day no. 17,548: cross politics (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Post-Election Wrap Up

November 8, 2026

"Cross Politics"

THE TEXT

Our text this morning is 1 Timothy 2:1-6, these are the words of God.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

May God bless the reading of His Word. Amen.

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This past Tuesday, mid-term elections were held in our nation and whether the candidates you voted for won or lost, the way we are commanded to pray for them is the same. And how is that? Our text this morning tells us: we are to pray that they would do everything in their power to make it possible for us to have some peace and quiet. In other words, we pray for them to leave us alone. And this is true whether our guy won or lost. When our guy wins, this is easy to forget. We want him to do things for us. When our guy loses, however, it is easier to see the wisdom of Paul’s counsel. We all want limited government when it is going against us, but we are tempted to want big government when it is going in a direction we like. We must always remember the nine most terrifying words in the English language: “I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.” And this is true whether the guy in charge is our guy or not. Whatever our problems are, the answer is not more government. We see that here in 1 Timothy 2.

More government does not lead to more freedom. More legislation does not lead to liberty. The government is not a freedom factory. It does not produce our rights. It doesn’t produce anything. Our rights come from God. The government’s job is to protect what we already have, not to give us what we want. And when they try to, they produce more problems than they solve. 2 Peter 2:19 “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” When the government tries to manufacture “rights,” they always end up trampling on the rights we already have, the very rights they were elected to protect.

When the blind lead the blind, they both fall into a pit and when a slave of corruption leads another slave of corruption, they both end up more enslaved. Consider this quip from C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Proposes a Toast where the demons celebrate the success of big government in England. “I heard the other day that in that country a man could not, without a permit, cut down his own tree with his own axe, make it into planks with his own saw, and use the planks to build a toolshed in his own garden.” One version of Hell on earth is what we see in the book of Judges 21:15, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This is the Bonehead option: no rules, no rulers. Anarchy is one way to ruin everything. Another version is tyranny. This is the Bonaparte option. History is largely a vacillation between these two. We get sick of being parented by the government and so we seek to cast off all authority. We then get sick of being orphans and so we offer all authority to anyone who is willing to come in and clean things up. But it isn’t a choice between bedlam and bureaucracy, It is a choice between Christ and chaos. Chaos can take the form of no rules, but it also can take the form rule by endless forms. Chesterton said it this way, “'If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by ten thousand commandments… When you break the big laws, you do not get liberty; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.”

So, when we ask the government to trespass its jurisdiction, we do not get more liberty, we get more laws. Laws about how fast you can drive, laws about fuel efficiency, laws about car seats, laws about seatbelts, laws, laws, and more laws. Why? Chesterton again, “Abolish God and the government becomes God.” There will be a god of the system. This is an inescapable concept: not whether, but which. Every society has a point beyond which there is no appeal. Whatever that point is, that is the god of that system. It will either be the one, true God, Maker of Heaven and earth and His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, or it will be an idol: Christ or chaos. The government will either be governed by God or it will be ungovernable. Chesterton again, “Government has become ungovernable; it cannot leave off governing. Law has become lawless; it cannot see where laws should stop. The chief feature of our time is the meekness of the mob and the madness of the government.” The only thing worse than a government that has gotten out of control is a people who put up with it… and even worse a people who think more government is the only solution.

So, stand firm in the freedom Christ has purchased for us, and do not sell out for a few handouts. Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Resist the rights the government offers and stand firm in the ones God has already given to you. “There is only ONE mediator between God and man,” and that mediator is NOT the state, it is Jesus Christ. Psalm 146:3-5 “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” So, where is your hope? Is it in the results of this last election? Or is it in the next one? Instead of trusting in princes and policies to deliver you, look to Christ who already has. 

In his best-selling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey made the following observation, "You cannot talk your way out of problems you behaved yourself into." The same principle, I believe, applies here: we cannot vote our way out of the problems we sinned our way into. Whether your guy won or lost this past Tuesday, it will not resolve what’s ultimately wrong with us. Only repentance can get to the heart of the problem. 

Once upon a time in the early 1900s, The Times of London posed a simple, yet profound question:“What’s wrong with the world today?” Many prominent authors responded with long essays and papers. G.K. Chesterton, however, responded with one-sentence: “What’s wrong with the world today? Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton” What’s wrong with America? You are. I am. We are. “No! It’s all those people who voted for commies this past Tuesday. It’s all those hypocrites already in office not doing what they said they would do.” Yes, and amen. Them too. But the sins of others never absolve us of our own. We are not justified because someone else deserves to be condemned. We are justified because an innocent man died for us even though we deserved to be condemned.

There is no political solution to our current problem. That is not to say that politics have nothing to do with it or that politics will not play a role in it, but it is to say that unless we repent, our politics will not be able to save us. Without Christ, our politics are impotent to fix what’s wrong with the world. So, if we want to make America great again, we must make America Christian again. We do not need a bigger government, we need a bigger view of Christ. He must increase and our government, as well as our hope in it, must decrease; “for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”… and nowhere else (2 Cor 3:17)

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we so often trust in princes more than we do in providence and since we so often hate the sins of others more than we hate our own, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, including the sin of wanting someone else to fix our problems with others without personally repenting of our own. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Almighty and merciful Father, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us. Renew us and lead us by Your Holy Spirit so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from 1 John 1:8-9 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Take heart, Christian. Christ is King and He is kind. The world will be saved, but not by policies and not by princes. It will be saved because He is faithful and He is just. He will forgive those who look to Him and call upon Him. So, in His Name and for His sake, it is my pleasure to declare to you this morning that your sins are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise.

day no. 17,547: the twin sins of trajectory and speed

"Most conservatism today is just ambulatory progressivism." ― Douglas Wilson, That Rancid Reservoir, Filled With Guilt

The progressives are dizzy and drunk on the floor. The conservatives are drunk and dizzy, but still standing. They are bound for the same floor the progressives are on, they just aren't there yet. Everyone is drunk and still drinking. No one is aiming at sobriety.

"Conservatism is a party which never conserves anything." — R.L. Dabney

At this point, the only thing conservatives fight to keep around are their previous defeats. They are never advancing the ball toward some conservative utopia, they are only ever attempting to stay living in the last hell hole they attempted to avoid moving into.

"Conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition." — R.L. Dabney

The sin of the Left is wanting to drive the world off a cliff and the sin of the Right is arguing about what speed we are going. No one is arguing that perhaps we shouldn't drive off of the cliff. The Right merely wants to lose later than the Left does. They are the twin sins of the trajectory and speed.

"The only practical purpose which conservatism now subserves in American politics is to give enough exercise to Radicalism to keep it 'in wind.' and to prevent its becoming pursy and lazy, from having nothing to whip." — R.L. Dabney

The Left would be less agile if they didn't have the Right to wrestle. The Right keeps the Left in shape. Without the Right, the Left would atrophy as they embraced the entropy of things. The Lord provides rebirth and revival, but outside of Him, there is only death and its spiral.

“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.” — G.K. Chesterton; Illustrated London News, April 19, 1924

By relentlessly holding on to yesterday's mistakes, conservatives keep correction at bay. The progressives go on to make new mistakes and the conservatives go on to embrace the last mistake made as that halcyon time when everything was right with the world.

day no. 17,546 american women have waxed fat and kicked

“The early twentieth century was characterized by the Christian wife. The early twenty-first century is characterized by the tattooed concubine. And these sons of Belial have the chutzpah to call it ‘progress for women.’” — Douglas Wilson, Concise and to the Point

Women were made to help men build things. When they go rogue, they do not merely not help men build, they actively tear down what men have already built.

Proverbs 14:1

Every wise woman buildeth her house: 

but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.

The wise Christian women of the early twentieth century helped their men build a healthy society. The wanton women of the early twenty-first century are actively tearing down the world their grandfathers built (and they don't feel even the slightest bit of guilt about it). They are not accidentally destroyed the world of their forefathers, they are actively, aggressively, enthusiastically ripping it apart and spitting on the shreds. 

"Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.” — Cotton Mather

America women have waxed fat and kicked and the consequences have been tragic.

day no. 17,545: harsh realities and necessary goods

“In a healthy society, if wives are generally submissive to their own husbands, there will be a cheerful deference to the leadership of men generally, a reality to be welcomed and not resented. The end result generally will be a patriarchal society.” ― Douglas Wilson, Concise and to the Point

Patriarchy is not an evil, not even a necessary evil; it is a necessary good.

It is not a sinful system to usurp, it is a lawful system to embrace.

Reality is never on the ballot. Everyone could vote against reality and reality would still win the election. Just as one man with God is always in the majority, so the reality of God is always our reality. That is not a harsh reality, but it feels harsh to those who keep hitting their head on it.

day no. 17,544: rocco is 11

A toast for Rocco:

Rocco,

You are a good son, a good brother, a good friend, and a good man. You do what you say you are going to do and you work hard at the tasks that are assigned to you. You play well with your friends and work well when you are on your own. You know how to be crazy and you know how to be calm. You can sit and read and you can climb a tree. These are the things men need to do. They need to be steady and secure and they need to be ready to secure the area. You are smart and strong, just like a good man should be. I will miss 10 year old Rocco, but I am excited to get to know 11 year old Rocco. May you continue to grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and with others just as Jesus did when He was your age. 

To Rocco!

I am so proud of you and I love you very much.

Happy Birthday, Rocketsauce.

Dad

day no. 17,543: just the one

Acts 22:14

The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

Jesus is the Just One that Paul saw on the road to Damascus. 

How many just ones are there? Just the one.

day no. 17,542: all dressed up with nowhere to go

“Benches were pushed back, bedding gear and bolsters

Spread across the floor…

At their heads they placed their polished timber

Battle-shields; and on the bench above them,

Each  man’s  kit  was  kept  to  hand:

A towering war-helmet, webbed mail-shirt

And great-shafted spear. It was their habit

Always and everywhere to be ready for action,

At home or in the camp, in whatever case

And at whatever time the need arose

To rally round their lord. They were a right people."

— Beowulf, Seamus Heaney translation

It is a good thing to be ready to go.

Luke 12:35

Stay dressed for action.

Preparedness is about being getting ready so that when the time comes, you're already ready. There is no time to get ready when the time comes.

Get ready now so that you will be ready later.

In the world of preparedness, it is a good thing to be all dressed up with nowhere to go.