7-7-2019

  Good Morning All,

    Ephesians 4: 4-6; “There is one body and one Spirit. In the same way you were called to share one hope.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over everything, through everything, and in everything.”

    Why is it that we always seem to look for the differences at first?  Why do we seek those things which we use to divide and separate?  It often starts out innocent enough: it is how we identify individuals.  We see Suzy as the short, blonde girl and Billy as the tall red head.  But all too soon we take those differences and use them to hold others down or try to push them back; all in an effort to get to the front.  So, we take those differences and we begin to categorize people.  This group is greedy; this group is lazy, this group is selfish, this group is made up of criminals.  (I didn’t list who but you probably filled in the blanks).  Instead of looking at what we have in common and try and build on that; we build walls to keep some back from us or out of our sight or away from us.

    Yet when God looks at people He sees one thing, a sinful creature.  Before God we are all the same.  There is no difference; we are all sinners deserving eternal punishment.  But by God’s grace, God sees only righteousness and holiness when He looks at His redeemed children.  All God sees is Christ’s atoning sacrifice.  He sees us as one in Christ, holy and undefiled.  We are not male or female, tall or short, fat or skinny, black, brown, white, yellow, purple or orange; we are the redeemed children of God.  That is how God sees us and that is how we should see our fellow believer.  We are all the same.  We are forgiven sinners who live by God’s grace and mercy.  We need to tear down the walls we build and see what God sees, forgiven creatures.

    We can do this best by remembering who we are; we are the redeemed, baptized children of God.  This is our identity; this is who we are and thus we are all the same.  The differences that may exist are only external and temporary but the true identity as redeemed children of God lasts forever.  When we look in the mirror, God invites us to see a redeemed, baptized child of God; loved, cherished and given into the eternal kingdom of God by grace.  That is how we should look at our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, with those same eyes.

    The devil wants separation, disunity and agitation.  God desires that his people live in peace and harmony.  We all share in the same gift and hope; the hope of everlasting life in Jesus.

 Father in heaven, too often we let our sinful nature lead us into prejudice and suspicion.  Forgive us our sin.  Guide us Lord to remove the walls and the barriers which we build between us and our fellow believers.  Cause us to see them as our brothers in Christ and to feel their pain and to share in their joy to your glory here on earth.  In Jesus’ precious Name we pray, Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret