Ep.72 - When there is Political Unrest in Brazil

Over a week ago our nation was riveted by the political unrest in Brazil.  Why?  American journalistic culture instantly saw something happen in another country that resembled something that happened in our country and immediately drew a causal connection.  However, like every other time, Americans missed the most important point and the most important lessons to learn from the unrest that looked somewhat similar to our own.  In this episode, we take a step back and ask the deeper questions that this moment in Brazil should help highlight for us as American Christians.  As always we will find in God's Word the answer to these questions and a roadmap for how Christians can help lead our nation to a much better place.  

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Transcript

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right, everyone, welcome back to the Christianing Podcast. Thank you guys for tuning in yet again. Appreciate your patience as... I'm going to try to get as regular as I can with these episodes. I try to fit them in, but also just so you know, I try to be authentic with this. I don't have something truly that I feel like the Lord's laid on my heart or I got a clear kind of word from the Lord through Scripture. You know, I really... What I don't want to do is just add my voice to a ton of noise that doesn't really help or add value to the conversations that you guys are all working through and dealing with in your own lives, in your own families, in your own situations. So that is a barrier, I will say. I know some podcasters, they just have their routine where they generate content. Regardless what's going on, whether they got something or they don't, it's kind of like a news program. Every night we've got to report on something. I'm not great at that. Authenticity is kind of a high, high virtue in my mind and heart. There's weeks that I'm just like, man, I don't have anything really. But I feel it's worth sharing, so just so you know, that's something that gets in the way. about a week or so ago, and really we were tuning into the situation in Brazil. So if you weren't aware, just as brief of a catch-up as I can bring you. Again, I'm not an expert on these things. I just try to pay attention as best I can. But Brazil had a recent election that was highly fraught and very close, very contentious. Very similar to a lot of the dynamics going on around the world, a hard left and a hard right, where both kind of political sides are getting more polarized, more apart on core issues, social issues. So there are some similar feelings to what we're experiencing in the United States. So why was that? Why was all of a sudden, why did we care about the situation in Brazil where there was an election where the conservative side lost, the very left-wing liberal side won, and then there was... There was protests and unrest, and I don't remember all the details as far as how far the violence has gone. I know there was government buildings that were breached and things of that nature. I'm not sure about death count injury, things of that nature, so I don't want to speak on stuff that I don't know. So why did that situation show up in front-page U.S. newspapers while... it was instantly, the narrative was, see, United States, Donald Trump, right-wing conservatives are so bad that it's spreading. It's spreading throughout the globe. This was Trump's playbook. You know, so it was another opportunity to keep, you know, kind of the country kind of talking, thinking about January 6th. You know, so that's, So that's why America cared about it, or, you know, depending on how you feel about January 6th, you know, tried not to care about it. And so, anyways, there's something deeper going on that we're going to get to. But first, I will share, I really try not to share my political takes because I... Again, I said authenticity is a high virtue of mine, but I think even probably one of the highest virtues right now is I'm fiercely anti-partisan. Now, I'm well aware that I have internal leanings and internal comfortabilities when it comes to politics. I definitely have... policy prescriptions and things that I'm more comfortable with than others. And I'm aware of that. But what I absolutely hate is the partisanship that happens because of it. And we'll get into that actually a lot in this episode. And there's deep biblical convictions that are connected to that. So that's why, not that I, you know, I don't try to fancy myself as a As someone who is apolitical, I don't have a preference. I am a registered independent, but that's more my stance against partisanship than it is a description of where I personally stand on issues. I tend to go one way over another on a lot of stuff, but I hate... I don't want to contribute to the partisanship of it all. So that's why I really try to remain as reserved as I can. Those that know me on this podcast, you know, probably where, where I tend to stand on things, you know, but I try not to share publicly because I'm like, number one, a million other people are sharing very clearly, you know, what their stances are and things. I don't see that as helpful. You know, and, you know, two, I just, I don't, I'm not motivated by a political side. That's where I come from. I do land on majority of issues, one side or another, but I'm not motivated by that side. I'm not motivated by... I'm motivated by what I truly feel is the best for the American people, my family, my community. That's really what I... And those are where my convictions are rooted. But I know what that means out in the pop culture sphere. That means I'm contributing to a victory of one over another. And that's not what motivates me. I want the best ideas to win. And I have some... some clear ideas of what i think the better ideas are you know but i have no interest in seeing republicans win over democrats or democrats winning over republicans so then you know that's just so you know that's why if you've been sticking with me through the years here i try to hold it on this on this show as close to the vest as i can you know i'm sure i tip tip my hand plenty of times but on this you know my take on this whole um Brazil and the connection to January 6th. I will share because I do believe my take here isn't really partisan, you know, leaning in nature. But I just, I get frustrated by... the American superiority that happens in all, especially someone who's been involved in international missions. And I'm by no means like hardcore missionary or anything like that, but I've been involved in several international efforts and been all over the world. It's one of my favorite things to do is to take groups of young people to other cultures and and see what Jesus is doing in other cultures. And if you're in international missions at all in the church, you know that we carry with us, our tendency is to carry with us this American superiority. That the Americans are here. Let us show you how to really do church, do religion, do evangelism. Let us Americanize your ministry. And then you guys will be successful. Just follow our models. It's... It's terrible. It's really one of the dumbest things ever. But our American missionary efforts are just wrought with this. And I've had to battle it in myself because, you know, as Americans, we tend to carry this with us, this American superiority. And if you're not mindful of it, it will rule your mission's mindset where... you know, as the Lord's kind of dealt with this in me, it's really what organizations and similar minded people, what we try to do is go into another place, learn what is Jesus doing in this place? Who are the people, the local people that he is raising up to lead and to be an authentic witness to Jesus? their own culture, to their own people, to their own community. And then just really, is there anything we can do to help? Because the Bible is very clear in Acts. We have stewardship, we have responsibilities over Jerusalem, Judea, to the ends of the earth. So there is a local... all the way out to international that we Christians care about. We care about what Christians are doing on the other side of the world. So that's all biblical and good, but your approach has to be really dialed into, Lord, what are you doing here? How are you moving? And then who are the people? Because it's really... Um, you know, if you're going to Brazil, it's Brazilians that are going to reach Brazilians. That's, that's what's the long-term, um, thing's going to be. So it's, so coming in and being like, Oh, Hey, I'm the American celebrity. Everybody listened to me. I'm going to have this, you know, crusade events where everybody's going to pay attention to me. And then, you know, you know, I'll come back, you know, to fix things if they ever get broken, you know, so to speak. It's this very American superioric feeling. And that same feeling came to me as I was hearing all the commentary on January 6th in Brazil. I was like, that is where kind of the, you know, the left-wing narrative was, look, look at what, you know, right-wing Republicans, Donald Trump has done. They're influencing now, they're spraying their influence to other countries. I was like, man, that is such a, again, an American superiority attitude that, you know, these countries are just sitting around like, what's, we don't know what to do until the Americans show us what to do, whether it's good or bad. Like, And I just that stuff drives me up the wall, you know, that we're just so arrogant in that both sides, both sides. Like I said, like we have a we have a Christian American arrogance that I, you know, I had to make sure was kind of cleansed in myself before I really got, you know, useful in the international sphere. And, you know, same thing with like that we would. that that's our first go-to. The second we see something going on in another country, we're like, well, obviously, these lower-tier people that don't have minds of their own, they're just going to follow us, just amazing Americans. They're going to follow our good leaders and our bad leaders. It's just... I don't know. That's the kind of stuff that appalls me. I hate it. So... I am calling, I will call that out. And I was listening to a podcast over the weekend. I listened to Left, Right, and Center, the NPR's Left, Right, and Center. And I encourage you guys, the criticism of Left, Right, and Center is that it's really... left-left center is kind of what the conservative critique is on it. And there's some elements of truth to it, but they do a good job to try to at least have an honest conversation where it's not just one side spewing their side. It's trying to look at issues from multiple angles and... Excuse me, I'm probably going to cough a few times. I've been getting over a cold here. But anyways, you know, so... I was just in and they they led with the Brazil thing and I was just in my mind. I just like screaming mentally, you know, you know, waiting because they started with, you know, the typical American superior superiority argument that. Look at the poor Brazilians. They're just doing whatever. They're doing Donald Trump's bidding or whatever. And again, I don't care about