WEBVTT - Wired for Vision 0:00:00.070 --> 0:00:03.790 Well, good morning and welcome. We are finishing up our 0:00:03.850 --> 0:00:08.420 little series called Wired. And this series of conversations have 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:12.299 been about the fact that theoretically, you're made in a 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.660 certain way. Some of the old school thoughts were that 0:00:15.700 --> 0:00:19.160 we were a blank page, that we're born and we 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.489 really don't have any kind of markings or tendencies or 0:00:23.590 --> 0:00:28.500 influences in our environment is actually what shapes our personalities. Later, 0:00:28.860 --> 0:00:33.880 psychologists and philosophers decided that we were born with an essence, 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.190 and they founded a school of thought called essentialism that 0:00:38.229 --> 0:00:41.610 basically said humans are born kind of with an essence. 0:00:42.550 --> 0:00:45.630 Biblically speaking, and I think more in modern psychology, we 0:00:45.670 --> 0:00:48.760 would say it's probably some combination of these things, that 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.800 there are parts of our personalities that are certainly shaped 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.240 by our experiences and by our environment, and other parts 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.700 are essential. We are born with a certain kind of hardwiring. 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.670 So then how do you change behavior? How do you mature, grow? 0:01:02.690 --> 0:01:07.350 How do you figure out in your process what it 0:01:07.390 --> 0:01:10.880 looks like to evolve? experience genuine change to get away 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:14.720 from things that are negative in your journey, life, personality, 0:01:15.060 --> 0:01:18.560 inner world, and replace that with things that are mature 0:01:18.580 --> 0:01:21.230 and positive and giving you peace and growth and all 0:01:21.250 --> 0:01:24.550 of that. The scripture, particularly in Romans, as we've been 0:01:24.590 --> 0:01:29.030 looking at, Romans 12, 2 says, don't conform any longer 0:01:29.050 --> 0:01:31.730 to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by 0:01:31.780 --> 0:01:36.580 the renewing of your mind. And so the scripture certainly 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.459 makes an allusion to the fact that real change has 0:01:39.500 --> 0:01:42.920 to happen somewhere in our wiring, in the way we think, 0:01:43.020 --> 0:01:45.380 in the way we see the world, and what we value. 0:01:45.860 --> 0:01:47.900 And so that's what this little series has been based on, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.520 is how we're wired and how we are, from a 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.880 biblical perspective, intended to be wired. What's some true things 0:01:54.940 --> 0:01:58.380 about us? And we wrap up this series thinking about 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.470 being wired for vision. We're wired to see some things 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.770 and to have some hope for some things and to 0:02:06.030 --> 0:02:10.690 envision some things that are quite good for us and 0:02:10.889 --> 0:02:14.810 allow us to see clearly some things that matter and 0:02:14.830 --> 0:02:18.250 give us hope and give us encouragement. And so to 0:02:18.510 --> 0:02:21.900 just stop and think this morning about some things that 0:02:21.940 --> 0:02:24.680 Paul writes, and I'm going to read this. I want 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.340 to just preface this by saying our conversation is not 0:02:27.380 --> 0:02:30.880 going to be highly political. But it's certainly going to 0:02:30.970 --> 0:02:34.769 sound like that when we read Paul's words. And I 0:02:34.810 --> 0:02:37.310 want to read them first, and then I'm going to 0:02:37.350 --> 0:02:41.010 add another little thought and then some breakdown for context. 0:02:41.150 --> 0:02:45.070 But here they are, Romans 13, 1 through 8. And 0:02:45.110 --> 0:02:47.230 if you've been with us these last few weeks, then 0:02:47.370 --> 0:02:50.250 this whole series of conversations have been taken from Romans 0:02:50.250 --> 0:02:56.000 8 through 13. So just a brief section of Romans. 