Political Division &
Gospel Unity
Part 1 in a series of 4 sermons presented by Jeremy Fair
I
read a book recently titled Jesus
Outside the Lines and it put words to my feelings. The book began with these questions: “Are you tired? Are you tired of
political correctness and political caricatures? Are you tired of indignant blog posts and
tweets and Facebook posts that take a stand against everyone but persuade no
one? Are you tired of the endless quest
to find something to be mad about? Are
you tired of racism, classism, sexism, generationalism, nationalism,
denominationalism, and all the other isms?” I am tired and I am frustrated and I believe
that the underlying theme to my frustration and the aforementioned weariness is
division. We are a divided nation. We are divided as a church in many mays. And yet, division is contrary to the Gospel
that we believe and profess.
Jesus came to destroy divisions and
create unity. He destroyed the veil that
separated a holy God and sinful people and brought unity by the blood of his
cross, which is the fundamental message of Hebrews. He destroyed the hostility between races,
particularly Jews and Gentiles, and brought unity through the common exercise
of faith, which is the fundamental message of Galatians. He destroyed the hostility between the rich
and poor, and brought unity through the preeminence of love, which is the
fundamental message of James.
The only biblically legitimate
division is between the kingdom
of God and the kingdom of
this world and those kingdoms divide along the line of Jesus. What that means is that when we create, or
champion, or tolerate divisions that are less than Jesus-centered we are
working against the purposes of the Gospel.
In his High Priestly Prayer in John
17, just hours before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for his people, he prayed
for us, that we might be one, that we might be unified just as Father and Son
are unified. And yet, it seems based
upon our indignation and isms that we are far from unified, and
I’m talking about Christians.
Consider this: nearly
70% of Americans think that race relations are very bad; that’s the highest
level of discord since the 1992 Los
Angeles race riots.
If the relationships between people of various races is bad, then the
relationships between people with different political views is toxic. In the 1960’s, only 4% of Democrats and 5% of Republicans
said they’d be displeased if their child married a spouse with a different
political ideology. Six years ago, in 2010, 33% of Democrats and 49% of
Republicans said they’d be displeased if their child married a spouse with a
different political ideology and I have to believe that those numbers have
risen in the last 6 years. We’ve become
more divided!
What has happened?
Perhaps what has happened is that we have created a God in our own image
which makes it not only easy, it makes it normal for us divide along lines of
personal preference and political ideology.
Anne Lamott says, “You can safely assume that you’ve
created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same
people you do.”
What has happened?
Perhaps what has happened is that we’ve colored lines around Jesus,
lines that accord with our own isms. And yet, Jesus cannot be contained by our
lines. Scott Sauls writes, “The more we move outside the lines of our own traditions and cultures,
the more we will also be moving toward Jesus.”
Joshua 5:13-15 broadly addresses what it means to move
toward Jesus and quite pointedly addresses our view of others who hold a
different political view from our own.
13 When
Joshua was by Jericho,
he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before
him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to
him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14 And
he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And
Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What
does my lord say to his servant?” 15 And the
commander of the Lord's army
said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you
are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
We
are in a political season that is more polarizing than any that I can
remember. For the last year, lines have
been drawn and sides have been taken and it will only get worse. Ronald Reagan once said that if you can agree
with 80% of your opponent’s platform, policies, or positions then you can lock
arms with them but now it seems that unless you have 95% agreement or greater
then the other person is considered an enemy.
This
past week, I was at the Republican National Convention and I saw this first
hand. Vile insults were spoken, fights
nearly broke out, professing Christians shouted at one another because their
chosen candidates differed on this point or that point. In that climate, God help the person who has
a (D) by their name. What I mean is that
if professing Christians are that divisive and devoid of Christian principles
and practice amongst people with whom they share almost every platform plank
and political ideology, then how will they view and treat others with whom they
share very little political ideology?
Friends,
the Gospel of Jesus is greater than politics.
And, unless a human system, i.e. political party or government entity,
is fully centered on God (and none are), Jesus will have things to affirm and
things to critique about it.
So,
please listen closely to me: Jesus is not a Republican! Jesus is not a
Democrat! Jesus is not a
Libertarian! And to associate the
Creator and Savior of the world with an American political party is beyond
offensive. When it comes to kings and
kingdoms, Jesus sides only with himself.
He is a party of One!
At
this point, I am not concerned with taking a specific issue, platform plank, or
policy and making a case for how Jesus would view it. I do believe if we carefully study the Bible
and remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit that God will guide us and shape our
view of platforms and policies.
My
concern is that, as Christians, we fight against partisan and even intramural
division and strive for unity. Even as
we differ in political views, we must not let the tail wag the dog.
Returning
to Joshua 5:13-15, consider the awesome encounter that Joshua had; he had an
encounter with an angel, a being who represented God and spoke for God. Joshua asked, “Are you for us, or
for our adversaries?” Isn’t
that the question that we ask repeatedly, “Lord, are you for us or for our
opponent?” Shamefully, most
of the time we don’t ask that question, we simply assume the answer, we assume
that God is for us and our positions.
I
heard a gross display of this on the opening night of the Republican National
Convention. Here’s a portion of the
closing prayer: “Republicans, we got to be united because our enemy is
not other Republicans — but is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. Father God, in the name of Jesus, Lord we’re
so thankful for the life of Donald Trump.
