Christian Unity in Politics
Romans 6:1-8
October 20, 2024
We’re a mere 16 days away from the most important election in the history of the world. You’ve probably heard that before. Most likely it was 4 years ago. And it was 4 years before that.
I believe every election is important. Prognosticators talk about the importance of the presidential election. Because usually, depending upon whether it’s a republican or democrat, they can predict the upcoming super bowl champion. I mean, I want to know who’s going to win the super bowl. The Bears?!
Somehow, they say they can also predict the economic impact and more.
Well, for the next 3 weeks . . . . we’re going to talk politics. I know!! I know! You wish it could have been 4 weeks! Can I hear a collective groan?!
Quite awhile ago, I was reading what another pastor wrote . . . . a pastor from Illinois, Gerald Hiestand. I’m going to be using the basis of his work for the next 2 weeks.
What I found fascinating and intriguing is how he looks at conservatives and liberals. In our world, those are nasty expressions for most people. But I could resonate with some of the thinking.
I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, and these messages may not even influence you, most likely they won’t. There’s really not going to be a call to action, other than a call to better understand your brother or sister in Christ, who views politics differently than you do. And when we do that, it leads to greater unity in the church.
Some of what I say will be generalizations. I will be stereotyping. We don’t always like that, but listen with an open mind.
Finally, I’m glad we had pastor appreciation last week, along with a great meal. Just joking! So, let’s dive in to politics.
The ultimate goal in the next couple of messages is Christian unity. During the political season, it’s easy to get really riled up. So, get riled up! That’s fine! But not at your brother or sister who sees it differently. Listen and have civil discussions. Allow yourself to be stretched. You don’t have to change your beliefs. But listen and understand someone else’s heart.
More churches are becoming disunified because of politics than theology, and that is sad!
Christian unity is important; and so in the spirit of Christian unity, we do our best to love those we disagree with. After all, Jesus calls us to love sinful people.
Don't forget that all of us are sinners in desperate need of the love of Christ. And in the same way that good Christ-followers choose to graciously love other sinners and those we feel are difficult to love.
The FBC democrats ought to CHOOSE to love the ones who vote republican even though they believe it is wrong. And the FBC republicans ought to CHOOSE love the ones who vote democrat even though they believe it is wrong.
But the gospel actually gives us more resources for living together in unity than merely tolerating each other’s political immorality. I want us to look at the words from Paul in Romans 6. Paul is talking about baptism and I’m going to use this to help us see one another in the midst of our political diversity.
We struggle to understand how another believer could vote, even to trust in someone like them. I want you to consider the possibility that just maybe there are good Christian folks who have very similar Christian values that you do, and who want to see Christianity flourish in exactly the same ways you do, but for Christian reasons, are choosing to vote in a different direction.
After 2 weeks, if you’re still convinced the other side is politically immoral, then you can go back to loving them as a bunch of misguided sinners.
We’re going to start by looking at 2 gospel truths that we see in baptism, in Romans 6.
And we’re going to use that as a springboard to better understand one another in the midst of our political diversity.
Romans 6 is a powerful chapter with lots of baptism symbolism. Let’s see what Paul was saying to us - - - -
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Paul starts with a leading question. Should we keep sinning, so that we can receive even more grace. It’s thinking the more I sin, the more grace I will receive, so keep on sinning.
It’s a rhetorical question, that Paul quickly answered. ABSOLUTELY NOT! That’s crazy thinking!!
So, Paul asks us a counter question to explain why, which leads us into baptism. He asked - - - -
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
What’s Paul getting at? Paul’s not really talking about water baptism. He’s talking about a baptism that happens when the Holy Spirit comes into you when you become a Christian.
In that "spirit baptism," a new believer is spiritually baptized into Christ's body. We enter into Christ's identity, in a sense, becoming so closely attached to Him that God gives us credit for Christ's righteousness and accepts Christ's payment for our sin. Theologically that’s called IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. It’s one of my favorite phrases.
That baptism places our whole self in Christ.
That’s a quick summary of a hugely important verse. Understand, the word BAPTISM means TO IMMERSE or DIP. Paul’s telling us, we’re immersed into the life of Christ and into the death of Christ.
That’s what Paul says next - - - -
4 We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.
6 We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
When a person trusts in Christ for salvation, you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit into Christ's death. We die with Jesus. This death should break sin's rule over us and free us from our need to follow our sinful desires.
Yet, baptism shows us 2 distinct, but inseparable, truths of the gospel. We see it in many of these verses, especially 8.
Those 2 truths are - - - - - DYING and RISING with Christ.