0:02:56.100 --> 0:02:59.880 It's very important. Paul's built his theological construct in the 0:02:59.919 --> 0:03:02.840 first seven chapters, and then there's a massive turn in 0:03:03.180 --> 0:03:06.800 chapter 8. So many verses that you hear quoted come 0:03:06.860 --> 0:03:10.620 from chapter 8, a very powerful chapter, and then into 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.880 a very practical ethical application beginning in 12. So listen 0:03:14.910 --> 0:03:18.010 to what he writes to the church in Rome. These 0:03:18.070 --> 0:03:22.840 words from 13, chapter 13, verse 1. Let everyone... Be 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:27.040 subject to the governing authorities, for there's no authority except 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:31.380 that which God has established. The authorities that exist have 0:03:31.430 --> 0:03:35.410 been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority 0:03:35.470 --> 0:03:39.650 is rebelling against what God has instituted. And those who 0:03:39.710 --> 0:03:43.510 do will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no 0:03:43.570 --> 0:03:45.930 terror for those who do right, but for those who 0:03:45.950 --> 0:03:48.710 do wrong. Do you want to be free from the 0:03:48.770 --> 0:03:51.710 fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right. 0:03:52.220 --> 0:03:54.920 and you'll be commended, for the one in authority is 0:03:54.980 --> 0:03:58.140 God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, 0:03:58.180 --> 0:04:00.640 be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:04.750 no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to 0:04:04.790 --> 0:04:08.970 bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it's necessary to submit 0:04:08.990 --> 0:04:12.350 to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but 0:04:12.410 --> 0:04:15.290 also as a matter of conscience. This is also why 0:04:15.310 --> 0:04:18.070 you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants who 0:04:18.310 --> 0:04:21.650 give their full time to governing and Give to everyone 0:04:21.810 --> 0:04:23.890 what you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. 0:04:23.950 --> 0:04:26.740 If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:31.380 then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding except the continuing 0:04:31.460 --> 0:04:36.880 debt to love one another. Whoever loves others has fulfilled 0:04:37.540 --> 0:04:43.090 the law. So this is a difficult passage, depending on 0:04:43.150 --> 0:04:46.350 who's in power in our own political system. Sometimes there 0:04:46.390 --> 0:04:49.200 are people that would say, oh, yeah, that's right. Other 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.580 times people would say, that's not right at all. And 0:04:52.820 --> 0:04:55.289 what about this? And what about that? And what about 0:04:55.610 --> 0:04:58.930 evil dictators? And what about evil empires? And, you know, 0:04:58.990 --> 0:05:03.110 so just pump the brakes and pull the reins and 0:05:03.650 --> 0:05:07.410 take a deep breath. Think about this thought when it 0:05:07.510 --> 0:05:11.190 comes to what Paul is writing and why he is 0:05:11.510 --> 0:05:16.039 writing it. Hebrews 12, chapter 1 says this, Therefore, since 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.440 we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses— 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:21.850 Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin 0:05:21.870 --> 0:05:24.730 that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance 0:05:24.770 --> 0:05:28.110 the race marked out for us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, 0:05:28.150 --> 0:05:30.850 the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, for the joy 0:05:30.870 --> 0:05:33.410 set before him, he endured the cross, scorning and shame, 0:05:33.550 --> 0:05:35.810 and sat down at the right hand of the throne 0:05:35.830 --> 0:05:39.599 of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners 0:05:39.630 --> 0:05:42.280 so that you won't grow weary and lose heart. So 0:05:42.740 --> 0:05:44.659 these two things need to be kept in mind. Paul's 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.420 writing this idea about just be loyal to the people 0:05:47.460 --> 0:05:50.480 in power. God's put them there. And then the writer 