Culture, Politics and Jesus | Rev. Adam Hamilton | Church of the Resurrection

2:42 And so my head's a little clogged up and my throat's a little sore. And so I just want to apologize up front for not sounding typical or normal. But I think this message is so important that I didn't want to pass it off to someone else to share with you. So I'm looking forward to sharing this with you today as we delve into our first sermon on the first epistle of John. Now, before turning to the first epistle of John, I'd like to begin this message by talking about Charlie Kirk. Charlie was one of the most influential conservative political activists. He was the founder of Turning Point USA, host of radio and podcast shows, known for his public debates on college campuses and his influence with young men. And as most of you know, on Wednesday of this week, he was murdered, assassinated, while speaking to college students at Utah Valley University. When I learned that he'd been murdered, I was shocked and saddened. I didn't know him well. I didn't actually know him at all other than what I'd read and seen. I'd watched some of his clips, knew some of the positions he took on issues.

3:37 I appreciated his approach to sparking conversations on college campuses, taking on debaters and allowing people to ask questions. I appreciated that. I knew he had a strong faith, and I knew there were some things that we agreed upon, but there were a lot of things that we disagree about, or at least we see somewhat differently. And an approach to how we talk about these things is somewhat different. But that didn't matter. Here was somebody who had died at the age of 31, leaving behind a wife and two children. I was saddened by that. When I learned this, I was getting ready to go in for dinner for a dinner meeting with my future son-in-law. I quickly typed up a post on Facebook and stopped to pray for Charlie Kirk and his family in the parking lot while I was sitting in my car. This was the post. I said, I just learned of Charlie Kirk's death. I didn't agree with him on many issues, but I grieve his death. I lament that American politics has come to this for some. I pray, I am praying for his family. Last night, I finished a sermon on 1 John 4, 7 and 8, the sermon I'm preaching to you today, and it seems particularly poignant now. It was something like that that I posted. And then I stopped, I prayed again, and then I went inside and I had, I went to the restaurant, I had dinner with my future son-in-law, and I went home. And when I got home, I opened up my phone, I saw that there were hundreds of messages, a couple hundred messages that had come through on Facebook. And I saw that it had just sort of exploded. There were people angry and upset and people fighting with other people and people, you know, angry at the things that I had said. And I thought, what just happened? I'm not really sure.

4:59 And then as I looked at it, I noticed that there were some who were upset that I had said there were many things I disagreed with Charlie Kirk on. Some thought I was making a political statement. Some thought I was criticizing him. Some just felt it was inappropriate that I would have said that. You just should have said that you were sorry that he died. And so I looked at that and I thought, you know, that's right. I could have just left that out. I didn't need to put that in there. It did reflect the truth, but it didn't need to be said right then. And so I changed the text and I stopped the conversation because people said, hey, you should turn this off. People are getting toxic in the conversation that's happening here on Facebook. And so I limited comments and made a little change to that. And I thought, you know, it's funny. I was hoping to create a post that brought people together, but instead it actually, you know, turned into more division in our society. It's interesting how this happens, how quickly it happens. Why am I mentioning that here? Because all of this, Charlie Kirk and his murder assassination on Wednesday, the Facebook post and how it erupted, the shooting at a school this week, the reminder from 9-11 back 24 years ago, the threats that were issued to seven historically black-related colleges and universities. All of this is just a reminder of where we are in our culture today. And tragically, Charlie Kirk was a victim of this toxic culture. So I want us to think together about this today. I appreciated something, by the way, when you're in the middle of a Facebook, you know, all kinds of stuff exploding on Facebook. I was reminded of something Russ Douthat wrote in the New York Times, actually said on the New York Times this week. He had a social media post that Charlie had made, and I think this was so good. He was speaking to young people, and he said, when things are moving very fast and people are losing their minds, it's important to stay grounded.

6:57 Turn off your phone, read scripture, spend time with friends, and remember the internet fury is not real life. It's going to be okay. There's something else he said that I really appreciated. We would definitely agree on this. We heal our divides by talking to people we disagree with. You heal the country when you allow disagreement. This is something that we have somehow forgotten today, to allow disagreement, to know how to disagree agreeably. We just have somehow forgotten how to do this. All right, so I'd like for us to begin, today we're going to talk about culture, politics, and Jesus as we look at 1 John. So nations, businesses, communities, churches, they have cultures. Families have cultures. When I think of what a culture is, the term describes the values, aspirations, the hopes, dreams, character, ethics, worldview, the ethos of a people. So all of those things together, and that determines how they live, how they act towards one another, but that's what culture is. And all of these organizations, communities, businesses, churches, they have cultures. And that, again, determines behaviors.

