My goal is to help us build a biblical framework for how we are to think, participate and respond in a diverse and divisive political climate.

Jesus - We value the Word of God as the ultimate source of truth as it testifies of the Living Word, who is Jesus Christ.

Two crucial truths of our biblical framework:
1. The sovereignty of God – every person, every context in heaven and on earth…God is sovereign.

2. Our natural tendency toward idol worship…misguided hope.

Proverbs 21:1 (ESV) - The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

No matter who’s in charge, God’s in charge.

Daniel 4:25 (ESV) - …you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

God’s sovereignty must be at the center of how we think, participate and respond in a diverse and divisive political climate.

Philippians 1:6 (ESV) - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:21 (ESV) - For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV) - Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:12 (ESV) - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Philippians 3:8–11 (ESV) - Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:12–16 (ESV) - Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

One who constantly longs for what was, will miss what our sovereign God is doing in the now.

Philippians 3:17–19 (ESV) – Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

Philippians 3:20-21 (ESV) - 20But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

As followers of Jesus, our true belonging, our true allegiance is to God and His kingdom.

Church - ekklesia = one’s called out

Philippians 1:27 (ESV) – Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever found yourself at a time in life when you focused too much on your past? How did that affect your life?

2. Discuss reasons from the text that express why Paul says he is “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (v13).

3. Why does Paul say in v17 to “keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (hint…it’s in v18)? Who are you currently learning from and what are you learning?

4. Discuss what it means when one lives as an enemy of the cross of Christ. Be as practical as you can.

5. What happens when we focus on fighting a spiritual battle through earthly means?

6. How do you pursue being a citizen of heaven while living on earth?

7. How can you become more intentional about pursuing a future of growing to be like Jesus?