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:52.780 of Hebrews is reminding them, there's a lot of folks 0:05:52.820 --> 0:05:55.220 that have come and gone. We're surrounded by a great 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.320 cloud of witness. Set aside every weight and the sin 0:05:58.339 --> 0:06:02.160 that so easily entangles. And run with the person of 0:06:02.180 --> 0:06:04.279 your church, the race marked out for you. So we're 0:06:04.300 --> 0:06:06.880 going to try to bring these ideas all together in 0:06:07.060 --> 0:06:10.420 a little bit. But for right now, we're kind of 0:06:10.460 --> 0:06:14.060 thinking about and talking about the context in which Paul 0:06:14.100 --> 0:06:16.900 writes these words. So Paul has not yet been to Rome. 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.550 He has not arrived there. He desires to go. When 0:06:21.589 --> 0:06:24.330 this letter is written, he's still trying to get there, 0:06:24.390 --> 0:06:29.170 and he will eventually get there. Rome has had an 0:06:29.210 --> 0:06:32.950 established church for quite some time. Some people think probably 0:06:33.010 --> 0:06:35.770 at least a decade, probably dating back to around the 0:06:35.810 --> 0:06:39.210 time of the crucifixion of Jesus. Historians speculate that it 0:06:39.250 --> 0:06:41.930 might have been people present in Jerusalem on that day 0:06:41.990 --> 0:06:46.589 of Pentecost who came back to Rome. and established the 0:06:46.630 --> 0:06:48.990 church there. We don't know exactly who founded it, but 0:06:49.010 --> 0:06:53.130 a thriving church. And in fact, this invasion of Christianity 0:06:53.230 --> 0:06:56.380 into the Jewish community in Rome is likely what led 0:06:56.420 --> 0:07:00.360 to the expulsion of the Jews by Claudius. And then 0:07:00.820 --> 0:07:04.240 what that happened into the church is those people who left, 0:07:04.300 --> 0:07:09.280 the Jews who left, and the Gentiles remained behind in 0:07:09.300 --> 0:07:13.110 the church. Five years later, Claudius allows the Jews back. 0:07:13.530 --> 0:07:15.970 Now it's a very different church. And Paul writes this 0:07:16.010 --> 0:07:19.050 letter to help them bring together what has been taken apart. 0:07:19.450 --> 0:07:23.310 He's advocating for a common goal, a common vision, a 0:07:23.930 --> 0:07:28.090 common purpose. He's encouraging them to set aside their differences 0:07:28.510 --> 0:07:32.090 and to create one church that is about something bigger 0:07:32.370 --> 0:07:36.810 than their nationality, their upbringing, their backgrounds, even their systems 0:07:36.870 --> 0:07:40.250 of faith, whether pagan on the Gentile side or Judaism 0:07:40.310 --> 0:07:43.860 on the Jewish side. And so this letter is about reconciliation. 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.360 It's about priorities. It's about choosing the higher things and 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.040 not the lesser things. And you have to put these 0:07:51.060 --> 0:07:54.080 words in context about government. Let's think for a minute 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:57.980 about Paul. When Paul writes this letter, Nero has come 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.560 to power. Paul will eventually get to Rome. He will 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:06.260 eventually come there under arrest. He's appealed to Caesar from Israel, 0:08:06.900 --> 0:08:09.930 and he's brought to Rome. And ultimately, he's going to 0:08:09.970 --> 0:08:13.520 be condemned to death. And will be executed by Nero. 0:08:13.580 --> 0:08:16.560 So we have to keep that picture in mind. Not 0:08:16.670 --> 0:08:19.590 guessing that Paul is trying to advocate for Nero and 0:08:19.630 --> 0:08:23.730 his policies and his cruelty. So we have to put 0:08:23.770 --> 0:08:27.950 that into the mix of what's being thought about. You 0:08:27.980 --> 0:08:31.320 also have to remember that before Paul was known as Paul, 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.540 he was known as Saul. And Saul was a part 0:08:34.660 --> 0:08:36.979 of the aristocracy. He was a part of the governing power. 0:08:37.850 --> 0:08:40.570 And he used his position in the government to abuse. 0:08:40.830 --> 0:08:45.730 He was persecuting and prosecuting and executing Christians for their 0:08:45.750 --> 0:08:51.380 belief that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. So remember, Paul's 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.219 writing these words in that context. You got to put 0:08:55.260 --> 0:08:58.080 it into the bigger picture. Let's think for a minute 0:08:58.100 --> 0:09:02.820 also about Jesus. Jesus was not your traditional revolutionary. He 0:09:02.860 --> 0:09:06.180 makes clear that his kingdom is not of this world. 0:09:07.220 --> 0:09:09.679 He says very directly, if it was of this world, 0:09:09.700 --> 0:09:12.839 then my followers would fight, but it is not of 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:17.630 this world. And Jesus speaks to Pilate, and he reflects 0:09:17.750 --> 0:09:20.770 really what Paul is trying to say in this passage. 0:09:21.510 --> 0:09:24.350 And that is, he is being questioned by Pilate. Pilate 0:09:24.390 --> 0:09:28.010 says to him, will you not answer my questions? I 0:09:28.130 --> 0:09:30.150 hold the power of life and death over you. And 0:09:30.210 --> 0:09:33.170 Jesus looks at Pilate and says, you would have no 0:09:33.309 --> 0:09:37.150 power at all. except it is given to you from above. 0:09:38.150 --> 0:09:41.370 And so Paul has the same idea in mind. Jesus 0:09:41.410 --> 0:09:45.569 was no revolutionary. He didn't come to overflow the Roman government. 0:09:45.790 --> 0:09:48.929 He didn't come to establish a dominant government in Israel. 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:52.260 He came to talk about a kingdom that was above 0:09:52.340 --> 0:09:55.440 all of those kingdoms that in fact had very little 0:09:55.500 --> 0:10:00.219 to do with those kind of power structures. But if 0:10:00.260 --> 0:10:02.420 you want to talk about civil disobedience, you could talk 0:10:02.460 --> 0:10:08.910 about the bigger picture of the tradition of Israel. Moses 0:10:08.950 --> 0:10:12.230 would have to have come to mind in that conversation. 0:10:12.670 --> 0:10:19.559 Moses certainly, as a commissioned prophet of God, becomes subversive 0:10:19.700 --> 0:10:27.650 to the Egyptian government, strongly opposing Pharaoh and his enslavement 0:10:27.690 --> 0:10:30.630 of the Jewish people. And so when you get to 0:10:30.670 --> 0:10:34.910 thinking about that and how it works, it's an important context. 0:10:35.030 --> 0:10:36.709 We're going to pick up this line of thinking right 0:10:36.730 --> 0:10:37.310 after this break. 0:10:38.850 --> 0:10:39.350 Welcome back. 0:10:39.590 --> 0:10:44.160 You're listening to Healing Conversations on KABC 790. I'm Dave Roberts. 0:10:44.179 --> 0:10:48.700 We're talking about this troublesome passage in Romans 13. You 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:51.400 want to get a group of people going, just read this. 0:10:52.179 --> 0:10:55.250 And depending, I guess, on who happens to be in 0:10:55.330 --> 0:10:58.069 power at the moment in the United States, you'd get 0:10:58.130 --> 0:11:00.950 very different, or even if you consider different governments around 0:11:00.970 --> 0:11:03.170 the world, you could kind of get some people going. 0:11:03.730 --> 0:11:08.939 So contextually, Paul has an ongoing relationship in which he's 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.820 been a part of a corrupt kind of government structure. 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:15.360 He's also now become subject to and will suffer death 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.920 at the hands of a corrupt, unjust kind of government structure. 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.800 Jesus causes us to think, hey, it's not about any 0:11:22.820 --> 0:11:24.960 of that. Unless God allowed you to be in power, 0:11:24.980 --> 0:11:27.360 you'd have no power at all. And I think Paul 0:11:27.420 --> 0:11:30.340 is alluding to that idea, not that God has appointed 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.800 all the leaders around the world, but But it is 0:11:32.860 --> 0:11:38.390 God who allows these systems to exist. And then you 0:11:38.410 --> 0:11:41.510 talk about Moses. We brought him up. Certainly he is 0:11:41.630 --> 0:11:45.230 commissioned by God to go and confront Pharaoh. And then 0:11:45.929 --> 0:11:50.360 the plagues battle the power structure of Egypt until finally 0:11:50.380 --> 0:11:52.599 the children of Israel are released. So you have to 0:11:52.620 --> 0:11:55.280 think about that. We have all the stories of the exile. 