Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone. Thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, aren't you tired of identity politics? This is prompted by an op ed piece that was written in the Wall Street Journal by Karl Rove, the former, chief of staff to President George W. Bush. And Karl Rove's op ed piece, I love this title, is called I Want yout Vote, you, Bigot. It's looking at the campaign techniques of Zahran Mamdani, who's running for mayor of New York City. In fact, by the time you listen to this episode, he just may have been elected the mayor of New York City. Now, Mamdani is a Muslim, and no problem with Muslims running for office in America. Anyone who wants to gets to run for office. But what's interesting is that Mamdani has not been shy in his campaign about calling himself the victim, about calling Muslims victims in New York City. In fact, he recently uploaded a video to YouTube in which he spends a considerable amount of time arguing. Arguing that Muslims have it pretty bad in New York City, and maybe even the worst in light of September 11th. He points to the way they're treated by the authorities, the way they're treated by other citizens. He even says, hey, I had this idea that I could run on ideas. I had this idea that. That I could be a mayor to everyone. And now I realize I'll never be accepted because I'm a, Muslim. It's an interesting video for a couple of reasons. I mean, one is it's. It's very rare to see someone nakedly to call themselves the victim when they are a public figure. But then, second, it's interesting because Mamdani is leading in every poll. So the very city he's accusing of bigotry and hatred and causing his victimhood is the city that seems poised, at least at this moment, in overwhelming fashion, to elect him. Now, this is also complicated by the fact that Mamdani is a democratic socialist. That's his language, not mind, which means he believes that, government should be solving the problems of the everyday citizen. And so he's giving you a window into his kind of mindset that even as he's poised to lead one of the biggest cities in the world, that city needs to take care of him and solve his victimhood. And the reason I point this out is because Mamdani's approach to leadership could not be any different than the biblical model of leadership. Let's just start here. Leadership, according to the Bible is about servanthood. It's about not talking about yourself, not making the focus yourself, not even telling other people they should be doing a better job of serving you. Leadership is about saying, what can I do for others? Jesus said it this way in Matthew 20:36, the greatest among you must become your servant. Jesus modeled through foot washing what it really means to be the leader. Jesus modeled by going to the cross what it looks like to lay down your life for those whom you are leading. Mamdani wants us to do better for him, but actually leadership is about waking up in the morning and not saying, how can New York City be better for me? But what can I do as the soon to be mayor of New York City to love and serve other New Yorkers? That's the problem with victimhood and identity politics. It always makes it about power and oppression. So I don't begin by saying I exist for others. I begin by saying who's getting in the way of who I want to be. It's also a reminder that anytime we find our identity in earthly things, things like ethnicity or things like tribalism, we're to result in division. It's never going to be true that every people group in every society has everything equal. That has never been true in history. That is never going to be true. Even if we could get it so that no one race benefits over another, no one gender benefits of the other, you'd still have good looking people and not smart people and not athletic people and not people are never going to experience equality if equality is rooted in us. That's why the Bible offers us a deeper level. It's why Paul says in Galatians 3, there's therefore no longer male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free, but all are one in Christ. He's not saying that when we become Christians, we stop being male, we stop being female, we stop being slaves, we stop being free. What he's saying is that our fundamental identity is a person for whom Jesus died. So in some ways, I'm taking a shot at Mamdani because he is not modeling biblical leadership. And in other ways I'm acknowledging that absent the gospel of Jesus Christ, this is probably always the direction leadership goes. And that leads me to the third thing. Because this is more about you and I than it is Mamdani or anyone else. We have to reject fear based leadership. That's what Mamdani is really saying is that if I don't get elected, people will live in fear. If I don't get elected, then people will will be after my Muslim friends and neighbors and if not them, then someone else. But remember that the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love. the way we overcome identity politics is by even as voters looking to care and serve for as many people as we can, waking up in the morning and saying it's not about me or my identity, it's about what I can do to make life better for everyone else. Selfish mayors lead selfish cities. Self focused mayors lead self focused cities. Ugh. what we need are leaders who wake up in the morning thinking as servants. And I know we don't have many yet. So that's why we cast our eyes on the one true King, Jesus, who laid down his life for us and is even now building for us a kingdom that will last. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC Apple, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!