The Heart of the Gospel

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This Sunday's text is Romans 1, 16-18, and Romans 2, 17-29.

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes,

first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed,

a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,

just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people

who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew, if you rely on the law and boast in God,

if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law,

if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind,

a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish,

a teacher of the little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth,

you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?

As it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law,

you have become as though you have not been circumcised.

So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements,

will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised?

The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you,

you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,

nor circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly,

and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,

by the spirit, not by the written code.

Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Thank you, Denise, for that scripture reading,

and good morning, Christ Church.

Welcome.

We're so glad that you're worshiping with us.

My name's Andrew, one of the pastors here,

and we're looking forward to continuing our series through this book of Romans.

You know, it's been 17 years,

and this is our first time going through this book,

so it's been quite a ride,

and we look forward to keep going.

Right, Jonathan?

That's right.

Will you pray with me before we get into the text?

Father, on this Pentecost Sunday,

we marvel at the incredibly unique reality

that your divine spirit fell on people from all over the place,

every kind of person.

And we thank you for that truth, God,

that the gospel is for everybody,

that there is good news for the nations,

and that you are not a respecter of persons,

but you desire those who will come to you simply by faith.

We pray that we'd be those kinds of people,

that we might know the righteousness of God in Christ

and celebrate that glorious gospel truth,

that the righteous will live by faith,

the power of God unto salvation.

Make that ring powerfully, I pray,

this morning in the preaching of your word

as we receive the sacraments

and the fellowship that's had here.

Would you do that, God,

by the power of your spirit,

in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

You know, I have these moments in my life

where I just kind of roll back the tape

and I just replay these really regrettable moments in my head.

And one of them I've shared here before.

It's a time when I was in high school.

Maybe some of you remember that story

where I, like, cheerfully, smugly

yelled at a group of other students

that they were all going to hell.

And I, like, I remember it like it was yesterday.

My buddies and I, you know,

we were kids who went to a private Christian school

and we were running past this other school

that, you know, didn't share the same religious tradition as we did.

And the students of that school,

they began to jeer at us

and I yelled back,

you're all going to hell.

And I yelled it with, like, a smile on my face

and an air of superiority

and self-satisfaction.

And, you know, as I've kind of rolled back the tape

on that moment again and again,

and I remember this every single week,

you know, I've tried to understand

how I could utter such, like, hateful words.

And I think it had to do with this tribalistic,

self-righteous understanding of my religion,

of my Christian faith.

Like, in my mind, I was on the right religious team,

the winning team,

and those other students,

they weren't.

Because they didn't go to my private Christian school.

And that's what made me better than them.

Me and my team,

we believed the Bible.

Me and my team,

we worshipped the true and living God.

And so, therefore,

me and my team were superior.

And everyone else deserved hell

for not being on my winning team.

In my simplistic mind,

I was saved,

not primarily by the grace of God

through faith in Christ,

but because I belonged to the right team.

All because I'd grown up on the winning team,

the Christian team.

And it was everybody else then.

Everybody else that needed to be saved,

but not me.

Because my status before God was fine

because I identified as a Christian.

I identified with the right religion.

And that was a huge part

of my meager understanding

of what it meant to be a Christian,

to have the truth about God

and thus to be religiously superior.

And now you wonder

why so many people loathe Christians, right?

For being so combative,

so arrogant,

so self-righteous.

It's because of people like me,

if I'm honest.

It's crazy to me

that I'm up here preaching the gospel.

It's because of people like me.

This understanding of religion

or of Christianity

in which there are good guys

on the winning team

bound for heaven

and bad guys on the losing team

bound for hell.

And for the rest of my life,

I will be repenting

of these shameful words

that came from my lips.

And I thank God every day

that his grace is greater than my sin.

Now I do believe though

that there is a right religion

and that there are many wrong religions.

And that you do have,

and that there is an insideness

to the kingdom of God

and you can also be outside

of the kingdom of God.

Yeah, sure.

