Election Direction: Crossing the Aisle

Selected Scriptures

Connect:

• Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.

Prayer:

Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.

Review:

We are moving into a series called “Election Direction” where we are looking at Biblical teaching and principles that help to ground us as believers in a deeply fragmented nation moving into election season. This week, our focus is on “The New Party” where we talk about how political divisions can affect the church… and what we are to do to prevent that.

The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…

o What did you learn about God?

o What did you learn about people?

o What did you learn about yourself?

o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?

Reflection:

Personal Experience:

• Have you ever assumed something about a person because of their dress/ language/ accent etc. that was just flat wrong? Talk about a time where you made a “Fundamental attribution error” (stereotyping people).

  Group Discussion:

• Read John 17:20-21:

  • Discuss what it means to “be one” in the manner Jesus speaks about here.

  • Discuss what it means for believers to have the same kind of unity that the Father and Son share— how is that even possible?

  • Why would unity among believers look so supernatural that the world would look at us and think, “They are a talking walking breathing miracle!” What’s so miraculous about this kind of unity that Jesus is speaking about?

• Read Mark 9:38-41 and Luke 9:51-56.

  • What did the disciples mean by “…he’s not one of us”, and why did it matter so much to them that they stopped the person helping someone? Why was this so offensive?

  • In Mark 9:39-40, Jesus said, “Those who are not against us are for us”. In Matthew 12:25-30 Jesus says, Those who are not with me are against me.” Compare and contrast the context of these two passages around the theme of acknowledging Jesus’ Lordship— what is the difference here?

• Read James 4:1-10.

  • What is it that causes fights and quarrels among believers? Name some things that you have seen which have this effect, and identify the “desires that battle within [us]”

  • If we were to “ask God” for things that are driven by this manner of desire, what is His likely response? Why?

  • Humility (not humiliation) figures front and center throughout this passage. What is it about humility that has this effect (i.e., what difference does humility make in our quarrels?) and why would the Lord “raise us up” if we choose humility?

Response: 

The way to cross the aisle is not with a bag of promotional brochures, but rather with an honest desire to open dialogue around shared values— getting clear on why before what. A prayer forged over many years of marriage says, “Lord God, draw people’s attention to You because of the character of our relationship with each other.” Pray this for the Body of Christ in this moment in our nation’s story. “Lord Jesus, be lifted up here and now. As Your Bride the Church comes before You in humility and reverence, draw people’s attention to You.”

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