8:03 A healthy culture promotes flourishing. A toxic culture can have disastrous consequences. This is true in communities, again, businesses, churches, nations. One of the most important job of a leader is to help safeguard the culture, to set the culture. And that's true whether you're the president of the United States or the senior pastor of a local church or the CEO of a business or you're the teacher in a classroom. You set the culture of the organization that you're a part of. This week I read a column by David Brooks in the New York Times. I really appreciate Brooks. He spoke here several years ago at Resurrection. He's a thoughtful Christian. He's traditionally been seen as a conservative at the New York Times, but in later years, in these last few years, it feels like he's not sure where he is anymore either, somewhere between conservative and liberal. He wrote an article, and it was called Why I Am Not a Liberal. But I appreciated his summary paragraph. I actually appreciated the whole article, but the summary paragraph was this. I wish both right and left could embrace the more complex truth that the neocon Democrat, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, you may remember he was ambassador to the United States, 24 years, I think, served as a senator.

9:06 And he was, though a Democrat from New York, he was in two different Republican presidential administrations. But something Daniel Patrick Moynihan expressed in his famous maxim, the central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change culture and save it from itself. And I believe Moynihan was right, that it is in large part culture that determines the success of a country or a business or a church or anything else. And as you think about that, how would you describe our culture today in America? Would you say it's healthy, vibrant, alive? Well, certainly it is in so many places. But when you think about our national discourse, I don't know the words you come up with, but for me, it feels fragmented, divided, angry, hostile, and even toxic. That's a recipe for disaster for a country. So this week, we saw four examples again of that toxic culture. I mentioned them already.

10:06 Yesterday, threatening letters, or yesterday, Friday, Thursday, Thursday of this week, threatening letters were sent to seven historically black colleges, threatening violence and retribution for the murder last month of Irina Zeruska. She was the refugee from Ukraine. Now, why in the world would somebody look at what happened, a mentally ill, somebody who was broken, who was homeless, riding a train, something he did when he heard voices, why would they think that we're going to punish seven historically black universities? What is wrong with us? On Wednesday, a 16-year-old student at Evergreen High School became the latest school shooter. Law enforcement has said that the shooter was radicalized by an extremist group. Like, that's a culture that this person has bought into that ends up shaping the rest of our culture. And then that same day, Charlie Kirk was murdered. And there were some who celebrated while others grieved. Again, what's wrong with us? The fourth example was on Thursday, and that was when we remembered the 24th anniversary of 9-11.

11:10 And you see the airplane in this picture, the second airplane flying. And some of you were not alive when this happened, but for some of us we remember just how horrible that event was. And it was a picture of what happens, a destructive and toxic culture that Al-Qaeda had adopted and led by Osama bin Laden. Now this week if you were on the social media platforms like X, You've seen a massive outpouring of conservative anger at liberals, finger pointing by Republicans and Democrats for Charlie's death, for the state of things in our country. But listen, our name calling, our angry toxic culture, it's bipartisan. It isn't Republicans or Democrats. It's Republicans and Democrats. It's liberals and conservatives. It is across the board. We are all guilty of creating this toxicity. Now, all of that is a way to admit something we already know, and that is that we have a culture of conflict, a culture that's toxic when it comes to politics, and many of the culture war issues.

12:13 In fact, that's an interesting term, culture war. It was originally coined, I think, in 1990, but it's been around since the beginning of time. The very first culture war was Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve. And Abel was one who was a sheepherder, and Cain was one who was a settler. He settled down and had a farm. And that culture was, that was a culture war for millennia, literally, in the ancient Near East and the ancient world. And that resulted in Cain killing his brother Abel. Now what we find in 1 John is some truths that I think are really important if we want to try to figure out what role could we play in addressing this toxic culture. So we're not sure who wrote 1 John. It's interesting there are five books in the New Testament. There are 27 books of the New Testament. Five are attributed to John. There's the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John towards the end of your New Testament, and then the book of Revelation. Only Revelation claims to be written by a John. We're not sure who the John was. 2nd and 3rd John claim to be written by the elder with no name attached. And 1st John is written so much like 2nd and 3rd John that we would say they're by the same author. And then the Gospel of John, which was written by the beloved disciple or somebody who knew the beloved disciple, which was probably the disciple John. And so 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John draw from the gospel of John, so does Revelation.

