Failing to listen is failure
Jer 29:4-9 & Deut 23:15-25
9th June 2024

Introduction

Well our topic for today is politics … which can be quite confusing for some. So I thought I’d begin with a quick summary of the different political ideologies in our world. Some of you may have come across this particular summary before. It’s called ‘you have 2 cows’:

Socialism says; ‘you have 2 cows’ … you give one to your neighbour.

Communism: You have 2 cows. The government takes both and gives you the milk.

Fascism: You have 2 cows. The government takes both and sells you the milk.

Totalitarianism: You have 2 cows. The government takes both, shoots you and denies the cows ever existed.

Anarchy: You have 2 cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price, or your neighbours kill you and take the cows.

Capitalism: You have 2 cows. You sell 1 and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies … the economy grows … and you retire on the profits.

Venture Capitalism: You have 2 cows. You sell 3 of them to your publicly listed company, then execute a debt/equity swap so that you get all 4 of your cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping 5 cows. The milk rights of the 6 cows are transferred to a Cayman Islands company … who sells the rights of the 7 cows back to your publicly listed company … whose annual report says the 8 cows are doing well … with an option to buy a 9th cow.

American Democracy: The government promises you 2 cows if you vote them in. Yet after the election the President is impeached for speculating on cow futures. The press call it ‘Cowgate’.

Indian Democracy: You have 2 cows. You worship them.

Bureaucratism: You have 2 cows. The government takes both, shoots 1, milks the other, throws the milk away … then demands YOU fill out the paperwork for the missing cows.

Well this is our SECOND sermon on political ideology in as many weeks. Our bread-and-butter here at Earlwood Anglican is preaching through books of the Bible. But from time-to-time we do topical sermons … which not only help us think theologically … they also give us insights into what God thinks about particular topics that are relevant to our cultural moment. And the reason I’ve chosen to preach about POLITICS for 2 weeks is because (i) God wants his followers to be IN the world … John 17:15, (ii) God wants his followers to be good citizens … Rom 13:1-7, and (iii) God wants his followers to be working for the good of their society. That’s what our Jeremiah 29 passage is about. God says to the Israelites:

Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV) … seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

The corollary of that is that if our city suffers … we TOO will suffer. And Western civilisation is suffering at the moment. I saw a YouTube clip just this week of Neil deGrasse Tyson … a widely respected and sought after scientist. Yet he’s now advocating for doing away with separate men’s and women’s sporting codes … because according to him there are no difference between the sexes. On the other side of the isle … nearly one third of Americans STILL think the last election was stolen from Trump. Western society is suffering at the moment.

My purpose for this series is to help us think about HOW we got to this cultural moment … in the hope that we can do our bit in seeking the peace and prosperity of our society. And as we saw last week … the PROBLEM with our culture is that many people today are idolising their political ideology. Now LAST week we focussed on HOW it came to this. THIS week I want to focus on WHAT this situation results in. And I have 3 points … surprise surprise. I want to begin by looking at (i) WHY some people idolise politics … point 1. We’ll THEN look at (ii) WHAT happens when we idolise politics … point 2. We’ll then conclude with some application … which I’ve titled (iii) HOW we can fix our politics. And because this is a topical sermon … I’ll open it up for questions at the end. So let’s dive on in … and look at how our current political situation is failing us.

Why some idolise politics

Now if you weren’t here last week … we looked at how the modus operandi of the human heart … is to make ourselves look PRESENTABLE to the world. We NEED connections with other humans. And so to foster those connections we cover up those things we’re ashamed of … i.e. our sin … by highlighting the things we’re proud of … whether it be looks, money, success, popularity, etc. Yet each of us will choose ONE thing from our list of achievements … and elevate it to be our ultimate thing. We think ‘if I only get that promotion … if only I get thousands of likes on Instagram … if only people will stop disrespecting me’ … THEN the world will see that I’m presentable … lovable. And what we saw last week is that SOME people … not the majority … but certainly a very VOCAL minority … have elevated their political ideology … their conservative or progressive ideology … to be their ultimate achievement.

Now the question is … WHY idolise politics? Like of ALL the things in our life to make number 1 thing … why choose our cultural or political ideology? Why is being a conservative or a progressive … a Republican or a Democrat … a Coalition voter or a Labour voter … the most important thing a person can subscribe to?

Well PART of the answer has to do with atheism … believe it or not. Even though the vast majority of people on the planet are NOT atheists … atheism has had a disproportionate impact on Western culture. What I mean is … when we’re bombarded with messages that once we die we go into the ground and that’s it … it impacts our focus. Like if this life is all there is … then we better make sure we make the most of it … right? This is why Christians who focus the MOST on heaven often have the biggest impact on earth. Instead of being fixated on themselves … on getting the most out of this life for themselves … they’re able to focus on the needs of others. It is people like William Wilberforce … an evangelical Christian … who quite often end up changing the world.

