Church & State: Christian Political Posture

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Christian Political Posture

This sermon, part of a series on church and state, explores the intersection of religion and politics, arguing that while it's crucial to separate church and state, it's impossible to separate religion from politics. The message emphasizes that everyone is inherently religious, worshiping and serving something, and that this influences our political views and actions.

Key Points:

• Everyone is religious: Humans are inherently religious, seeking purpose and order in the universe, even if they don't believe in a supernatural God.
• Politics is not neutral: Every political stance is influenced by underlying beliefs and values, which function as "gods" that we serve and prioritize.
• Governments serve gods: Political systems and policies reflect the values and priorities of those in power, revealing the "gods" they worship.
• Idolatry and state are inseparable: While church and state should be separate, it's impossible to completely remove idolatry from the political sphere.
• Christians should represent, not withdraw or dominate: Our role is to be ambassadors of Christ's kingdom, reflecting His values and posture in our political engagement.

The Role of Government:

• Order: Establish social order and organization for human flourishing.
• Justice: Promote a just society where people can thrive.
• Cultivate Virtue: Encourage self-restraint and moral character in citizens.
• Prosperity: Create an environment where people can use their gifts and contribute to the community.
• Safety: Provide a sense of security and protection for citizens.

How Christians Should Engage in Politics:

• Acknowledge our own biases: Recognize that our political views are influenced by our faith and values.
• Seek biblical wisdom: Allow Scripture to challenge and shape our political perspectives.
• Love our neighbor: Engage in civic life as a means of serving others and pursuing justice.
• Honor the image of God in all people: Treat everyone with respect, even those with whom we disagree politically.
• Pray for our leaders: Submit to governing authorities and pray for their wisdom and guidance.

The sermon concludes with a call to embrace our identity as citizens of Christ's kingdom, taking refuge in Him and representing His Lordship in all areas of life, including the political sphere.

*Summaries are generated using AI. Please notify us if you find any errors.

Transcript

We're in week three of a series on Church and State. So we're halfway through. We've got two more talks on Church and State. I made a comment last week and I would encourage you, if you haven't been keeping up these sermons, kind of build on one another so they don't stand alone. So if you haven't listened to the sermons from the last few weeks, I would encourage you to do that. But I made a comment that I want to circle back to you to start the sermon this morning. Last week, I made a comment and I said it is important that we separate Church and State. But it is impossible to separate religion and politics. And I wanted to explain that because I think it's not only important for us to grasp, but it's a major point of frustration for us as Christians. And I'll explain why I think we're sometimes angry in this conversation around politics. So no one separates their religion from their politics. 

That's the stand that I'm willing to take. No one separates politics from their religion, not the Christian, not the agnostic, not the secular progressive, not the libertarian. It is impossible to separate your religion from your politics. 

And it is very important that we separate Church and State. So human beings by nature are religious. So religion is what gives a person's universe purpose and order. And I think everyone is religious. Religion obviously bigger than what happens here at Church. It gives a person's universe purpose and order. 

One of the top legal philosophers, his name is Ronald Dworkin, he made this point. Religion is a deep, distinct and comprehensive worldview. And a belief in a supernatural God is only one manifestation or consequence of that deeper worldview. So Dworkin called himself a religious atheist. How many of you have ever met a religious atheist? If you're here and you are a religious atheist, we're really happy to have you. You're amongst other religious people. He knew as an atheist that atheism was religion for him. Another famous non-Christian, this one a novelist, not a lawyer. David Foster Wallace is kind of a big deal to Gen X. He was a novelist and he drew out the same lesson, the lesson being that everyone worships. He wrote, in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there's actually no such thing as atheism. There's no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships, the only choice we get is what to worship. That's it. 

That's the only option you've got. So everyone has lowercase g gods that they worship and serve. Whatever you can't live without, that might be your God. Whatever you love most, whatever we most trust, rely on and believe in, whatever is for us our final refuge, there you find your God. So a supernatural or uppercase g god is just one form of religion, but everyone, human beings by nature, are religious. There's this exercise that Jonathan Lehman, he's a pastor in Washington DC, so he talks a lot about church and politics. But there's this game that he likes to play with people called the backstop, where essentially you keep asking the question why until you find someone's God. What orders their universe, the purpose for which they're living. 