I do believe that that's what Jesus

and all the scriptures teach.

But does simply affiliating

with the right religious group

automatically secure someone

inside the kingdom of God

and make them superior?

No.

Not at all.

See, I share this shameful story

from my life

to demonstrate how

even when we are in possession

of God's truth,

if God's truth

does not actually possess us,

all we'll ever do

is weaponize God's truth

for our own evil supremacist ends.

Like man, I was in high school.

I believed in the gospel

as a high schooler

that Jesus died for my sins,

that I was a sinner

who needed to be saved

by God's grace

totally apart from any merits

of my own

and yet my sinful heart

was so twisted

that I weaponized

God's beautiful message

of mercy and grace

and I turned it into

something that allowed me

to condemn

and disparage others

who did not belong

to the tribal religious

in-group

that I called Christianity.

And honestly,

maybe that's why

some of you in this room,

whether you're a Christian

or not,

honestly kind of hate Christians.

And I don't blame you.

I hate myself too.

I hate what I said

20 years ago.

And you'd be right

to reject

this kind of divisive,

combative,

self-righteous religiosity

that calls itself

Christianity.

Listen, if you're here today,

maybe you're exploring

the Christian faith,

but you're not sure

if you want to identify

with Christians like me.

Or maybe you're in a season

of deconstructing

your Christian faith

and you're tired

of just all the toxic division

and all the hypocrisy

in the church

because of people like me.

Will you please hear me

when I say

you're absolutely right

to be disappointed

in the church,

to be disappointed

in Christians?

You're absolutely right

to be skeptical.

But please also hear me say

that while Christians

and the church

will surely disappoint you,

Jesus will never disappoint you.

And maybe you're thinking,

well, that's a crummy religion, right?

Like a religion that admits

it's full of flawed followers,

but I'm here to tell you

that that's exactly the point.

That's exactly the point.

There's actually nothing

more humbling,

equalizing,

unifying,

and reconciling

than the Christian faith.

Precisely,

precisely because it admits

that we are all sinners

in need of one common Savior,

the Lord Jesus.

And this is what makes

Paul's letter to the Romans

so unique and also

so relevant for us

in our present age

of like outrage

and polarization

and disunity, right?

So as we come to Paul's letter

to Rome,

let me remind you

what Paul's doing here.

Paul is writing to a church

at the center of,

at the center stage

of world history, right?

Right in Rome,

a cosmopolitan church

made up of both Jewish

and Greco-Roman converts.

Converts that likely have

tons of cultural baggage

and tons of cultural biases

making it hard for them

to get along, right?

So in this letter,

Paul is explaining

the gospel and its logic

so that his Jewish

and Gentile brothers

and sisters in Rome

will not only embrace

one another,

but also they'll embrace

and support his

missionary efforts

westward towards Spain

amongst people

that even Jews

and Greco-Roman people

would consider as barbaric.

And so we've been following

Paul's careful argument

about what the gospel is

and also what the gospel does

and how it changes

the way we view those

who are other to us.

And Paul's argument

is that the good news

about Jesus

is the power of God

unto salvation

and not just for a select few,

but for everyone,

that is every kind of person

who simply believes.

Anyone.

Good news,

not just for the Jewish people,

but for the nations

and good news,

not just for everyone

who behaves,

but for everyone

who believes.

Anyone who hopes

and trusts in Jesus

by faith.

For the righteous,

he says.

Those who are truly righteous

in the eyes of God

are those who live by faith.

Faith in God's righteous

and only Son,

Jesus Christ.

Now in making this case

that everyone can be saved

by the power of God

through faith,

Paul starts by explaining

the other side of that coin,

which is that everyone

needs to be saved

by the power of God,

particularly from

the wrath of God.

Saved from the wrath of God,

this righteous wrath

that seethes and rages

against all our unfaithfulness,

all our unrighteousness,

all of our idolatry.

Judgment is coming,

Paul writes.

