Why this series?
We believe these are the questions you are asking; even more importantly, these are questions those around you are asking. To engage the world around us, we have to be willing to think through the tough questions.

Background for this question:
-The Bible does give us guidance on what it means to be good citizens
-As believers, we do have some responsibility to be present and engaged in the world in which we live (see Romans 13 in the notes below)
-The Bible is also clear that our citizenship is first and foremost in the Kingdom of God
-Our job is to navigate through the Scriptures prayerfully in order to seek truth for us as believers in the midst of a political culture that has become so polarizing

-Unity in the church is so important that Jesus died for it
-We don’t seek unity for the sake of unity. We seek the Lord, we make Christ the center, and He unifies us
-We won’t spread the gospel in this world if we don’t display the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for.

-The Jewish leaders are trying to trap Jesus and pull him into a struggle that was quite political.
-The Jews resented taxes for religious reasons. To a Jew there was only one true king and to pay a tax to an earthly king was to admit the validity of that kingship.
-Think of what Jesus could have said here:
“Don’t give them a cent. Your loyalty is to God alone!”
“Keep your money until there’s an emperor whose views you support!”
“Only give to Christian politicians.”
-Jesus wasn’t avoiding the duty of government; what he was avoiding was the trap of politics, confusing the kingdom of men with the Kingdom of God.
-As hard as it is to grasp, Jesus won’t be roped into a political argument. Our God has a monopoly on the Truth and will not fit neatly into the confines of political viewpoints or parties.

CAN the church preach about politics?
Sure it can. It CAN because we aren’t called to be disconnected and disengaged, uninvolved.

Give back to the government what belongs to the government in the first place. But, far more importantly, give back to God what belongs to Him in the first place.
How much of you belongs to God?

The problem of politics for Christians in America is DISUNITY, DISCORD & DIVIDE.

Three challenges for us in response:
1. Let’s remember who is the enemy is
-“Our battle is not against flesh and blood” Ephesians 6:12

2. Let’s remember whose kingdom we belong to
-We can’t allow a passion for politics to become idolatry
-We must commit to not allow anything else in our lives to take Lordship over Christ

3. Let’s remember what are we for
-We are for the love of Jesus, for healing, for reconciliation, we are for peace and we are for grace
-Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”
John 13:35

Other texts for study/reflection: