth and the prophecies pointing forward to it. Did Jesus come to save souls or to reform society? Did he come to forgive sins or bring justice?

Starting point is 00:00:31 Was Jesus a spiritual warrior? or was he a social justice warrior? Don't pick between those options. You don't have to because Jesus is both. Isaiah wrote this about Jesus when he was prophesying his incarnation. He said, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. Let's just reread the part that really matters here in case you missed it. The government will be on his shoulders.

Starting point is 00:01:00 It's a straightforward statement with absolutely radical implications. Jesus came to confront the rulers of this world. He called Herod a fox, and he warned Pilate that he could call legions of angels upon him to rescue him from Pilate's grip. And yet, Jesus never took an earthly crown. He dealt with the problems of this world by forgiving sins, by sacrificing himself. He stole every tyrant's greatest weapon. death, he said, okay, you can kill me. He allowed Rome to kill him to show that Rome didn't have

Starting point is 00:01:35 ultimate power over him. He came out on the other side of death alive and resurrected to say death, not even that can stop me. You see, Jesus's mission, it was both social and spiritual. Now, this could be a little bit difficult for us to comprehend, but Jesus never really differentiated those two the way that secular people do today. We like to think, about social things and spiritual things as two separate things, but in his world, they were very much so the exact same thing. To announce the commencement of his teaching ministry, Jesus actually read two different passages from Isaiah, which simultaneously highlight the social and the spiritual dimensions of his work. This is what he read in Luke 4, verses 18 and 19, the Spirit of the Lord is on me,

Starting point is 00:02:21 because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners in recovery of sight for the blind to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. He did everything that he promised. He proclaimed good news to the economically poor and the spiritually poor. He gave sight to the physically blind and the spiritually blind. He set sinners free from sin and his followers set literal prisoners free from unjust imprisonment. Jesus is good news for the world. Not just because the world is infected by a spiritual problem called sin. He's good news for the world because sins infect our families, our communities, our governments, our systems, and he can deal with both. He can deal with the sin problem in every human hearts,

Starting point is 00:03:12 and he can deal with the social problems that exist in our world. So when we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the advent of God's justice coming to earth and a shocking reversal of expectations. God promises amnesty to all who give Jesus their allegiance. But with our allegiance comes an expectation that we will continue Jesus' work here on earth, that we will bring heaven to earth, that we will announce that sins are forgiven, and that God is setting the poor free, that we keep these two things spiritual and social all wrapped up together. This isn't the far-left progressivism, which wants the kingdom of God without kingdom,

Starting point is 00:03:56 King Jesus. It's not the far-right Christian nationalism that wants King Jesus, but not the kingdom and all of its social implications. This is the true politic of King Jesus, where the King's people are serving the King's kingdom in hopeful expectation of our King's final Advent. He's going to return to make all things right, to make all things new. He deals not only with our spiritual problems, but with the social problems that plague us, and they all come wrapped up together in his kingdom. Depending on who you are, maybe there's one of these things you want to care about and a different thing that you don't want to care about. Maybe you care about the social issues, and you like that Jesus talks about those things, but you aren't so worried about our sin and the need

Starting point is 00:04:39 for holiness and the fact that God forgives us. Maybe it's the other way around. You're worried about sin and holiness, and you're glad that God forgives us, but you don't think he has anything to say about the social reality, I want to challenge you today to realize that Jesus talked about both and Jesus came to deal with both. And that's why he came announcing a kingdom, a politic, a way of being in the world that addresses both sets of problems at the same time. And I want you to challenge yourself to go out into the world and to pursue the social ends Jesus calls you to and to pursue the spiritual ends that Jesus calls you to as well. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating.

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Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The True Politic of Jesus | Christmas | Isaiah 9:6a

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