If you haven’t noticed, a political spirit is a spirit that sows division, anger and even hatred among men. It can be clearly seen on every network and at every political gathering in America at present. Of course, Satan wants to divide the nation, foment violence, and create caricatures of each party that paint each of them as the spawn of Satan. The division right now is pushing America toward more violence and even thoughts of civil war.
Worse than a divided nation, the church is being divided by the same spirit. Christians now accept or reject other believers on the basis of their political affiliations rather than whether they have the Spirit of Christ. We need to guard the church against such divisions and guard our own hearts as well.
I was reading through Romans this morning and Romans 14 really spoke to me about this issue. Concerning fellow believers with whom we don’t agree, Paul says, “Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently” (Rom. 14:1, the Message).
This whole section of Romans 14 is worth reading with our current political backdrop. Paul clearly says there are going to be “disputable matters” of doctrine in the church. That is because even sincere Christians who study the word diligently can come to different conclusions about God’s will. Paul addresses those who eat meat and those who do not. He mentions some people that keep one day as sacred and holy while others consider every day to be the same. Some people drink wine while others think believers should abstain. Remarkably, he says each group is acceptable to God if they are operating out of a sincere heart and believe it is God’s will. He goes on to say that we must not try to force our view of the scriptures on them and they are not to force their view on us. We are not to judge one another as more or less acceptable to God. We are not to judge one another, but allow God be the judge.
Paul is not saying that anything goes as long as we are sincere. In other places, Paul calls on the church to withdraw fellowship from some who are creating issues without repentance. In 1 Corinthians, he instructs the church to have nothing to do with the man who was living an openly immoral life (1 Cor. 5:2). John tells us to not even eat with those who would bring false teachings about Jesus…his divinity, his incarnation, his resurrection and so forth (2 Jn. 7-10). Paul clearly leaves no place in the church for men who would teach that salvation is based on works (Gal. 1:8-9). He even says to mark anyone who constantly creates division and have nothing to do with them (Titus 3:10).
However, we are all prisoners to some degree of our culture, upbringing, parental worldviews, and even God-given temperaments. Because of that, we will unknowingly place those filters on our Bible study and will not be able to totally escape our biases, regardless of how objective we try to be.
A Jew may intellectually accept that Sabbath keeping is no longer required under the New Covenant, but Sabbath keeping has been part of his life from birth and his conscience may still trouble him if he does not keep the Sabbath. Paul says to him, keep the Sabbath but don’t make it a salvation issue and don’t require others to do the same. Likewise, we who have no attachment to Sabbath keeping should not forbid others from doing so. There is freedom in Christ about many things and how we understand some of those things may differ from other believers. What Paul does emphasize is that more mature believers who understand their freedom should not exercise it or insist on it when less mature believers would be condemned by their conscience if they participated. A young believer who grew up Hindu is not going to feel fully free to eat meet for years as a Christian. If we have him over for dinner, keep the meat in the fridge. When he leaves, pull out the brisket.
But now we are thinking…yes, but the Democrat or Republican platform is offensive to God and I cannot tolerate or fellowship those sinners who support that platform. I agree that some platforms seem to violate biblical values and standards. However, I am still commanded to love my brother. If I feel a brother’s political stance violates scripture, I am still commanded to love him, speak well of him, bless him, and keep pointing point him to Jesus. If he is biblically off base, but is still seeking Jesus above politics, the Holy Spirit will lead him into all truth. It may well be that I too am “off base” about some things in scripture. I welcome a brother who holds a different view and points me to some scriptures for my prayer and consideration. If he deems me, however, to be a bad person because I don’t agree with him, we will move toward division rather than unity in the church.
We must insist that salvation is not based on our political affiliation but on our relationship with Christ, who says we must love one another as he loved us. John says if we don’t love our brothers whom we can see, we can’t love God whom we cannot see. We are also commanded to speak well of those who speak evil of us, love those who would harm us, pray for them, and do good to them. Our political system is pushing us to do just the opposite. It is clear, then, who is behind the political spirit in our country. As believers, we cannot give into that spirit. The next few years will test our discipleship in that area. Our divide cannot be greater than the divide between Jew and Gentile in the first century, yet they came together as brothers and sisters in Christ, making that the reason for fellowship not cultural or even political agreement.
How would it change things if we simply said, “I have a different view on that but I still love you and value you. You are my brother (or sister) in Christ, Let me encourage you to seek God and his word on your position on and I am open to hear your reasons from scripture why you believe that is God’s will for America. In the meantime, lets both do good together and point people to Jesus. Now, let me ask the Lord to bless you and your family.”
Let me encourage you to examine your own heart in this area. As I examined my heart, I realizes this political spirit had made some inroads that I needed to renounce and repent of. Satan loves to see America divided, but rejoices when the church divides. Let’s not give him a win in the church or the nation. Perhaps, unity it the church can lead to unity in the nation.