The election is over. Our call to faithfulness hasn’t changed. Many–and I mean many–political pundits have offered their commentary, and perusing Facebook, not a few pastors have offered their take, too. Well, I can’t resist. I’m going to add mine!

Before an election, it can be difficult to hear a pastor talk about faith and public life without trying to figure out which candidate he wants you to support. After this election, I want to ask a question: How are we going to live now?

There are Democrats and Republicans in the congregation I serve. We may have voted differently. We may feel differently about the results. But if our faith is in Jesus Christ, we are fellow citizens of heaven. We belong to him, and that belonging must shape how we treat one another.

As I prepare to preach from Philippians 3:15–21, I keep coming back to that connection between belonging and living. Paul tells believers where their citizenship is, but he also asks them to pay attention to how they walk.

That seems like a good word for the days after an election. 

Keep walking toward Christ

Paul has just acknowledged that he has not arrived. He wants to know Christ, and he is pressing on toward that goal. When he calls mature believers to share his way of thinking, he is calling them to that same humility and determination.

In verse 16, he calls us to live up to what we have already attained. We may not understand everything yet. We certainly have not become everything God intends us to become. But we can take the next step of obedience with what he has already shown us.

We know that Jesus calls us to love our neighbors. We know that he calls us to speak truthfully. We know that bitterness and contempt do not become holy simply because we think our cause is right. We don’t have to understand every political development to know those things.

Then Paul tells the Philippians to follow his example and pay attention to others who live according to the pattern he has given them. That raises a serious question: Whose example are we following?

Who is teaching us how to respond when we are disappointed? Who is shaping the way we speak about people with whom we disagree? When we are angry, whose voice do we reach for?

There are plenty of people willing to tell us whom to fear and whom to blame. We need more than a Facebook feed to teach us faithfulness. We need brothers and sisters who don’t always agree with us, but whose lives help us see how to follow Jesus.

And somebody is learning from us. They hear how we talk at home. They notice what we share online. They see whether our treatment of another person changes when we discover how that person voted.

Would following our example help them follow Jesus? 

Pay attention to what has your heart

In verses 18 and 19, Paul describes people whose lives make them enemies of the cross of Christ. Before we start assigning that description to people we oppose, we need to notice how he speaks: with tears.

Paul grieves over lives moving away from the cross. There is no pleasure here in finding someone to condemn.

This passage gives us reason to examine our own lives. What has my heart? What do I want so badly that I am willing to excuse almost anything to get it? Where have I allowed an earthly loyalty to determine what I will call good and what I will call evil?

We can become very skilled at recognizing the failures of people we oppose while explaining away the same failures in people we support. If we are going to follow Jesus faithfully, we have to let him examine that in us.

Christians should vote prayerfully and thoughtfully, with a conscience shaped by Scripture. We should seek the common good, defend human dignity, protect the vulnerable, and pursue justice. We will sometimes disagree about how to accomplish those things. That ought to send each of us back to prayer and an honest examination of our own convictions. Public decisions affect real people, and loving our neighbors includes taking those decisions seriously.

But we must not confuse political pragmatism with biblical obedience. Supporting a candidate does not require us to defend everything that candidate says or does. No party gets to take the place of Scripture in shaping our conscience. And no election result gets to take the place of Jesus in determining our hope.

We need to be honest about fear, too. Some people have real concerns about decisions that could affect their families and their futures. I have concerns of my own. Faithfulness does not require us to pretend those concerns do not exist. We bring them to Jesus.

The question is whether fear will govern us. Will it give us permission to hate? Will it persuade us to abandon what Jesus has taught us? Will we decide that obedience is something we can return to once our side is secure?

Faithfulness is needed right there, in the uncertainty. We can trust Christ enough to obey him before we know how everything will turn out. 

Remember where you belong

Paul’s language about citizenship would have meant something in Philippi, a Roman colony. Roman identity shaped its public life. Not everybody who lived there possessed Roman citizenship, but everyone lived in a community where that status carried significance. They understood that belonging somewhere could shape how you lived somewhere else.

I’ve been to Mexico numerous times on mission trips. When I’m there, I have to pay attention to the culture and communicate in a way the people can understand. I can’t expect everybody to do things the way we do them back home. But adapting to the culture doesn’t change my citizenship. I’m still an American.

At the same time, being an American doesn’t excuse me from caring about the people in Mexico. I went there to serve them. If I spend the whole trip reminding everybody where I’m from without learning how to love the people where I am, I’ve missed the purpose of the trip.

That helps me understand what Paul is saying. We belong to Christ, and we live among people he calls us to love. We need to understand their lives, listen to their concerns, and communicate the gospel in ways they can understand. We can do that without surrendering our allegiance to Jesus.

Belonging there gives direction to how we live here.

Our citizenship in heaven also shapes how we regard earthly authorities. In Romans 13, Paul addresses our responsibilities toward those who govern. But recognizing God’s sovereignty does not mean treating an election winner as God’s endorsed candidate. Winning does not establish God’s approval of a person’s character, policies, or conduct. We still pray. We still examine what leaders do. We still answer to Jesus.

And we should keep reading Romans 13. After speaking about governing authorities and paying what we owe, Paul speaks about our continuing obligation to love one another. That obligation remains after the votes are counted. The person who voted differently is still my neighbor. The vulnerable person who needs help still needs help. The person I have wounded with my words still deserves an apology. 

Take the next faithful step

Paul tells us whom we await: the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus is not returning to rescue a failed political strategy. He is returning to consummate his Kingdom.

In Philippians 3:21, Paul promises that Christ will transform our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body. That hope reaches into things an election can’t fix: our weakness, our mortality, and the grief of standing beside the grave of someone we love. Our Savior has not finished his work.

We do not have to make every political contest carry the weight of our eternal hope. We can participate responsibly in public life while remembering that our salvation rests in Jesus Christ. Elections, political parties, and candidates are temporary. The Kingdom of God is eternal.

So what does belonging there look like while we are living here?

It may mean putting down the phone before posting a comment intended to humiliate another person. It may mean praying for a leader you did not support, or telling the truth about a leader you did support. It may mean asking forgiveness from a family member or serving a neighbor without first asking whether that neighbor agrees with you.

At church this month, we are asking: What does my next step in knowing Christ look like this week?

That question belongs here, too. What has Jesus already shown me that I need to act on? Where is he calling me to surrender my pride, trust him with my fear, or love someone I have found difficult to love?

Whether your person won or lost, the next faithful step is obedience to him who calls us. Our call to faithfulness hasn’t changed because of an election.

We are citizens of heaven. Let’s act like we are.

Until next time, keep looking up…

If any of my reflections encouraged or challenged you, follow Not the Perfect Pastor on Facebook for more conversations about faith, ministry, and becoming faithful disciples of Jesus.