So we're going to play a game of it here this morning, a game of backstop. The question is, why did you have oatmeal for breakfast? The answer might be to be healthy. 

Why? Why do you want to be healthy so that we can work hard, maybe play hard because we work hard, right? Why do you want to work hard and play hard? Well, so that we can get what we want. Why do you want to get what you want so that you can be happy? 

And why do you want to be happy? Getting close to the backstop, aren't we? You keep going. Why do you want? And the answer is, doesn't everybody want to be happy? 

Doesn't everybody ultimately want joy? When you find this, you have found the foundation for someone's longing, their thinking, and their acting. And we long and we think and we act and our gods motivate, not just big decisions like where you'll go to church, but what you eat and drink. That's why Paul would say, glorify God in what you eat and drink. 

It affects the small decisions of life, not just the big ones. We serve gods as human beings. And let me say this, governments also serve gods. Every government is a deeply religious battleground of gods, lowercase g. So the thought that politics is neutral, that God is over here and my private faith is over here. 

And then I step onto a neutral ground where gods are not mentioned, worshiped, or served, is just silly. Our politics are never neutral. Everyone employs whatever power we possess, including mechanisms of the state, to gain whatever we find most worthy, whatever we worship. So behind every vote, behind every court decision, behind every campaign is someone's basic worldview, the belief that this is how things should be. Everyone is operating with a sense of ought. 

This is how things ought to be. And those are determined by the things that you think are most valuable, or might I say, your gods. So no one separates their politics from their religion. JFK, some of you are old enough to remember that JFK, he had like a lot of things going for him, except his Catholicism. And he had to promise, I'm a Catholic, but I'm not going to govern as a Catholic in order to be elected in our nation. So he had to say, my private faith is over here, and my public policies are over here, and they actually don't touch one another. 

And I said last week, and I'll say it again, that's silly. That's hilarious to think that those compartments are so clean and so disconnected. It's important that church and state say separate. It's impossible not to mix your religion with your politics. Fast forward, another Roman law, another Roman Catholic who was a law professor has been nominated for the Supreme Court. She's making her way up into higher and higher courts. 

And we go from JFK to ACB, right? She's making her way to the Supreme Court. And in 2017, another senator who's in the courtroom, who shall remain unnamed, is concerned with Amy Coney Barrett's faith, and that her faith as a Catholic is going to shape her policies. 

And this is what they say to this Catholic woman up for Supreme Court nomination. Dogma and law are two different things. And I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma. 

And the law is totally different. And I think in your case, Professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that dogma lives loudly within you. And that is of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country. Do you see what's going on here? The subtle suggestion is that religious people are dogmatic. And irreligious people are rational. Clear thinking, able to separate their religion from their politics. And this for us as people of faith is causing some real frustration. 

Whether you've had language for it or not, I think this is getting frustrating. Dogmatic is described as being certain of one's own beliefs and being unwilling to accept other ideas or opinions. Name one person in that courtroom operating at that level of authority who is not dogmatic. 

There's not one. There's not one person in the room that she's sitting in, in whom dogma doesn't live loudly. A certainty around beliefs, a certainty around this is the way things ought to be. And the world would be a better place if this was so. But the religious person is dogmatic. The irreligious person is rational. And this is leading to a lot of frustrations. 

And sometimes I want to scream. Like, name one issue. Name one issue that doesn't depend on someone's dogma or belief. Name one politician who isn't depending on their dogma and their belief and bringing that to bear in this battleground of the gods. This is not neutral ground where everyone checks their religion at the door and walks in and makes clear decisions. The gods are going to war in and on these grounds. Who is foolish enough to say that someone's not operating with a worldview, a sense of what ought to be? Name one law. 

This is what I wanted to scream sometimes. Name one law that doesn't impose someone's sense of morality. There's not one. From don't litter in our national parks to don't murder the person who did litter in your national parks, there is not one law that doesn't impose a sense of ought. This is the way things ought to be. 

So I just want to say up front, politics are not neutral. Governments serve gods. They serve what is most valuable, a common love inside of a group of people. Our gods end up determining our morality and then they determine our policies and our politics. So our gods may be life, liberty, the pursuit of happening. I'm not suggesting that our capital G, God, Yahweh is the one that our nation serves. 

