“Avoid foolish controversies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.”

Titus 3:9

It’s amazing what people assume. I recently overheard someone talking about our church, and the person said, “Oh, we’re a very Republican church.”  It’s the old, “I think this way, so everyone else must think it also.”

Now I’ve heard of many denominations, but I’ll be honest. I’ve never heard of the “Republican” denomination.  Contrary to this person’s opinion, our church is not of any single political leaning. God isn’t a Republican or a Democrat. He is not conservative or liberal. In fact, any label humans have come up with to identity political leanings are just that: human and political. God isn’t beholden to any “platform” except the one He wrote: The Bible.

The reality is that every church includes people who are different than you; economically, racially, ethnically, socially, and ideologically. (Five minutes in the New Testament will show you that every church has always been that way.)

Here’s the bottom line about politics and the church and this upcoming (can’t be over with soon enough) election. Politics and viewpoints change. Governments change. Regimes change. The truth doesn’t. The key to bringing order to the world and to your life is to anchor yourself in the timeless truths of God.

Culture is an ever evolving, every changing, dynamic structure. If you look at the voices that have endured over the centuries, they tend not to belong to hotheads, knee jerk reactionaries, people caught up in the latest ‘truth’ they stumbled on or created, or those who hold deeply partisan positions. Voices that endured in the last century like Martin Luther King Jr or Dietrich Bonhoeffer are voices that spoke into the violence and injustices of their day with a timeless word of truth. Their positions tapped into deep biblical frameworks at a level few voices on social media do today.

The more deeply anchored your viewpoint is in timeless truth, the more deeply it will resonate. Mere opinions never carry that kind of weight.

The church doesn’t exist to elect or defeat politicians. It exists to glorify Christ and grow His Kingdom in the world. If God has all the same opinions your political party does, you’re probably not worshipping God.

The church cannot – it MUST not – be reduced to a mere “platform” or a reflection of a political ideology. It is more important than any passing trend or fad. Governments will come and go. The church of Jesus Christ will live on forever because of one thing: the timeless truth of the gospel.

“Eternal God, Forgive us when we use Your church to meet our personal, political agendas. Help us to honor You in all we do.