13:28 And it's thought that there was kind of a community of people that had been followers of the disciple John, maybe in Ephesus. And after his death, they would have been writing some of these things. That's at least the mainline perspective on who the authors were of these things. So John or someone, the elder, has written this letter. I'm going to apologize again for my throat.

13:55 So John was written to correct some issues in the churches. First John was written to correct some issues in the churches or church that he was writing to. It could have been, typically we've thought of it as Ephesus. Maybe several different churches on the western coast or the western portion of what today is Turkey, what was then Asia Minor. And what seemed to have been happening, if you read between the lines, and it's a short letter. You're going to have a chance to read it this week and next in the GPS. But if you read it, what you find reading between the lines is there were some problems there in River City. There were some problems in Ephesus and these other churches. And there were people who were calling themselves Christians, but they had drifted away from the church and they had lost some things that were important about being Christians. I want you to hear that because I think this is true in American society today. I think there's a lot of people, 62% of Americans claim to be Christians, but I think we've sometimes lost a bit. of what it means to be a Christian. So listen to what John says. He describes him. If you have your Bible, turn to 1 John 2, verse 19. So again, these are the letters of John near the book of Revelation. 1 John 2, verse 19. They went out from us, but they were not really part of us.

15:00 If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. But by going out from us, they showed they all are not part of us. You know, it's interesting today, there's a whole lot of people who call themselves Christians who are no longer actively involved in faith communities but are seriously engaged in politics. And it's as though politics has taken the place of their religion. And that's a bit of what we find in 1 John. It wasn't religion necessarily, politics necessarily, but it was something that had taken them away from their faith. John goes on to mention two ways in which the faith of those who left differed from the Christians who remained. So listen to this. The first one is found in 1 John 1, verses 8-10. I'd love for you to read this together. Just follow it. Follow me along. Follow along with me. 1 John 1, 8 through 10. He says, if we claim we don't have any sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we've done wrong. If we claim we have never sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. So reading between the lines, it appears as though there was a group within the church who claimed that they no longer had sin. Maybe they never had sin. They didn't feel like they were sinners. There's nothing wrong with me. I'm not a sinner. And if you're not a sinner, then you don't need a savior. If you're not a sinner, then you think you're pretty perfect.

16:15 If you're not a sinner and you don't recognize you're a sinner, then you think you have it all figured out. You have all the answers. You know it all. And you don't really need to have humility. You don't need hubris. You can be prideful. You can be pretty sure that you know everything and you're right about everything when you don't understand that you have sin, that you by nature have a tendency to do the wrong thing. So if we can connect this to where we are today, what we recognize when it comes to the culture wars is that understanding that I'm a sinner means that sometimes I get it wrong. I may say the wrong thing on Facebook, or I may say the wrong thing in a sermon. It's possible I'm a sinner, and I'm not perfect. And it also means that you might be in that case too. I love how Tony Campolo once said he'd never have a debate with, this is a great Christian sociologist, he said, I'll never have a debate with somebody who's not first willing to admit they might be wrong. I wonder if you talk politics, are you willing to admit you might be wrong or anything, sociology or whatever it might be, because that's where we have to be. We have to be able to say, you know, I could be wrong about this, but this is what I think. And all of a sudden we open ourselves to learning instead of hating, to listening instead of ignoring.

17:19 I mean, I think about that, you know, the little words on my Facebook post this week, you know, if I thought about it, I would have said something differently. I learned something from that. I'm 61. I'm still learning. Or you double down and you just say, no, you know, I'm right and you're wrong. We've got to be able to recognize our own fallibility, that we might be wrong, that we have places where we can grow and we can learn. We don't have all the truth. None of us does. All right, so that's the first thing we see is they believe that they had no sin. Here's the second thing, is they began to turn away from the Christ that they had first believed in. So in 1 John 2.26, we read, I write these things to you about those who are attempting to deceive you. So there was somebody, this group who had left the church, were attempting to deceive them. They were attempting to persuade them of things that weren't true. So this is the three things we find in 1 John that they denied. They denied that Jesus was the Christ, that is the King. They denied that he was the Son of God. And they denied that he came in the flesh. They thought he was a spirit being, some kind of spirit entity. Now we see a bit of this in 1 John 2, 22 and 23.