0:11:55.660 --> 0:11:59.810 Maybe you remember some guys named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 0:11:59.830 --> 0:12:07.650 who are asked to bow down and worship the emperor 0:12:07.710 --> 0:12:10.000 of Babylon and refuse. And for that, they are thrown 0:12:10.050 --> 0:12:14.100 into the fiery furnace that they survive. And then Daniel 0:12:14.660 --> 0:12:18.500 defies the government and the command for him to bow 0:12:18.540 --> 0:12:22.900 down and worship the golden statue, and he also is 0:12:22.980 --> 0:12:27.320 thrown into a lion's den and survives that. And so 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.390 what Paul is saying is not that we all bow 0:12:31.410 --> 0:12:34.450 down to unjust governments, but what he is saying is 0:12:34.510 --> 0:12:38.730 that you should keep your vision clear, that there are 0:12:38.750 --> 0:12:41.819 a lot of things that can be upsetting and distracting 0:12:42.500 --> 0:12:48.579 and can cause people to get distracted. Let us set 0:12:48.620 --> 0:12:51.520 aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles. 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:53.960 Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.780 He's suggesting here that getting involved in government and defiance 0:12:59.210 --> 0:13:02.349 could be very damaging to the overall purpose for which 0:13:02.850 --> 0:13:05.550 we are as Christians called, and that is to see 0:13:05.590 --> 0:13:08.990 God's kingdom come to life on earth. N.T. Wright, in 0:13:09.030 --> 0:13:13.470 writing about this passage, writes this profound paragraph. Listen to 0:13:13.550 --> 0:13:16.459 it carefully. We don't want to live by the law 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.600 of the jungle. We want to live as human beings 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:24.740 in an ordered, properly functioning society. That is almost all 0:13:24.780 --> 0:13:27.570 that Paul is saying, making the point, as he does, 0:13:27.670 --> 0:13:30.829 so that the Christians, who were regarded as the scum 0:13:30.850 --> 0:13:33.750 of the earth in Rome at the time, must not 0:13:33.809 --> 0:13:37.870 get an additional reputation as troublemakers. No good will come 0:13:37.890 --> 0:13:40.650 to the cause of the gospel by followers of Jesus 0:13:40.710 --> 0:13:45.230 being regarded as crazy dissidents who don't cooperate with the 0:13:45.290 --> 0:13:50.380 most basic social mechanisms. Paul is anxious precisely because he 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.220 believes that Jesus is the true Lord of the world 0:13:54.020 --> 0:13:57.540 and that his followers should not pick unnecessary quarrels with 0:13:57.700 --> 0:14:02.330 lesser lords. They are indeed a revolutionary community. But if 0:14:02.380 --> 0:14:05.330 they go for the normal type of violent revolution, they 0:14:05.350 --> 0:14:08.070 will just be playing the empire back in its own game. 0:14:08.710 --> 0:14:11.770 They will almost certainly lose. And much worse, the gospel 0:14:11.830 --> 0:14:15.949 itself will lose with them. And so I think sometimes 0:14:16.010 --> 0:14:20.330 we get so upset about politics because our vision for 0:14:20.350 --> 0:14:23.820 the country and the culture has begun to occupy much 0:14:23.910 --> 0:14:27.580 more of our headspace than our vision for God's kingdom 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:33.170 alive on earth. You can see this anywhere you go. 0:14:34.180 --> 0:14:40.680 Advocacy programs, people who are activists, we're all basically coming 0:14:40.740 --> 0:14:43.680 together because we share in common a vision, a vision 0:14:43.700 --> 0:14:46.400 for something better. Now, we don't all agree on what 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:49.160 that is. We don't all agree on how to get it. 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.640 But generally speaking, if you take the craziest movements in 0:14:53.700 --> 0:14:56.180 our culture today, the ones on the far left and 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.420 the far right, you would find that somewhere in there, 0:15:00.130 --> 0:15:03.850 Maybe underneath the surface, it's about greed. Maybe underneath the surface, 0:15:03.930 --> 0:15:08.650 it's about power. But on the surface, what is being 0:15:08.750 --> 0:15:11.890 sought after, the vision that's being cast is for some 0:15:11.930 --> 0:15:15.280 kind of justice and fairness, for some kind of equality, 0:15:15.340 --> 0:15:19.600 