Bridging the Divide: God’s Desire Amidst Political Tension
Message Description
Butler Campus Pastor Brady Randall looks at 1 Timothy 2 to share the values Christians should communicate to the world during today's tense political atmosphere.
Message Transcript
Well, good morning. As we're gathered online and in person today, I want to invite you to pray. I'm going to ask that you would pray for yourself, that God would help you to remove any distractions that you might hear clearly from God today. And I also ask that you would pray for me as well, that God would fill me with his Holy Spirit that might give you the words that you and I need to hear and put into practice today and in this season. So, would you join me in prayer?
Father God, I pray that today, in the midst of this divisive season, that you would help us to remove distractions, to fix our eyes upon You and upon Your word. Father, I pray that today you might be pleased to draw all sorts of people to Yourself, that You would help us to see the beauty of Jesus. I pray that You might speak through me the truth of Your word. And I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, who is excited for an election season this week, huh? Come on. I mean, the excitement and the joy is palpable. I mean, I gotta tell you, there are so many things I'm gonna miss about this election season. I'm gonna miss all the mailings that I've received over the past month. I thought that 7 was a big number until someone told me after last service that yesterday they got 13 flyers. That's pretty good. Can you wait for Wednesday? Anybody?
I am really going to miss all of the political advertisements when I'm trying to watch my sports. I'm going to miss subsequent conversations that I'm having with children about the definitions of rape and incest as a result of the political conversations we hear over the airwaves. I'm really going to miss the interruptions of my morning run in the treadmill on my YouTube music with interruptions of political candidates telling me how bad the other part party and person, is. I'm really going to miss all of that. The incessant text messages day after day telling me who I have to vote for, who I cannot vote for. I happen to live in Butler, Pennsylvania, and I got to tell you, I'm going to really miss all the traffic at the political rallies that we've had up in Butler the past couple months. All the roadways that are blocked off two hours after the rally. I'm going to miss all that traffic after this season.
I've got to tell you, I'm also going to miss all of the Facebook debates that have happened of who's unfriending who, whom is losing respect for whom, who will in actual friendships, be denying friendships as a result of who they vote for in this upcoming election. There's a lot of things that I'm gonna miss after Tuesday.
Now, I know that I joke a little bit, but I also know that there's a lot of anxiety around this election. I know that it feels like this nation is as divided as it's ever been. And so we've got a lot on our minds. You're thinking about our families and the future of this country. And make no mistake about it, good leadership matters. Who's in office matters.
If you're a follower of Jesus, voting your political, rather voting your Biblical convictions matters. And if you're a person of Jesus and you're in public service, we ought to pray for you, for your influence in public service. But I do know this, that after this coming election in 2025, I know that our Savior has not ever and will not ever come out of Washington, DC.
And I was reminded what attorney and political activist Justin Giboney reminds us. He says, “As important as this presidential election is, your personal relationships are far more significant. Go and vote, but make sure political arguments don't overshadow maintaining healthy connections with loved ones. These candidates do not know you and they won't be at your funeral. So don't fall out of line and don't fall out with people who will be.”
I gotta tell you, it gives me a great deal of encouragement and peace in the midst of all of this when I'm reminded that throughout historical ages that God raises up people in authority and He brings them down. In fact, we're told In Daniel, chapter 2, verses 20 & 21, it says this,
“Praise be to the name of God forever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.” - Daniel 2:20-21
And so today, I just want us to pause in the midst of all of this divisiveness and help to center us. And I know that one of the things that causes anxiety for so many of us is that we feel out of control. And the things that we can control, we can control if we vote, whom we vote for and how we persuade other people to vote. And outside of that, it's out of our control, and that makes us anxious. And so today, what I want to look at from 1 Timothy, chapter 2 is what I believe are four desires that all start with P to help us remember. Four desires that can help center us and give us peace this election season.
And if you're here today and you are a follower of Jesus, I want you to know that this is God's desire for you, that you would reflect this in your conversations and the people with whom you interact with. And if you're not a follower of Jesus, I want you to know that this is God's desire for His followers and that this is also God's desire for you, that this can be true for you even today.