Justice against all injustice,

all the injustice

that we've all committed

against our God

and against his creation,

all the ways we've suppressed

the truth in our unrighteousness

and exchanged the truth

about God for a lie

and worshipped and served

created things

rather than the creator

and dishonored

our glorious creator

and disordered his good creation.

Judgment is coming.

And so I want us to imagine

this letter being read

in these mixed congregations

in Rome, right?

You have Jewish people

in these congregations,

you have Greco-Roman people

in these congregations,

and imagine the Greco-Romans, right?

Hearing the gospel,

like tearing up,

deeply convicted

about their past ways of life, right?

How they once bowed down

to statues of Jupiter

and Aphrodite

and Apollo and Mars,

these gods of thunder

and power and art

and beauty and war,

these created things,

these gods that

they could never really count on,

these gods that never,

ever saved them

and yet demanded

so much of them.

And imagine how good

the good news

of Paul's gospel

must have sounded to them,

that they,

these former pagan idolaters,

even they,

could be saved

simply by faith in Christ.

But now also imagine

the Jewish listeners

in this congregation

who Paul begins to address

in our text today

in verse 17.

Chapter 2, verse 17.

You see, Paul is a Hebrew

of Hebrews.

He's a former Pharisee

and expert in the law of Moses,

and so he can anticipate

how the Jewish listeners

are going to be receiving

what he has to say

up to this point

in the letter.

And what he does

is he gets into their shoes

and into their state of mind

and he articulates back to them

their own self-conception,

starting in chapter 2,

verse 17.

Now if you,

now you,

if you call yourself a Jew,

if you identify

with the chosen people of Israel,

if you rely on the law

of Moses,

you know,

the Torah,

and boast in the one true God,

verse 18,

if you know his will

and approve what is superior,

that is,

if you know God's ways,

if you know right from wrong,

verse 19,

if you are convinced

that you are a guide

and that others are blind,

that you are a light to others,

and others are in the dark,

that you are a wise instructor,

and others are fools,

that you are a teacher,

others are infants,

and all because you

and your people,

your tribe,

your team,

you have the law of Moses,

and therefore all this truth

and knowledge from God,

if you are convinced

that you belong

to this elite,

privileged class

of especially righteous people,

Paul says,

then he flips the script

on them in verse 21,

you then who teach others,

do you not teach yourself?

See,

Paul anticipates here

in verse 17

and following

that for every tearfully repentant

and convicted Greco-Roman listener

to his letter,

there might also very well be

a Jewish congregant

smugly,

self-righteously

nodding their heads

in agreement

with every word

of Paul's letter

up to this point

concerning God's wrath

and God's justice

and his judgment

against pagan idolatry

and all unrighteousness.

Paul anticipates

the judgmental

Jewish glances

aimed toward

their Greco-Roman neighbors

in the pews

around them

because,

like,

to most Jews,

these were filthy Gentiles

who came from cultures

of pagan religiosity,

idol worship,

greed,

insolence,

unstable families,

alternative sexual practices,

and various other

depraved habits

that would disgust

any Torah-respecting Jew.

So to every Jewish congregant

tempted to self-righteously

gaze upon

their Greco-Roman

brothers and sisters

in Christ

with contempt

and with an air of superiority,

Paul has a word for them,

and it's also a word for us.

Paul asks his Jewish listeners,

are you really as faithful?

Are you really as righteous

as you believe yourselves to be?

Have you really taught yourselves?

While preaching against theft,

do you ever steal?

While preaching against adultery,

do you ever commit adultery?

While preaching against idolatry,

do you ever do anything sacrilegious?

And you know what?

At least externally,

there probably were

many Jewish listeners,

just like many of us today,

who've never really stolen anything,

never slept with someone

other than our spouse,

never robbed any temples.

And the temptation here is to be like,

oh, so maybe I am righteous

in the eyes of God,

saved by my own obedience

to the law,

but Paul isn't done.

And he asks in verse 23,

you who boast in the law,

all of it,

do you dishonor God

by breaking the law?