for some quality of life, for some affordability in having 0:15:19.620 --> 0:15:22.920 a place to live and being able to pay the 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.060 bills and buy food and raise a family. The ideals 0:15:27.460 --> 0:15:31.500 upon which this country were based. were activists that were 0:15:31.540 --> 0:15:33.860 coming out of Europe who had seen the oppression of 0:15:33.900 --> 0:15:38.800 the aristocracy and of the monarchies. And now they're seeking 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:43.090 something bigger and better, freedom, freedom to pursue happiness as 0:15:43.210 --> 0:15:47.430 our constitution speaks. And so we are wired for vision. 0:15:47.590 --> 0:15:51.640 And Jesus immediately gives us a vision. Our Father who 0:15:51.780 --> 0:15:54.720 art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, 0:15:54.780 --> 0:15:57.420 your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:02.730 He doesn't say, Let's form a government that will accomplish everything, 0:16:02.780 --> 0:16:05.430 that we worship and honor above all else. No, he says, 0:16:05.490 --> 0:16:07.770 in spite of the government, in spite of what's going 0:16:07.990 --> 0:16:11.380 on in the lesser lords, as N.T. Wright says it, 0:16:11.910 --> 0:16:15.570 let's be the people that pursue the highest ideal, the 0:16:15.630 --> 0:16:21.210 highest good. Let's pursue the kingdom of God alive on earth. 0:16:21.850 --> 0:16:24.160 And so just a few things to think about. A 0:16:24.220 --> 0:16:28.190 vision of the kingdom of God thrives on order. we 0:16:28.250 --> 0:16:32.610 want to live in a society that is orderly and reliable. 0:16:33.630 --> 0:16:39.630 We want people to behave themselves. We call that law. 0:16:40.450 --> 0:16:43.560 When it becomes interpersonal and private, we call it morality. 0:16:44.380 --> 0:16:46.940 We want order to our lives. We want to be 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.980 able to depend on one another. We want to treat 0:16:50.020 --> 0:16:53.160 each other well. We want to honor the rights of 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.020 the people around us. We want to be uplifting and 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:01.180 not destructive. The Ten Commandments are pretty basic about human behavior. 0:17:01.220 --> 0:17:05.619 Don't lie, don't steal, don't cheat, you know, do the 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.129 right thing. And so when we begin to think about that, 0:17:09.530 --> 0:17:14.419 divine kinds of order A kingdom kind of order is 0:17:14.460 --> 0:17:17.440 a high-style deal. It's summed up in this, love God 0:17:17.460 --> 0:17:20.900 with all your heart. That's the moral piece. Love God 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.939 and know that you're accountable for something. Your choices matter. 0:17:23.980 --> 0:17:26.740 There's better ways to live. It's better for your body, 0:17:26.780 --> 0:17:30.060 for your mind, for your spirit. Just do the right thing. 0:17:30.140 --> 0:17:33.460 Love God with all your heart. Love your neighbor as yourself. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:37.679 That's an orderly kingdom. And our minds, our souls, our 0:17:37.740 --> 0:17:44.090 bodies long for order. Number two, kingdom vision thrives on kindness. 0:17:44.970 --> 0:17:47.409 I think so much of what we look at in 0:17:47.470 --> 0:17:49.889 our society today, so much of the tension that's going 0:17:50.010 --> 0:17:52.890 on is that we've forgotten this fact. It is not 0:17:52.970 --> 0:17:58.300 healthy for people to exist in a society in which 0:17:58.420 --> 0:18:04.920 they speak in derogatory, conflicted, caustic ways. It's not good 0:18:04.980 --> 0:18:09.790 for us. It's It causes us to become defensive. It 0:18:09.850 --> 0:18:13.889 causes us to become afraid. It causes us to have anxiety. 