The Pew Research Center recently released the results of a study which said that four out of ten registered voters do not have a single close friend who supports the candidate of the other political party. The results were almost identical for Democrats and Republicans. We’re not only divided by our political beliefs; we’re divided in our relationships too.

Thankfully, this is not the biggest problem in the church I serve. We are a city-center church with diverse political beliefs.

When politicians call for “unity,” what they usually mean is that they want you to drop your beliefs and adopt theirs. Is it really unity if I must change my beliefs to be your friend?

So how do you learn to get along?

There must be something greater that you agree on that binds you together.

Interestingly, Jesus talked about division all the time. In Luke 12:51-53 he said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

When Jesus walked the earth, he claimed to be God incarnate. He didn’t leave us the option of just being our moral example. How can someone be our moral example while claiming to be God, unless he really is God?  

This is why Jesus called himself a divider. Most people can’t accept that Jesus is Lord.

But for some, it’s the greater something that we agree on.

And it binds us together.