I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm just saying that your god could be life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. It could be freedom, it could be rights, it could be individual autonomy, it could be anything, but we go to battle for those things. So politics, as you remember, is about ordering our lives and people. 

And this is what I sense. I flew to St. Louis this week. I have been, for a long time, a firm believer in washing my face with the shampoo that runs down from my hair. I also have five daughters who routinely point out blackheads on my face. It's like their favorite thing to do is to number my blackheads, like constellations in the sky. 

This is their desire. They also, even at a young age, are spending their allowance on creams and face washes, which makes zero sense to me. But on a few occasions, my daughters who like to spend money on face wash have purchased for me some expensive sort of face wash. And they say, use this, you know. And here's what's happened on a couple of occasions. 

Because that face wash or that cream was over six ounces, I lost it at an airport. Wait a second. It's 4.5, right? 

3.5? Okay, yeah. So there's some trouble there. But how many of you have experienced, where you're going through security and something fairly expensive, like you have a choice to make, that $60 face wash or making your flight, you know? And then you're begging like, I know it's six ounces, but I'll squeeze three of the six out into the trash can. Please let this go through, and they just won't. And you have to make this hard decision to throw away something that's valuable to you because it can't get through security. Now, imagine the frustration and the anger. 

If I were to look over and see somebody else, you know, open up their toiletry bag, and it feels like they've got like a Costco size, you know, like shampoo and conditioner. And you're thinking to yourself, how is it that that got through? How is it that that passed? And the feeling that I'm starting to sense, and I know you are too, is that organized religions are kept out, but unnamed idols are let in. Let me say that again. Organized religions, capital G gods are kept out. 

They're flagged at security. Don't bring these in here, but then our unnamed idols are let in. Everyone's talking and squealing like separation of church and state, separation of church and state, and I totally get that. 

But let it be known today that there is no such thing as separation of idolatry and state. And it feels like things are passing through security that are being flagged. And the very valuable things that we love are having to be thrown out or thrown away in order to get through, while others seem to cruise straight through. 

What do I mean by that? Ideas, ideologies get through because they're sourced in lowercase G gods. I'm stuck in security being undressed because of my stance, believing in an organized religion, while I watch all the lowercase G gods just cruise right through without a patdown. 

And I think as Christians, we're starting to think to ourselves, how come these unnamed idols cruise right through, but organized religion is flagged? They're just as dogmatic and they're just as religious as we are. And there's something in me that's like pat down the secularist, pat him down. He's religious, man. He's got 10 ounces. 

I promise. Pat down the Darwinist, who just cruises through because his ideas and ideologies are sourced in a lowercase G god. Pat down the humanist. He just cruises right through. So I can't have a god at the organizing center of my universe, but he can put a person at the organizing center of his universe and just like he's TSA approved. And you're just like, what is going on here? 

Is anybody else felt this? It's like, why does the capitalist, why does the materialist cruise right through? This is dogma, this is religion, this is belief. And if I'm going to get padded down and have to check out what's valuable to me, I feel like other people should have to check out what's valuable to them. 

This is the sense of injustice that I think is stirring a sense of frustration and anger in here. Human beings are by nature religious being designed to worship. We will worship. The only question is who and what. And this is the second thing that I want to say human beings are by nature political being drawn to social order. You couldn't stop it if you tried. 

Human beings live with a deep belief that if we organized ourselves and established a sense of togetherness, we would flourish. And that's God given. That's deep down kind of stuff. 

We have a deep belief that if we work together, things might be better. I've witnessed this for many years in my household. Let's play house. 

And there is no playing house without the establishing of order and rules, right? You're going to be the mom. You're going to be the dad. I don't want to be the dad. 

You're the dad. There's no boys in my house. I'm going to be the oldest sister because that's what every daughter in my house has wanted to be. The oldest sister gets her own room. I'm going to be the oldest sister. 

You're the dog, you know, whoever. And it's usually the oldest in the household establishing this. This happens everywhere with everything. This belief that if we established roles and order, we could flourish together as a house. We don't do well in chaos. 