0:18:13.970 --> 0:18:16.450 It causes us to be filled with anger. None of 0:18:16.470 --> 0:18:19.020 those things are good for our mind, our body, or 0:18:19.260 --> 0:18:23.520 our soul. And how important it is that we extend 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.580 kindness to everyone. That we do it in our homes 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.080 and with our families. That we do it with our children, 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:35.300 our parents, our extended families. Kindness. We don't have to 0:18:35.340 --> 0:18:38.980 gossip about people. We don't have to be suspicious about 0:18:39.020 --> 0:18:41.840 their motives. We don't have to traffic in all of that. 0:18:41.940 --> 0:18:44.710 It's debilitating to us. Do we have to have hard 0:18:44.770 --> 0:18:49.449 conversations about life and strategies? Yeah, sometimes we do. But 0:18:49.490 --> 0:18:54.909 we've become a culture that has become content with the 0:18:55.030 --> 0:19:00.280 least common denominator. Most of our conversations at the cultural level, 0:19:00.340 --> 0:19:09.850 whether it's social media or mainstream media, it's pretty much... unkind, derogatory, accusatory, fear-based, 0:19:10.770 --> 0:19:13.850 full of blame and accusation, full of a failure to 0:19:13.890 --> 0:19:18.149 take personal responsibility for our own choices and behavior, and 0:19:18.270 --> 0:19:22.040 full of the idea that if we could only get 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:26.359 rid of the people who see things differently, who think differently, 0:19:26.820 --> 0:19:31.159 the world would be a better place. Those people. Those people. 0:19:31.820 --> 0:19:36.030 And we've forgotten that. That real vision is about kindness. 0:19:36.730 --> 0:19:40.500 Real vision likes order. It loves kindness. Real vision thrives 0:19:40.580 --> 0:19:44.680 on priorities. Listen, in your life and in my life, 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.210 there's a lot of things we have to do. There's 0:19:47.230 --> 0:19:48.889 a lot of things that go on, but they are 0:19:48.950 --> 0:19:52.060 not the priority of life. They're not why we're here. 0:19:52.700 --> 0:19:54.240 You have to get up. You have to go to work. 0:19:54.580 --> 0:19:56.139 You have to make food. You have to clean the 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:58.679 food up. You have to take out the trash. You 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.219 have to mow the yard or pay somebody to do 0:20:01.260 --> 0:20:05.390 these things. And either way, you can believe that your job, 0:20:06.470 --> 0:20:09.130 the logistics of life are what life's about, but it's not. 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:12.340 And if you get stuck there, that's depressing and overwhelming. 0:20:13.140 --> 0:20:19.860 Life's about having priorities, prioritizing relationships, prioritizing experiences, prioritizing beauty 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:26.820 and art and nature. Prioritizing matters. We're surrounded by a 0:20:26.820 --> 0:20:29.480 great cloud of witnesses. Let us set aside every weight. 0:20:30.460 --> 0:20:34.109 Let's get our heads up. Let's think about what's what. 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:40.700 It matters in such a significant way. And finally, kingdom vision, 0:20:41.100 --> 0:20:44.440 real vision, it thrives on God's kingdom. And I say 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:47.320 that because, not because I believe everybody out there would 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.660 suggest that or believe that, but I say it because, 0:20:50.700 --> 0:20:53.040 and we'll probably spend a little time after break coming 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.380 back to this idea, but the biblical idea is this. 0:20:56.859 --> 0:21:01.160 You are citizens. If you believe in God, if you're 0:21:01.180 --> 0:21:04.790 a follower of Jesus Christ, you're citizens of a heavenly kingdom. 0:21:05.420 --> 0:21:09.109 And you're working to pursue the goals and the vision 0:21:09.170 --> 0:21:14.290 of the heavenly kingdom, even as you traffic around in 0:21:14.830 --> 0:21:19.090 what is not yet, what has not yet arrived. We're 0:21:19.109 --> 0:21:21.560 going to pick that thought up right after this break. 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.760 Welcome back. You're listening to Healing Conversations. I'm Dave Roberts. 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:30.199 This is KABC 790. We are talking about being wired 0:21:30.300 --> 0:21:33.180 for vision. And we left off with saying, you know, 0:21:33.260 --> 0:21:40.620 vision loves order. vision, loves kindness, vision, loves clear priorities. 