[0:00] Thank you, Brother John. Good morning.
[0:20] It is indeed good to be in the Lord's house on the Lord's day with the Lord's people, as John put recently, it is about putting him first.
[0:37] And that's what I'm here to talk about. I'm not repeating those lines, or John's lines, just for funsies. I intend to spend this sermon leaning into a particular prominent word in them.
[0:52] My sermon is titled, Politics According to Genesis. By politics, I simply mean the theory and practice of who gets to tell who what to do.
[1:05] Yes. Again, politics. The theory and practice of who gets to tell who what to do. I believe that all political theory can be bunched into that simple statement.
[1:19] My thesis is simple. Jesus is Lord. Period. And not in a merely spiritual, personal, relational sense, even though I believe that that is easily the most important sense.
[1:34] But also, Jesus is Lord in that political sense above. He gets to tell us what to do, in the same sense that political rulers can, because he is the true kind of political Lord.
[1:50] To defend this statement for our encouragement, I'm going to start from my usual New Testament starting passage, and then, after a few examples, work forwards through Genesis 1 and 2, matching it with other passages about Jesus along the way, until I have made the basic case that our God is the only true political Lord.
[2:11] There are many good reasons for why such a point needs to be made. One is that we live in a political society in the Republic known as the United States of America. Second, some in this congregation have voiced the need for Christians to be political.
[2:27] And this point, the point of the sermon, needs to be the basis of any such actions, regardless of the sub-theories used for application. However, let me not kid myself, and definitely not y'all.
[2:41] I am engaging in, if not selfishness, then at least self-interest. I need to hear this message. Many of the facts of my life suggest that I do not want to be governed, even by myself.
[2:56] I do not want to be restrained. I do not want accountability. I still regularly struggle with this desire to be my own God. I regularly want to have the authority to tell myself what to do, even if it's just so that I do not have to tell myself anything at all.
[3:17] However, two facts persist. First, I still manage to truly believe that I would be a much better person for the glory of Yahweh if I more consistently believed and remembered what I am preaching today.
[3:32] Preaching it will help. Second, to the extent that my message is found in Yahweh's word, is the same extent to which all of us need to hear it, even if I am still the one that needs to hear it the most.
[3:45] Some of us may even have the opposite issue. So well self-governed that they forget that such self-governance must only be done for and can only be sensible because the one true God, the one true governor, exists.
[4:02] Regardless of our plight, God is Lord, and that makes all the difference. So, where to start? Where I normally do. First though, one disclaimer.
[4:14] While I read from many passages, the only one that I will ask us to stand for and pause for us to turn to is Genesis 1-1 through 2-3. Please stand in your hearts for the rest of them, and I'll at least try to clearly articulate all passage names for note-taking purposes.
[4:31] However, Genesis 1-1 through 2-3 is the focus, and will be treated as such. But again, where to start? My usual, from the historical book of Acts, the book of Acts of the Apostles, the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
[4:50] My usual passage is Acts 17, 10-15, which chronicles a consistent, apical example for us. That again is Acts 17, 10-15.
[5:02] Here reads it. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
[5:13] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
[5:25] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing, as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
[5:44] Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
[6:04] So reads the word of Yahweh. Like all other passages that I will mention, many sermons can be made about it in itself. Who is Timothy and the Greek women of high standing?
[6:16] Why are the Thessalonican Jews trying to stop the proclamation of the word of God? How is Yahweh using this event? However, my point, and the one that is important across the entire Bible, is centered in verses 11 and 12.
[6:30] The Jews of Berea, at least as an example of, if not the definition of, their nobility, is that they eagerly compared scripture with scripture to make sure that what was being told to them was true.
[6:45] They did not treat the apostle as the authority. They did not treat him, Paul, as the unit that could tell them what to do. They treated scripture, God's word, as that unit.
[6:57] Y'all must, and I mean must, do the same with me. The same must be done for the regular vocational pastor, so it must be done even more so for a finite, fallible, half-baked punk with a degree in secular theology and only incomplete handle on the English language and virtually no handle on the biblical languages.
