This morning, the boys and I were talking about how people are better controlled when they are divided, which is why it is the world’s strategy to keep us perpetually apart. They divide us by skin tone, by gender, ideology, politics and more, and they do it because if we’re fighting one another, they don’t have to worry about what we’d do together.
We then brought the conversation to a Biblical point of view: God separated man in much the same way (my youngest said “at the tower of Babel, God confused their language!”), as man was united in purpose, but not under God. They were, again, setting themselves up as gods, and so God divided them by language, and they dispersed throughout the earth. I then asked, “On what day did God begin to bring people back together again?” to which my third oldest said “on the day of Pentecost, everyone who was there heard the Gospel in their own language!”
God divided, then God brought back together. He knew that, apart from Him, we would continue to be self-destructive, and He knew that, when we are redeemed in Christ, we could do the most and best good. It is only when we’re redeemed in Christ that we can ALL benefit. There is no Jewish or Gentile, Black or White, Male or Female, Slave or Free in Christ. He redeems us from our sin, He cleans us up from our unrighteousness, He restores our joy. We are only best when we are united in HIM.
So, what is our duty? What is our responsibility to this message? We are best when we are redeemed and reunited in Christ. Casting aside our sins, seeking Christ with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, we live as we ought, and we share with the world the Hope we have. THIS ought to be our central message. This is our mandate. May we seek that all peoples be united in Christ. May the cry of the redeemed be Christ and Him Crucified, that all men may know Jesus is Lord.
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Philippians 2:1-18
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
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