We don't. It's order that creates flourishing. Like family, education, business, government is part of God's created order for human flourishing. 

So what's the role of government? We see in Genesis 1, we get this cultural mandate from God. And it seems to indicate that human government is a part of the spheres of authority that God has allocated for human life and flourishing. 

When he says exercise dominion, they know we better get together and establish order in order to get a handle on things. So what's the purpose of government? I think it's God-ordained human flourishing. That's the purpose of this social order. 

Michael Gerson, Peter Werner, they wrote a book called The City of Man, and they describe why God created government. And I think these are really good. I think this is probably true. God-ordained government, the type of government that creates human flourishing, creates number one order. We don't do well without it. We need order society. People don't tend to thrive organically. 

Every parent knows this. Government arranges and organizes so that flourishing happens. The second thing that God intended government to do is to work for justice, to set an agenda so that people can thrive, an agenda of law so that people can thrive. So much of Jesus' vision and work was to make sure that the systems were aligning with God's heart for people. 

And he worked towards that end, towards a view of kingdom justice. Thirdly, and this is maybe the most surprising one, is government supposed to cultivate virtue. Oz Guinness says this, the only restraint appropriate for a free people is self-restraint. Without self-restraint, we will rely on governmental restraint. This will result in soft totalitarianism at worst and a benevolent dictator at best. If people can't restrain themselves, someone's going to have to do it. 

Right? Again, all the parents are like, man, I wish that wasn't true. Benjamin Franklin said only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. John Adams, another founding father says this, we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Averess ambition or revenge will break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. 

It's wholly inadequate to the government of any other. If you can't control yourself, someone's going to have to control you and that will require force. We love to talk about our rights. Rights, rights, rights like government exists for us to maximize individual freedom for hedonism. It's like our rights make for spring break. Rights, rights, give me my rights, give me my rights. Generations past used to talk about responsibility. Responsibility, your responsibility, your responsibility, your responsibility in order to have those rights. Politics are supposed to cultivate virtue. 

Let's just laugh like that was the best joke in my sermon. Fourth, prosperity. Government is supposed to create an environment where people have the opportunity to use their gifts so that their community will prosper. 

Create a context where people can use their gifts so that the community prospers. Lastly, safety. We have learned the hard way that it is not a great idea to defund safety. 

We cannot flourish without a sense of safety and it's the government's job to provide a sense of safety in which we can flourish. So if you're wondering how to vote, here it is. I'm going to tell you how to vote. 

Week three, this is how you should vote. Vote for the people, the platform that makes those five things happen. Vote for the person, the platform, the party that you think best makes those five things happen. The better question than who do I vote for is the question, what do I do when government's not doing what it's supposed to be doing? 

I know as I read those five things you were like, uh-huh, and then party is like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, right? The better question is what are we supposed to do as Christians when government's not living up to its ideal? And that's a great question for every institution, by the way, because if I put up God's ideal for marriage, you'd be like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. And if I put it up for education, you'd be like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, right? If I put it up for the church, said this is God's ideal for the institution of the church, you'd be like, why? I believe that, I don't know if I've ever seen that, but I believe that and want that. So what do we do when marriage, education, when church life is not showing up according to the ideals that are laid out for us in Scripture? The really cool thing, guys, is we aren't the first group of people to wrestle with this. 

This didn't start in like 2016. Every group of Christians has been wrestling with, how do I be a citizen of heaven with these ideals and a citizen of earth? How do I, as Jesus put it, be in but not of the world? This is a tension to manage, not a problem to solve. This never goes away, and every generation in every nation has wrestled with this. 

So just expect, we're probably going to wrestle with this. I read a book that I'd love to pass on to the four of you who love this stuff. It's called The Church in Politics, and basically what it is, is it's five views on how the church should relate to politics. 

And what's really cool is that most of them don't take place here in America. So there's a range, there's a spectrum presented. On one side are the separatists who are saying, oh, we don't. It's so far gone, we don't engage in it. And the way that we're salt and light to the world is to withdraw. 

Many of you are familiar with the Anabaptist tradition, or at least the origins of it. And you're not allowed to pledge allegiance. You're not allowed to serve in the military. You don't vote. 

