Walls of hostility are built between groups and there seems to be no way around them. But walls do come down, The Berlin Wall went up in 1961 and I thought it would never come down in my lifetime. Yet in 1989 the dividing wall of hostility between East and West came down. We heard about another wall being destroyed in this morning reading from the Letter to the Ephesians. Paul wrote about the reconciling work of Jesus as he said:
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he 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."
What Paul is writing about is UNITY. We do not need any more divisions in the church, what we need is UNITY. After all, as he wrote in the Letter to the Ephesians, a little later
"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." [Eph. 4: 2-6]
Years ago, I heard the singer Michael Card on the Moody Radio Network doing the Friday Night Sing and one of the songs I heard him sing while riding with
Carlton Shuford to our Diocesan Convention. It is called One Faith, One Hope and One Baptism. It is the same words that come from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and it also recited at the beginning of our Baptismal services. This oneness or unity if you will is the theme that runs throughout the letter to the Ephesians. This theme of unity is what Jesus was talking about when he called himself the Good Shepherd that laid down his life for his sheep. The price he paid for that unity was his life. I never realized how important that unity was until I encountered this proverb tucked away in the 6th chapter of the Book of Proverbs.
"There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." [Prov 6:16-19]
Unity is at the heart of God because of the unity in the Trinity. Father - Son - and Holy Spirit. In the 14th chapter of John’s gospel Jesus told his disciples:
"If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." [John 14: 7-10]
That was a clear statement from Jesus declaring the unity between him and the Father. Later he prayed the deep desire of his heart that the disciples and ALL who believe in him through their word, [that’s us] would be in unity with him and the Father. That is why he said there will be ONE flock and ONE shepherd. UNITY is the desire of his heart. That is why disunity and discord breaks the heart of Jesus. When he was riding that donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as he rode down the Mount of Olives and through the Kidron Valley his heart was broken and he wept over Jerusalem. His heart was broken over the fact that the people were not in unity or reconciled to God. His purpose as he said outside the house of Zaccheus was that he came to seek and save the lost, like any Good Shepherd. He also came to be the ATONEMENT for sin and reconcile us to God. You see the word Atonement means reconciliation, pure and simple. That is why we find in the Book of Revelation, the Lamb that was slain, for the sins of the world. Our Shepherd has become a Lamb, and not any lamb but the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. One of the problems we have as fallible human beings is we are not perfect. We are far from the perfection of God and we need to be continually washed in the Lamb’s precious blood. The words from Twila Paris’ song Lamb of God, are very appropriate here,
"Oh Lamb of God, Sweet Lamb of God,
I Love the holy Lamb of God.
Oh wash me in his precious blood,
Til I am just a Lamb of God."
Let’s face it, we need to be washed in the precious blood of Jesus, every day. If we acknowledge that there is One Faith, One Hope and One Baptism, One God and Father of all then we will ask how can we maintain the unity that Jesus so desires? Paul in writing to the Ephesians talks about reconciling Jew and Gentile but he is also speaking the disunity in the flock of Jesus when he wrote:
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he 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."
Jesus subjected himself to that to make himself an Atonement for sin and to bring about unity with God for us. How can we therefore allow to exist that which he finds Detestable?
An e-mail came out this week from Kairos Prison Ministry that said we will going back into Prison August the first, Whenever we are building a team for a Kairos weekend we concentrate on building unity. One thing we must have in order to enter that prison, where hate and bitterness reign is UNITY. On our retreat we will wash each other’s feet because one of the criteria for attaining unity is humility, we have to count ourselves as no better than another brother and we must exhibit love toward one another. Now, we may not feel love but we will show love. Love is an act of the will just as forgiveness is an act of the will. Our two main weapons as we go in there will be love and forgiveness. These are not warm and fuzzy feelings but two powerful acts of will power that takes GUTS. For the past 35 years I have witnessed these two things work miracles in the lives of hardened criminals. I am talking about murderers, rapists, thieves, drug dealers and dope addicts. What is wrong with this picture if this is NOT happening in the Body of Christ? Maybe if we burned lists of the names of those people we harbor bitterness towards and who we hold in unforgiveness, it would clear up a lot of the divisions that exist in the church? I know its effective on a Kairos weekend. We place all the names of people who have embittered us or who we refuse to forgive on the lists and we could have a ceremony of forgiveness and burn those lists and give it up to God once and for all. Healing is a process that is continual when it comes to hurts, we must constantly work on it. Hurts keep cropping back up and you have to keep healing them. Forgiveness is like that because forgetting is almost impossible, we therefore have to keep on forgiving. Paul advises the Ephesians to:
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along
with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." [Eph. 4:31-32]
It takes willpower to accomplish that. How can you do that? By the power of love, AGAPE, love the sacrificing love that God showed when he gave his only begotten Son to save us from ourselves really. Agape love is a powerful weapon of God to bring about forgiveness and unity amongst the Body of Christ. For there is One Faith, One Hope and One Baptism, One God and Father of all. One song we sing in Kairos goes like this;
"Father make us One, Father make us One,
that the world may know thou hast sent the Son
Father make us one."
The oneness and unity are rooted as Paul wrote in the Letter to the Ephesians that the apostles and prophets are the foundation. Christ himself being the primary foundation; but we are to understand it as the doctrine delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. It follows then, that Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone. In him both Jews and Gentiles meet, and constitute one church; and Christ supports the building by his strength and through his Body and Blood which are the nurturing elements of that Unity. When he took his disciples away for a respite or retreat, he still had to minister to the people who followed him. After they had come to him they needed to be fed, not only physically but spiritually. He took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to his disciples to give to the people. The same Eucharistic action which will take place shortly. Jesus feeds his people as they come to the table and in that sharing of the Body and Blood we share that unity of the Spirit. Jesus has broken down the dividing wall of hostility with his Body and his Blood. In that sharing, Father make us one. I want to close with Paul’s pastoral prayer to the Ephesians, but its to us also. Let us pray.
"For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." [Ephesians 3:14-21]
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