And he's saying,

you know,

don't even answer

whether or not you steal,

commit adultery,

or rob temples.

Have you ever dishonored God

by breaking the law?

And at this point,

every mouth is silenced

because honestly,

no one,

no one can plead innocence.

I mean,

even with the sins of stealing,

right,

and adultery

and sacrilegious things,

even if we haven't explicitly

done any of these things,

ultimately the root

of every sin

is the same.

All these sins

come from the same place

all other sins come from,

from a sense of self-interest

and superiority

and hubris

and arrogance

and disdain

and contempt

and just this desire

and willingness

to treat other people

not as people

but as things,

to look down on them,

to use them

as if we were God

and God was not.

That the rotten fruit

might be different

but the roots

are always the same.

And the only difference

between us

and a thief

or an adulterer

or a blasphemer

or a murderer

is often just opportunity,

our context,

desperation,

and maybe just

how far down

the same wayward path

we all are.

So Paul says,

just as it was

for our people

who had the law

in the olden days

of Israel,

when the prophet Isaiah

indicted our people,

the people who received

the law of Moses

for being terrible

representatives

of Yahweh

among the nations,

so also today,

verse 24,

as it is written,

God's name

is blasphemed

among the Gentiles

because of you.

Because of you,

he says to them.

He's saying,

in case you thought

that merely having the law,

having the truth

would make you special

and invulnerable,

think again.

Not even circumcision,

the Jewish sign

of belonging to God

and his covenant people,

not even circumcision,

in and of itself,

automatically makes you

truly right with God.

Now, if you're young

in here

and you don't know

what circumcision is,

go ahead and ask your parents.

Or if you need

a plan B,

you can ask Pastor Jonathan

and he'll explain that to you.

So I'm not going to do that.

But circumcision

was this thing

that a lot of Jewish people

in the first century

trusted in

for their righteousness,

for their safety

and security before God.

Just like some people today

put more faith

in their baptism

than in Christ

and thus live

however they want,

thinking,

I'm good.

I'm good with God

just because I got

some water on me

at some point in my life.

In the same way,

some of Paul's Jewish readers

thought that their circumcision

was some kind of magical,

protective mark

on their bodies

that kept them

in God's good graces.

There was one ancient rabbi

who even taught

that Abraham sat

at the very entrance

of Gehenna

and would not let

any circumcised person

from Israel

go down into Gehenna.

But here in verses 25

and following,

Paul says,

it's not enough

to be Jewish

on the outside

if you aren't circumcised

on the inside.

Verse 28,

A person is not a Jew

who is one only outwardly

nor is circumcision

merely outward and physical.

No,

a person is a Jew,

a person truly belongs

to God's people

who is one inwardly.

And circumcision

is circumcision

of the heart

by the Spirit,

not by the written code.

Such a person's praise

is not from other people

but from God.

And you see,

what Paul is saying

directly to his Jewish listeners

and even to those of us

who think that we are safe

and sound

because maybe

we have the Bible,

we have the truth,

we've picked the right religion,

we've been baptized,

we're members of a church,

we go to church on Sundays.

What God's Word

is saying to all of us

is that it's not enough

to possess God's truth

but God's truth

has to possess us.

It's not enough

to have God's truth

but God's truth

has to have a hold

hold on us,

all of us,

on our hearts.

Like just because

we have the truth

doesn't mean the truth

will necessarily

work itself out

in our lives,

Paul says.

I think about a Peloton,

all right?

You know,

I actually have a friend

and he's a little overweight

and,

well he's a lot overweight

and he decided to get

an expensive stationary bike

and put it in his room

to get healthy.

But you know,

the last time

I was in his room,

his bike was not being used.

In fact,

it was being misused

as a laundry rack.

And so even though

he had the stationary bike,

he hadn't allowed the bike

to have any of him.

Even though he had this resource

to help him lose weight

and get healthy,

he never worked this helpful

life-giving resource

into his life.

