How can you be a Christian and be a . . . ?

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (Joshua 5:13, 14)

…And a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:7).

Make every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3).

“Both [sides] read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes his aid against the other.  . .  The prayer of both could not be answered.  That of neither has been answered fully.  The Almighty has his own purposes.”  (Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, March 4, 1865).

During a spiritual meeting with a friend a moment of truth occurred.  Our conversations had always been controlled by the purpose of our meetings – helping each other live authentic spiritual lives. Underneath, my friend and I knew that we were of quite different political persuasions. But my friend admitted that he had recently offended another brother in Christ whom he knew was registered with the other political party. My friend asked me in exasperation, “How can he be a Christian and be a Democrat?”  I answered, “I could just as easily ask you, ‘How can you be a Christian and be a Republican?’”

Demonizing the other side and believing that God is on our side is a position that leads to a multitude of sins for Christians.  At least three of them:

1.      We stop listening and stop seeking to understand.

2.      We fail to see our own blind spots, inadequacies and inconsistencies.

3.      We lose perspective on whose side we should be on and thus lose our ability to speak truth to both sides.

People with their own agendas, whether they be politicians, salespeople or religious persuaders, will always try to play up to Christians.  I must beware of aligning myself too closely with a political party or leader lest I lose my prophetic edge.  If Nathan had allowed David to go on thinking that he was above the law of God, he would have been useless as an agent in David’s life.  If Jesus had been cowed by Pontius Pilate, he might have been spared the cross, but he would not have made the good confession that led to saving our souls.

I wonder what the angel of the Lord would say to us if we asked, “are you for my political party or for the other?” Perhaps we should be asking, “What message does my Lord have for his servants?”

We must keep our eyes on Jesus.  We must make our Christian churches places where our disagreements can be talked about, where we can hear one another and learn together what it means to be a faithful counter-cultural community amid a crooked and perverse generation.  A generation which will not be helped unless we are on Jesus’ side first.