[7:18] I do not get to tell you what to do. May that be a comfort to us all. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.
[7:30] Glory to God. Amen. If Yahweh is merciful, though, and if the Spirit is with us, then I can tell you what God is telling us to do.
[7:42] Being Bereans with me is the best way to make sure that that is what is happening, that Christ is Lord over this sermon, not a vapor like me. As a segue, though, to the larger point that Christ is Lord, I must point out that noble, which is what the Berean Jews are called, has political connotations.
[8:04] Nobility is often a term for those who have at least been granted some political authority. Should it be a surprise to those who believe that Jesus is Lord are able to read what he has said and use it as a standard for nobility?
[8:20] And what is this word of God that they received and researched? I believe it is the variant of the gospel account that Paul and Silas gave them.
[8:34] Some version of what is found in the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are the fullest accounts, but they are condensed accounts.
[8:45] I'm sorry. They are the fullest account, those gospels, but there are condensed accounts. And I believe that one of the most beautifully condensed accounts is found in Acts 16, verses 30 through 31.
[8:57] That is Acts 16, verses 30 through 31. Here reads the word of the argument. Then he, being the Philippian jailer, brought them, being Paul and Silas, the same characters that we see with the Bereans, brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
[9:24] And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. So reads the word of Yahweh.
[9:37] I tried to give enough of this section, even if barely, to show that much is involved. But I also believe that the core imperative of the gospel is found here.
[9:48] Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It is elegantly, mercifully simple, but it is not contentless. The words it contains have deep meaning.
[10:02] And what is one of those words? Lord. Jesus is Lord. He is called such. He is immediately tied to a title that is political in nature.
[10:16] For to be a Lord is to have the ability to tell people what to do. This would be powerful even if this was the beginning of the political theme. But it is not.
[10:26] Not by a long shot. To get to the start of the theme, we need to do what the Bereans did. We need to go to the Jewish word of God, the Old Testament.
[10:42] Now, Lord is a common name for our God throughout the whole Bible. Interesting, a political word works through his name across virtually every book of the Bible.
[10:57] Also, interestingly, the use of the Lord as a sole replacement for God's name starts at Genesis 4. Before that, from Genesis 2-4 through to the end of Genesis 3, a two-word term is used, Lord God.
[11:14] And in the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis 1-1 through 2-3, one God, only God is used. You have God, Lord God, and Lord going through the rest of the Bible.
[11:30] Interestingly, this begs the question, why is the term Lord not used at the beginning? I argue that this is because before God is called Lord, he first reveals himself as Lord.
[11:46] Genesis 1-1 through 2-3 is where Yahweh reveals himself as Lord. First through the acts of creation, and then by what immediately follows. From then on, the use of the title Lord always makes sense to use.
[12:02] From the rest of Genesis through to the end of the Bible. So, with that in mind, we are at our primary text. Genesis 1-1 through 2-3 found, and I love this fact, found on page 1 of your pew Bibles.
[12:22] Fitting. That is Genesis 1-1 through 2-3 found on page 1 of the pew Bibles. Genesis 1-1 through 2-3.
[12:41] Please stand, if you are able, for the reading of God's word. Genesis 1-1 through 2-3.
[12:54] Here reads the word of Yahweh. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
[13:07] And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw that the light was good.
[13:19] And God separated the light from darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening and morning, the first day.
[13:32] And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.
[13:47] And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear.
[14:03] And it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And God saw that it was good.
[14:15] And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.
[14:26] And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, according to their own kinds, and fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind.
[14:38] And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day. And God said, Let there be light in the expanse of the heavens, to separate the day from night.
[14:52] And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth. And it was so.
[15:04] And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth, to rule over the day, and over the night, and to separate light from darkness.
[15:22] And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth, across the expanse of the heavens.
[15:38] So God created the great sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird, according to its kind.
[15:50] And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.
