Talking Points: A Better Way Wk3
November 1, 2020

Talking Points: The Perfect Blend of Politics and Religion

Week Three: A Better Way

Galatians 3:26-28

Andy Stanley - Disagree politically. Love unconditionally. Pray for unity.
“The you next to you is more precious to God than your potentially flawed view.”
“Are we willing to put our faith filter ahead of our political filter?”


We need to be Christ followers first, and Republicans/Democrats/etc second - and even more to the point, we need to not force the two to fit together.
Andy - “We do the world a disfavor when we attempt to wrap our political ideologies with the teachings of Jesus.”
***Jesus didn’t come to support or refine existing systems - He came to offer a

way.

“Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” —Winston Churchill, November 11, 1947

Jesus isn’t another way, or a different way - He is the way. He is the better way.


26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. —Galatians 3:26-28

Our primary identity is “child of God.”
*Other people’s primary identity is “child of God.”*

And so, we practice Culturally

Unity.

It’s how the church started…
- Classes of people whose circles rarely if ever intersected came together to worship Jesus.
- Christians refused to abandon the sick. They took in orphans and cared for widows, and (this was radical) they extended dignity to women, slaves, and children.

It’s what still ought to set us apart today…
- The church is a place where people who look differently, act differently, vote differently, parent differently, come together to worship the one true God who called us all sons, daughters, heirs of the promise.

We might disagree about the role government plays in feeding the hungry and caring for the sick, but we need not disagree about the role we play.


It’s why our primary allegiance has to belong to Christ above all else…
- We can support candidates and belong to political parties, but to be a faithful witness to the world, we need to call out the imperfections of those we support. By refusing unconditional allegiance to the systems and parties of this world, we help move the moral and ethical needle so it points more and more to an upside-down Kingdom, ruled by a crucified King, where we are all one with each other and one with Christ.

You don’t have to agree with someone or understand someone to love them.

Disagree politically. Love unconditionally. Pray for unity.