the political partisanship of that. I care about where that idea comes from. And then I literally started shouting cheers when Sarah Isger, who on this episode was representing the conservative voice, she does a... She does a pretty good job, I think, being faithful to conservative mindsets, but she definitely is, I'd say, more moderate on most things, hence the critique. But whatever, where she just came out and said, and it was exactly what my heart was saying, her point was, I don't think Brazil is imitating... in January 6th, I think on January 6th, America was imitating Brazil. And I was like, yes, that's exactly what's going on. If you know anything about, and I'm not an expert in Brazil political history, but these unrests and these, you know, there's been military coups, there's been like just crazy, Crazy periods of unrest in Brazil and corruption. And so this thing isn't like something that's completely out of the ordinary. This is something that their nations had to grapple with for forever, you know. And there was a moment in January 6th where we more represented and took a page out of the book out of these fledgling, very unstable democracies, right? where we took a page out of their book and imitated the behavior of this because this kind of stuff happens all over the world, you know, and so it was kind of new. It was kind of new for America to have, you know, an American governmental building compromised in that way. But that's like there's so many countries where that's just that's the norm because of. the unrest and the instability that just is inherent in their political structures. And so I was just, I don't know, I love that somebody took the American superiority view off and was like, no, actually, we're the ones who are capable of following. We're the ones who are capable of falling prey to things that have... unsettled governments and democracies for millennia across the world. It's not like we're this great nation that everybody's trying to be like and imitate, even though I'm not saying that us being a leadership on the global stage doesn't happen. That's not my point. It's just I'm talking the arrogant attitude that it's just obviously everything that we do is modeled across the world. I hope you can understand the distinction there. So anyways, that drives me nuts. I'm more in Sarah Isger's camp on that. Yeah, I think January 6th, we showed that we can follow the lead of unstable political democracies just as easy as anybody else. And we're not this... You know, that we're not this always just exporting our greatness to others, that we're just as susceptible to breakdowns and unrest as any country. And we more mirrored unrest that we see typically around the globe. And I'm not saying that's a good thing, but I'm just saying I just felt like that was more apt. That was a better approach. understanding you know so you know sorry to take that much time on it just kind of a axe i had to grind for a minute um but so why are we doing an episode on this why are we talking about the political unrest in brazil because really what it where the lord brought me with it is so here we we're seeing similar unrest in brazil that we that we're experiencing currently in the states And like I said, just have a non-superiority mindset. Like, yeah, maybe we're the ones being influenced. Maybe we're the ones that are showing we're just like anybody else and not vice versa. But the question was, and that kept popping up, why does unrest happen anywhere else? I think it's most susceptible in any government that's trying to establish itself in a Western democratic foundation, which there's a lot of those countries, but they don't have the same. You take Canada, our neighbors to the north, they're a Western democratic governmental structure foundation. they don't have a constitution that's as strong as ours. There's a lot of differences, but the philosophies and the idea is the same, that it's people speaking into how they're led and being participants in making sure they're led according to their desires, to their wishes. That's kind of the quote-unquote liberal... democratic ideal idealism you know and you know some some countries now are in different stages you know a lot of talk about ukraine as you know that's why there's so much emphasis on ukraine is there this eastern european like trying to trying to become a democratic stronghold in the midst of these kind of authoritarian um regimes like russia and russia had its own um kind of dance with democracy after the soviet union which um that's a whole, that's a whole nother story. And now kind of, you know, Putin's consolidated power into more of this, this authoritarian thing that, that we wouldn't call a democracy, even though they have elections and things. And so, so there's this scale, there's this spectrum of what democracy can look like. And you see it all. You see that spectrum all around the world and Brazil's in their own place, you know, on that spectrum. And, and, you see unrest happen because what's being sold to the people in a democracy is your voice matters, your vote counts. And so that's why you see these political upheavals happen in democracies because the foundation is a belief that what I think is best matters in this country or it's supposed to matter in this country and and so that's kind of important for us to understand as we try to answer this question why does unrest happen anywhere let alone the united states where um you know on january 6 we saw a clear demonstration of unrest you know my my take on january 6 which i think i shared it before just is however you Wherever