One Body

We have been brought into fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, and called to be part of His body, and we should zealously guard that unity, realizing that the enemy would want to divide us.
Colossians 3 states:
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

The body of Christ, His Church, is a wonderful entity, but it is not monolithic - sure, we are united by our common faith in Christ and profession of His Lordship, but we will not see eye-to-eye on every single issue or topic.  That is where grace comes in; we are to allow the "peace of God" to permeate us, and that should guide how we relate to one another.  If we let bitter division and argumentation to enter in, the cause of the gospel is damaged.

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God has designed His Church, the body of Christ, to be comprised of diverse individuals with unique expressions of the character of Christ, united in purpose by the Spirit.  Romans 12 states:
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

In the body of Christ, we have different expressions of our faith in Him - God did not call us all to think and act the same. Now, there are certain doctrines that unite us, principles that reinforce our faith in Christ, but we will come to different conclusions on some issues.  That's fine, as long as the Bible is the foundation for the development of our approaches.

This has been seen now for several years with respect to the current resident of the Oval Office.  And, there continue to be attempts by the mainstream media, as well as some people of faith, to try to divide the body of Christ based on our political views, and specifically the President.  There is this whole notion of "evangelical support," which is a squishy term that doesn't really have a clear definition - I don't really know what that looks like, but apparently there are some that don't think it's a good thing.

Our job as Christians is not to defend Trump; our job is to exalt Christ and make Him known.  I think Michael Brown, who writes for The Stream and has been a guest on The Meeting House, says it really well:

“When the president does the right thing, we commend him and encourage him. When he does the wrong thing, with full respect for his office, we express our differences. Is this really so hard?”

Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, who is heard regularly on Faith Radio, has been facing heat from the media based on comments he made recently.  He responded on the FRC website:

Last week I explained to Politico why so many evangelicals came around to supporting President Trump, and the media reaction was swift. Editorial pages along with MSNBC/CNN pundits began recycling charges of "evangelical hypocrisy" -- clearly hoping to drive a wedge between the president and evangelicals. Some even suggested that giving any kind of support to President Trump might "push followers away" from churches. Following the State of the Union address, the Baptist Press took on this very issue -- asking the presidents of five Baptist state conventions whether views of President Trump have "distracted or divided" their congregations. While these Baptist leaders admitted to a "diversity of opinions" among churchgoers, they were unanimous in saying that the president is "no barrier to church unity."

The Baptist Press article pointed out a variation on a theme related by Terry Mattingly of the Get Religion website about evangelicals:

The range of views noted by these Baptist leaders seemed to mirror, at least in part, religion journalist Terry Mattingly's assessment of evangelical views on Trump in a Jan. 27 post for the Get Religion blog. Among evangelicals, Mattingly wrote:

-- Some "supported Trump from the get-go."

-- Some "may have supported Trump early on, but they have always seen him as a flawed leader -- but the best available."

-- Some "moved into Trump's tent when it became obvious he would win the GOP nomination" for president.

-- Some voted for Trump in the general election because they viewed him as "the lesser of two evils."

-- Some "never backed Trump and they never will," but "they are willing to admit that Trump has done some good."

-- Some are among "the evangelical left," reject "anything he touches" and voted for Hillary Clinton in the general election.

(Here is a link to the original article.)

Baptist Press talked to the convention presidents in five states: California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas.  The summary:

When queried by Baptist Press, three of the state convention presidents said church members appreciate at least some of Trump's policies. Four mentioned misgivings about the president within the church body. All five said diverse opinions of Trump are no barrier to church unity.

Juan Sanchez of Texas highlighted a theme that was mentioned several times:

The diversity of political viewpoints, Sanchez said, "is not a distraction" from worshiping or serving Christ.

"We believe that King Jesus is gathering a multiethnic, multicultural people to God the Father, by His Spirit, and through His Gospel Word. What displays the glory and wisdom of God is not merely that we are diverse, but that though we are diverse, we are united by faith in Christ," Sanchez said.

We are, and continue to be, united by the Gospel.  I am quite politically active, but realize a number of my listeners and fellow church members may not be.  But, we should all be devoted to actively seeking Christ and being obedient to Him.

I have to admit, though, it is harmful to the body of Christ when a cycle develops that begins when the President will say or do something that is not consistent with how we think he is to act or speak.  It seems there have been instances of Christians who take their cues from the Washington Post or New York Times and tweet out a reaction to something they read about Trump.  Then the association game begins - at times, you see that fellow believers are deemed to be incorrect because they "supported" Trump.  Is this helpful?  Is it even accurate?  Should our daily viewpoint be shaped by the mainstream media or by the life-giving truth of the Word of God?

We have to be so careful that we do not allow the enemy to drive a wedge between us, and that we recognize that there will be different viewpoints, just as Mattingly pointed out.  We have to acknowledge that there will be different viewpoints, while extending grace to those with whom we disagree.  We have to, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, learn to disagree agreeably, and I would dare say that social media can be a deterrent to that.

We can be reminded to pray for our President.  And, if his personal behavior or speech is inappropriate, and we are asked our opinion, I think it's totally fine to call him out.  I think some people could stand to lengthen the time span between an "incident" and a comment.  But, we should also be sensitive and complimentary when he does something that reinforces our Biblical values, and be thankful to God that ultimately, the President's heart is in the Lord's hands.