BUT … if you think there’s NO heaven … NOTHING beyond the grave … then this life is it. So you better have the most fun … make the maximum amount of money … enjoy the best things … and visit the most exotic places that you can. Because once you die … you go into the ground and that’s it. And this is where politics comes in. Politics is defined as:

The activities associated with the governance of a country or area. (Repeat)

So those activities could be:

Economic activities … like taxes and government spending
Judicial activities … ensuring people don’t hurt each other
Public services activities … like housing, roads, hospitals and schools
And social activities … like looking after those who can’t look after themselves

And ALL these activities are designed to provide good lives for the citizens of that particular country or area. They are to curb evil on the one hand … and ensure everyone has a shot at a happy and prosperous life on the other. And this is why people idolise politics. If THIS life is all there is … then:

We NEED the government to be restraining those people who might take our fun away … whether that be violent criminals … or people who hurt my feelings on the internet.
We NEED good roads and schools and healthcare … so that we can prosper. And you and I cannot build roads or schools or hospitals ourselves. We need the government to do that.
We NEED a government who will not take too MUCH in taxes for those things … so that we can enjoy the fruits of our labour.
But we ALSO need a government who will help the marginalised … so THEY can enjoy life. And that will require more taxes.

The REASON some people idolise politics is because politics is HOW we fix our world’s problems … and provide good lives for us all. And if this life is all there is … then politics is of utmost … if not ultimate importance. It is HOW you and I are going to live THIS life to the full.

What happens when we idolise politics

The problem is … what happens when we idolise politics is the SAME as when we idolise anything. We end up ruining it. So for example:

If we idolise marriage … and think that our marriage is going to bring us ultimate fulfilment … we end up crushing our spouse under the weight of having to make us happy all the time. We end up ruining our marriage.
If we idolise our kids … and think that having successful kids is what will bring us satisfaction in life … we will end up crushing our kids under the weight of expectation. We end up running our kids.

And it’s the same with politics. When we idolise politics … we put politics in the seat of God. What I mean is … we say ‘this thing is what is going to give my life ultimate fulfilment and satisfaction and happiness’. Now according to the Bible … the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY person who can bear that weight. But if you don’t worship God … then you will seek fulfilment and satisfaction and happiness somewhere else. As famed author and self-confessed atheist … David Foster Wallace said … ‘there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we make is WHAT to worship’. And so to worship our political ideology … means we make our political ideology the most important thing in existence.

But WHEN we do that … what happens to those people who don’t agree with MY views on how to fix the world? Like if my VIEWS on politics are just views … then I can have a polite discourse on politics. Like it doesn’t matter if someone makes a good point … even if it highlights a whole in my thinking. Because my political ideology is NOT my identity … they’ve actually HELPED me. They’ve taught me something I didn’t know before. But if my political ideology is my GOD … then those who disagree with me are not just wrong … they’re immoral. They are putting at risk the one and only way to fix our world. My way.

And this is how idolising politics RUINS politics. The WHOLE point of politics … its CORE function … is to allow people to debate … then make decisions on governance. But if we think our political opponents are not just wrong … but are immoral … then what do you think happens? Well for one thing … we have permission to call them names … like Nazi. I mean if they’re out to ruin the world … as shown by their rebellion against my ‘god’ … then they’ve forfeited their right to enjoy polite discourse. But even worse … is that those who idolise their political ideology NOW think they have a moral duty … to silence their opponents. I mean think about it. If our opponents are espousing views that are detrimental to society … then we have a moral obligation to NOT engage them in public discourse … but to cancel them altogether.

And that’s where most Western governments are at right now. Personally I think Australia is fairing better than the rest of the 5-eyes nations … of the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand. But it is becoming increasingly difficult for Western governments to do their job anymore. Why? Because too many people … whether that be our elected officials … or the voters who demand they represent them … no longer see those on the other side of the isle as political opponents. They see them as enemies to our way of life.

John Anderson … the former deputy Prime Minister of Australia … says that good public discourse is necessary for good public policy. What that means is … a failure to LISTEN to our political opponents in public discourse … is resulting in a failure of good public policy. And we as God’s people are suffering along with the rest of our society … if not MORE in some situations … because of these bad public policies.

How can we fix our politics

So … that’s the WHY and the WHAT of our current state of politics. WHY do people idolise politics? Because they believe it’s the best way to ensure we’re living THIS life to the full. And WHAT happens when we idolise politics? We STOP viewing our political opponents as partners in government … and start seeing them as immoral enemies who must be ignored … if not silenced. The final question is … how do we address this debilitating situation? How can we get conservatives and progressives to stop demonising each other … and try and fix our politics? Well I’ve got 4 points of application for today. The FIRST two are something we ALL can do … while the SECOND two are things only Christians can do.

