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 throwing it back. This is something fun we're doing this summer where WULU, now being over a year old, has a number of popular episodes.

And what we would call popular is, of course, something that gets a lot of views, a lot of downloads, but also something that prompted a lot of feedback from you, something that moved the needle in your heart and in your mind. And we're looking at the comments that we've gotten, and we're saying, hey. Is this still the opinion that we would advance today? And in this episode, we're looking back at one we did on the twenty twenty four election right in the thick of the presidential election. And we asked the question, are we just blindly supporting party candidates?

Now the episode was prompted by the rash of felonies that, now president Trump, then, former president Trump had been accused of and eventually convicted of. And we talked about what does it mean to have a presidential candidate who's under felony indictment later convicted of those felonies, and should that bother us? We talked about how really that's just prompted, the chirping from both sides of the aisle. One, talking about the weaponizing of the of the justice system, and the other, talking about the need for morality and ethics and politics. And, of course, all things come back around.

So just months later, we were talking about the cognitive decline of president Biden and the massive cover up by the Biden administration for maybe up to two years of having a president that was literally losing his mind. And so, really, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat whether you enjoy pointing the finger at Biden or Trump, the question stands. Have we just become blind supporters of political parties? Well, I can make this a pretty short episode and just tell you, yes. Yes.

We have become that. And I know that because as someone who talks about the news all the time and occasionally about politics, all I hear are blind support of the party you like and blind accusations of the party you don't. And I don't blame you for that. We live in a tribalistic culture. We've been taught to be binary.

We've been taught to be hyperbolic, to run to extremes, to say, well, if you're a Republican, every dim every Democrat's an idiot. And if you're a Democrat, every Republican is immoral. And when you live in that culture long enough, the smell gets on you. The the vibe of that culture is buried in your heart. So this is not judgment about why you shouldn't be that way or why I shouldn't be.

It's a call in the name of Jesus to disentangle ourselves from that. I want you to remember that Jesus said you cannot serve both God and money. What he was saying is there can only be one primary discipler in your life, only one primary entity, one primary person who gets to tell you what's right and what is wrong. Now he applied it to money, but, of course, the same principle holds true. You can't serve family, or and God.

You can't serve, work and God. You gotta decide who is in charge of your life. And because I'm a pastor, not a political commentator, my concern is that the tribalism of our politics is indicative of the fact that someone other than God is deciding for us what is right and what is wrong. No human being is right all the time. No political leader is right about every one of their policies.

Do you know what you would call someone who's right all the time? You would call them God, and we have one of those. Our politicians aren't God. I think, actually, that's an unfair standard to hold them to. I'm sure that they would agree.

And yet I can't remember the last time I heard someone who I know to be a Republican tell me that president Trump was wrong. I can't remember the last time I heard someone who would call themselves a liberal say that president Biden or president Obama was wrong. I'll flip it. I can't remember the last time I heard someone who called themselves a Republican tell me the Democrats were right on this thing or vice a versa. Folks, if we can't do that, it isn't because it isn't true.

It's because we don't care about truth anymore. Tribalism does that. It reduces us down to talking points. It reduces us down to blind loyalty. And the problem with that is not just that inevitably we'll be wrong and inevitably our country will suffer.

The problem is if we're listening to someone other than God for what is right and wrong, that doesn't stay in Washington or Columbus. That trickles down into our day to day lives. God, the Bible tells us, is a jealous God. He wants to be the one who defines for you what is best, what is loving, what is wise, what is just. And if you can't tell me where your political candidate or political party of choice differs from God, then you and I need to repent.

Because it isn't that they never do. It's that we aren't willing to see it. You cannot serve Donald Trump and God. You cannot serve the Democratic Party and God. Full stop.

God is God. God gets to tell us what is right. God gets to tell us what is just. Our politicians simply either get to agree with him or disagree with him, and we will base our support on that. I understand we live in a binary system.

I understand you're sometimes choosing the better of two bad options, but could you just say that? Could you just admit that? Because I gotta tell you, as one of your pastors, for many of you watching, I'd feel a lot better about where your own heart is if you could say, hey, these things are wrong, but these things that are right will have to be enough. At least then, what I would hear in your heart and in mine is that our ultimate confidence is not in our presidential candidate, but in our king, Jesus Christ. 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 app 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 Pastor Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!