Not in It to Win It: Why Choosing Sides Sidelines The Church

by Andy Stanley

Jesus refused to be dragged into or tricked into taking sides on civic, social, and what we would consider political matters.

While Jesus made no effort to change how taxes were collected, these two encounters changed two tax collectors.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said it well, “The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”11

While Jesus refused to fix or even address the systemic inequalities rampant in first-century Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, he never missed an opportunity to address an immediate need—regardless of whose it was or what created the need to begin with.

Let’s do what’s just, not what we can justify. Let’s do what’s responsible, not what’s permissible. Let’s do what’s moral, not what’s modeled.