you were leaning on January 5th determines how you interpreted January 6th. That's just what I've learned to be true. If you were leaning very, not even necessarily a Trump supporter, but just was sympathetic to what all the obstacles that seemingly were placed in front of him as he was trying to lead the country, as you felt, as best he could, and you were sympathetic to that, and you gave Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt, maybe even too much in times, just because maybe he was a voice for things that you care about or whatever it is. Well, then, if that's how you were on January 5th, you saw January 6th as a blip, An ugly moment in time that the structures of our nation dealt with. The election was certified. Power was never truly threatened because it was like a 45-minute period of complete chaos and chaos. I'm just articulating kind of the view. Yes, people would say it's more of a riot or whatever. Now, on January 5th, if you're on January 5th, Donald Trump is the Antichrist. He is dragging. He is the reason why America is going to go down the toilet. And he's the number one threat to democracy. And his presidency just... completely illustrated everything that's bad in, in America. Uh, well then yes, those are, if that's how you were on January 5th, January 6th, you're, you definitely, it's an insurrection. It's, it's one of, it's the darkest day in, uh, in the history of the United States. It's, it's something that has to, we have to root it out. We have to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. And, you know, so, so that's just my take on January 6th. Um, And me, honestly, I see validity to both perspectives because I really do. You could sit down and share either perspective and I kind of nod my head and be like, I see where you're coming from. I can see why you would take it that way completely. So I would say I really don't, you know, I don't. completely have a strong place where i'd land on on january 6th i do feel like you know the democrats have overplayed their hand big time you know i'm a poker player so i think they had two pair and they've been playing it like it's straight flush and you know i think that's causing you know that's caused issues of its own but again the basic premise of what they're trying to get across like i i understand where they're coming from you know um and i don't don't have much of an argument for, and that I understand the arguments on the other side. So anyways, enough of that. Let's get in the word, because that question, that's the question we're going to answer is that why. Why is unrest happening in this country? Why is it happening in Brazil? Because I feel very clearly that it's the same root issue, whether you're in the United States, whether you're in Brazil. whether in Guatemala, wherever you're at, there's unrest and there's people in the streets kind of frustrated and sharing their frustrations in oftentimes violent ways. Because until you get really serious about understanding why, you're never going to solve the problem. And that's really what frustrates me most about where we're at in america is i i don't see an effort at all on either side to ask the question man why are you would you go to the point of you know say if you're a liberal looking at a republican man why would you go to the point of electing someone like donald trump that has so many character concerns so many leadership concerns like man what what would take you to that point what would drive that And vice versa, you know, Republicans looking at Democrats, man, what would drive you, you know, to the point of, you know, making these such, you know, like take like the LGBTQ plus issues that had become a complete liberal left-leaning, you know, kind of hobby horse. Like, what would cause you to... think that like questioning you know what gender you are like what what because there's something there there's something there for for people you know and i see zero effort in trying to understand like Where would that come from for you? And then you add the Christian layer on that, where I'm getting more and more educated on the divide in Christians on these kinds of issues. What would cause a Christian to support someone like Donald Trump? And what would cause a Christian to support LGBT people? Q plus issues and hold pride flags and think, you know, like that's the more important question of finding those answers. Like if you really want to help, help everything move forward in a more healthy, better way. And that, that's really what I'm committed to. And sometimes not like not to try to make myself sound good, but sometimes I feel like I'm standing on an Island, you know, all by myself. Like I don't, That's probably because I'm just paying attention to too much toxicity. There's way more people out there that are with me than probably would I allow myself to even understand. But I hope we're going to dive into our word of the day in Philippians 2. We're going to get, I think, a simple yet extremely profound answer to that question. Why is there political unrest in Brazil? Why was there such extreme political unrest on January 6th of, what was that, 2021? Sorry if I'm totally getting my years goofed up there. Yeah, that would have been 2021. But I think Paul and Philippians lays it out. So let's read and then we'll just have three takeaways here. And Let you kind of go on your day. But Philippians 2, verse 1. So if there's any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. That's verse 2, just this beautiful picture of what's capable for us in the church. We're not capable of this apart from Christ, but... Everybody who's in Christ, we're capable of this. And it's something I long for. I want to be a voice to bring towards. It's not really what we're going to be centering on today. But verse 3, you see kind of what are the practical behaviors of being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord in one mind. Do nothing, verse 3, from selfish ambition or conceit. But in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Verse 4 is the key verse that we're going to kind of dwell on. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. So verse 5 then transitions into... Verse 2 and 3 are kind of the imperatives. It's kind of the theological term. Verse 2 and 3 are the imperatives. And then... verse 5, 6, 7, and beyond are the indicatives. Every imperative, like you should do this, the actions, those are the imperatives. It's imperative that you do this. In the Bible, it's always rooted in an indicative, which is a statement of just truth. Because this is true, because this has happened before, you do this. Therefore, you respond and you act in this manner. So the gospel is the indicative. Christ is always the indicative because Jesus is Jesus because he did what he did Therefore, we do what we do. Religion and moralism removes the indicative. It removes the gospel. It removes the true statement of Christ. It removes Christ as a foundation and just says, do, do, do this. Imperative, imperative, imperative. Why? Because I said so. Why? Because it's what makes you a good person. No, no, no. The indicative, you're a good person because Jesus has made you a good person. And so, therefore... You're going to act the way good people do. It's that gospel relationship that sets Christianity apart. So get into the indicatives, verse 4. I mean, in verse 5, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. So this mind that produces these amazing behaviors, we already have. In Christ Jesus, verse 6, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. So that's the indicative. That's the true statement of 100% happened. This is what happened. Jesus, he didn't, even though he was God, he didn't consider that something to be grasped, something to be held onto. He was the royal of all royals. And But he didn't value his royalty above the people that he loved. So he let go of that. Even though he was royal, he took the position of a servant born in a manger, nailed to a cross, spit on, beaten, abused, victimized, and emptied himself. taking the form of a servant. That's the mind that if you are in Christ Jesus, that's the mind that's also in you. Amen. So now we have the tremendous privilege to act on that mind. To act on that mind. So that's what the gospel, true gospel-driven behavior, that's the difference between that and just moralism of religion. So So we see in verse 4, and that's kind of where we're going to hammer, where does the unrest come from? And I believe this is true in any nation, and I'll tell you why. But unrest occurs where there is a lack of value. Unrest occurs where there is a lack of value, or even a perceived lack of value. The... the people group or the interest group that feels like their perspective has zero value in the greater societal construct they are going to rise up there especially like i said in a democracy in a democracy because you have been you have been sold a bill of goods politically that hey we are you know whether You're a long-time democracy like the United States or a short-term where you're in a country that just overthrew a dictator and now there's some good people trying to be like, no, we're going to empower the people to govern themselves through representative government. There's propaganda. I don't mean that in a negative sense, but in the positive sense of message getting out to the people that, hey, guess what? You're in a country to where your perspective matters. And any time where any, you know, kind of corporate perspective, there is no evidence that it's valued, those people will, they have no choice. They have no choice. They can either suffer in silence or they can rise up and try to do what they've been promised and will happen and let their voice be heard and the more it's tried to be put down the louder they get unrest occurs where there is a lack of value um and why why is this this is another interesting aside that i learned a few years ago i was at a conference and i listened to this really smart smart guy that uh they they did this effort where they they studied they did this long long term, historical study, looking at value structures, specifically of societies before Christ and then value structures after Christ. And they found this crazy, crazy thing that happened. Before Christ, what was valued in a community was strength, military prowess, like brute power. If you had power, you were revered and you were expected to lead. And however that person led, people just dealt with it, even if it meant they were going to be dirt poor, they were going to be oppressed. It was like, that is the ruling. It was a value structure inherent. And then this guy, Jesus, comes around. That again, the Apostle Paul describes it. describes him as this person who was in the form of God, but did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. Well, then all of a sudden, after Christ, society value structures completely shift across the globe. It's this crazy thing that happens where there's this value of humble leadership, leadership that lays itself down for the good of its citizens. So that's why authoritarian regimes nowadays really struggle, even though they may have the