Matt Chandler - What Now?

Good morning! In our last two weeks of this series on dual citizenship, we mentioned that it would probably be a mess, and here we are. We have a president-elect, no concession speech, and we are facing controversy. If you’ve been paying attention, we should be fairly rooted and confident in this moment, knowing that the Godhead is not panicking. Jesus hasn’t ordered a special meeting in the heavenly realms to figure out what’s coming next for us. As followers of Jesus Christ, we were made for a moment like this—a moment filled with anxiety and fear, a moment concerned about the future for our children and grandchildren. We were made for this moment; that’s what we talked about last week.

Regardless of what happened with the election, I wanted to address the question: «What now?» That’s all I’m trying to do today—ask, «What now?» The election is quasi-over; we should know more in the next six to nine months, or maybe it will never be over. Perhaps it’ll be four more years of fun again. Regardless of what’s coming, what should the church and the people of God do now?

The first and easiest answer is to submit to God joyfully in prayerful obedience, praying for the leaders of our nation, regardless of who they are. As a church, we have prayed for W, prayed for Obama, and received some great emails in that run. We have prayed for Trump, and now we will pray for Biden and Trump, no matter how it plays out. We are a people committed to praying for the leaders of our nation because that’s God’s command, not a suggestion. Remember, we looked at how Paul gave us the blueprint for overcoming wickedness, and it looks a lot different than we thought last week, right? We are to do good, seek the welfare of the city, pray, and not lash out in vengeance. We are to trust God with vengeance and walk in humility.

Let me refer to 1 Timothy 2:1-2: «First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people—thanksgivings for all people.» Does that wrestle with you a little bit? Let’s keep going. «For kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.» Remember, Paul is writing this about the Roman Empire. No matter how left you think we are going or how wild you think things are, we have a long way to go to catch up to Rome. We have a long way to go before you and I are thrown in prison or killed, a long way before we are caught on fire to warm up some senator’s garden party, a long way before they start feeding us to animals.

And what does Paul write to Timothy here? «Pray for him, ” he says. „Pray for Caesar.“ „Pray for Herod.“ Do you not know what they did to Jesus? No, he says, and here’s why we struggle with this: I don’t think we struggle with it conceptually; I think we struggle to act on it. We continue to not fully grasp just how much power there is in earnest prayer and in seeking God through fasting and prayer. We just can’t quite get that this is actually where the battle is. When we do understand this, we can recognize that we’re not wasting our time; we’re actually causing a spiritual war in the heavenly realms.

I may have already said this. I’m saying a lot of things that could upset a lot of people. I’ve been here for 18 years, and I have one testimony—that’s all I’ve got. But we’re coming up on Advent, and if you read the Christmas story in any of the Gospels, it reads beautifully: it was a silent night, a holy night, everything calm and bright. It presents such a surreal, quiet, beautiful picture. But go read about it in Revelation 12. Go read what was actually happening—what it was like in the heavenly realms when Jesus was being born. Revelation 12 describes an all-out war breaking loose in the heavenlies over the coming of Jesus Christ.

Could it be that when you and I pray, we are actually joining in a kind of combat that changes things more than our whining, complaining, thrashing, and fighting? Therefore, we pray. We are to be a people of prayer for our president, for our leaders, for our nation. That’s the first thing. The second thing is to get back to work.

Here’s what I mean: I love this passage from Ephesians 1:22–23. I’m going to read it from The Message. I don’t know how you feel about that, but you’ll be fine. Ephesians 1 presents an epic, salvific, Christological view of Jesus—look at Jesus and see how he is outside.