Political Debates: Some things we'd like to hear

I no longer live in the United States and now consider Cayman home. Nevertheless, while I do not always wish to engage in the political process, I am still a U.S. citizen and do feel I have a responsibility to stay informed and ultimately vote. I am also admittedly further motivated by the fact that my vote counts toward the State of Florida - a historically closely-contested State where votes really 'matter.' So, yeah, I have been watching these U.S. Presidential debates. And I know even some of you non-Americans have as well (in part because 95% of our media here in Cayman is American-based). 

After the first couple debates (including all the gross exaggerations, unrealistic promises, and run-of-the-mill venom therein), I started jotting down some things I wished to hear in a debate. Most of them have to do with just being refreshingly forthright and honest. Certainly feel free to comment if you have any more you'd like to hear:

• "On that issue, I basically agree with everything my opponent said. He summed it up pretty well so I won't waste anyone's time by needlessly talking any further."
• "It's good that you brought that up, because I shouldn't have said that. It was a mistake and I'll tell you why."
• "There's a simple explanation for the apparent inconsistency of my position: I've changed my mind. Every good leader changes his mind from time to time. I've changed mine and here's why."
• "I'm not going to promise that. Some - even most - things are out of my control. And while I can't promise that, I can commit to do my best."
• "My opponent is stronger or at least more knowledgable in that area than I am."
• "I won't pretend to know or understand every American's hurt."
• "It's possible for me to disagree with their decisions, their ideas, and their convictions without despising them. Just because I don't think everyone is doing what is best does not mean I don't want what is best for everyone."
• "There are some sacrifices we will need to make over the next 4 years that will likely affect each individual and the comforts to which he or she is accustomed."
• "There are a number of problems that neither government nor politicians can fix. That doesn't mean we don't care, it just means we are not gods nor should you expect us to be."
• "You raise a complex issue to which there is no clear-cut answer. I can understand why my opponent thinks the way he does, but let me try to explain the trade-offs and why I think my position makes more sense."
• "I don't know."
• "I do have weaknesses and more than just: I care too much."  (Side note: Saw a debate a while back featuring three candidates who were asked: "What is a weakness of yours?" The first candidate refreshingly responded: "I'm not very strong at organization but, knowing that, I try to hire people who are." The next two candidates slammed him and proceeded to say their only weakness was "they care too much" and tend to, thus, get impatient when they can't enact positive change as quickly as they'd like...I proceeded to immediately gag.")
• ""I recognize that this is an unpopular position, but let me explain why I hold it."
• "That's what she said."

Ironically, should any of these ever be uttered, they would likely be viewed as "gaffes" for which the candidate would get utterly slammed by media, late-night comedians, etc.

For those interested in realism, my good friend and fellow pastor, Aaron Graham of District Church in Washington, D.C., put together a thoughtful, helpful, & very brief (only 4 points!) piece on how a Christian should engage with the political process. 

Leaders that Lead, willing 'followers' and everyone in between

Let me immediately open by saying, one, the concept of leadership in the Christian setting has been exploited for so many ill-gotten purposes that we should first remember that the greatest leader is the greatest servant (see Mark 10:43). Second, any good leader is a good follower. As the apostle Paul exhorted one church: "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ" (1 Cor. 11:1). The best leaders are those who follow Jesus while happening to be in the midst of others. To put it another way, you can't be a good shepherd until you're a good sheep.


But I ran across a verse and chapter in Scripture yesterday that made me grateful for both faithful leaders and equally as faithful non-leaders amongst the people of God, in families, and especially in local churches. I wanted to share it. It's from the Book of Judges. Deborah - the acting judge - and Barak - Israel's acting military leader - have just been used by God to achieve a great victory over the Canaanites in this new land. Having won, Deborah & Barak release a patriotic duet on LP and the following is the opening line:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,                                                                    that people offered themselves willingly,                                                               bless the LORD!   (Judges 5:2).

Grateful for the faithfulness of "non-leaders." Remember, at this point, God's people have just inhabited this new land and really began to identify with this "each tribe gets a piece of the pie" thing. Was like everybody being in a new little clubs with fancy rights & privileges and then left to figure out how not to be "clique-ish." Isn't this so easy to do as a Christian? We throw around terms like "child of God" because we are through trust in Christ. Also terms like "heir," "priest," "gifted" because we are in Christ. However, we begin to worship the status, prize it above all possessions to the point where we can, frankly, act like spoiled brats (yours truly included). We don't just want the privileges of being part of a family (and its primary expression through the local church) but we want to receive the privileges the way we want (most preferable, most comfortable) and without cost. Many, however, take time to grapple with a leader's vision and, most importantly, take time to look to Christ - the leader - and are thus able to recall the burden and responsibility of leadership that stems from Him. That's what happens here in Judges. Many among the tribes band together to ally & defeat a force and culture which perniciously threatened their faithfulness to Yahweh. How easy it would've have been to stay home playing with their new toy! To take their gift and stay home. I'm so grateful to God for Sunrise Community Church where, for the most part, people have by-and-large taken the time to listen to, grapple with, & get excited about the vision God has imparted for our context and look to Christ, whereby they are able to sympathetically pray and support myself and other leaders. People rarely ask: "Why should I serve?" but, "Where can I be most helpful?" So willing! 