18:25 He writes, who is the liar? Isn't it the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ? So here you see they were denying that Jesus is the Christ. This person is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father, but the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. So I want you to notice this. First of all, this idea of the Antichrist. We often read this in the light of the book of Revelation. We think there's this figure that's coming who's the Antichrist. but in 1 John and in 2 John, I believe also, we find the Antichrist is anybody who's decided that Jesus isn't the king. Isn't that interesting? So Christ is a word in Hebrew. It means it's Messiah. In Greek, it's Christos. It means anointed one, one set apart to be king. So anyone who denies that Jesus is the king is the Antichrist. Now, that's not a term you go around pointing your finger at other people saying you're being the Antichrist.

19:20 Here's the question we ask. is are we in any way, not somebody else, but are we in any way denying that Jesus is the Christ? Or asked another way, who is king in your life? Is it Jesus? Or is it you? Or is it politics? Or some particular issue that you're interested in? Or even some politician? Who is king in your life? Now, here's, I want you to just appreciate this, at least I appreciated this comment from I. Howard Marshall in his commentary on 1 John. He summarized the heresy of these persons by saying that these persons had formed a Christianity in which Jesus Christ is no longer, Jesus Christ no longer occupied a central position. A Christianity in which Jesus Christ no longer occupied a central position. There are an awful lot of people, I think, and we all are tempted by this. The people that John is writing to were tempted by this. There are a whole lot of people who are tempted to have a Christianity where Jesus is no longer at the center, where something else is most important in our lives.

20:23 And we call this idolatry, when there's something besides God that is at the center of our lives, at the center of our values, our understanding of what's true, our desire for how we live and who we please. And I want you to notice, if this is idolatry, I want you to be aware that idolatry is bipartisan. Republicans do this. Democrats do this. I was reading an article this week by a pastor named Joe Carter. I don't know him, but I appreciated the article. He said, how to know if you've made an idol of politics. He's, I think, a conservative evangelical. How to know if you've made an idol of politics. So he's writing to people who are more conservative in his congregation and the people who would read this website. But I think it works for liberals too. So here it is. And these are not his questions. I've restated them a bit.

21:13 The five questions I'd invite you to ask today. Have I spent more time today thinking about my favorite politician than I have of Jesus? Do I spend more time listening to my favorite political leader than reading the Gospels to hear what Jesus says? Do I make excuses for policies or practices of my party or president that are inconsistent with Jesus' message? do my politics lead me to say or do things that are inconsistent with my faith in Jesus and are the policies my party advocates consistent with the message of Jesus I'm just going to read those again let's leave let's start all over again because I want you to make sure you hear them have I spent more time today thinking about my favorite politician than I have of Jesus do I spend more time listening to my favorite political leader than reading the gospels to hear what Jesus says? Do I make excuses for policies or practices of my party or president that are inconsistent with Jesus' message? Do my politics lead me to say or do things that are inconsistent with my faith in Jesus? And are the policies of my party, policies my party advocates consistent with the message of Jesus? And if the answer is no, then it's possible that you have recentered something else besides Jesus in your life.

22:31 and if that's happened then today I want to invite you to repent the word repent means to have a change of mind that leads to a change of heart that leads to a change of behavior can I just say this clearly Barack Obama was not the savior of the world and Donald Trump is not the savior of the world and Joe Biden was not the savior of the world Jesus is the Savior and he is the Christ he is the only one and if anything else is sitting in that place you're off kilter and it feels like for many as Christians on the left and the right we've allowed something else to take the center place in our lives the central position of our lives alright so that leads to one more thing to note about these errant Christians they failed to act with love this is really important love is the one thing that they had lost love for one another, love for those in distress and in need. The faith of these who had drifted had lost the single most important dimension of Christian ethics, and that is love. Turn to 1 John 4, 7 and 8. And today here at our Leawood location, and I think at all of our other locations as well, we have a scripture memory verse that you're going to pick up as you walk out the door.