And in 1 Timothy, chapter 1, Paul is writing to Timothy, who's his understudy, his co-minister of the Gospel. He tells them the importance of combating false teaching, living out the Gospel. And then here's the first thing that he says, that God desires. And I'm just going to say that God's desire is for all kinds of prayer for all kinds of people, including those in authority.
Verses 1 and 2, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority.” - 1 Timothy 2:1-2
So Paul says, I want there to be all types of prayer. And he uses four different words for prayer. He uses the general term prayer, which is all types of prayer. He uses the term request or petition, which is asking God for things. He uses the term intercession, which means to intercede or pray first on behalf of someone else. And he also uses the term thanksgiving. So in your prayers, all your different types of prayers come with an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving. And he says, I want you to pray for all types of people. And I want you to think about how significant that is, that God desires that all of us would commune with him in prayer.
Now think about that. Jesus said what he wants to define the church more than anything else. He said, my Father's house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples and all nations. And think about how significant that is that right now, as you sit here today, that God has a desire that you would speak to God and that God would speak to you. I mean, that's crazy that God, who created all of the galaxies, wants to talk to you and to me, out of all the billions of people in the world, he desires to hear from you.
I think it was Martin Luther who said that prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but it's laying hold of his highest willingness. That God desires to hear from you, to wrestle with God in prayer. That prayer changes things, it changes circumstances, it changes people. And there's not power in prayer so much in the person who's praying, but the reason that power is prayerful, because of the one to whom we pray. And I'm also reminded what John Newton of a man of another generation said, when he said this in prayer, “Thou art coming to a king. So large petitions with you bring. For His grace and power are such that no one can ever ask too much.”
And you may be here today and you might not consider yourself a person of prayer because you say, Brady, I've tried to pray, and it seems like when I pray, my prayers just bounce off the ceiling. It seems like when I pray, no one is listening, because I prayed that so and so wouldn't die, and they ended up dying. I prayed that so and so would be healed, and they haven't been healed yet. I prayed passionately that a relationship or marriage wouldn't end, and yet it ended. I prayed for a certain political candidate to be in office, and they weren't. So it doesn't seem like God's really answering my prayer.
Can I encourage you if that's your posture today? Would you continue to wrestle with God in prayer? If you are angry at God, would you take that to the Lord in prayer? Because not only does prayer have the ability to change circumstances, but not the least of which, prayer has the ability to change ourselves. And as we pray and commune with God, God takes his purposes and his plans and he helps interact with ours. And so God says, I want you to be people of prayer, all types of prayer for all types of people, including kings and those in authority. Now, do you wonder why God has that little note in there? Why would God call us to pray for people who are in authority?
I think there's at least two reasons. One is that those who are in authority have a lot of power. And so who's in authority matters because they have power to change things and policy and people and circumstances and financial ramifications. People have a lot of power who are in authority, but that authority has been given by God.
I think about Jesus as he was on his way to the cross and he interacts with the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. And Pilate says, do you not realize the power I have over you, Jesus? And Jesus retorts to him, don't you realize that the only power that you have is being already given to you from above? And so God has authority over all kinds of people. And this is what gives me encouragement as well, that God throughout history raises up good people and wicked people, for His purpose.
In fact, if you recall, the Pharaoh of Egypt was a wicked man that God raised up when His people were enslaved in Egypt so that the power of God might be displayed in him. God raised up wicked kings of Babylon and Assyria for the purpose of punishing His people. And so God raises up and He brings down those in authority. Proverbs 21:1 reminds us. It says,
“In the Lord's hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.” -Proverbs 21:1
I want you to know it's significant who was in power at the time of Paul's writing. Most likely, this letter was written around the mid-60s, at which time a man named Nero was in power. Now, Nero was a very wicked man who hated Christians. He despised Christians. He blamed Christians for a major fire in Rome. He crucified Christians under his watch. Christians were beaten, butchered, buried, and fed to animals. And yet Paul still says to pray for those in authority.
And so what that means at least, is this. And that means that if you cannot stand President Joe Biden, God calls you to pray for him. And what that means is if you can't stand Donald Trump, and you think that he is a liar, you think that he's immoral, you think that he's dangerous to democracy and he's elected the next President of the United States, that God's desire is that you would pray for him. And what that means if you can't stand Kamala Harris and you think that she's a liar and that her policies are dangerous for religious freedom and the sanctity of human life. Yet if she's elected President of the United States, God's desire is that you would pray for her and people in authority; that's God's desire.
And so the second thing we see is not just that God desires to be people of prayer, but God also desires peace and tranquility, so that we might live lives of godliness and holiness. And we see this in verse 2.
He says he desires “...for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” - 1 Timothy 2:1-2
And while it's true that God can work in all kinds of circumstances, that God can work in countries of persecution where it's illegal to be a follower of Jesus. In fact, you look at the church in China right now, the underground church is booming despite the fact that it's illegal to worship Jesus. Countries in the Middle East where you can be killed for following Jesus, God's church is still thriving in a sense. So God can work in any kind of conditions.
But what we see from this text is it's actually God's desire that we would live peaceful and tranquil lives for the purpose of godliness and holiness. But that's God's desire. And I want to know what does that sound like to you right now? That in the midst of all the chaos and all the divisiveness, how many of us could use a little more peace and quiet and tranquility?
One of the images that we have of God is God as a shepherd. And in Psalm 23 it says that if God is your shepherd, he leads us along the right paths, he leads us along streams, and he restores our soul. What could that look like for you in this season to have some more margin, to have some more peace, that you might hear the voice of your Father, the shepherd? This kind of environment leads to an opportunity to live a holy life, a life that's set apart, a life of godliness, which also helps with the mission that we'll see in just a moment. That that's God's desire is that we would be people of peacefulness and tranquility, people who can drown out the noise so that we can hear the most important things, the desires of our Father.
And that leads to the third desire. Not only does God desire prayer for all types of people, including those in authority. Not only does God desire that we would live peaceful lives in tranquility, in holiness and godliness, but God also desires to keep with the P, pardon or salvation or forgiveness, for all people. In verse 3, it says, this is good and pleases God our Father. So if you want to know God's desire this election season, right here we have it. He says, this is good and it pleases God the Father.
Here's what we read in verses 4 to 7:
For God “...wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” - 1 Timothy 2:4-7
I want you to hear that this is one of God's primary desires, that all people and all different types of people will come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That God's desire for you today, that you would know how awesome Jesus is. But notice what it says. It says that Jesus is a mediator, which means that there is a need for mediation. Did you think about that? That there's a need for mediation? That right now, God, who has millions upon millions of angels surrounding His throne, and right now they're crying out to Him day and night, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory. And God is so holy and powerful and sinless, that He will not ultimately be in the presence of any sin, yours, mine, your loved ones.
And that's a major problem. That because of the rejection of God, because of our own sinfulness, we are on a trajectory of an eternity, separated from God forever. That's our plight apart from Christ. But God loved you and I so much that he sent His one and only son, the man Jesus Christ, stressing His humanity because only human beings can die. And Jesus, who was born of a woman, was born to die. And when He went to the cross, He experienced the very punishment that was to be poured out upon sin.
He was humiliated, he was beaten, he was whipped. He had nails held through His arms and his feet, bleeding with the crown of thorns and experienced the very wrath of God for you and for me. And so Jesus says, there is only one mediator, there is only one God, and there is only one way to this God.
You see, many people think it's a kind of a statement to say that there's one way to get to God. But think about this. If there was another way to get to God, what kind of God, the Father would he have been, that he would send His one and only son that he loved to the torture of the cross to be humiliated in that way, to bear upon the wrath of God? If there was any other way but that, what kind of Father would he have been to put his Son through there if any other way could be? And so God says, there is only one mediator. He gave His life as a ransom for all, which means that the death of Christ was sufficient for all and any. But the death of Christ is only applied to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.
And so what that means today is that God's desire for you, if you're someone who's not yet a follower of Jesus, I want you to hear the heart of God for you. God desires more than anything else that you would see the beauty and the wonder and the power and the grace and the truth of Jesus Christ, that today that you might bend your knee to Jesus and recognize your need for a Savior. That if you would repent and ask God for forgiveness and that you would place your trust and hope in Him, that he would forgive you, that he would bring you to be a part of His family and His purposes for all of eternity. God desires that you would see Jesus. That's God's desire this election season.