Grateful for leaders who lead. Bless Yahweh for leaders who take the lead! That seems obvious, right? Leaders lead. But reality is that there are many who call themselves "leaders" but don't step out to make the hard choices and endure pain as well as criticism along the way. They issue their informal version of a "gallup poll" & each time take the path of the prevailing tide. I remember Stuart Briscoe once saying, "Every pastor needs to have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of an elephant." It's true. I'm grateful for leaders who keep plodding along especially in the midst of pain and, at best, partial success (as all ministry is - not everyone will trust Christ, not all marriages will be saved, not everyone will get 'on board' in love & unity, and, for families, not every child will soon respond in faith & obedience). Deborah and Barak endured this. There were some tribes who decided to play with their new gift and stay home when their brothers were at war. Deborah & Barak wonder: What happened, Reuben? Where were you? (see vv.15-16). They pine: Gilead, Dan, Asher, what gives?! (see v.17). I can't tell you how many times as a leader where significant persons didn't show up - yes, I've been tempted to text/call the person: "where are you?" and have even given into this temptation. But, oh, for the leader who carries the pain as a response to Christ's carrying his pain and keeps moving forward and then encourages those present who do step up (as Deborah/Barak do - see especially v.9: "My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people"). 


Response. The threat for Israel both grave and obvious. The Cannanites had wealth, cities, politics, art which were far superior to the Israelites all of which was under the guise of worship that promoted materialism and sensuality. What's the grave & obvious threat in your context? To your church? To your family? Let's be grateful for, pray for, and plan for (what do I need to do/change?) leaders & faithful people who exemplify the first line of Deborah and Barak's hit track:

That the leaders took the lead in Israel,                                                                    that people offered themselves willingly,                                                               bless the LORD!   (Judges 5:2).

Pride & Humilty: Some Favorite Quotes

This morning during our worship service we took a look at a picture of pride & a picture of humility served up by Jesus himself in the Parable of the Pharisee & the Tax Collector (Luke 18: 9-14). I was looking over the wealth of quotes & stories I've collected over the years on pride & humility -- probably because I'm very 'familiar' with one of the two qualities (shhh...which one I'll never tell). I share with you some ones that have really impressed themselves upon me. Enjoy.

"Pride goes before destruction; a haughty spirit before a fall." - King Solomon, Proverbs 16:18

“Pride is seldom delicate, it will please itself with very mean advantages.” – Samuel Johnson, said through Imlac in Rasselas.

“God uses men and women who are weak and feeble enough to depend on Him.” - Hudson Taylor (Missionary)

In speaking to Brother Leo who felt down & out because of his own mediocrity and weightiness of sin, St. Francis says: “Leo listen carefully to me. Don’t be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire Him.”

Thus far, Dr. Jekyll had been able to somewhat control his manifestations into Mr. Hyde & then back into Dr. Jekyll. Bu then, a turning point in the story occurs. Dr. Jekyll has actually been doing a lot of ‘good’ up to this point. “After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbors; and then I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect. And at the very moment of that vainglorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering…I looked down; my clothes hung formlessly on my shrunken limbs; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy. I was once more Edward Hyde.” - Dr. Jekyll in his letter to Mr. Utterson. Author Robert Louis Stevenson.

“Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.” William Temple

“Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.” - Pastor C.J. Mahaney

“In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” - C.S. Lewis

Speaking of the character Rev. Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter: “Among many morals which press upon us from the poor minister’s miserable experience, we put only this into a sentence: ‘Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred.” - Nathaniel Hawthorne

“There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who believe themselves sinners; the rest sinners who believe themselves righteous.” - Blaise Pascal

“A humble man can do great things with an uncommon perfection because he is no longer concerned about incidentals, like his own interests and his own reputation, and therefore he no longer needs to waste his efforts in defending them.” - Thomas Merton

“Until you can listen to the praises of a rival without any desire to indulge in detraction or any attempt to belittle his work, you may be sure there is an unmortified prairie of egoistic impulse in your nature yet to be brought under the grace of God.” - Robert Louis Stevenson

“What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed. Nowadays the part of a man that a man does not assert is exactly the part he ought not to doubt – the Divine Reason…We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table.” - G.K. Chesterton

“I am not what I ought to be; I am not what I would like to be. But I am not what I was: and by the grace of God I am what I am.” - John Newton (writer and composer of "Amazing Grace")

The King seeks our Maximum Good

"The King seeks maximum glory - so what are you going to do about it?"

