Unity

Readings for today: Zephaniah 1-3

I was asked recently what I loved most about God. Not an easy question to answer! There is so much I love about God but if I had to choose what I love most, it is His heart for the nations. God loves humanity. God loves every human being who has ever been conceived on the face of the earth. God loves every tribe and tongue and nation. God loves every culture and language and ethnicity. God loves every people group. God loves young and old. Rich and poor. Abled and disabled. And His great desire is to get to know each and every one on a deep, intimate, personal level.

So often when we think of the Great Commission, we think of Matthew 28. But did you know there is a Great Commission in every single gospel? Did you know the Great Commission often shows up in the Old Testament as well? Consider the words of Zephaniah from today’s reading…“For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.” (Zephaniah‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬) I imagine the people listening would have immediately thought back to the Tower of Babel. The place where God came down and confused the languages of the earth. The place where God judged the people of the earth for not fulfilling His Great Commission to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. Zephaniah points them forward to a day when God will reverse the curse. The people will come together in unity to call on the name of the Lord and serve Him with one accord. This is exactly what happens at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out and everyone hears the gospel preached in their own languages. The early church called on the name of the Lord and were saved. They served God with one accord, holding all things in common. They had great favor as a result with all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This is what God wants to do in and through His church today. So how does that happen? We open ourselves up to God. We surrender to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We draw near to God in repentance and He then draws near to us. How will we know when He is near? Listen to how Zephaniah describes it…“The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet you in his love. He will delight in you with singing. I will gather those who have been driven  from the appointed festivals; they will be a tribute from you and a reproach on her. Yes, at that time I will deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts; I will make those who were disgraced throughout the earth receive praise and fame. At that time I will bring you back, yes, at the time I will gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes. The Lord has spoken.” (Zephaniah‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭20‬ ‭CSB‬‬‬) Friends, these are the signs God has drawn near. Joy. Gladness. Peace. Love. Loud singing. Comfort for those who mourn. Freedom for the oppressed. Healing for the lame. Inclusion for the outcast. Reversal of reputation for those who’ve been put to shame for His name sake. God makes Himself known in the gathering of His people. God makes Himself known among all the peoples and all the nations of the earth. God makes Himself known in favor and blessing. How is God making Himself known to you in your life today?

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Kings 22-23, 2 Chronicles 34-35

Unity

Readings for today: 2 Samuel 5:1-10, 1 Chronicles 11-12, Psalms 133

Psalm 133 is one of my favorite Psalms. Mainly because I have seen it in action. I have seen what happens when God’s people truly serve Him with one heart and mind. I have witnessed the miracles that take place when God’s people put aside their egos, their needs, their wants, their desires in favor of serving the Kingdom. I have watched God’s Spirit move when God’s people humble themselves. Deny themselves. Pursue forgiveness and reconciliation. Lay aside their need to be safe, both physically and emotionally, and chase after God. It is powerful. Life-changing. It transforms churches. Communities. Villages. Towns. Cities. Entire tribes, regions, and nations.  

True biblical unity requires us to relinquish “self” in favor of others. It requires us to lose our individual identity in favor of the whole. It requires us to consider others more important than ourselves. It requires us to risk. Risk being hurt. Risk being wounded. Risk feeling rejected. It requires us to have courage. Courage to forgive. Courage to pursue reconciliation. No matter what the cost. No matter how many times we get burned. Like Jesus told Peter, we must be willing to forgive “seventy times seven.” It requires honesty. Transparency. Self-reflection. We must constantly seek to take the log out of our own eyes before we look to take the speck out of someone else’s eye.

True biblical unity requires the church to lay aside it’s need to compete. Extend it’s brand. Criticize other parts of the Body as if “we have no need of them.” It requires leadership to get serious about working together. Working with and for one another. Willing to sacrifice our buildings, budgets, and attendance in order to expand God’s Kingdom in the communities where we serve. It requires mutual submission and accountability. A willingness to step aside and relinquish our platforms when we fall into sin. It requires a radical commitment to love God and neighbor at the expense of our organizations and institutions. Self-denial and picking up our cross is not just a call to the individual Christian but to the church as a community as well! 

True biblical unity requires a radical re-orientation of the heart. It requires laying aside our personal preferences for the sake of those around us. It requires laying aside our cultural preferences for the sake of those who may be different than us. It is incredibly difficult and challenging which is why it happens so infrequently in Scripture. Even the unity King David experiences as he builds his kingdom will soon give way to division as his own children betray him. We have to constantly be on guard because we are our own worst enemy. Our hearts naturally resist unity because it requires literal death to self. And we have such a strong instinct for self-preservation.  

Ultimately, unity is not something we can achieve through our own strength. It’s not about us being the same but coming together across our differences, even allowing those difference to enrich our life together. And this is why it is a work of the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can bring the kind of deep, spiritual unity Psalm 133 talks about. And the first step towards unity is surrender. Surrender to the Holy Spirit and all He wants to do in our lives.

