North Bend Church of Christ - Discussion Forum: We Are One

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North Bend Church of Christ » The Church of Christ » Bulletin Articles

We Are One - By Norm Russell

Cheryl Owens
#1

Posted on 06/25/2012 01:47

Member

Posts: 269
Joined: 08/08/2011 06:05

Have you ever considered how many divisions exist in our nation? We have race, political affiliation, religious beliefs, economic standards, geographical, gender and on and on it goes. It wouldn't be so bad if we saw ourselves as a nation that celebrates our unity in spite of our differences, but we do not. We have ceased to be a melting pot nation where we all come together as one.
When Jesus went to the cross, He did so with the idea that barriers that divided people would not exist. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14-16, "For He (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility."
When the church came into existence in Acts 2, it was made up of Jews and remained so until Acts 10 when Peter first preached the gospel to the Gentiles. At that time there were only Jews and Gentiles. All those not Jews were Gentiles and it mattered not what your nationality happened to be. From that time when the Gentiles first came into the church, there was dissension. Letters to the churches were written to deal with the friction that threatened the unity of the church.
We like to think that we are greatly advanced and that we can deal with our differnces in a Christ like manner and for the most part we do. We all need to understand that when we become disciples of Jesus Christ we are first and foremost disciples of His and any demographic we identify with is not important. The church of Jesus Christ becomes the melting pot and there are neither black or white or Asian, or male or female or (whatever) we are one in Christ.
When we consider that, we marvel at the wisdom of God that He could design a plan that would make all of our differences disappear. I am not so naive as to think that we have arrived as a people that differences do not occur. They do. However, how we handle those differences is what makes us stand out as disciples of Jesus.
We are God's people and we are family in spite of our differences. That is what Jesus created and it is up to us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and thus bring honor and glory to God. In this way, we are able to make God so attractive that people will be drawn to Him.

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We Are One - By Norm Russell
Cheryl Owens	#1 Posted on 06/25/2012 01:47
Member Posts: 269 Joined: 08/08/2011 06:05	Have you ever considered how many divisions exist in our nation? We have race, political affiliation, religious beliefs, economic standards, geographical, gender and on and on it goes. It wouldn't be so bad if we saw ourselves as a nation that celebrates our unity in spite of our differences, but we do not. We have ceased to be a melting pot nation where we all come together as one. When Jesus went to the cross, He did so with the idea that barriers that divided people would not exist. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14-16, "For He (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility." When the church came into existence in Acts 2, it was made up of Jews and remained so until Acts 10 when Peter first preached the gospel to the Gentiles. At that time there were only Jews and Gentiles. All those not Jews were Gentiles and it mattered not what your nationality happened to be. From that time when the Gentiles first came into the church, there was dissension. Letters to the churches were written to deal with the friction that threatened the unity of the church. We like to think that we are greatly advanced and that we can deal with our differnces in a Christ like manner and for the most part we do. We all need to understand that when we become disciples of Jesus Christ we are first and foremost disciples of His and any demographic we identify with is not important. The church of Jesus Christ becomes the melting pot and there are neither black or white or Asian, or male or female or (whatever) we are one in Christ. When we consider that, we marvel at the wisdom of God that He could design a plan that would make all of our differences disappear. I am not so naive as to think that we have arrived as a people that differences do not occur. They do. However, how we handle those differences is what makes us stand out as disciples of Jesus. We are God's people and we are family in spite of our differences. That is what Jesus created and it is up to us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and thus bring honor and glory to God. In this way, we are able to make God so attractive that people will be drawn to Him.