This was the sermon in a nutshell yesterday during our worship service, when we looked at Luke 20: 20-37. All about the Kingdom of God and how He seeks maximum glory through surprising means -- a crucified Savior -- and how are we are called to respond (if you wish, you can listen to the sermon here).

Frankly, His glory is the most important aspect of His Kingdom -- as God seeks Maximum Glory above all else (see for example Ezekiel 36: 22, 32; Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 48:11). But He also seeks our Maximum Good -- and He does so also through the Jesus Christ Crucified.

While studying this passage last week, I ran across this excerpt from 2nd century Greek Philosopher, Celsus, who said this about his perception of Christianity, which is ironically fairly accurate:

Those who summon people to the other mysteries [i.e. other religions] make this preliminary proclamation: "Whosoever has pure hands and a wise tongue." And again, others say, "Whosoever is pure from all defilement, and whose soul knows nothing of evil, and who has lived well and righteously." Such are the preliminary exhortations of those who promise purification from sins. But let us hear what folk these Christians call. "Whosoever is a sinner," they say. "Whosoever is unwise, whosoever is a child, and, in a word, whosoever is wretch, the kingdom of God will receive him." Do you not say that a sinner is he who is dishonest, a thief, a poisoner, a sacrilegious fellow, and a grave-robber? What others would a robber invite and call? Why on earth this preference for sinners?

Today people call the cross a scandal. And it was just as much so in the 2nd century -- literally "foolishness to Greeks" like Celsus, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:23. With the crucified Christ as the backdrop, Paul goes on to say in that same passage:

For consider your calling, brothers, not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose the what is weak in the world to shame the strong. (I Corinthians 1: 26-27)

He attracts us to a sign like the Crucified Christ for our maximum good. I was really struck by this today. There are so many who, by natural means, are more worthy of salvation than me. Perhaps you, like me, can go through a mental list of genuinely humble, nice, kind, hardworking people you've met throughout the course of your life. Yet, God doesn't require trust in one's behavior, one's works, or how one treats others -- but trust in a person, Jesus Christ, and his work on the cross.

The best thing I ever did for myself, then, was to realize how very much like a child I still am -- needy & incompetent to run my own life. The BEST thing!! Jesus says this is a most praiseworthy gift of grace:

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will." (Luke 10:21).

Why is this for our Maximum Good? I think I most like being a servant or slave because I was created to be so (see Romans 6 which describes people as having one of two options -- being slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness). The most freeing moments or seasons of my life are ones in which I'm okay with being a child, okay with being incompetent to run my own life, okay with being one who freely responds to a Master rather than working hard to master a sinful life -- (the latter done all in the name of pride).

The Crucified Christ represents God's curse upon Christ so we wouldn't have to endure God's curse for sin & it represents total humiliation so that God might forever identify with & draw near to Himself the despised & humiliated of this world. Thus, God through the Crucified Christ, earns our trust & allows us to be submit ourselves as children & slaves to a Merciful Master.

Any other way may have been good as it would have been from God -- but the Crucified Christ reminds us that the King seeks our maximum good.

Grace: The Great Equalizer

If you know me, you know I love talking about & (trying) to apply God's grace. A primary passion God has put on my heart is to see disciples of Jesus motivated chiefly by Grace in seeking to become more like him. Anywho, It's often said that death is the "great equalizer" -- bringing people of great & little wealth, great & little social status, great & little anything to a place of equal standing.

I had lunch with a godly gentleman from our church yesterday. He and I were both discussing how when we're low, God's grace reminds us that we matter to Him -- which was ultimately expressed through the cross. Then we also spoke of when we're feeling high/good about ourselves -- perhaps overly good about ourselves. It is then that God patiently reminds us, that all the feel-goods and the successes are a product of His sufficient grace. Grace is the great equalizer in life.

Probably my favorite living pastor (dead pastors are best...because they can no longer do anything to surprisingly disappoint), Tim Keller of Redeemer Pres. Church in NYC, puts this idea very nicely in his book The Reason for God. He uses "gospel" instead of "grace," but you get the picture:

When my own personal grasp of the gospel was very weak, my self-view swung wildly between two poles. When I was performing up to my standards--in academic work, professional achievement, or relationships--I felt confident but not humble. I was likely to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. When I was not living up to standards, I felt humble but not confident, a failure. I discovered, however, that the gospel contained the resources to build a unique identity. In Christ I could know I was accepted by grace not only despite my flaws, but because I was willing to admit them. The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued and that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling.

I'm continually thankful for the gospel of grace -- God's great equalizer -- as I often seem to go from swaggering to sniveling and back again at a rate of 60 mph (or, in the Cayman Islands, 40 mph on our only "highway").