( Editor’s note: Following is Part II of the most recent chapter and is the sermon Brian Walter delivered earlier this year at First Baptist Church.)

Please find below the sermon, which does as good of job as I am capable of, even with God’s help, to lay out a plan for the spiritual renewal Tom Coburn said would be required to steer our nation away from financial collapse.

A Sermon for America on Religion & Politics When I was younger, an often-heard mantra was as a business person, or particularly a salesman, never talks about religion or politics.

Religion and politics have long been likely the most divisive categories that a person could choose to start a conversation.

And they still are. But, when are we as Christians to speak up? And when we are to speak up, what is to be our message?

This question leads to the larger question of, what is God’s purpose for our life? And as we seek to fulfill God’s purpose for our life, how does what we choose to say about religion and politics enhance or detract from this?

As Christians we turn to the Bible for answers. The answers are really not that complicated. The answers are simple.

It’s the living into the simple and direct commands of Jesus that gets complicated.

Society is telling us more and more to speak up about religion and politics.

Technology is giving us more and more options and platforms to amplify our voice and to do more and more from the safe zone of our own private space, surrounded by like-minded individuals, while launching our barbs, criticism and judgment into the public space.

What does the Bible tell us regarding this behavior and what does this behavior do towards God’s purpose?

Our purpose is given to us quite clearly in Matthew 28:19-20, in a passage known as the “Great Commission.”

Webster’s dictionary defines commission as an instruction, command or duty given to a person or group of people.

Let’s listen to the words of Jesus as he commands us with instructions of our duty.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Well, that is about as clear as you can make a command regarding our duty or purpose.

But for additional clarity let’s restate the obvious. Jesus tells us clearly: 1. He is in charge. 2. We are to make disciples.

3. We are to teach these new disciples everything he has commanded us.

4. He has been watching and will be watching, always and forever.

Jesus commands us to make disciples. When Jesus was among us, where did he look for new disciples? The Bible tells us he looked for disciples among the sinners, which is the very people the Pharisees, aka the “religious people” of the time decided to stay away from.

The Pharisees rationalized their decision to stay clear of the common sinners based on their desire to appear righteous and clean, rather than common and therefore corrupted by association.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:29-30) In verse 31, Jesus responds, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”

Indeed, today our dictionary defines a Pharisee as not only “a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict adherence of the traditional and written law and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity.”

But today’s dictionary goes on to define a Pharisee as a self-righteous person, indeed ultimately they close their definition as saying a Pharisee is a “hypocrite.”

Wow, now that is getting serious!

To call someone a hypocrite is strong criticism. Nobody likes being called a hypocrite; it is akin to being labeled a liar.

And nobody wants to be labeled a liar.

But, let’s get back to the Bible and specifically to the teachings of Jesus. Does Jesus ever call anyone a hypocrite? I think he does.

In fact, I know he does. Where do we see Jesus using that word “hypocrite?” It is coming to my memory; is it coming to yours?

Jesus uses that very word “hypocrite.” To my knowledge it may be the only time Jesus engaged in name calling.

The passage where Jesus does this name calling will be forever stuck in my mind because a friend of mine, an unbeliever friend mind you, brought it up to me almost immediately when I challenged him to face the question of who Jesus is and how that answer impacts his life.

I pointed out to my friend that whether Jesus existed or not is not the question. The history of the world and virtually all religion make it clear Jesus was a historical figure.

The question is, was he or was he not the Son of God, as he claimed to be?

It became almost immediately clear that my friend, who told me outright that he was unconvinced Jesus was the one true Son of God, had little problem with Jesus or his teachings. What he had a problem with is the hypocritical behavior of Christians. And he is not alone.

Mohandas Gandhi famously said this, before his life was taken by an assassin in 1948, about Christ and Christians: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”

If we as Christians are going to embrace the commands of Jesus to “make disciples,” we must come to realize the biggest obstacle to winning the American unbeliever’s soul is our own hypocrisy.

Before we go on, let’s go back and examine what Jesus said on this subject.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 7:1-5. Hear the words of Jesus from his most famous speech, “The Sermon on the Mount.”

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

Then Jesus really lets go and really hits us right between the eyes in verse 5 when he calls us out plainly, strongly and even with a hint of anger as he says, “You HYPOCRITE, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

So let’s review. What has Jesus said is our purpose? In His own words, as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20.

• Make disciples.

• Teach the new disciples to follow His commands.

What does Jesus command in Matthew 7:1-5?

• Do not judge.

• Concentrate on our own sins, not the sins of others Who does Jesus seem to have great concern for? Luke 5:31, tells us Jesus had love and compassion for the sinners against the wishes of the religious crowd, known as the Pharisees.

