April 2017 Spare Change
“All for the Sake of the Gospel”
The past political season has been brutal for our country. We have seen more displays of disunity recently and they have even made their way into Christian circles. Lately, Southern Baptist leaders have been at odds. Most of the tension revolved around support for Trump. Some leaders were saying it was not right for Christians to support a man like Trump, others were saying it was not right to not vote for a candidate that supported pro-life agendas and religious freedom. This has caused a rift between some that even caught the attention of the Washington Post. Eventually, the Executive Director of the SBC, Frank Page, stepped into it to try and bring harmony to the situation and it seems to have calmed down for now.
However, once again Southern Baptists are known for something other than the gospel. Things like disagreements over politics get us off track and keep us from focusing on the most important thing – Jesus. I recently have been studying 1 Corinthians. I get the sense from Paul that he doesn’t want anything to take the focus off the gospel. Throughout the entire book he is advocating for unity in the church for two reasons-- to build-up the church and advance the gospel.
He deals with issues of sin and sexual immorality for the sake of the church. He addresses the issue of laying down rights for a weaker brother through the context of eating meat sacrificed to pagan idols. He encourages the church to not let spiritual gifts divide them, rather focus on loving each other in spite of differences. He even rebukes the Corinthian believers creating a division over who baptized them. All of this is to build up the body of Christ, he is so concerned about the unity of the church.
But not just in church-- Paul writes about his willingness to lay down his personal rights and preferences for the sake of the gospel. He says in 1 Cor. 9:20-21 that when he is with Jews he takes up the customs of Jews, but when he is with gentiles he acts like a gentile (not in a sinful way, rather referring to their manners and customs). He brings all this to a point in verses 22 and 23, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing.”
What if our attitude was like Paul’s? What if we were primarily concerned about unity in the body and the advancing of the gospel? This should be our attitude in all things, even politics. I don’t mean that we shouldn’t have political views, but if we are known more for our politics than we are for the gospel then we have a problem. The banner we carry in our lives as Christians should not be one of republican or democrat, or Trump or Clinton, it should be of Jesus Christ. We must
remember whose kingdom we are building; it isn’t a kingdom of a political view, it isn’t even a kingdom of America, it’s the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is where we will spend eternity, it is our true home. Brothers and Sisters, we are just sojourners in this world, let’s not get so tied down that we forget our primary mission – to build up the kingdom of God.
Consider how people perceive you, when they look at you do they see Christ or do they see a political party? In the past, I have been very vocal of my political views; however, after seeing how it has divided the SBC recently, I have been convicted. I don’t want my politics to cloud people’s view of Christ in me. I want to become all things to all people that by all means I might save some!