7-19-2023

Good Morning All,

Galatians 3:28; “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ.”

   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 innocently 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 trying to 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.

    This is what God wants from His people. We are to look to each other and see only fellow broken sinners who need and receive God’s grace and forgiveness.  Luther noted that “before God, we are all but beggars.” We are all in the same condition and that is deserving punishment for our sins. Yet, we all stand in the same manner before God, forgiven by the blood of Christ.  We are all the same, regardless of race or gender or nationality or whatever we choose to separate us and divide us.  Christ came to reunite us to God but also to each other. We were created to see each other as our brother. We are recreated to, once again, see each as a brother or sister and not as a competitor or force to be feared. We are to see each other, through the eyes of faith, given to us b our Savior, so we can see that each of us are united to each other through Jesus.

 Father in heaven, too often we let our sinful nature lead us into prejudice and suspicion.  Forgive us for 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