Disagreement Is Inevitable. Division Is a Choice.

Culture talks constantly about sex, money, and politics, quietly teaching us what to think about all three. So one church decided to stop leaving those subjects to the news cycle and ask a better question: what does the Bible actually say? This week's topic is the one most of us would rather skip, and the sermon waded into those shark-infested waters anyway.

A Letter to Christians in a Tough Spot
Picture the believers in Rome, capital of an empire whose emperor considered himself a god. Paying taxes to him felt like funding his cult. A few years earlier, tired of the fighting between Jews and Christians, an emperor had expelled the Jews from the city altogether. Everyone was asking the same question: how do we live faithfully in a society hostile to our faith?

Paul's answer, written to those Roman Christians, is the political advice that still stands today. Submit to the governing authorities. Give everyone what is due to them: respect, honor, taxes. And always, always give love.

What makes Romans 13:1-7 interesting is where it sits. Right before it, Paul rattles off one-line instructions for Christian living: let love be without hypocrisy, cling to what is good, outdo one another in showing honor. Right after it, he returns to love. Many scholars think his mention of vengeance triggered a pause: vengeance belongs to God, and justice is the government's job. So he takes a short detour, then picks love back up. Politics is bookended by love on both sides.

Where Government Gets Its Authority
The first thing Paul says is that no authority exists except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by Him. God holds all power and delegates a limited portion of it to human governments, with a specific job: to promote order and justice. Paul calls the government "God's servant" three separate times in this short passage.

Think about the speed limit. Drive within it and you have nothing to fear from the officer on the road. Drive too fast, and that officer has the right to pull you over, because authority flowed from God to the government to the person wearing the badge. The system exists to keep order and bring justice, and that's the limited scope Paul has in mind.

Submit Is Not the Same as Obey
Notice that Paul chooses the word submit rather than obey. Obey is what a child does with a parent. Submit is a recognition that someone holds an authority over you, and most of the time recognizing that authority means following its rules. But because the government's authority is derived from God, it can never outrank God. When an authority commands something that violates God's law, a Christian's respectful resistance is appropriate.

That's the exception, though. Our default posture, regardless of which party is in power, is submission. Most of what governments ask of us doesn't conflict with God at all.

Some of us feel our blood pressure rise here. Really? I'm supposed to submit to this administration? Or the last one, depending on which side of the aisle you sit. Yes. Paul told Christians to submit to the very government that would eventually put him to death. As the pastor put it, "This is not what I'm saying. This is what the Bible is saying."

Respect the Office, Even When It's Hard to Respect the Person
You're free to disagree with a politician, even to dislike one. But Paul says to give respect to whom respect is owed, and that includes the office itself. A Marine can think his commander is impossible, yet he still salutes and says "Good morning, sir." The respect goes to the position.

These are real people, and the passage calls them God's servants. Treating politicians as faceless villains worth bashing isn't faithful to the text. Disagree, even strongly. Just don't disrespect.

Overcome Evil with Good
Right before the section on government, Paul writes: "Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good." That's critical advice in an age of constant fear-driven headlines, where every outlet and every campaign tells us things are getting worse. Our response to a world that keeps getting worse is to do more good, not to complain about it.

Here the sermon turned convicting. Our culture treats commenting as a form of goodness. We post a take and feel as though we've contributed. The pastor asked a hard question: am I virtue signaling, trying to look virtuous by expressing disgust or approval about the issue of the day, and then doing nothing?

Scripture won't let us stop at comments. James tells us to be doers of the word, not just hearers. If you care about struggling schools, volunteer in one. If a cause is on your heart, show up for it. "I would rather be known for the good that I do than just the proclamations that I say."

What Jesus's Politics Looked Like
When Jesus thought about politics, He didn't reach for a party platform. He gave the Sermon on the Mount: turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, wash feet, forgive seventy times seven, care for the least of these. His politics were sacrifice, humility, forgiveness, and peacemaking, not position, power, and policy.

Look at the twelve men He chose. Matthew was a tax collector, seen as a traitor who profited from collaborating with Rome. Simon was a Zealot, a revolutionary who wanted to overthrow Rome by force. Put those two in a room and you wonder what their private conversations sounded like. Yet Jesus called them as individuals and brought them under one banner. He modeled something we've nearly forgotten: disagreement is inevitable, but division is a choice.

The Debt You Can Never Pay Off
Paul closes this section with a striking phrase: "Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another." Another translation says, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another."

That's a debt that never expires. How much do you owe? Everyone. When is it due? Always. What's the balance? Never zero. Imagine every person you meet holding a sign that says you owe me love, regardless of their politics. Jesus said His followers would be known by their love for one another, not by their party affiliation.

The sermon even offered a political rewrite of 1 Corinthians 13: if I can mobilize a crowd for a righteous cause but have not love, I'm a noisy gong. If I articulate exactly the right policy but have no love, I am nothing. Scripture doesn't align neatly with either major party's agenda. It transcends them.

A Third Way
Christians tend to respond to politics in one of two ways: retreat and hope it all goes away, or adopt a party wholesale and make it your team. Jesus offers a third way that cuts across both: love, sacrifice, and surrender.

This has real consequences. The pastor described life group leaders afraid of the topic and people who left groups over political differences. It's strange that many of us connect more easily with a stranger who shares our politics than with a fellow believer who doesn't. We should be able to hear each other's views and stay a little uncomfortable together without coming apart.

James gives us the formula: be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Anyone who has scrolled social media knows the opposite is the norm: no one listening, everyone talking, everyone furious. The pastor used a simple picture: when he pulls out a book about cats, his kids come running because they're eager to hear. What if we showed that same eagerness when someone says, "I'm from a different political party than you"? What if our first response was, "Tell me more"?

Our Hope Isn't on the Ballot
Every election season brings savior language: who will save America? But government has a limited scope, and Paul told us what it is: justice and order. Leaders can make life a bit more comfortable, but Jesus never promised comfort. He was homeless, and He gave His life.

The real problem isn't economics, gas prices, health care, or immigration. The real problem is that we all stand before God as sinners who need a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. In a nervous, divided world, that hope makes it possible to be a non-anxious presence, someone who brings calm into the chaos because their security is somewhere else.

Political slogans promise that fighting is how we win, or that a nation will be made great again. The pastor offered two alternatives: when we love, we win. And let's make God great again.

What Now?
The sermon closed with two challenges. First, ask whether God has put something good on your heart that you've only been posting about, and if so, get up and do it. Second, find someone you disagree with politically and practice loving them. Don't go looking for a debate. Sit down, listen, and show them the love Jesus showed everyone He met.
Governments will come and go. The people who trust Christ will spend eternity together, so it's worth practicing now.