political might and the economic might. There's typically always a point where they don't survive because the people grow wise. You're kind of seeing that in China right now as There's these unprecedented protests and things in China where you're like, I thought Chinese were just completely cool with everything going on. Well, there's these crazy, you know, COVID things going on where people were being welded in their houses and their apartment structures were, you know, there was a fire in the apartment structures and they just let people burn to death, you know. And so, and that post-Christ, that conflicts with this new this new value structure that everybody has that, wait a minute, even my authoritarian regime, they should be leading from a humble position. They should be leading from a position of desiring to serve the people as opposed to use the people to get. So, so that it's just this crazy thing. And he was kind of laying out the history of it and how they drew these conclusions and, and they studied all these ancient civilizations and, It was very compelling. I was like, wow, I never thought about it that way, that literally Jesus changed everything. He changed everything. And then when you read the Old Testament to the New Testament, you see those stark contrasts, even the way the people of God have to interact with the world where they take on the form of military might. Israel takes on the form of intense military might in the Old Testament because that's what was valued. That was what... wasn't questioned. And then, and then the church that Jesus establishes in the new test, completely different, completely different, doesn't take arms, doesn't, um, has this completely different structure and it spreads like wildfire, you know? And so anyways, um, but that's just give you a little bit understanding of why unrest occurs where there is a lack of value because we are all now kind of post Christ wired to, to desire to, a leadership structure that has a value of where I'm coming from. It doesn't matter what country you're in. That is a human phenomenon that smart countries take into account. And that's why the United States has built itself to be this nation unlike any other. the founding fathers went all into this idea, went all into this new, to this humility, this, this power structure with intense humility and, and service orientation, and then even checks and balances on itself. And that's, that's why the American experiment just, it, it succeeded beyond everybody's wildest dreams. Uh, cause they really tapped in this in very smart way. So very, very important. Um, It really, that's just what's going on in Brazil. What's going on in America is a perceived, either a real lack of value or a perceived lack of value. And that's so important. Just so you know, those people are always going to rise up and they're going to get much louder before they're quiet. And so when you're seeing people rage in the streets, you're seeing people rage on social media. I want you to understand that. What's motivating that is they feel like they're not being valued. Their perspectives, their convictions, the things that are important to them aren't being valued by society as a whole. So I hope that can just switch kind of the way you engage with them because the more you tell them to shut up or they're dumb or they're wrong or whatever, snarky, it's just going to make them louder. That's all it's going to do. It's just going to make it louder. And That's what we're experiencing. So some real wisdom here in Philippians 2. So second point, first point, unrest occurs where there is a lack of value. Two, value is developed when interests are considered. And that's where verse 4 comes in. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. That's That's the secret sauce. That's the balance. It doesn't say only to the interests of others. Notice it's like, let each of you not only look to his own interests. We're very good at looking at our own interests and the things that matter to us, the things that we value. But in the church, we also understand that there's people with maybe different convictions, maybe that they value different things. So we ask ourselves, man, what are you... Okay, I have these interests. I have these passions. I have these convictions. Okay, let me pause there. You're saying something that kind of confronts what I'm saying. What are your interests? Where do your interests lie? Where does that statement come from? And that is the only way to build value in other people is you have to look into the interests of others and you have to ask those questions you have to ask them those questions you have to want to know the answer you have to that's the only way for people to sit there be like wow i feel valued like i may not be getting what i want but i know this person values where i'm coming from and it's just this is a situation you know where everybody can't win. So in this situation, I can't win, but I have some hope. I have some faith that there are some things later on that my perspective will win because there's value here. That is completely lost. That is completely lost in the American political system. And it's increasingly being lost in the American church. So that's why I care. That's why I bring it up. Because we are... Unfortunately, instead of being leaders of the culture around us, we're being led by the culture around us and we're imitating it. We're seeing people in the church pick up banners that were like, what? I disagree with that. That's crazy town. And so we're just doing the same, shouting at them, shouting them