23:48 And on the one side, it has this passage of scripture because it's one I want you to memorize. I learned it when I was a kid in high school. Memorize it. There was a song that went along with it. Some of you may know the song. So here it is. Let's say this together, shall we? This is going to help you start to memorize, get a head start on memorizing. Dear friends, let's love each other because love is from God and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn't love does not know God because God is love. What a powerful scripture. Now, love is the driving ethic of the Christian life. In John's gospel, Jesus repeatedly claims, he says, this is my commandment, that you love one another. He says that on the night he's about to be crucified, the next day he would be arrested that night. This is my commandment, that you love one another. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he quotes twice, or once in each of those gospels, the great commandments. Love God with all that's within you.

24:40 Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Love even your enemy, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. We read in Paul, the summation of the law. He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I'm a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And James speaks of the royal law of love. I went through the entire New Testament and the only book that doesn't quote this command of love is the book of Acts and they were showing it. But every other book of the New Testament says, this is the command in some way or another that we are called to love one another. John goes on to say this, those who say I love God and hate their brothers or sisters are liars. That's pretty strong words. Those who say I love God and hate their brothers or sisters are liars. After all, those who don't love their brother or sister whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen.

25:33 Who is the brother or sister? It's the people all around you. It's the people of the opposite political party, the people who see things differently, the people who annoy you over the workplace. They're all your brothers or sisters. And so you're called to love. And how can you say you love God, who you can't see, if you can't love the person sitting next to you that you can see? All right, this Christian ideal, love. is the Greek word agape. Many of you know that word. Agape means it's not a warm, fuzzy feeling. It's choosing. It's a dogged determination to choose the best for the other person, to choose to be kind, to choose to be patient, to choose good for them, to seek to bless other people. This is what love looks like. There's other words for love that have to do with the emotion and the feeling. This is a loving, a love that is action. Now we'd imagine what a culture might look like if that culture was set by this basic idea of agape, because that is the fundamental culture of a Christian. It's a fundamental culture of a Christian faith, a Christian community. We are meant to be a community of love. Now, when we think about Christian ethics, how do we decide what's the right thing or the wrong thing? You should be doing Christian ethics all the time.

26:49 When you're watching the evening news, it's a great chance to do Christian ethics. Just to say about this policy. Maybe it's an executive order that was signed. Maybe it's some, you know, some political idea that somebody's putting forward on your party or the other party. But a really important question to be able to ask, if agape is the driving passion of Jesus, it's what he was aiming for, is this question. It's on the backside of this scripture memory verse that we're giving to all of you today. And by the way, if you're online, you can download this at court.org slash next. But here's the question. What is the loving thing to do? What is the loving thing to do? And you know, that kind of sorts through a whole lot of stuff when you ask the question, or you can ask it this way. Is this thing I'm hearing about, is it loving? Is it loving? Does it reflect kindness? Does it reflect compassion? Does it reflect mercy? Does it reflect what I'd want to be, you know, have done for me? And if there's a policy, an executive order, if there's a something happening, you know, the Democrats are proposing, the Republicans are proposing, that doesn't line up with that, you might really ask the question, should I be supporting this or not? And so, you know, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes there are, you know, conflicting claims when it comes to love.

27:58 The loving thing sometimes, well, some of this is loving and some of this is loving, and so you've got to figure out what is the most loving thing to do? Or how do you do the thing that you don't want to do, but you have to do it in a loving way, right? So there are loving ways to do things that are hard and there are not loving ways to do things that are hard. Are we doing it the loving way or the not loving way? Are we doing it the toxic way or the way that produces flourishing? I mean, these are just important questions to be asking in the culture in which we live. The latest Pew Research found that 62% of Americans claim to be Christians. Now, that's way down from where it was before, but that's still ginormous. 62% of our country claim to be Christians. So if this is true, should our culture not reflect the love of Christ? Should it not be seen, that sense of 62% of Americans being Christians, shouldn't it be seen in our social media posts? And what we post on X or on Facebook or on Instagram or somewhere else, shouldn't love be seen in that? Shouldn't our willingness to assume the best and not the worst of others, shouldn't that be a part of how we live, that we assume the best and not the worst when somebody posts on social media or when somebody says something in the office or whatever else? I mean, that's part of love is assuming the best and not the worst, or not talking about people behind their backs or gossiping or backbiting. Shouldn't the fact that 62% of us are Christians, and we know what the prime directive is for Christians, shouldn't that be reflected in our politics, in our nation's policies? I mean, what is the loving thing to do?