[16:02] And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures, according to their kinds, livestock, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds.
[16:16] And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth, according to their kinds, and the livestock, according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground, according to its kind.
[16:27] And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
[16:49] So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. And God blessed them.
[17:00] And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
[17:15] And behold, and God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.
[17:27] You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.
[17:40] And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there is evening, and there is morning, the sixth day.
[17:52] Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
[18:04] So God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy. Because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
[18:16] So it reads the word of Yahweh. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, glory be to you, the God who is here with us, the God who was there at the beginning, who intended it all, and intended everything that came from it, Lord, starting with these foundational acts.
[18:33] Start from your creation out of nothing, the heavens and the earth, starting with the Spirit hovering over the waters. Lord, may that same Spirit, that same Spirit close to the beginning, beginning of creation, be close to creation now, may he be with us here.
[18:47] May there be a Spirit of discernment over this. May all that is good, at least that which is most good to remember from this, be kept, and be part of our walk of faith.
[18:59] May everything unworthy of that be forgotten. May you be our Lord. In your name I pray. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Amen. Amen.
[19:09] Amen. Amen. Amen. Excuse me, sorry.
[19:37] Now, again, Genesis 1-1-2-3 does not have examples of the word Lord, but I believe that has something greater.
[19:48] As we have read, I believe it is one giant example of Yahweh's lordship, and a lordship that has nothing close to comparison. This is primarily done in three ways.
[20:01] One, by the creation. Two, by the way he creates. And three, what he immediately does after creation, at least later on in the created order. By the end of this passage, the pattern of all three of those ways, I believe, will be clearly seen.
[20:18] Now, part of the reason for them being patterns is that this passage can be broken down into smaller sections. Perhaps, most obviously, it can be split into the daily counts.
[20:29] So, with that, first emphasis, Genesis 1-5, day one. In the very first verse, Yahweh creates the earth and all the space around it.
[20:43] The framework for the entire universe is built in one verse. It is basic, without form and void, if you will. But it is still an unfathomable start beyond what any statesman can do.
[20:57] And Yahweh is nowhere near finished. Note that that power is not outside of him, say, in contrast to an election. Yahweh's creative power is internal to him.
[21:11] He does not need something else. He quite literally does not need anything else. He is inherently a creator. He creates the universe out of nothing.
[21:23] There is no comparison. Only a clear distinction between every other basis of political power. It only takes the first two verses to make that distinction.
[21:35] By the end of verse 2, we have the Spirit hovering over the face of the waters. One thing to take away from this, and one that I will point to more later, is that the Lord is not all of what Yahweh is.
[21:49] It is a very important aspect, one we are clearly seeing in his sheer power, his sheer ability to do, an incredible basis for why he should be the one to tell us.
[22:02] But that is not all it is. It is a very important aspect, which is why a sermon like this is important, if the Spirit is present here as he was then. But still, even something as profound as being the one who gets to tell everything what to do is far from the only thing our God is.
[22:20] And the use of both nouns God and Spirit, separately, hint that there is more to this God than just Creator and Lord. Back to Lordship, though. History is replete with aloof rulers, one's distance from their subjects.
[22:50] And the effects are often only good if the ruler is so net and forgetful that forgotten people are able to flourish under their own watch. That is, if a closer, hostile power does not take a more personal interest.
[23:03] To be even more critical, depending on what political theory one holds to, human governments will always have a level of aloofness. To be the king on a throne, or to be a congressman in a capital, is not the same as to be a citizen making a taxable living, let alone all the different varieties of taxable living meshed together in a society.
[23:25] Even the most populous rulers may not be able to help but make decrees that will mess with the most honest living of someone who does not quite fit the populist norm. Even if the foundation for a populist movement is more true than just current trending slogans.
[23:40] And that is an if. However, the Holy Spirit will never have that issue. From the first day of creation, he is right there with creation, and with the exhaustive knowledge of it that the divine has.
