distrust – Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

Therefore justice is far from us,
    and deliverance does not reach us;
we wait for light, but there is only darkness;
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
    groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We all growl like bears;
    like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions before you are many,
    and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
transgressing and denying the Lord
    and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.
Justice is turned back,
    and deliverance stands at a distance,
for truth stumbles in the public square,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
    and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one
    and was appalled that there was no one to intervene,
so his own arm brought him victory,
    and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness like a breastplate
    and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing
    and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle.
According to their deeds, so will he repay
    wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
    to the coastlands he will render requital.
So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,
    and those in the east, his glory,
for he will come like a pent-up stream
    that the wind of the Lord drives on. (New Revised Standard Version)

We in the United States of America are in a presidential election year. Soon Americans will be voting for their choice of president, as well as an array of federal, state, and local candidates on the ballot.

For many, these four year cycles of elections bring a lot of anxiety, dread, and perhaps most of all, anger. Television commercials and media outlets overflow with the most egregious forms of logical fallacies, and finger pointing, one could imagine.

According to the Pew Research Center, public trust in the U.S. federal government is at 22 percent. That figure is slightly up from 5-10 years ago when it hit an historic low of 15 percent. To put that in perspective, the public trust was at 73 percent in 1960, and 36 percent when Richard Nixon resigned from office due to the Watergate scandal.

In some ways, our contemporary situation is akin to the situation of ancient Judah when Isaiah was prophet. Peace and protection, justice and righteousness, were hard to come by. There was no real trust in government.

The Judeans of the time blamed everyone but themselves for their social and political troubles. They even blamed God. Citizens were not taking responsibility to effect good and right in the land.

It appears that nobody was accepting accountability for their own junk, and blaming God and others for their governmental woes. So, they turned away from each other, and God.

Politics, today as in Isaiah’s day, has become less about the vocation of statecraft and unselfish public servants promoting the welfare of citizens; it has become more about winning elections and possessing power.

A party spirit rules the day, where, in the Unites States, Republicans and Democrats are more divided than ever with less and less ability to truly listen to one another in order to advance genuine justice, ethical righteousness, and social peace within both the nation and the world.

We, as citizens of both our local regions and of the world, must avoid getting sucked into the vortex of acrimonious speech and hate-filled rhetoric.

Christians, especially those who desire to live and love like Jesus, need to be at the forefront of forsaking the hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing another; of envying power in order to satisfy personal agendas; and, of believing that malicious talk is justified if it accomplishes my wants and needs.

We are not to keep looking for politicians, and everyone else whom we disagree with, to change. Rather, we ourselves are to practice repentance and allow the grace of God to transform and renew us.

If what we speak in the public square is selfish and deceitful, we have no further to look than within, when it comes to turning from evil. A slow, careful, and serious reading of the prophet Isaiah becomes quite necessary. If it does not lead to repentance, we only have God’s displeasure to anticipate.

So, instead of continually insisting that others change or move over, let’s focus on us and seek the following:

Seek our better angels of humility, tolerance, and patience to guide our public discourse.
Open our eyes to see the image of God in others who are different from us and who see the world differently than we do.
Embrace civility and basic human respect for all persons, no matter who they are, as our presuppositions to all conversations.
Develop good listening skills so that we aren’t misinterpreting and misrepresenting another’s viewpoint.
Be willing, within our own communities of faith, to participate and worship together as the one people of God, without assigning other identities to each other which are not helpful.
Enlarge our hearts so that we are big enough people to hold the differing perspectives and politics of others without demonizing them.
Default to grace when we aren’t sure what to do say or do.

The Lord will not contend forever with injustice and unrighteousness in the world’s politics, including the extremely local politics of church, family, and neighborhood. Divine intervention cuts both ways, bringing deliverance and freedom, as well as judgment and retribution.

Let us, then, be found to be truthful and honest in all our words and ways; encouraging and helpful in all our public rhetoric and service. Let us seek the peace of everyone, both near and far.

God of truth and justice, you have every right to judge the world. Yet, instead of destroying the earth, you sent your Son to redeem lost humanity to yourself. May I, along with every creature you have made, come to our senses and speak truth with love; and act with integrity so that there is again righteousness throughout the land. Amen.

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. (New International Version)

Identifying the Antichrist is almost a spectator sport amongst some Christians. They seem to enjoy advancing particular persons as the archenemy of Christ and the Church.

Throughout Christian history, bloodthirsty kings and ruthless dictators have typically received the moniker of Antichrist. When the Protestant Reformation came along, five-hundred years ago, the Catholic Church often got labeled as the great enemy of Christianity.

The mudslinging that has gone on between different Christian traditions throughout the centuries can make any contemporary political war look like a powder puff football game.

Although some Christian groups tend to view the antichrist as a single enemy, setting-off a bomb of world-ending trauma, the earliest Church, following the teaching of the Apostle John, understood antichrist not as an individual, but as a class of people who deny Jesus is the Christ.

It has become much too vogue in some circles of Christianity to identify and label enemies outside their small groups, leading to a xenophobic attitude of distrust and finger-pointing toward all kinds of people.

The fingers, however, must first be directed within our own house. It behooves us all to take up the instruction of John to let what we have heard from the beginning abide in us. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

We are to embrace basic core cardinal truth given us. Then we will not be deceived by some supposed enlightened teacher who detracts from Trinitarian theology.

It is the last hour – but not because of some politician, tyrant, or religious figure. It is the end-times because Jesus has accomplished redemption for us, and the only event left is the return of Jesus to judge the living and the dead.

Therefore, we must all live with the possibility and tension that it could be today. We are to be prepared. Proper preparation comes through proclaiming Jesus in all we say and do – not by obnoxiously ginning up fearmongering through pointing fingers at those we don’t like. Rather, we emulate our Lord in the way of loving God and neighbor.

When a person or group gets labeled by us as “enemy” or “antichrist” then our hate for them seems divinely justified and sanctioned. God, however, is the judge; not us. We are to follow the ethical instruction of Jesus to love our enemies, not curse them through declaring certain persons a “monster,” “devil,” “animal,” or some other non-human label.

Weaponizing words in a verbal war, which supposedly defends Christianity, only shifts the focus off Jesus and onto how horrible another is.

One of the great problems in our world, including many corners of Christianity, is that we assume we already know what another believes. So, we fail to listen. We cannot care as we ought because we’ve already formed our judgment.

“The moment someone attaches you to a philosophy or a movement, then they assign all the baggage and all the rest of the philosophy that goes with it to you. And when you want to have a conversation, they will assert that they already know everything important there is to know about you because of that association. And that’s not the way to have a conversation.”
Neil deGrasse Tyson

Within Christianity, there is more we have in common across the various traditions, than that which is different. Yes, spiritual charlatans exist. Let’s just make sure we have done our due diligence in listening to another and being curious before we form our opinions.

Despite the differences, the exchange of ideas and debate among various Christian groups in the early centuries of the church helped to clarify and form a sound Christology. While it may be difficult to avoid labeling individuals in an increasingly complex society, we must act in good faith and make the effort.

Perhaps we have already met the real enemy… us.

Gracious God, you are the Divine Gardener who cares for us with love. You call us to see the beauty of each branch united to the vine, the beauty of each person united to you in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

And yet, too often the differences in others make us afraid. We withdraw into ourselves. Our trust in you is forsaken. Enmity develops between us. Come and direct our hearts. Help us to live from your forgiveness so that we may be together and praise your name.

Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, light the fire of your love in us so that suspicions, contempt and misunderstanding cease in the church. May the walls that separate us fall. Amen.