I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you
to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with
all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one
body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to
your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:1-6
A
tribal village in sub-Saharan desert, in 100 plus degree heat, with no
electricity or running water, and no real cultural similarities seems like an
odd place to meet family, but I did. Many would think there are too many
differences in culture and lifestyle for anyone from middle class America to
have anything substantial in common with someone from West Africa. We eat
different foods, we work very different jobs, we live in different kinds of
homes, we live in relationship differently, we speak different languages, etc.
Yet despite all of the differences, there was one similarity that tore down all
dividing cultural walls. A similarity of such magnitude it made all of the
differences seem insignificant – our God.
The
gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of the God that isn’t in the business
of saving a multitude of different, individuals, but the God out to save a
people. A single, unified people and body bound up in the “one hope… one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, on God and Father of all…” That means while the Jesus
believing men and women of West Africa could have been different from me in
every single regard from the outside, our spirits testified together that we
had one Father. (Rom. 8:16) Jesus’ blood runs thicker than culture, language,
skin color, and geography. It crosses all border and boundaries in this world
and in our hearts, and plants the flag of God’s glory, declaring all that it
covers to be united under the rule and reign of The King. He made us a people
not defined or determined by geographic location, race, or ethnicity but by our
faith. We are now the people of God. Not only does it unify our citizenship
under one God, it unifies our purpose as well.
Before
the gospel took hold of our lives we were given to living for a plethora of
purposes. We had hobbies and activities we engaged in for our personal enjoyment.
We worked and had families and friends to help satisfy our financial and
relational needs and desires. We had a lot of goals that served a lot of
different purposes. Then Jesus changed all of that. His Spirit came in and didn’t
remove all of these ambitions, but instead He redeemed them. He took all of them
and gave them a single, unified purpose – the glory of God. We can now work,
live in relationship, watch movies, read books, and even water ski for the same
reason. (1 Cor. 10:31) Our unity doesn’t remove our unique value, making us all
robots performing the same tasks and duties. Our unity takes all of the parts
of our lives that make us different, down to our desires, and redeems them for
the mission of God’s glory.
Every
Sunday is a Spirit led expression of the gospel of unity. We meet together as
the people of God to affirm that our real home isn’t here on earth but our
citizenship is in another kingdom. (Phil. 3:20) We gather to announce that our
purpose and mission in this world is no longer a map of crisscrossing paths but
a convergence on the glory of God. Sundays are an assembling of the kingdom
that doesn’t place value in socio-economic standing, race, or ethnicity (Gal.
3:28) because the people of The King come from every tribe, language, people
and nation. (Rev. 5:9) Sunday’s are a declaration of unity. So come Sunday and with
one spirit cry out as one body the praises and glories of our one King that all
may see, “…the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
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