[23:56] It is no wonder that he intercedes for us in our weakness. As Christians, as seen in Romans 8, verse 26. Again, Romans 8, verse 26. He, the Holy Spirit, has been with us before there is even an us in the created order.
[24:14] So the very act of creation reveals the basis of his lordship. By verse 3, we also see the way he creates. He creates by decreeing. He says, let there be light, and there is light.
[24:28] Yahweh does not just tell people what to do, though we will get to that. He gets to tell the very fabric of reality what to be. And it seems to be better behaved than people.
[24:43] What politician can do that? To be clear, given the horrors of political history, the full question is, what politician who isn't God can do that and actually have it work?
[24:55] Anyway, it is no wonder that God can then name entities he creates, like calling light day and darkness night. One may be able to dispute the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
[25:09] But if Yahweh appeared in the clouds over it and named it the Gulf of Christ, a debate would never even start. Many entities have attempted to steward and shape it, but only one created it.
[25:22] In comparison, though, I find it to be more of a wonder that he can declare it good, which God does repeatedly through the creation account.
[25:33] God's perfect attributes and his perfect ability to create in line with those attributes allows him to create something outside of him that still reflects his desirable qualities.
[25:44] He declares it good because it is good, because he made it to be good. In contrast, the inability of humans to do the same, even at our best, is why politics has derogatory connotations.
[26:00] At worst, it's why the term propaganda exists. Yahweh can have something effortlessly be what he says it is. His ability to speak creation into existence makes what something is and what he says it is the same thing.
[26:17] In human politics, the two are never the same. And it is often easier to just declare the good without creating the good. By the end of this section, the patterns are already formed.
[26:32] Each day has those themes of creation and creation by decree. Now to Genesis 1, 6-8. The political pattern continues.
[26:48] Like a lord, like no other lord, and above all lords, Yahweh can speak and create by speaking. He is not just a creator, but he is effortlessly able to create by order.
[27:04] By ordering reality. By literally ordering all of reality around. He is able to tell everything what to do. I would love to indulge the wannabe scientist in me and discuss what the separation of the waters means before the land appears.
[27:23] But that will have to wait. For now, it is important to note that the political control over water, and yes, I believe it is political control, is not a one-off event. The parting of the Red Sea in the political narrative of Exodus, not that Exodus is a political narrative, but that there is definitely a political narrative in Exodus, may not be as epic of an example.
[27:46] But it is epic nonetheless, and the politics of it are even more obvious, especially with the Genesis groundwork already partially laid. In saving his people that he chose, he is doing so by undoing the power of a rebellious king who based his power on false higher authorities, namely the pharaoh and the Egyptian pantheon of gods.
[28:07] The parting of the Red Sea patterns God's control over creation. However, the theme does not end there. This sermon started with a gospel distillation of Jesus being Lord, and that must be not forgotten.
[28:23] So to remember, let's go back to the New Testament, Mark 4, 35-41. Again, Mark 4, verses 35-41.
[28:35] Here reads the word of Yahweh. On that day, when evening had come, he being Jesus, said to them, Let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him.
[28:53] And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filled. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.
[29:06] And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still.
[29:19] And the wind ceased, and there was a great call. He said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
[29:31] And they were filled with great fear, and said to one another, Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? So reads the word of God.
[29:44] The Jewish people at the time of Jesus seemed to have expected something closer to a conservative Jewish version of Donald Trump than the Lord incarnate. One that, with the people at his side, and with God's favor, could reestablish their earthly kingdom.
[30:02] They were not expecting the true Lord to come. In the words of John 1, that is John 1, they were not expecting the word that was with God and was God to come in the flesh.
[30:16] So they were not expecting the God that made the seas with words to control the Sea of Galilee with words. In this scene, Jesus reveals his lordship in a way that reflects how God's lordship was first revealed in Genesis.
[30:31] Back to Genesis, though. To continue seeing the pattern, Genesis 1, 9-13. And again, we see the pattern.
[30:43] And we should take the repetition seriously. We should lean into it. God creates, and he does so by declaring. He decrees that something is, and that is what it becomes.
