walls

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility...

Ephesians 2:14

Christians must not be divided when Jesus is our peace. But when Christians fight, fuss, and display divisiveness to those who look to us to see what reconciliation should be, it is solely because they have let something or someone other than Jesus define and lead them. Jesus changes hearts, breaks down barriers, and unifies groups of people. Nothing else can do this reconciling work that Jesus does!

Jesus first did this by erasing the barrier of Jewish law that was destroying the early Christian movement. The Jews did not need to keep the law to be saved by Jesus. The Gentiles did not need to do so either. The temple veil was torn from top to bottom to forever demonstrate that the Lamb of God is Who takes away the sin of the world. And the original “dividing wall” was broken down in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

False saviors do occasionally show up in the church. I am witnessing this now. Politics is an ugly one, causing division in the church when it should not. Cultural issues are another divider. They have combined horribly in 2020 to disaster in the testimony of the church. Why is it that for hundreds of years in America, Sunday morning is the most segregated time? Could it be that we are content in our sinful divisions, unwilling to believe that Jesus has the power to unite all believers of every race and background? “They prefer their own culture” is what all sides think. And the dividing wall of preference is built up when Jesus wants to tear it down so that we all clearly see just Him!

Oh how the church of every culture needs to draw close to the Savior Who has brought both Jew and Gentile together in ONE body! Oh how I need to guard my heart against comfortability with this unbiblical division.