The way that you represent Jesus and his kingdom is to go later. And to their credit, if you've ever read it, I mean, it's really compelling. This group was killed by not just the Catholics, but the Protestants as well. I mean, they stood courageously. I would encourage you to read about the Anabaptist movement, because I think it did in fact testify to Jesus. 

The question that I have is that that same Jesus who said to love your neighbor, I think we have to probably engage in politics in order to effectively love our neighbor and to do justice. So there's this separatist group. And on the other side of the spectrum, there's a separatist, there's a Lutheran view, there's a black church view, which is super prophetic. 

You speak the truth to power. And then there's the Reformed group. The Reformers, they love this guy, Kuiper, who used to say there's not a single square inch over which God doesn't cry. 

That's mine. So they have an idea that Christians are to infiltrate and overtake government. And then on the far side would be the Catholics, who seem to be the most comfortable with a merger of church and state, which is probably what has made the other end so uncomfortable with a merger of church and state. Anyway, that was butchered, but you should get this book. 

Here's the version for everybody. Historically, the church has gone the way of disengagement, which I would say you can't disengage for two reasons. One being love and the second being justice. 

The second thing the church has done through history is capitulation. You go along with it. You accommodate the sexual ethic of your day. You accommodate the greed and the consumerism of your day. And you ignore the plight of the poor. And you compromise. 

And you compromise. And it's a way of saying peace, peace when there is no peace. The church has done this historically. 

And the third thing the church has been guilty of, which is kind of sneaky. And I think the one that most of us would struggle with is utopianism. So the idea is that we begin to treat the here and now is more important than what is eternal. So we lose sight of the eternal. We start living for the here and now. And we pursue good things. And we forget that our attempts here on earth with broken, flawed people are just never going to cut it. And so we put the weight of eternal glory on our temporary systems. And we expect the here and now to behave and look like the life to come. 

And when we do that, what's really interesting is we actually, as a church, get really heavy handed. When you don't embrace that this life is a mix at best, that you're not going to be fulfilled in this life ultimately. When you don't embrace that reality and you start pushing and asking your government to do what it can't do, it all starts to get really demanding and heavy handed. Jesus would teach us not to put stock in this world. So when we start to trust leaders other than Jesus and hope and other things other than the age to come, these inflated expectations wreak havoc. 

Utopianism. I think the big three options for us in our context is you can go the way of the elephant and vote Republican. You can go the way that donkey and vote Democrat. 

Or you can go the way the ostrich. Just bury your head and just hope that like all this goes away. Just, I don't know, just hope this passes over. Look away. So I think I want to say this strongly. A Christian's political posture must never be withdraw. 

Nor should it be domination or to make someone pay. The word that best describes our way is representation. Represent. In the battleground of the gods. Tell a better story. 

Represent. Jesus comes back from the grave. He's with his disciples, right? And his disciples say what? Immediately an ax one is like, are this mean you're going to restore the kingdom of Israel and deal with the Romans? 

And Jesus says, that's not for you to worry about my dealing with the Romans. You be my witnesses. You represent me here in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. You represent. 

And let me tell you something. There's a big difference between a cultural warrior and an ambassador. And we're called to be his ambassadors and not just represent his positions, but represent his posture, his way of being, his way of doing this. 

And we'll talk about that next week. So should Christians go into government? Well, Joseph did. And he saved a ton of lives in Egypt and God put him there. He didn't even like, you know, it wasn't up for vote. God put him there. Jeremiah, the prophet would say, pray for the peace and prosperity of your city and go ahead and buy a house and plant a garden in that house and get married and make sure your kids get married off and bless the city. 

That you're in. Nehemiah, he's a government leader and God uses him to do extraordinary good. Esther ends up saving many lives through influencing policy. Daniel is in government speaking the truth to power, talk about a prophet. And he's doing an amazing job as an ambassador, navigating the rise and fall of two different empires. And then Jesus even legitimizes pagan government by saying to pilot as we read last week, you don't have any power except the power that my father is given to you. 

