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 NIV]
Rather, when it comes to kings and kingdoms, Jesus always sides with Himself.
Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. Here are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (also called Peter), then Andrew (Peter’s brother), James (son of Zebedee), John (James’s brother), Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (the tax collector), James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus,Simon (the zealot), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him). [Matthew 10:1-4 NLT]
1. Jesus was DRAWN to people of diverse political opinions.
“We should feel at home with people who share our faith but not our politics even more than we do with people who share our politics but not our faith. If this is not our experience, then we very well may be rendering to Caesar what belongs to God.” – Scott Sauls
2. Jesus WELCOMED people of diverse political opinions.
3. Jesus UNIFIED people of diverse political opinions.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. [Ephesians 2:14-16 NLT]
The Jesus who unites us must be greater than the politics that divide us!