Now, you might have the question. You say, wait a minute. If God desires that all people would be saved and God is so powerful, why doesn't He just make it happen? I mean, if that's God's desire and He's on the throne and He can do whatever He wants, why doesn't He make it so that all people would be saved?
Theologians throughout the ages have tried to understand the will of God and the desire of God in three ways. And on the one hand, the one will of God includes the sovereign will of God. Everything that has ever happened or will ever happen is under the sovereign or the decretive will of God. And then they describe God's will, His prescriptive will. What God prescribes or desires that would happen, which we have contained in the Scriptures and the Ten Commandments. And this desire that we read today, that God desires that all people would be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. And yet, there's also God's permissive will that God permits sometimes the things that He doesn't like, that God permits people to freely reject Him and go their own way. That sometimes God permits what He hates in order to accomplish what He loves. And I can think of no better example of that than the cross of Jesus Christ. That God permitted the Son that He loves for the worst day in human history to be buried in a tomb after being crucified on a cross.
And yet God took what was the worst day in human history when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And there's two words in Greek that are often used. The one word is called boule, which is more of God's will, that is His directed will. It's often his will of deliberation, predetermination, that's inflexible. And then there's a word which is used here called thelema, which is God's will of desire, His will of emotion, that God desires as a loving father, that you would know him and that he would know you.
And so I think part of what that means is that God desires that the people on the other political side of the aisle as you is not to be someone who is dehumanized or even an enemy, but someone who's made in the image of God. And I would even suggest that if your political party or affiliation causes you to look down on and hate those on the other side, that that is not the way of Jesus. Because Jesus himself said in Luke 6:32,
“If you love those who love you...” or I might add, parenthetically, if you love only those and your political persuasion, “...what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” - Luke 6:32
Instead, Jesus says to love your enemy and do good to them.
I was reading this week from a Pastor Velatus and he was listing five things to tell whether or not you're in a Christian culture war. And I thought this was really interesting. I wanted to share it with you today. He said this, that “We carry a God is with us, but not with them mentality. We no longer see image bearers to be engaged, but rather threats to be eliminated. We believe that we are fighting for the truth and so therefore our hatred is justified. We believe that political power is necessary to make the most of the Gospel, and fear is the primary lens through which we see the world.”
But instead, Jesus is one who loves with grace and truth. Jesus is one who loves people who are hard to love. And how do I know that? Because He loves me, and I'm hard to love. And He loves you who are sometimes hard to love. So God desires this election season and all seasons, that we would be people of prayer for all types of prayer for all types of people, including those in authority. God desires that we would live peaceful and tranquil lives in godliness and holiness. God also desires that we would be people of peace. God desires that we would be people of pardon and salvation, that all people would come to saving knowledge of him. And then lastly, I think we see in this text that God desires proclaimers or heralds, sharers of this message.
Verse 7, Paul says this, “And for this purpose I was appointed a herald [or a sharer] and an apostle - I'm telling the truth, I am not lying - and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.” - 1 Timothy 2:7
One of the many things that I respect about Paul is that Paul did not get caught up in secondary things. He had the ability to keep the main thing, the main thing. And he recognized that he had been radically transformed by Jesus Christ. He went from a persecutor of Christians to one who would give his life for the sake of the Gospel. He had been so radically changed and transformed by Jesus that that became his central calling card in ministry, that he realizes that he needed to be more fired up about getting more people to Jesus and following him than anything else. That's what kept Paul going.
And I believe that this is God's calling and desire this election season, that if you're someone here that's been changed by Jesus, then God's desire for you this election season is to be salt and light in a very dark world. I mean, think about the impact that would make if followers of Jesus looked and sounded like Jesus this election season, that had the humility and the grace and the truth of Jesus, you know how powerful that would be to a watching world? God desires, if you've been changed by Jesus, that for the rest of your life you would devote yourself to proclaiming and sharing the message of just how good God is, what He's done for you, and what He wants to do for you. And if you're here today, God wants that to be your testimony. That Jesus Christ is a chain breaker, that Jesus Christ has saved you from sin and death and hell and Satan, and He saved you for His purpose to make much of Jesus. And this was Paul's calling card.