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.770 And then we ended with the vision loves kingdom life. 0:21:45.590 --> 0:21:48.790 I think most systems of faith are kind of rooted here. 0:21:48.910 --> 0:21:53.810 That vision, you know, is the reality that we can 0:21:53.850 --> 0:21:58.210 see something bigger. Maybe you've heard this expression, it's hard 0:21:58.250 --> 0:22:02.149 to soar with eagles when you're surrounded by turkeys. I 0:22:02.190 --> 0:22:05.209 think when we talk about this issue of kingdom life, 0:22:06.340 --> 0:22:09.340 The idea is that you were created to soar like 0:22:09.380 --> 0:22:12.280 an eagle. But there's a whole lot of life that 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.700 is about gobbling with the turkeys. That when we talk 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:18.880 about government and taxes and this system and that system 0:22:18.940 --> 0:22:22.250 and Social Security and immigration and all those things, they're 0:22:22.430 --> 0:22:25.650 things that matter. They matter to the people, especially those 0:22:25.670 --> 0:22:27.730 that are in the middle of being involved in it 0:22:28.090 --> 0:22:31.830 and using it and needing it or being hurt by 0:22:31.869 --> 0:22:35.210 it or damaged by it. It's not that it's insignificant. 0:22:35.940 --> 0:22:40.800 But when those systems that are so flawed and so broken, 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:43.869 and they're flawed and they're broken because they are run 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:47.210 by human beings, and we're not like we're looking at 0:22:47.350 --> 0:22:50.530 other people and saying how bad they are. Most of 0:22:50.609 --> 0:22:54.190 us are not doing a great job managing every part 0:22:54.210 --> 0:22:56.870 of our life, that there's a lot of places where 0:22:56.930 --> 0:23:01.530 we don't measure up, where we fail, where we are negligent. 0:23:02.210 --> 0:23:03.810 It's a part of being human. You can only do 0:23:03.869 --> 0:23:06.230 so much. For a lot of us, it takes almost 0:23:06.290 --> 0:23:08.610 all our energy just to maintain ourselves, just to get 0:23:08.650 --> 0:23:10.790 ourselves up and where we're supposed to be and take 0:23:10.810 --> 0:23:14.310 care of our business and be reliable and remember all 0:23:14.330 --> 0:23:17.710 the things we have to remember. So human systems are tough. 0:23:17.750 --> 0:23:20.390 They break down, you know, for the best of reasons, 0:23:20.470 --> 0:23:24.629 with the best of intentions. We build systems to accomplish work, 0:23:24.670 --> 0:23:26.690 and then we build systems to be sure that the 0:23:26.750 --> 0:23:29.490 systems are accomplishing. And then we build systems to watch 0:23:29.510 --> 0:23:32.770 the systems that are protecting the systems. And before long, 0:23:32.790 --> 0:23:36.150 we have a giant bureaucracy. Everyone's afraid to make decisions, 0:23:36.390 --> 0:23:38.370 and they cost a lot of money, and they don't 0:23:38.390 --> 0:23:44.869 accomplish what we intended. Let's acknowledge that. We don't gobble 0:23:44.910 --> 0:23:48.320 with the turkeys. I'll just ask, how many hours a 0:23:48.340 --> 0:23:50.700 day do you gobble with the turkeys? Are you complaining 0:23:50.740 --> 0:23:52.940 about this or that or traffic or this or that 0:23:52.980 --> 0:23:56.080 or taxes or the cost of energy or what the 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.780 government did or didn't do? That's gobbling with the turkeys. 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:07.109 Vision thrives. on another kingdom. It gives us compassion for 0:24:07.130 --> 0:24:10.390 the human systems, but it also says, hey, it's not 0:24:10.490 --> 0:24:13.070 ever going to all get fixed until one day there's 0:24:13.410 --> 0:24:18.459 some divine rule that doesn't have any self-interest except to 0:24:18.500 --> 0:24:21.919 love and care. And that's where real vision thrives, is 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:26.760 an idea that somewhere there is real justice and equality 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:30.830 and love and compassion and concern and that these things 0:24:30.890 --> 0:24:33.890 do exist, and we're all pursuing them, but we're not 0:24:34.030 --> 0:24:38.610 quite reaching them yet. And that's why we have vision 0:24:38.930 --> 0:24:43.169 for it. I'm going to bring Eric McClinahan into the studio. Eric, welcome. 0:24:43.609 --> 0:24:45.100 Good morning, Pastor Dave. 0:24:45.380 --> 0:24:45.990 How are you? 0:24:46.820 --> 0:24:47.760 I'm good. How are you? 0:24:48.180 --> 0:24:51.380