Politics: Unity For The Sake of The Gospel

1 Corinthians 1:10
“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

Call me idealistic or ecumenical, but I truly believe in a biblical appeal for unity in the gospel is something worthy to be sought after. Unfortunately, the so-called “Christian” United States of America looks anything but unified in many different arenas of life. The most apparent is the arena of politics. Politics stirs up emotions that cause division at the expense of and conviction to many Christian beliefs.

Of course I have many political convictions... Why do I not have political bumper stickers and support candidates?...namely, because my reputation will be attached to those candidates who will inevitably be fallible in some form or another. So, I’m gonna continue to campaign for the infallible. For the sake of the Gospel, Why do I want to jeopardize my credibility?

Christians should guard themselves against radical partisan alignment because any form of radicalism comes at the expense of the gospel. Put differently, we must recognize biblical truth even if the truth comes from a fallible source, or a member of the “other” party. Truth is truth regardless of the source it comes from.

If I quote George W. Bush and someone assumes I align with Bush and gets angry because of this quote, it becomes a form of unbiblical favoritism. The same is true if I use an Obama quote... of which I will use below...not because I do or do not support him, but because his quote works perfectly for this blog post.

President Obama delivered a gripping speech in Arizona this week discussing the politically motivated shootings. The President’s words were non-partisan, pastoral, and appropriately unifying. His words should convict the heart of every political activist.

“But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we're talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds. But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. That we cannot do. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let's use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.”
-President Obama


There are Christian members of the so-called left/right seem to spend much more time interpreting the gospel through their political worldview than they do preaching the gospel itself. Is Jesus a conservative Republican who wears a Sean Hannity T-shirt? Or is Jesus a social liberal who promotes equality even at the expense of Biblical doctrine?

There’s no gospel to a gospel that attaches itself to a political agenda. It’s heart-wrenching to see people leveraging the gospel to promote partisan politics.

Why do we spend so much time polarizing America arguing about politics? The decisions our government makes will soon be in the history books which will gather dust and fade away. However, Jesus will outlast every political figure and this is the fundamental reason I don’t make much of partisan politics.

So before you make a political statement on Twitter, Facebook, around the dinner table, or in class, make sure it’s in the pursuit of biblical humility, unity, and sound doctrine.

Don’t sell out Christ for an elephant or a donkey!

William Wilber-force committed to pray for social change. If you are arguing for social change more than you are praying for it, you are at the very least being unbiblical...