Baptism gives us the gospel story of how the believer has died to sin and has now been raised to new life.
In baptism we go under the water as a sign of our union with Christ in His death. And then we are raised up from the water as a sign of our union with Christ in His resurrection.
Baptism pictures what happens at conversion -- we die to our old way of life, and are born again into a new way of life.
In a sense, baptism preaches the 2 core truths of the gospel -- -- that we must die with Christ to our sin and death, AND we must rise with Christ to the newness of life.
To be baptized into Christ’s death is to explicitly acknowledge that we have been born into a broken world — a world marred by sin. Our faith is an acknowledgement that we need to be saved — that we need a God who is greater than us, who can fix what we can’t.
But baptism isn’t only a statement about our sin and the world’s brokenness. To be baptized into Christ’s life is also a statement of hope. It’s an expression of faith that God’s resurrection power is able to fix what has been broken; that the broken “world,” will become “new.”
Our whole life is spent living out these two truths. As long as we are alive, we will never be done dying with Christ to sin and death until the final resurrection, and we will never reach the fullness of “the newness of life in Christ” until the final resurrection.
We will all face some moments which will call us to die again with Christ. And other moments will call for us to rise with Christ in victory.
Both are essential and life-long aspects of the gospel.
I know, you’re thinking this is great stuff, but where’s the politics. Glad you asked, we’re getting there. I believe I needed to explain more about this passage to help us understand the dying and rising with Christ.
Most of us tend to resonate a little bit more with the dying or rising with Christ. There’s nothing incorrect about either. It’s based on our personality and experience.
Some of us are really good at the dying with Christ. We focus more on the forgiveness aspect of our relationship.
Others are really good at the rising with Christ. We’re more focused on the future hope we have because of the resurrection. Both are great! It takes all kinds, and that’s why we need each other.
Do you place a greater emphasis on the dying or rising truth? Some of us are more grateful that God can forgive us, others are more grateful for the hope of rising with Christ.
Another way to ask it, would be - - - -
Do you have a Good Friday faith? Christ died for you, to forgive you.
Or do you have more of an Easter faith? Christ rose for you and gives you eternal life.
In reality, you can’t have one without the other. But we tend to side with one over the other.
Now, I’m going to show a chart that gives us the basic rubric of our beliefs. Remember, this is a generalization.
Good Friday Faith Easter Faith
If you tend to be more on the dying with Christ side of life, then you see the world in all of its brokenness. You don’t have a pollyanna view of the world. You live according to a certain ethos and look at the facts.
Because we see the world as broken, we need rules, because we’ve moved away from following God’s law. We need justice to hold things together and hold people accountable.
On top of that, we need to follow Christ’s path of sacrifice and the call to obedience. You need to practice self-denial.
We hold onto individual responsibility, and we need tough love to help us.
But others of you are more focused on rising with Christ. That’s your home.
When you think about what it means to be a Christian, you think about kindness, because God has been so kind to you. You consider the freedom you have in Christ — along with God’s grace that’s been given to you.
You also want that grace given to others. Your filled with thanks because of the spiritual healing and joy you’ve experienced through Jesus.
And you’re grateful for the community which surrounds you in the good and not so good times.
So, those are the 2 sides of the same coin. Two different ways we can look at life, Christ and even politics.
The reality is - - - - we need both sets of these virtues.
In reality, they’re meant to go together.
If you’ve got truth, then be mindful of kindness.
If you’ve got freedom, then don’t neglect the need for rules. If justice comes easily, then work on fairness.
Don’t just sacrifice for others, empower and help them.
Don’t just try to heal sufferings, learn to endure suffering.
If you’re good at denying yourself, then work on joy.
If you focus on community, don’t neglect individual responsibility.
If you find it easy to be compassionate, then grow in your capacity to hold others accountable.
If you’re quick to show tough love, then learn to be just as quick in showing tender love.
I hope this is making sense!! Can you see the differences and maybe even see yourself leaning more to one side than the other?
The hope is that we can live on both sides of the street. That we can live out both truths. Some of you have what others don’t have . . . . and they have what you don’t have.
Let me summarize ---- ----
Dying with Christ is a reminder of the world as it is — sinful and broken. Rising with Christ is a reminder of the world as it should be — through God’s redemptive grace.
Now let’s take this framework and apply it to politics - - - - -
We’re divided into conservatives and liberals. Yet, what makes conservative values, conservative? And why is a liberal, a liberal?