Who does Jesus seem to hold in great contempt? In Matthew 7:5, Jesus makes it quite clear He is upset with anyone who would pass judgment on another before the person first made great attempts to examine and correct his own sins.

Indeed, earlier in “The Sermon on the Mount,” as recorded in Matthew 5:43, Jesus tells us that rather than judge our enemies, we are to love our enemies.

Now, let’s get back to finding and making disciples. Where does our modern sinner hear the Christian’s voice the loudest and clearest today?

Does today’s sinner hear the Christ follower’s words and see their actions on Sunday mornings?

I would say certainly not. The lost soul is, as a general rule, not among us in our houses of worship on Sunday morning.

I concede it would be convenient if this lost soul were among us on Sunday morning, because we as Christians are typically on our best behavior and speaking the language of love and forgiveness on Sunday mornings.

I ask that you pause to consider the Christian voice in the world of politics. Does the lost soul hear the Christian’s voice as we express ourselves in our political world? I would say absolutely yes.

What message does the unbeliever hear from the people who clearly want to be identified as committed to following the teachings of Jesus?

Does the unbeliever hear us Christians proclaiming a message that we desire not to judge them, but rather wish to purge our own sinful actions and words?

Or does the unbeliever hear a message that is all about judgment and condemnation for them, while desiring a self-righteous, Pharisee-like image for ourselves?

What about love? Does the unbeliever hear the Christian speak to them with love and sacrificial acts or do they hear and feel us speaking to them as if they, themselves, were indeed our nation’s biggest enemy?

Friends, the answers to these questions define us in the eyes of Jesus.

The answer to these questions have everything to do with solving the division and dysfunction in our nation’s congress and our population.

And more importantly, the answers to these questions are what is keeping us from winning souls for Jesus.

I have yet to find the unbeliever who is upset with my desire to live the commands of Jesus.

And I have yet to find the unbeliever who is drawn to Jesus by my ability to pass judgment on them.

When we speak of our love for Jesus, our love for our enemies and our desire to sacrifice ourselves, modeling Jesus for them, people’s hearts are opened for the life-changing presence that Jesus is for us and can be for them.

It is time to embrace a sense of humility, sacrifice and love in our political lives. It is the arena where the unbeliever is watching to see if the words and actions of the Christian match the commands and sacrifice of Jesus, or if in contrast, the Christian seeks to judge and manipulate them for political gain.

In Matthew 12, Jesus tells us He knew the thoughts of the Pharisees (aka the self-righteous, religious hypocrites) and warned them every kingdom or household divided against itself will not last.

We live in a very divided nation.

Jesus’ command is not to judge our political enemies, but rather to love them. The way to win souls for Jesus is not by judging others, but rather by love and sacrifice.

I am not suggesting for a minute that we accept the sins of anyone as righteousness. Jesus never did that.

I am suggesting strongly that we pattern our words and actions after the commands and example of Jesus.

I said at the onset that the instructions are simple, but living these instructions is very difficult. Everything in our world says winning over our enemies is what counts.

But as Christians, we are called by Christ to cling to His ways and forsake the ways of the world. It Is counterintuitive to seek to serve and love our enemies, rather than to defeat and triumph over our enemies, but as Christians it is what we agree to do.

Indeed, it is what Jesus commanded and lived into every single time.

No one ever said being a Christ follower was going to be easy. I believe God is watching and wants His people to lead our nation to a better place while also making new disciples.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 9, “The harvest (or opportunity for new disciples) is plentiful but the workers (or individuals) willing to embrace love and cast away hate and the human desire to judge are few.”

The need in our nation for Jesus and unity have never been greater.

Let’s embrace the commands, humility and sacrifi cial spirit of Christ and begin the work He has called us to in our public and political lives, before it is too late.

Also FYI, my unbelieving friend was baptized by the grace of God into a life with Jesus last summer.

It came about in part because he was shown love rather than judgment, just as Jesus instructed.

Christians who knew this man marveled at how this man, whom they had instructed so strongly on the errors of his ways, would suddenly open his heart to Jesus.

The difference is the difference between love and judgment. Jesus says do not judge! The Bible tells us love never fails.

It is time for Christians to stop using the language of the Pharisees and start using the language of Christ in our political lives.

Our nation stands in peril and Jesus is watching.

My friend Scott Watkins had counseled me at the beginning that a good sermon consists of three points and a poem.

Here is a review of the three points I have tried to make:

• God is speaking to each of us through His word and other people if we will listen.

• Our political judgment is leading us away from, not towards, fulfilling our commission from Jesus to make new disciples.

• Jesus wants us to walk in love to bring his children together in unity.

Here is the poem I believe God wrote on my heart.

“As we face the trials of our times, let us be strong in love and be willing to sacrifice.

“For we were given freedom by fallen soldiers and salvation by Christ.”