down, whatever it may be, ignoring. And all that is, is just, I'm not, you know, this perspective that I think is important isn't valued, isn't valued. So Just louder, louder, louder. Both sides do it. 100% both sides do it. So don't feel like I can't sit here and feel like I'm innocent here or better than or whatever. It's something for us all to take a deep look and look at this verse, specifically in regards to the modern times and the issues that we're facing in Christianity. So Please know that value can only be developed when interests are considered. You have to do it. Whether, you know, in Twitter right now, there's this hardcore animosity between liberal Christians, or progressive Christians and conservative Christians. Like, it's bad. It's bad. I've just been trying to, I've just been paying attention to it. And And that's all, like, there's zero. Even, I'm like, y'all are, we're all Christians here. We're all under this banner of Christ. We all seem to profess that we understand who Jesus is and what he did. But we have zero desire to respond to somebody's tweet and say, huh, why do you, like, Help me understand. What is this love affair of Donald Trump? Because I don't get it. I don't understand it. I don't see where it comes from. Gosh, I'm struggling. I feel like the Bible has strong things to say about homosexuality, transgender. But you seem to think it's something that's just essential for the church to be engaged with. Where does that come from? Help me understand that. What your interests are in this. Those conversations are completely different. It brings you to a completely different place. I'm not saying it brings you to Kumbaya, perfect agreement. But it brings you to a place of where people's intentions are. And here's the truth. I say this all the time. We judge ourselves based on our intentions. We judge others based on their actions. So what that means is we always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt when our actions are bad because we know what we intended. But we give other people no benefit of the doubt because we have no clue what their intentions were. We have no clue. We just see that the actions were something we don't like. And so we give it harsh judgment. But when that judgment is levered on us, I didn't mean that. This is what I meant. This is what I intended. So... We have to get to the intentions behind the actions. We have to because we already have those in ourselves. So we have to get there with other people. So last thing that clearly this passage lays out for us is to be Christian. So to be Christian in this current tough political climate, social climate, to be Christian is to understand the interests of the other side. This is the takeaway that I need to have. I pray can just be spread throughout social media and be spread throughout our social circles. So please pick up this banner and wave it. To be a Christian, according to Philippians, is to be a person that understands the interests of the other side. If you're not there, then you are not acting according to the mind of of Christ that is in you. You are denying the mind of Christ, the work of Christ, the indicatives of your salvation, of your life, in order to imitate something that's not Christian. So please, please understand to be a Christian in our political discussions, in our social discussions, is to understand the interests of the other side. It doesn't mean like agree. It doesn't mean champion. It means, man, I can sit here and I can look at you. You have a conviction that I don't agree with, but I've spent some time. I've done my diligence to understand your interests. And I see how you have grown. believe it's rooted in the foundations of christ how you believe it's rooted in the foundations of the gospel and even if i'm like man i think biblically you're off there you know that who knows you may have an opportunity to humbly sit down and and share scripture or whatever it may be and that's where in true influence can be levied but this thing that we're doing what we're trying to influence through um you know twitter likes and retweets and you know, just echo chambers is it ain't, it ain't it. And it ain't working at all. So, so yeah, that was my kind of ax to grind today. I know we went a lot of, a lot of different directions, man. Um, the only thing I hate about podcasting is, man, the question every time I share something was like, man, what, what you thinking? And I don't, I don't get, so reach out, you know, uh, shoot an email. I think the, in the show notes are different ways to reach out. Like, Love to know how this stuff sits on you, where you struggle with things or where you disagree or whatever. That'd be huge. But yeah. But thanks as always. If this has been helpful, please share it. Please share galore. If you think this is an important message, I think it's important. So that's why I'm recording it. So if you agree, man, just help me. Because I don't see a lot of this. I try to keep my... ear to the rail and try to understand, like I said on Twitter and social media. And I don't see a lot of this. I just see a lot of rallying cries to my interests. And I'm going to poke fun at the interest of the other side in order to gain more interest. And it's just, that's not Christian. It's not Christian. I'm not saying these people aren't Christian. I'm just saying It's not Christian. It's not Philippians 2. It's not the mind of Christ. So anyways, hope that helps. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Love you all. Have a great week. And until next time, as always, Christian well.

UNKNOWN: 51:25

Thank you.