So he seems to both legitimize government and then also say, sorry, bud, you can't tell me what to do. There's a little bit of a, you know, we talked about it last week. I love what I read Paul in Philippians and he basically says, hey, we got somebody in Caesar's household. I'm not going to use his name because he's as good as dead if his name gets out, but I'm just letting you know there's someone in Caesar's household who believes that Jesus is Lord. What do Christians bring to the political sphere? Historically, a vision of human dignity. A theological anthropology. We value people above everything and people are made in the image of God and they're created with dignity and honor. And the sanctity of life means that a person is valuable no matter what they've decided to do with their life. 

Also, we bring an obligation to care for the poor and vulnerable. Historically, and this is based on the scriptures. Amos would write and rebuke the people of God and he would say, you treat a person as if they're worth the price of a sandal. 

You're treating people poorly like they're cheap and they're not. They're making God's image with dignity and honor. The prophets would cry out, father and son visit the same prostitute and this is a huge problem. This is a huge problem. 

Thirdly, I think this is so important. Christians bring to the political sphere a suspicion of human nature. This idea that like, well, you know what's wrong with the world? Society, man. 

Society's gone wrong. People are actually good. And then the societies that are made up of people, those same good people, they're bad. Now, people are good. Society screwed people up and let's just engineer a perfect society. Everyone's going to be happy, healthy, holy. 

Not a chance. And we know this as Christians because we know our own hearts. Augustine said it this way, you're born with your back towards God. 

There is no neutral. And part of the beauty of our system is the accountability that checks and balances to say like, I don't even trust what's in my own heart. I don't trust myself with power. And there's a suspicion that comes as Christians. Fourthly, they bring a priority of the other. They have expansive ideas around who your neighbor is. There would have been a common belief in Jesus's day that a person's neighbor was their Jewish neighbor because birds of a feather flock together. So my neighbor is my Jewish neighbor. And then Jesus came with that parable, right? The Good Samaritan parable. And he basically says, no, your neighbor is your neighbor, sucker. 

Knock it off. Your neighbor is your neighbor. Lastly, Christians bring to the political sphere the power and favor of God. This is what happens when you read your Bible. Christians are not in there on their own. 

They're not in there representing their interests. Joseph's being given dreams and Daniel's being given dreams. And fasting and prayer are changing the nations. This is the biblical account. 

Can Christians resist the government? I know last week when I said, hey, let's submit in order to subvert and that that's the move. Everyone was like, yeah, but what's the other move? I don't like that move. I don't want to do that move. 

What's the other move? I'm sure we can resist the government, right? And yes, there are times where we must resist the government. Jesus says, render to Caesar what is Caesar's. And he is in that moment legitimizing a godless government as a part of God's order. But then he says what? Render to God what is God's? And he says our ultimate authority is God himself. And when governments command you to do something that's morally wrong, you've got a right to resist it. 

How you do that once again really, really matters. And I wouldn't go screaming my rights. Civil disobedience is often practiced on behalf of others. And not that your rights are being infringed upon. We'll talk more about that. The authority of government, write this down. 

The authority of government is derivative and not definitive. You'll know the story probably in Acts chapter four where they tell Peter and they tell Peter and John, stop preaching Jesus. And then they're like, yeah, it's a no for me dog. You know, like I'm going to keep preaching, right? So we obey the state, but we recognize that when the state asks you to sin or disobey God, then we say we render to God what is God's? 

We obey God. So what's the best option for you? Representation. And what's the best way to represent? Submission and allegiance to King Jesus. To bow before him. It's what Daniel did to represent him. It's what Esther did to represent him. It's what Joseph did to represent him. Ultimate authority and allegiance and submission belongs to King Jesus. Worship team, would you guys come? I want to close by reading to you Psalm two. 

Can I do that? And then we're just going to, we're going to worship our brains out. Psalm two, it pulls back the curtain on politics for us and gives us kind of a bird's eye view. It gives us a cosmic picture of the nations, which we're way down in the weeds right now. 

So I think this will be really healing for us. It's one of the Messianic Psalms, which explains why the New Testament authors quote it more than any other Psalm. Psalm two is quoted in the New Testament more than any other Psalm. 

And there's four sections to it and four lessons. Psalm two, verses one through three. Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together. They plot together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. The first lesson is this, every nation rebels against the Lord and it's vain. It's vain. There's a rhetorical question that starts this Psalm like, why would you do this? 