We may know them when we see them, but we often can’t explain why some values are conservative and some are liberal. So, here’s a shot at explaining this ------ ------
Conservatives are usually not idealists. They see the world in all of its struggles, and they try to get others to see the world the same way. Because they try to come to terms with an imperfect and often hostile world, they value order, repentance, structure, safety, morality, rules, justice, individual responsibility, self-restraint, and accountability.
Conservatives value security, which is often why they hold first responders and the military in high esteem ---- because they’re meant to provide safety, security, and stability in a dangerous world.
ON THE OTHER HAND, liberals are seeking to progress beyond the world as it is, into the world as it should be. Liberals are more likely to be idealists; they don’t want to settle for a broken and sinful world. As a result, they value compassion, equality, dignity, fairness, patience, unmerited grace, care for the marginalized, and community responsibility.
Liberals value love, insofar as love is the final and ultimate goal of all the virtues. This is why political liberals tend to value empowerment and concern for the poor. These reflect what the world should be like.
In the end, conservatives insist that we come to terms with the world as it is — — Liberals insist we imagine and work toward the world as it should be.
With that in mind, consider these two lists of conservative and liberal values.
It’s the same chart we saw in the dying and rising with Christ images.
Conservatives don’t look to a utopian ideal which doesn’t exist.
And because the world is sinful, harmful and chaotic; we need rules and justice to enforce those rules. We need sacrifice to achieve justice. We need to know how to tighten the belt, in order to get the long term reward. Conservatives value individual responsibility; people who don’t pass their problems off on others to fix.
Liberals, on the other hand, focus on kindness, freedom, fairness, and empowerment to make our world better. Liberals want everyone to be able to become all they were meant to be; and for everyone to flourish.
Because of this, liberals focus on healing, joy, and community assistance. For the liberal, the community doesn’t exist just to keep people in line, but also to lend a hand when things go wrong. Liberals focus on compassion and tender love.
Remember what we saw about the two truths of baptism? Dying with Christ in baptism is a reminder of the world as it is — in all of its sin and brokenness.
Rising with Christ in baptism is a reminder of the world as it should be — in all of its ideal perfection; the world through God’s redemptive grace.
Dying with Christ is a basically a conservative movement of the gospel; rising with Christ is a basically liberal movement of the gospel.
And the point is political conservative and political liberal views follow our baptismal story of dying and rising with Christ.
Which is another way of saying, both conservative and liberal views are, at a basic level, consistent with the truths of the gospel.
I’m not saying that everything on the political right or left is a true reflection of Christianity’s “dying with Christ” and “rising with Christ.”
But what I am saying is that at their root - - - the basic views are distinctly Christian.
Christians who more naturally resonate with the “dying with Christ” view of the gospel will often ( but not always) resonate with conservative political strategies.
Christians who more naturally resonate with Christianity’s “rising with Christ” view of the gospel will often (but not always) resonate with liberal political strategies.
And here is where we have to learn to be gracious to each other.
It’s not always easy to know which baptismal truth should take precedence at any given political moment.
What’s needed, more truth or more kindness?
More tough love, or more tender love?
More individual responsibility or community assistance?
Those are really difficult. Some would say those are easy, but in reality, they aren’t as easy as we would like to make them out to be.
When the Christian mom says, “We need to help the kids embrace their freedom in Christ” and the Christian dad says, “We need to help the kids submit to Christian boundaries” — they’re both drawing from genuine Christian beliefs.
Both freedom and boundaries are absolutely essential to Christian flourishing. Both are baptismal truths.
In the same way that good Christian parents can genuinely disagree about which baptismal truth should take precedence at any given situation, good Christian citizens can genuinely disagree about which baptismal truth should take precedence at any given cultural moment.
So let’s be generous to each other. We have good people here in our church.
If your true and legitimate Christian impulses slant you in a different political direction than me, I may think you are wrong about what is most needed. But I honor your impulse as genuinely Christian.
The world needs to die with Christ, and the world needs to rise with Christ.
Let’s not dismiss each other’s true Christian impulses as inherently sub-Christian. Let’s honor both lists of virtues as Christian virtues, even if we can’t agree which list should take precedent.
So, let’s wrap this up with a final question and thought - - - -
What if the other party adopts policies that are explicitly anti-Christian? Pastor Michael, are you telling me it’s okay to support that?
That’s a great question, and it’s really the crux of the whole thing. But it will take an entire sermon to answer it, so you’ll have to come back for part two.
For now, let me encourage all of us to walk away from here acknowledging that our brother or sister in Christ who views politics differently than you, is not the enemy, but quite possibly, their views are consistent with the truth of the gospel of Christ.
