Living With Those We Disagree

The Others: Living With Those We Disagree

Text: Ephesians 2:11-22

Bottom Line: When we live in community with those that are different then us we show a little taste of heaven to those around us.

Intro

Good morning Real Life, my name is Curtis and I’m the Connections Director here. And it’s great to be here with you all this morning. We are going to be kicking off a new series called The Others today.

Throughout this series we are going to be looking at what it looks like to live life with THOSE people… You know who I’m talking about… I’m guessing as I said that somebody or some group came to mind. We all have those people in our lives… Maybe even in our homes. So we want to take a few weeks before school starts back up, Life Groups kick off, mens/womens get going, before family comes in for the holidays, and all the crazy comes back… And figure out exactly what it means to do life with people… Those we like, those we don’t like, and those we just can’t seem to get along with.

This week we are going to look at how we can love those people that we don’t like. Those people that we don’t get along with. That have different political views. Those people that view the Bible differently then we do. Those people the pray different, vote different, interact with their family differently, and even those people that like teams like the Patriots… Yes even THOSE people… My people.

Tension

And I’ll be honest. I don’t think we do a good job loving people that are different then us. We like to associate with people that think like us, vote like us, and believe what we believe, eat what we eat, and like the same movies we like. We like to stay in our comfort zone. And when we see someone that believes differently then us we lash out.

One thing that will get me fired up and angry faster than anything else is when I see a Christian berating someone else over their views. Nothing gets me mad as quick as when I log on Facebook and see a Christian calling people names, claiming that if you don’t vote this way they you don’t love God, pointing fingers and belittling others. Because that is the opposite of what we are supposed to do.

Jesus is for ALL people. Which includes that person we cannot stand.

When you post something or say something that is bashing a person, a president, a leader, a group of people, a profession, or a political party, you are bashing someone that Jesus died for. You are spewing hate at someone that Jesus told you to love. You are doing the opposite of what the Bible says to do.

That is not what Jesus called us to do. We are called to live in unity with each other. We are called to love one an other.

And listen… When I say that we don’t do a good job at loving people different then us, I’m including myself. I’m not sure what you all think of me… But I’m not a good person. Anything good you see in me is because of Jesus. I’m a bad christian. The reason I know that this topic is important is because it’s brought disunity to my life. The people that typically offend me the most are other Christians. I can get so irritated when I read something or see some Christian group, person, church, or organization doing something I think is wrong.

I’ll go off on them… Well not to their face… I say what I want to say to them to my wife or a few close friends… I will tear them apart. Because I know that they are wrong and I am right. And how dare they believe that, say that, or act that way. They should know that I am right and they should start believing what I believe.

The things that set me off are probably different for you… But can relate can’t you? You overhear that conversation, your co-workers bring up that issue, you see that Facebook post, or whatever… And that’s it. It gets under your skin and you go off. Maybe you say something to their face if your bold, maybe you just write anonymous comment, or complain to a friend/spouse, or maybe you just have an argument in your head with them… Yeah you know what I’m talking about…

For much of my life I thought what does it matter? I’m entitled to my opinions plus I’m right. Therefore I’m justified in my beliefs. But shortly after I got married I started seeing the damage my approach had on others and on me.