Thoughts on Recent Events
It’s been a crazy few weeks. On January 6th, we saw a lawless mob breach the Capitol building in an attempt to force elected officials to overturn the presidential election. This was followed by an impeachment and an inauguration all within two weeks. If you have followed the news at all, you know that our country is divided and tensions are high.
How should we think about and process all that is happening? How should the church view these events? How should we respond?
While I was growing up here in San Francisco, I was taught two ideas. The first one came from school and the second one came from mostly conservative church folk. From school I learned the idea that people are basically good deep down and that humanity is getting better and moving towards the utopia of something like Star Trek. From my more conservative church and family, I was taught that America is the greatest nation ever and that we are a beacon of light.
As I grew up and started really digging into scripture, I saw something else. First, the gospel tells us everyone is not “basically good” but that we are sinners (Romans 3:23). Deep down within the heart of humanity is a rotting sinful nature. Second, I read about the pattern of Babylon: broken people form societies and governments all under the sinful influence of the enemy. And because our societies and our governments are run by fallen people, they oppose the things of God. Because of the influence of the enemy, we see injustice, oppression, evil, and war as the norm. The Bible says that these systems of Babylon will repeat until Christ returns. Babylon. Persia. Greece. Rome. The pattern keeps rolling. And no human nation is a “Christian Nation” but all are nations that are filled with sin. The United States of America is in many respects a great nation. There are a lot of things to love about our country. But we aren’t perfect. In many ways, we are a part of the ongoing system of Babylon. It should be no surprise that we are divided. It should be no surprise that sin has its hands all over our history and our current political system.
My favorite book of the Bible is Revelation. The main idea in the book of Revelation isn’t about an end times timeline. The idea behind the book of Revelation is to teach the people of Jesus how to live for his kingdom while surrounded by Babylon; how to conquer by following the pattern of Jesus. He models for us the path to victory. He won by dying for his enemies. He died by losing. He won his victory as the lion by dying as the lamb.
So as the world around us keeps up with the pattern of Babylon, his people are called to persevere and bear witness to our king all while facing oppression and injustice. In the book of Revelation, a choice is presented to God’s people. Will you fall in with Babylon, or will your resist is the manner of Jesus? Will you place your hope in a system of injustice? Will you make an idol of a political party or a political figure, or will you have Jesus as your Lord?
It breaks my heart that what I see from a lot of church folk here in the US is the choice to follow the first path. So many people who claim to follow Jesus have placed their ultimate hope in something or someone who can’t deliver. And that has had an effect on the reputation of all of us.
So what do we do?
First, we shouldn’t be surprised that the sinful world around us is falling apart. We should be prepared for it, and we should be ready to point people to King Jesus through our love and humility. We shouldn’t rest our hope in Donald Trump or Joe Biden, in Republicans or Democrats. We should rest our hope in our true king.
Second, I believe that God has called our church to this city for a reason. I do not want you to think that we should just ride it out and let Babylon do its thing. We are called to make a difference in the world (for more on this, check out this sermon). We are called to show people what the new heaven and earth will look like, but we are called to do that by loving our King and loving our neighbors well. People should see us and see that our ultimate allegiance isn’t to a political figure or system grounded here on earth, but to a king who sits on a throne in heaven. A king who is coming back to put the world back together. A king who will ultimately defeat sin and put an end to Babylon (see Revelation 18).
So let us be a people who live in the pattern of Jesus the slain lamb. Let us persevere with hope in him. Let us be a people of prayer—especially prayer for the broken people in our nation.
(1 Timothy 2:1-2) First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people—for kings and all who are in high positions—that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
-Jon