So application point number 1 … is to get some epistemic humility. We need to realise that we don’t know everything … and we COULD be wrong. Even as a Christian minister … I need to admit that I could be wrong on Christianity. To claim otherwise is to claim God-like perfection.

So about 12 months ago … one of the 4-horsemen of neo-atheism … Sam Harris … got cancelled. Now I’m going to talk about cancel culture next week; but he got cancelled because he said it was RIGHT for the Hunter Biden laptop story to get buried until after the election. Why? Because if the American people had known the truth about Jo Biden’s connections to Hunter Biden’s dodgy deals … they would have made the wrong decision in 2020 and re-elected Trump. Now I’m not making a comment one way or the other about Trump or Biden. What I AM saying is … for Sam Harris to think that he knows more than half the population of the United States is arrogance of the second highest order. The only way he could be more arrogant … is to think he knows more than God.

And that’s what WE do … whenever we think OUR political ideology is SO rock-solid … that I have NOTHING to learn from those who might disagree with me. The FIRST way we’re going to fix our politics is to get some epistemic humility … and realise those who disagree with us might have something to teach us.

SECOND piece of application … is we need to change our culture. It’s not just our elected officials who are finding it hard to collaborate with those they disagree with. MANY pockets of Western society are doing the same. Now changing culture is one of the hardest things you can do. It’s like turning the Titanic … using a leaf as a rudder. And I don’t have any rock-solid solutions for this.

But what I DO know is that the media and social media are the MAIN echo chambers in which this idolatry is spread … followed by universities and Hollywood. And so we can be aware of this … and be discerning. If people stop listening to media outlets who are nothing more than an echo chamber for their particular ideology … then their influence will wane … if not disappear altogether. And if we stop validating ideologically driven ideas on social media … people will stop LOOKING for validation that way. So let’s be discerning in how we interact with the society around us.

THIRD piece of application … is realise politics cannot bear the weight of fixing all the world’s problems. In fact … IF we look to our ideology to fix things … it will only result in higher anxiety levels. We will constantly be worried about what that person is thinking … or what that politician is saying, what that government is doing … or what that organisation is promoting. Idols always RAISE our anxiety levels. Only Jesus can bear the weight of fixing our world’s problems. The reason being … he’s already fixed the world’s BIGGEST problem: Sin. So if he can reconcile sinful humans with their creator … he’s more than qualified to look after the small stuff as well. So worship the Lord … not politics.

And finally … Christians must realise that God is neither conservative nor progressive. He’s something else altogether. What do I mean? Well to begin with … the Bible aligns itself very strongly with conservative values. So in the passage we read before … we’re told:

No prostitution … Deut 23:17. Some progressive outlets today claim prostitution is empowering for women. Not the Bible.
Also … be true to your word … Deut 23:21.

Add to that things like no sex before marriage … no dressing provocatively … no getting drunk … no abusing your spouse … and no divorce … except under extreme circumstances. The Bible is VERY conservative. But’s it’s also VERY Progressive. Again from our Deuteronomy 23 passage:

Look after the oppressed. If a run-away slave comes to you … take care of him … Deut 23:15.
And look after the poor. Instead of using others as a means of making money … don’t charge your fellow Israelites interest … Deut 23:19.

But it’s even more complicated than that. Let me read to you:

Deuteronomy 23:24-25 (NIV) If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.

Now conservatives tend to favour capitalism … in which the person who OWNS the field and works the field should get the profits of the field. Progressives on the other hand tend to favour socialism … in which the rich landowners are FORCED to share their profits with their neighbours. You have 2 cows. You give one to your neighbour. Yet this verse says BOTH are true. BOTH are fair. ‘Just because you ONW the field doesn’t mean you own all the produce. I make things grow’ … says the Lord. Yet you do own MOST of it. No one is entitled to just MAKE you give up your harvest … or your cow.

So when Christians align themselves strongly with either the right or the left … they’re on a different page to God. Now that’s not to say we can’t LEAN to the right or the left. MOST people … Christian or non-Christian … have political leanings. But Christians must resist the temptation to think their political leanings are God’s. They’re NOT. How do we know? Because God is neither right nor left. He’s something else altogether.

Conclusion

And if we can keep these 4 things in mind … then we’re on our way to becoming part of the SOLUTION to Western culture … rather than part of the problem. For when we fail to listen to our political opponents … simply because they don’t worship our ideology … then we begin to fail as a society altogether. May we rather seek the peace and prosperity of our culture … by (i) getting some epistemic humility, (ii) being discerning about what we listen to or comment on, (iii) worship Jesus alone, and (iv) realise that Jesus is neither conservative nor progressive. He is something different altogether.

Failing to listen is failure Jer 29:4-9 & Deut 23:15-25 9th June 2024