This isn't going to get you anywhere. And it's like, let's burst the bonds, let's burst these cords, let's get out from underneath the rule of God's anointed one. All people, all nations rage against Jesus Christ. And here's why. They want to order their lives. They don't want his rule. 

They want a rule over their lives and over their decisions. These bonds and these cords have to do with a yoke. They have to do with a cart. 

They have to do with pulling something. And from the standpoint of the nations, God's rule is seen as something you should cast off. Get that off your back. God's rule is oppressive. God's rule is binding. 

God's rule is limited. You know, to maybe use the word that we use, it's like, get rid of the ball and chain. Shed the weight of God's rule, but we don't see it that way, do we? Why do the nations want out from underneath God's rule? Well, the nations have other gods, other things that they worship and want. It's not that they're free. 

There's other things that they want. And you and I know this. We both rage against his rule. Over your money, over your sexuality, over your relationships, over your time, it's like, no, I want to do what I want to do. 

Don't tell me what to do. And so we should know this well. It's not just that nations rage and rulers rage. We rage against his rule in our lives. And let me say this. China rages against the rule of King Jesus. 

Oh yeah, totally. Russia rages. India rages. 

Let me say this clearly. America rages against the rule of King Jesus. Republicans and Democrats rage and resist the rule of King Jesus. We like it our way and we oppose things that oppose our gods, the things we think are ultimate. 

The second thing is that God has no and tolerates no challengers. Verse four through six. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, as for me, I've set my king on Zion. 

That's my holy hill. Is God threatened? Is he like duking it out? Is he sweating it out? Is he even mixing it up with these fools? No, he's kind of like, oh, that's funny. Funny people. 

It's funny down there. I was super pumped. I got a hat this week that says, make Jesus great again. And I was like, yeah, that's rad. And I was like, yeah, that makes me feel like my preaching is having an impact. I hope I'm glad. 

I'm glad that's what people are hearing. And in one sense, certainly from our perspective, we need to establish Jesus as ultimate in our lives and in our nation. But in another sense, there's no making Jesus great again. 

I think that's what those two verses say. He's not like, oh man, dang it, I'm down. But if you guys would lift me up, I think I could do it. So if everyone just cheers loud enough, I think I can take on these political rulers. So just give me praise because I'm struggling. 

It's not it. He's never not been great. He's never not been over these things. There's no making him great again. 

There's establishing his throne in our hearts. Yeah. And that's what we're saying. 

But he's there. Thirdly, God has granted all rule and dominion to his son. I will tell of the decree the Lord has said to me, you're my son. And today I've begotten you. Ask of me. I'll make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. 

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel. Verse eight tells us that Jesus will make God's rule visible to the nations. Jesus makes the rule of God definitive and visible. 

And he will enact God's rule and God's judgment. And lastly, would you stand with me? Hear this and hear it loud and somebody bring me a hat next week that says this. Rule and refuge are only in the sun. Now therefore, O kings, be wise and be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. 

Kiss the sun. Lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are those who take refuge in him. Be warned nations and be wise. Christ will come with judgment. Serve the Lord. Give him your bow now. 

Submit to him now. Fear the Lord, which is which is better described as a fear of going without him. The fear of the Lord manifests itself in taking refuge in him, not running away from him. Those who fear the Lord are trying to draw near to him, not get away from him and take refuge in the sun. Be a citizen of his kingdom now and everything you do, do it as if under God and represent him. 

I love this line from a commentary. There is no refuge from him. There is only refuge in him. Why would we come near to this king? Because he received in his body the death that we deserved. He received an eternal punishment that had our name on it. We're taking refuge in him and then saying what else do we have to fear? 

He's ultimate and over all. As you come to the table and just exalt Jesus, our king took our rebellion upon himself and reconciled us to the God we didn't want anything to do with. So you're his, declared righteous by him. And before you're anything, before you're an American or a father or a business owner or a conservative or a progressive, your identity is found in your sonship to him. 

You're adopted as an heir. Jesus, we exalt you. I pray that you'd give us a Psalm 2 perspective in this crazy swirl. In the next few weeks, give us Psalm 2 as something we can count on. Come to the table. 

Draw near to our king and exalt him as ultimate.

*Transcripts are generated using AI. Please notify us if you find any errors.