And that's what he calls those who follow Jesus to. And at the end of the day, this election will be over on November 5th. Maybe not the counting of ballots, but at some point, come January of 2025, there will be a new president elected to the United States. And so my question for you is, once November 5th is over, what will you, what will your response be to the person who is in total disagreement with you? Who voted totally opposite of the way that you think they should have?
Will you chastise them? Will you refuse to speak to them? Will you shun them? Will you make them feel guilty? And if so, I just want to ask, what good and purpose will that serve? Author Sharon Miller said this. She said, “In many ways, I'm less concerned with how Christians vote than I am the kind of people they become, the relationships they've broken and the evangelistic witness they've squandered after the election is over.”
Now, I have no idea who will be in the White House in 2025, but I do know this, that Jesus Christ will still be on His throne, ruling and reigning. He will have still been raised from the dead. He will still be building his church with the promise that the gates of hell will not stand against it. And so my encouragement to me, the encouragement to all of us listening, even here this morning, is that God is still on the throne. And so I want to invite you, just as we close this morning, to just do business with God. God's desire is that we would be people of prayer. And so I invite you to do that, to share with what's on your heart this morning.
Maybe you're angry. There's anger in your spirit and soul about what's happening in the world, about what's happening in your own life. I want to invite you to give that to the Lord. I want to invite you to pray for those who are currently in authority and those who will be in authority. I invite you to pray for an opportunity to live a peaceful life in godliness and holiness. And then I pray that you might be challenged by the word of God and the Spirit of God, convicted by God today, that he might use you as a proclaimer of this awesome and amazing Gospel. But I also want to call out, I think Paul, God himself, I believe in particular, wants to call out the men today.
And the reason I say that is verse 8, which we didn't read, it reads like this:
“Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.” - 1 Timothy 2:8
Sometimes when you see the word man in the Scriptures, it means men and women. But here in particular, he uses the word for men. And I believe that God wants to call out the men to be the servant leaders in the homes and in the church. And when he says, “I want you to lift up holy hands”, I don't think that just means a particular posture, though certainly you can pray with hands lifted high. But when he says holy hands, I think that's really metaphorical for a clean conscience, to have clean hands and a pure heart before God. To have a spirit of repentance when we come into the presence of God. And notice the way he ends that, “without anger or disputing.” Without anger or disputing. And so if you find yourself with anger in your hearts, would you just give that to God this morning?
I want to close with a declaration from Psalm 47. It's a reminder of no matter what happens today or tomorrow or for the rest of eternity, that this will remain true. From Psalm 47, that we don't know the future, but we know the hands to whom holds the whole future, your life and mine. And so hear this promise, this truth from Psalm 47, starting in verse 7:
“For God is the King over all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God, for he is greatly exalted.” - Psalm 47:7-9
Let's pray. Father. God, I give you thanks and praise today that You are on the throne, that You are exalted, that nothing surprises You, that no plan of Yours can be thwarted. And so, Father, I pray that we would be people of prayer and God, I pray if there's someone here today who's just angry and tense and upset, that God, that you'd hear that prayer that, Lord, we would do business with You and our spirit and our soul this morning. Father, I do pray for all of those in authority. I pray, Lord, for people to bend the knee to you as Jesus Christ and to make policies and laws that would reflect your heart and character. Father God, I pray that in this country we would live peaceful and tranquil lives in godliness and holiness. And I pray, Lord, that you would raise up proclaimers of your message that people who have been changed by You would live the rest of their lives to influence others for the sake of Jesus Christ. And Father, I want to pray today, if there's someone here today that's not yet given their life to you, that today maybe they recognize their need for You as the Savior and the leader and the Lord of their lives. Lord, that they might turn from sin and they might put their trust in You, the living and reigning God. Father, I'm thankful that you're in control, that nothing surprises you. And I pray that you'd give us peace in the midst of this divisive political season. Father, we ask and pray all these things in the name of Jesus. amen.
This transcript was automatically generated. Please excuse errors.