[30:57] In this section, all the vast intricacies of plant life biology are created by fiat. The decrees creating the prior days sets up the framework for plant life to thrive, and this day's decree sets up the ability for higher order life to thrive on later days.
[31:17] Regardless, we see once again, God gets to tell reality what to do. He is Lord. Next, Genesis 1, 14-19.
[31:30] And again, the political pattern gets drilled in. God creates, and he does so by decree. Last time is plants.
[31:43] This time, it's a whole universe of heavenly bodies. Interesting setup. Much to think about there. Much to display his focus.
[31:53] He seems to focus more on plant life than on the entire rest of the universe. It's almost like God has something specific in mind. A specific narrative he wants.
[32:05] And particular characters he wants to play in it. Culminating, well, that's for what got to the side. But now, with us. But I digress.
[32:16] He is the true Lord, as seen here, because he is the true creator, and the only one who can speak creation into existence. What politician and political decree can ever compare to that?
[32:31] Note, as with the previous section, he does so in a way that, while still for his own glory and as a display of his own goodness, hints at something else.
[32:43] Why is there plant life? Why is there plant life? And who are the signs and seasons for? Political history is full of planners. My memory is haunted by the worst of them. None of them are the creator God, though.
[32:56] None can do so with this level of intentionality. None can set up things and increasingly set up things the way he can. With that in mind, here is Genesis 1, 20-23.
[33:15] Again, lordship. And again, the political pattern. God gets to tell who what to do on a level that no other politician can remotely compare to.
[33:26] I hope that's obvious. However, starting on this day, the third way that God's political primacy is revealed. And in the most direct sense, the way that most crosses over with every political institution.
[33:44] On the first four days, God creates, giving him authority by ownership. And he does so by speaking, demonstrating his ability to tell everything what to do, to decree, to give verdict, by fiat, to tell things what they are.
[33:58] On this day, though, once something is created, he then tells it how it should act. He tells the creatures of the water and the creatures of the air what to do after they are created.
[34:12] Many political entities understand that their ability to create whole cloth is limited. But many still have some sense that they can decree, once things are created, how it should go.
[34:28] God is showing he can do that too. His fear overlaps. And given his other abilities, guess who has priority? This is something that God can do because he, as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect creator and sustainer who is close to his creation, knows exactly how creation should behave for his glory and our benefit.
[34:52] Human politicians completely lack all those qualities. And yet there is no shortage of them telling us how we should and should not behave. Now, it is not guaranteed that how they are telling us to behave is wrong.
[35:10] It would be unfair to put all the godly leaders of history completely in the same camp, as fallible as they can be. But it is guaranteed that it is not by their own authority.
[35:24] God gets to tell us what to do. Everyone else either parrots it, applies it, or defies it. All of human politics fits into those categories.
[35:36] Next day, day 6. Genesis 24-31. The pattern is once again drilled in.
[35:49] I think God wants this point made known. The land creatures are one, created, two, by decree, and three, then told how to behave. Once again, Yahweh's political sovereignty is on full display.
[36:04] He can tell everything what to do because its very intentional creation was done by the very act of telling. The land creatures are no different. However, we also see something else.
[36:19] Something we hinted at before. And this is an important side that I think must be made. I believe that it is very good and very important to see Yahweh as Lord in a way that no one else is, but in the same hierarchy as many try to be.
[36:37] I believe this repetition serves it. I believe the whole term of Lord throughout the Bible makes this clear. At the same time, though, I believe that it is very bad to only see Yahweh as Lord, as ruler, as politician.
[36:52] As Karl Barth points out in his Dogmatics in Ally, an entity who is merely almighty is a decent depiction of the devil, or more accurately, what the devil wishes to be.
[37:04] This should not be forgotten when one sees a person who merely wants to rule. And on that note, Karl Barth's comments were in context of the way that Adolf Hitler talked about God.
