Note:The following comments were written by Jay Crook of Corpus Christi, TX, not me. I thought his comments address the fellowship issue pretty well, so I'm posting them for your consideration. --Al
"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 3:6
For the early Christians, this verse brought two extreme groups of people together, the Jews and Gentiles. Or at least it should have. They had a hard road ahead of them to overcome years of hatred and prejudice. Paul had to remind them they were all brothers.
As baptized believers we have the same difficulty. We (in many groups) tend to put up barriers between each other even though we have done what the Bible prescribes to become God's children. There are many groups we are one with no matter what name they have above their door. We let opinions separate us and label us. Opinions like song book or projector, praise teams or not, lecture or class participation, formal or casual, KJV or NIV, classes or not, one-cup communion or not. The list goes on. And we label each other too, conservative or progressive, traditional or liberal.
We need to be reminded just as the early Christians did. We are all going to the same place, to the same Father, with the same promise, so we better get used to loving each other.
--Jay Crook, Corpus Christi, TX
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Together
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1 comments:
I liked the post, Al. The post speaks to an attitude of openess and acceptance. I think many us have this attitude. It still leaves us with the trouble of the specifics. If we engage in serious dialogue with other Christians, we still struggle to specifically define what is negotiable and what is not. The more I include in my non-negotiable category, the fewer people I can accept. It motivates me to reconsider my non-negotiable beliefs, to see if I might lighten the load a bit.
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