We’re thankful that you are guiding him, that you are giving him the
words to unite this party, this country, that we together can defeat the
liberal Democratic Party, to keep us divided and not united. Because we are the United States of America, and we
are the conservative party under God.”
Those
were the parting words of a Christian minister, charged with proclaiming the
word of the Gospel. Our enemy is
Democrats?! God is working specifically
on behalf of Republicans to defeat the Democrats?! Republican is God’s party?! I couldn’t believe my ears! When I heard that prayer firsthand, I was
ashamed and embarrassed.
When asked,
“Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” the
messenger of God replied, “No!
I’m the commander of the Lord’s army.” In effect, he was saying, “I, as God’s messenger, represent Him and Him alone. I’m not for you or for your adversaries. I am for the King and His kingdom.” Friends, the question is not whether
Jesus is on our side but whether we are on his side and his side is a kingdom
side, a side that is not beholden to either Republicans or Democrats.
What are
the priorities of God? His priorities
are His glory, holiness, and the Gospel unity of His people. The angel said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals, the place where you are standing is holy”,
which are the identical words that the Lord spoke to Moses in the burning
bush. The presence of God is a holy
presence and the glory of His presence is His lone agenda, which is why the
angel answered, “No” when asked, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”
God
will not be co-opted by a political party; He will not be manipulated to
champion an ideological agenda. Jesus
told us, “Seek first the kingdom
of God.” The King and his kingdom are holy and stand
above and beyond all the earthly kingdoms that we create. Lord, are you for us or are you for them? No!
Now,
in this climate of division, partisanship, and political posturing, which too
often brings with it the absence of Christian charity, grace, and humility, how
should we align with Jesus and what will that look like?
First, as Christians, we must view Gospel unity as greater
than political ideology. Please don’t
hear me saying that Christians should be a-political or that Christians
shouldn’t be specifically involved in politics or government. I don’t believe that at all because I don’t
believe that the Bible teaches that. We
see, all throughout Scripture, that God’s people have been highly involved with
the institution of government and even engaged in what we might call the political process. As I mentioned previously, as we carefully
study the Bible and remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit, God will guide us and
shape our view of many matters, and that may move us toward a particular
political ideology or party. So, don’t
hear me saying that politics and government are bad. Hear me saying that Gospel unity trumps, no
pun intended, political ideology. Our
one faith, one baptism, one Spirit and Lord, supersede political persuasion.
Second, we mustn’t question someone’s faith because they
hold a different political view than us.
Consider this: within the twelve Apostles there was, what we might call,
a tea party activists and a big government bureaucrat. Simon was a zealot; zealots actively opposed
the government and worked against the
government. Matthew was a tax collector;
tax collectors worked for the
government. I don’t think we understand
how different these two men were and how differently they viewed
government. And yet, when Christ called
them as disciples they became one with him and one with each other and it’s
absurd to imagine that their political views changed overnight or perhaps even
at all. Interestingly, Matthew, the tax
collector emphasized diversity more than any other Gospel writer.
We
don’t have any indication that Matthew thought or said, “There’s no way that
guy Simon can be a Christian! No
follower of Jesus thinks like that!”
We have no indication that Simon thought or said, “There’s no way that
guy Matthew can be a Christian! No
follower of Jesus thinks like that!”
And yet, that is often how we speak about or even view other Christians
with whom we differ; we question their faith or discount their faith. I heard this two weeks ago from a good
friend; we were talking politics and he said, “There’s no way that
(he stated the name of a liberal politician who by all accounts is a moral man
and devout believer) is a
Christian. No Christian would stump for
Hillary.” My friend has
allowed political ideology to cloud his view of another Christian’s faith.
John
Wesley once wrote, “I met those of our society who had
votes in the ensuing election, and advised them, 1. To vote, without fee or
reward, for the person they judged most worthy; 2. To speak no evil of the
person they voted against; and, 3. To take care their spirits were not
sharpened against those that voted on the other side.” Let me say this very clearly: It is wrong to
question someone’s faith because they don’t vote like you do!
Thirdly, we must promote Christ and his kingdom as the
supreme good and only hope. Last week,
as I listened to speech after speech promoting Donald Trump, I wondered whether
I was hearing about a successful businessman turned politician or an immortal
messiah. More than once, it was
explicitly said that Trump was the only hope for our nation. Now, I expect the same drivel next week from
the Democrats at their convention.
Hillary will be championed as the great savior of America; watch
and listen, the language used about her will border on worship.
When
the angel of the Lord said, “I am the commander of the army of
the Lord. The place you are standing is
holy”, he was saying that God alone is holy, God alone is good, God
alone is our only hope, because God alone, in Jesus Christ, is our only
savior. We must be on His side. As Christians, we must promote Christ and his
kingdom. No politician can save us. Christ alone can save us.
Jeremy Fair is Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, Tulsa, OK. He attended the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland as a guest of his father, Steve Fair, the former National Committeeman for Oklahoma. The four sermons titled: (1) Political Division & Gospel Unity, (2) Racial Division & Gospel Unity, (3) Class Division & Gospel Unity, and (4) Sexual Division & Gospel Unity can be accessed at http://www.christpresbyterian.church/sermons
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