[37:16] Anyway, I found this understanding from Barth as part of a quote found in Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. His context for the quote is the real and dangerous challenges one will face if one tries to discern what God is like by our own mental faculties, and without revelation, like we're trying to be the authority of knowledge, without taking him first, taking what he said to us first.
[37:46] With revelation, we do not have that issue. First off, we already have the level of intimacy that the hovering of the Spirit provides. God is with his creation from the very start.
[38:00] In verses 26 and 27, we also see that his creation is also with him, if only because we are created that way. Each of us is, and all of us are, made in the image and likeness of God.
[38:16] We are created by God in a way that is unique compared to all of creation, and we are given value in a way that is unique to all of creation. This is the kind of basis that makes sense of our full relationship with God.
[38:34] This is the foundational piece that allows us to pray to God as Father. It is why he can consistently command us to call him that, as seen in Matthew 6, in the Lord's Prayer.
[38:50] That is why Jesus can also be our brother as well as our Lord, Ephesians 1, as we are adopted sons and daughters to the Father. It is the basis for why we can have a true, personal relationship with him.
[39:08] God is Lord. That is the point. But God is not only Lord, and praise be to him for that. However, back to our major theme. It is why we are commanded greater command.
[39:21] By being made in the image of one who gets to tell everything what to do, we have dominion through him. We have a lesser ability to tell people, to tell stuff what to do, even if our telling doesn't get very far.
[39:36] It is interesting to note that, it's an unfortunate point I don't have time to go to, no matter how, but our stewardship is, A, built off what he created. He gives us a sandbox.
[39:47] We are to work in a way to bring in glory, and B, in a way that seems first and foremost economic. We work with the world first. He tells it how it is.
[39:58] He tells us how to be. We work according to those metrics. But last, I move on. I have one last section, and one last point with it.
[40:08] Let me finish with Genesis 2, 1-3. Not despite, but because of the true, full nature of our true politician, we see something in these verses that I find rare.
[40:26] Restraint. God stopped creating. He even rested. And for our benefit, as an example for us, first lived out by him, he did what he meant to, and he stopped.
[40:41] The most powerful, the most true, the most awesome political ruler ever showed restraint and stopped.
[40:53] May that be an example that our political leaders remember. So, where does that leave us? At the beginning. I'm it.
[41:04] I struggled to bring the connection forwards after I made it backwards. However, this is a beginning now contextualized across the whole Bible. We now have this foundational basis for why God is called Lord.
[41:19] Through the rest of Genesis, through Exodus, through the entire Pentateuch, through many of the Old Testament passages, through many of the prophets, through Psalms. I did a count of the Psalms. You don't get to a Psalm that doesn't talk about the Lord directly until Psalm 43, I believe.
[41:33] I had a cutout piece of where I just started counting them and seeing who would get annoyed. The last prophet, Malachi, talks about Lord, and in the same way that's in that hierarchy or government.
[41:49] And then Jesus is Lord. All authority has been given to him. So, he can tell us what to do. And in a very real vein, it is political.
[42:02] As the true politician who can truly tell us what to do, because he created us and he knows us. The Spirit is with us. The Father is above all. Jesus Christ has been given all authority.
[42:14] Whatever system, whatever we have to do in the way, and however we do it, whatever sub-theory makes the most sense of our time and place, whatever the most practical way to act for the glory of God is, that needs to be first remembered.
[42:29] Jesus Christ as Lord, and the applicable commandments he has given to us for our day and age, are what need to be taken in first. All happens after that. Thank you.
[42:42] May God have mercy. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you to you for all you are. May this understanding of lordship help with that.
[42:54] May the rest not be forgotten. May the rest be studied. May the rest be understood. Lord, to be adopted sons, to be adopted daughters.
[43:05] Lord, may that be something we also remember. but may be intricately tied to the one who gets to tell us to do. And we as your people in service to you, may we delight in that.
[43:18] May we be reformed to that. May my soul desire that. May our souls desire that. May we be your body. May the house be your head. In your name I pray.
[43:30] Amen. Amen.