You, Not a View // A Better Country
After more than a year of build-up, it’s finally here—Election 2020. Unfortunately, this election cycle has become one of the most polarized, vitriolic, and hate-filled in our country’s history. We “cancel” each other over our candidate of choice, and we ruin relationships over political slogans and hashtags. Yes, that includes self-professing followers of Jesus. How can that be? Aren’t we citizens of the Kingdom—strangers in a foreign land, longing and living for “a better country”—a heavenly one? What if we started living out that truth? And if we did, how could it change our country and our relationships for the better?
“Republicans are racist! Democrats are criminals!” Elections are all about labels and identities. But the fact is, as citizens of the Kingdom, we aren’t Democrats or Republicans. We’re followers of the King. And Jesus’ kingdom ethic gives us our true identity, and it points us to the common ground we have with brothers and sisters on the other side of the political aisle.
Message Notes
Last Week
Stop fixating on a candidate.
Start focusing on the King.
""All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11:13-16 NIV
“You, Not a View”
Democrats are...
baby-killers,
hateful,
America haters,
liars,
…and did I mention baby-killers?
Republicans are
racist,
xenophobic,
homophobic,
greedy,
selfish,
…and did I mention racist?
Am I willing to be a Jesus follower first and a Democrat or Republican second?
Personal, Not Public
Grace and Truth, Not Grace or Truth
Unity, Not Division
Selflessness, Not Self-Centered
Restoration, Not Cancellation
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
John 17:20-21 NIV
“Where you stand depends on where you sit.” — Rufus Miles
I will follow my King.
And I will never sacrifice a “you” on the altar of my “view.”