Don’t Divide Over Subjects That Don’t Matter To God

When you listen to news anchors, politicians, coworkers, and fellow Christians, it is not uncommon to hear someone lamenting the deeply divided state of our culture. At every turn, there is a seemingly endless supply of subject matter to fight about and plenty of people willing to charge into a war of words. Christians, sadly, are tempted to mimic the rancorous language of the world and spend their energy brawling about issues that do not advance the kingdom cause of Jesus.

For example, it is irrelevant to God whether our country (or any other, for that matter) is a socialist or communist or capitalist society. In other words, since Jesus reigns supreme over all the nations, He will sow His message and reap His souls regardless of secular politicians. After all, the good news of Jesus was first preached in the shadow of a repressive empire. With few exceptions, all the cultures we read about in the Bible were ruled by monarchies. Under adverse conditions, Jesus’ church thrived to such an extent that even household members of the Roman emperor submitted their lives to Jesus (Philippians 4.22)! While the empire boiled with bloodshed and political intrigue, God’s everlasting kingdom quietly, but relentlessly, conquered the world.

We will search the New Testament in vain for instructions on good economic policies or the ideal configurations of human government. Honoring the emperor, paying your taxes, and praying for your leaders were clear teachings of Jesus and His apostles (1 Timothy 2.1-2, Romans 13.7, 1 Peter 2.17). However, changing or maintaining an earthly political system was simply not a focus of the early Christians. It should not be our focus.

Although modern-day levels of division seem unprecedented (to use a recently popular word), divisiveness is an ancient problem rooted in sin. The New Testament documents are filled with specific teachings and warnings about divisions, warning that they come from a worldly mindset, rather than a proper focus on Jesus’ priorities. The apostle Paul warned the Galatian churches in his letter: “But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (Galatians 5.14). The churches in the Roman province of Galatia were embracing a distorted gospel of ethnic division lines. God did not care about circumcision under His new covenant, but false teachers came to Galatia and attempted to separate Christians who kept the works of the law (like circumcision) from those who did not. As the Galatians bound their new regulations on each other, Paul erupted: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1.6).

When our spiritual unity with others is determined by whether they conform to issues that do not concern the kingdom of Jesus, we put ourselves and others in grave danger. Do not divide over subjects that do not matter to God!

~Nathan Combs