29:27 What is the loving thing to do? So in our speech, in our convictions, in our actions, in our culture, if we are a country where 62, we aren't a Christian nation, but we are a nation where 62% of us are Christians, shouldn't that have an impact? Now listen, nearly every president since John F. Kennedy has quoted Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount to describe what they hoped for for America. I love this. So here it is. You remember it. A shining city on a hill that can't be hidden. Now the shining part wasn't what Jesus said, but that was added later on by the pilgrims, I think. But this idea of America being a city on a hill. Now, again, that's Jesus' vision. And by the way, I'll tell you, Jesus' vision, when he talked about you are the light of the world, a city set upon a hill that can't be hidden, he wasn't talking about a country. He was talking about the church. He was talking about his people. But in a country where a majority of the population are Christians, it should be a city on a hill. But it feels like we've forgotten that today.

30:26 so I was thinking about when the French gave America the Statue of Liberty, and it was dedicated in 1886. Before that, in 18, I think it was 1883, they were trying to raise money for the pedestal. The French gave the statue, but the Americans were trying to raise money for the pedestal, and they asked Emma Lazarus to write a poem about this statue. It's called the Colossus. You may know in the ancient Greek world, there was this Colossus, this statue of one of the Roman emperors that straddled, maybe it was Zeus, I don't remember, but I was thinking it was one of the emperors. And it straddled this port. And so that was the Colossus. But now there's a new Colossus coming to America. And so Emma Lazarus wrote this poem. And it wasn't until 1903, 16 years after her death, that somebody had the idea that, you know, that statue so represents this idea that they wanted, that was captured in her poem, that they wanted to put it inside the Statue of Liberty.

31:19 So in 1903, the Colossus, the poem that she wrote, was written. And you remember these words. This is the last line from the Colossus. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these the homeless tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. I think this mindset, this culture of caring for the vulnerable, a sense of selfless love reflected in Lazarus' poem is a reflection of the nature of a nation whose culture was shaped by Christ. Emma Lazarus might have been Jewish, I don't remember. She actually wrote those words thinking about Jewish immigrants who were coming to America in the 1880s. And you may remember that 40 years later, 50 years later, America turned back to St. Louis when Jewish refugees were coming here, fleeing Germany.

32:11 And what was happening in the Holocaust? We turned the ship away. At the port where, I think it was the same port, where the Statue of Lady Liberty stood with this palm inside of her. You see, America had forgot who it was. we'd forgot our way. All right. So, yeah, I find it interesting, you know, people say, well, you're being too political. Politics is really morals and ethics. It's like we decide what are our values? What really matters to us? And then we try to figure out how do we do the thing for the most, you know, the common good for people. And what you're hearing me say is I'm saying, we've got it wrong on both sides, liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats. I'm not telling you how to vote or even what to think, except this, that make sure that love is the rule that you're using, right? Make sure that you're looking at people, you see human beings. Make sure that Christ is centered in your life, and you haven't centered a political party or an ideology or a particular politician, but the Christ is at the center. And then you're going to find the way. You'll figure out the right way. And if you get it wrong, at least you were trying to do the right thing. You were trying to figure it out. So I want to begin to wrap it up this way.

33:24 So I was in England for a month. The last leading different groups, the last group was 280 people, mostly from resurrection. And we had name tags on. There was these name tags on our lanyards that we wore around so everybody could get to know each other's names. And we wore them when we went into restaurants and other places wherever we were. And most of us, so there was like about a thousand people on this ship that we took around the British islands. But 280 of us were on that just to learn about John Wesley. Well, to have fun and, you know, eat good food and connect with people and see parts of the world we hadn't seen. But my driving passion, the reason why I had organized this trip was I wanted to take these people to see the Wesley sites. So anyway, I was sitting at a table, Levon and I were sitting at a table, and there was a couple sitting next to us who weren't a part of our church. And the first night I met them, and I said, hey, how are you? You know, tell me your story. And well, what's your story? So I'm a pastor of a church in Kansas City, and we got all these, you know, people here, and I just love these people. And we're studying about John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. All that was Greek to them. They didn't know anything about that. So the last night, or the second of last night, we were on the ship and I saw this couple again and they came up and they said, we just got to tell you, we run into your people all over the place, those name tags, you know, so we know that they're your people, they're yours.

34:37 We've never met a nicer group of people anywhere. We've traveled the world. We've never met people who are as kind as those people with those name tags on, and if we lived in Kansas City, we'd want to be a part of your church. Well, it's not my church. It's Jesus' church, but you know what, inside, I thought, yes, that is so what I want for the people at Church of the Resurrection. I want them to be the kind of people that so live out that love and that kindness towards other people that people notice, they take notice of it, and they go, those are real Christians over there. I may not agree with their politics, or I may not agree with their views on this or that, but I can't deny the fact that they love. Love is a powerful force in the world in which we live. Can I give you one more example of what this looks like in our congregation? So many of you know the story. This is Matthew's ministry weekend. And it was, I think, 32 years ago when a family showed up at our church who had a special needs son. And what we said as a church is we're going to do whatever it takes to welcome this son, this child, and this family.

35:38 And this is part of what defines our congregation too. Take a look. Matthew's ministry is far beyond what we ever expected that it could be. One of the most helpful things was Adam invited the church to come to like an open house and meet Matthew. And really it just takes somebody with a heart. Our friendship is pretty special. We've known each other for a really long time. I also like Sunfire Bakery because I really like Snickerdoodle cookies. Yes. My favorite thing at Family Night Out is doing some party games. I like Matthew's ministry because I like to see my friends. I'm here for just being best buds with all people here, especially kids like me. When people ask, how in the world do you raise a child with special needs, you can survive, but you cannot thrive the way that we did without a church family.

36:42 It is so special. I have seen so many families be saved by the ministry. To me, the bell choir is something that I enjoy. It gives an opportunity to use the gifts because everybody is giving gifts. Everybody. This ministry is important and I think it's very important for us to continue to serve. It makes everything that's happened in the past make more sense to us. It's Matthew's legacy. That's really what it is. For several hundred special needs children, youth, and adults, that's the kind of church you have been. That's the culture that you have created as you've lived this life of love. Now, that leads me back to Charlie Kirk.

37:37 He was a Christian who believed, and he wanted to put Christ first in his life. I believe that. And no, I didn't always agree with some of the things that he said or advocated. And he wouldn't always agree with me if he'd known me. I'm sure he had no idea who I was. And there were names that he called pastors like me sometimes. They weren't always positive. But you know what? When I look at him, I can still care about him. I can still think that he has some good things to say, or I can still think that I can appreciate this or this, even if we don't agree. And I think he felt the same way, which is why I want to remind you of that quote on his webpage. He selected this for his webpage. page. And I want us to hear this today when our society seems to be so angry with each other, especially after his death. He says, we heal our divides by talking to people we disagree with. You heal the country when you allow disagreement. Listen, when it comes to our social media, we have to reflect that. And we have to reflect love. When you post on social media, do unto others. By the way, if you're posting on my page, if I post something out there that you like, great. Or I don't like, great, that's fine. But when you post, post like a Christian.

38:51 What you say, if somebody says something you're angry about, post like a Christian. Sometimes what a Christian does is they don't post anything. They don't respond. Silence is sometimes the best thing that we can do. Or we remember the words of James, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Okay, listen, we're in a toxic culture right now. You know how cultures change? They change through people who intentionally decide to change the culture by the way they live, the way they talk, by their values. And John has the key for us in changing the culture. So I want us to say together once more these words. Would you say them out loud with me? Dear friends, let's love each other because love is from God and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn't love does not know God because God is love. Let's pray.

39:47 Lord, help us to live these words. Help us to love one another, knowing that love is from you. Help us to remember that you are love and that we can't possibly say that we love you if we don't love our neighbors. Help us in our social media, in our conversations, in the way that we live, to love people who see things differently than we do, to be able to disagree agreeably. Help us, O Lord, to have our hearts break for the things that break your heart. And we confess there are times we have re-centered other things in place of you, Jesus, in our lives. please be our king once more be centered in our lives we pray in your holy name