Readings for tomorrow: 2 Samuel 5:11-25, 2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 13-16

Radical Inclusivity

Readings for today: Acts 11-12, Psalms 124

Today’s reading contains one of the most explosive stories in the New Testament. The gospel of Jesus Christ is spreading rapidly around the region, moving from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and now to the ends of the earth. As that happens, it isn’t just Jewish people who come to saving faith but Gentiles as well and this presents one of the greatest questions to the early church. How in the world can Jews and Gentiles, separated from almost the beginning, be joined back together in one covenant family of God? These two groups were separated not only ethnically and socially and culturally and geographically but also theologically, tracing their division almost all the way back to the beginning. And though Israel was called by God to be a light to the Gentile nations, she had spent centuries at war with them and had turned inward, becoming far more concerned with her ritual purity than embracing her role as priests, interceding for an unbelieving world and teaching them about the one, true God.

But now the Holy Spirit has been unleashed. He was poured out on the disciples at Pentecost and He is moving so rapidly, the apostles can barely keep up. He awakens Jew and Gentile alike. He brings them all to saving faith. He fills Samaritans, Ethiopians, and all sorts of people in places like Antioch. The apostles send representatives to these places to follow up on what He is doing, seeking to verify the fantastic claims they are hearing. Then one of their own - the Apostle Peter himself - testifies to what he witnessed at the house of Cornelius. He walked the church leaders in Jerusalem, many of whom were Jewish believers and still held to circumcision as the sign of the covenant, through his vision and what happened afterwards when he preached the gospel to the Gentiles. He quotes Jesus Himself who said, “John baptized with water but you will be baptized by the Holy Spirit.” And he went to share how God had broken through all the ethnic, social, cultural, and theological divisions that existed between Jew and Gentile and was bringing all people into His family. “If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God?” (Acts 11:17 CSB) And how do the leaders respond? “When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.” (Acts 11:18 CSB)

It’s an incredible story. One that sets the tone for the rest of the book. If Peter had not obeyed God’s voice or closed his eyes and heart to God’s vision, who knows what might have happened to the mission? Would it have remained a small Jewish sect like the many others that existed in the first century? Would it have died a quick death due to the self-limiting factors being imposed by the Jewish Christian leaders? Would it have been stifled by entrenched theological system of Judaism? I doubt it. The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. It cannot be contained by a theological system or inherited tradition or the limitations of leaders or any other created thing on the earth. The gospel will break free from any bonds we try to impose because it is a movement of the Holy Spirit and He cannot be contained. He cannot be constrained. And He is still at work today! He is still drawing all people to Himself. Still crossing every human boundary and division and faction and dividing wall of separation we try to set up. ‭‭

Readings for tomorrow: Acts 13-14, Psalms 125

Spiritual Unity

Readings for today: Numbers 6-9

What is it that brings people together? I have long pondered this question. I have been in settings where individuals from wildly different backgrounds almost miraculously find common ground. A maximum security prison where men who once belonged to rival gangs defined by racial hatred play side by side in a worship band. An African nation where one tribe attempted to exterminate the other find healing and reconciliation as they practice confession and forgiveness. A husband and wife, estranged for many years because of deep wounds, renew their vows and discover new intimacy as they humble themselves and make themselves vulnerable before each other. Sadly, I’ve seen the other side as well. Especially recently. Debates over COVID mandates. Political power struggles. Social strife. All have conspired to exacerbate our differences and tear us apart. None of these things are new. In fact, they are quite normal. Status quo for the human race. Throughout our history, we have demonstrated an almost limitless capacity for division. It’s part and parcel of our fallen nature. 

Perhaps that’s why I love our reading today. Especially chapter seven. Yes, I know it’s full of mind-numbing details like the weight of several silver plates, the number of gold dishes, and what seems like a herd of livestock but when one takes a step back to look at the big picture, what emerges is a beautiful picture of unity. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel coming before the Lord to make a sacrificial offering. Each of the twelve tribes doing their part to help consecrate the altar. Each of the twelve tribes sending their most respected leader to dedicate the best of what they have to God. It’s a beautiful picture of what God’s people can do when they come together with one heart and mind. And what happens? God honors their spiritual unity. He accepts their sacrifice. He descends from heaven to meet with them. “And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.” (Numbers 7:89)

What is it that drives such unity? Is it unanimity? I don’t think so. The Book of Numbers is replete with story after story of rebellion and conflict and complaint. The people of God often find themselves at odds with each other, with Moses, and with God Himself. Is it because they are ethnically and culturally homogeneous? Not at all. Their identity as God’s chosen people is still in it’s infancy. They are far more shaped by their experience of slavery and often exhibit a desire to return. They have yet to settle in the Promised Land. They have yet to establish themselves as a nation. So what is it? What is it that brings them together and motivates them to give so generously? The only answer is God. His faithfulness keeps them together when so many forces threaten to tear them apart. His steadfast, covenant love gives them a common identity and purpose. His holiness exposes all their impurities and His mercies – new every morning – cleanse them daily of their sin. 

Now fast forward to our context. What is it that drives unity in our community? Is it our unanimity? Not at all. We are divided generationally, economically, ethnically, politically, culturally, socially, sexually, you name it. There are so many forces arrayed against us threatening to tear us apart. In my experience, the people of God are just as rebellious and prone to conflict and complaint as the people of Israel! Including me, by the way! So what is it that brings us together? The only answer is Jesus. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. Through His death and resurrection, He tears down every dividing wall of hostility that exists between us. He is faithful even when we are faithless. His unconditional love and grace shapes our identity and gives us purpose. His holiness exposes our sin and His shed blood cleanses us completely and utterly and for all eternity. 

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 10-13, Psalm 90