And I wonder

how many of us Christians

are in this similar situation today.

We feel secure

in our relationship with God

because maybe

one prayer that we prayed

when we were in third grade,

we feel secure

in our relationship with God

because we have

and know our Bibles

and we say we believe them

and agree with them

even though we don't

really open them up,

we don't meditate on them,

we don't memorize them,

we don't study them.

Or we find security

before God

because we know

all the right things about God.

Oh yeah,

I believe he's triune.

I believe that Jesus

is God and man,

that God is omnipotent.

I know those words,

omniscience,

omnipresence,

that he's a sovereign creator.

We know all these things

about him,

but so do the demons

and so does Satan.

Even though this knowledge

mostly just stays in our heads

without affecting our hearts

and our hands.

We know he's God,

but we don't worship

and serve him as such.

Or maybe we've been baptized,

but we don't live

like we've been washed clean.

We don't live

like the Holy Spirit

has been poured out upon us.

You see,

just as Paul was saying,

it's not enough

to simply identify

as being Jewish

or to have

or know the law

or even to be circumcised.

And the same goes for us.

It's not enough

to identify as a Christian

or to have and know the Bible

or to even be baptized.

To be a Christian

isn't merely to agree

with the doctrines

of Christianity.

To be a Christian

is not just to assent

to something in your head.

No, to truly be a Christian,

we must be so cut to the heart

by the truth of God

that it works itself out

in our hands as well.

The God of Christianity,

the God of the Scriptures

isn't simply after our heads

just wanting us to know

and believe the right things,

you know, intellectually

and rationally,

and neither is he

simply after our hands

needing us to serve him

and do the right things

to earn our righteous status

before him

or save the world

on our own.

No, the God of the Bible

is a God who,

first and foremost,

he's after our hearts.

He's after our affections.

He wants us to love him

with all our heart, soul,

mind, and strength

and to love others

as ourselves

just like he has.

He wants to cut out

a special, central section

in our hearts

forever marked as his own.

And that's what Paul

is getting at

in verse 29

when he says,

a person is a Jew

who is one inwardly

and circumcision

is circumcision

of the heart

by the Spirit

not by the written code.

Paul is saying

it's one thing

to be circumcised externally

but what matters more

is a circumcision

of the heart.

And by that he means

a heart that is tender

and set apart

and marked off

and dedicated

to loving

and serving God

fully, heart, soul,

mind, and strength.

That's what God deems

it says here

as most praiseworthy

compared to whatever else

other people might praise.

A circumcised heart

is what God praises.

Something only the Holy Spirit

can do

and not the written code

of the law.

Now maybe you're here today though

and you think to yourself

well that's precisely my problem

that I can't circumcise

my own heart.

Like I know that there are

some of us here today

and maybe you even want this.

Maybe you got it all lined up

in your head.

You're trying to live

this Christian way

but there's something

that's just not fitting right

with your heart.

And maybe you want it

but you're just not there yet.

Your head, your heart,

and your hands

just aren't all lined up

and it's frustrating to you

how little control you have

over your own heart.

And I want to encourage you

to continue drawing near to God

as he draws near to you.

And I want you to know

that even in your frustration,

this frustration of yours

that you cannot circumcise

your own heart,

I want you to know

that that is the whole point

of the gospel.

That God has to do it for you.

And that God always comes

where he's truly wanted.

So I want to encourage you

to continue meditating

on the gospel.

The good news about Jesus

is that really circumcision

was always really meant

to point to in the first place.

You see, circumcision,

the sign of covenant inclusion,

was never meant to be

some kind of magical identity badge

marking out some people

as special or superior

in comparison to others

without the sign of circumcision.

No, circumcision

was always meant to be

a picture of something

that we could not do

for ourselves.

Really, circumcision

was a sign of the covenant

insofar as it was a picture

of the seriousness

of the covenant

that those who violated

their covenant relationship

with their maker,

with Yahweh,

deserved to be cut off

and torn apart.

And don't you see

that this is exactly

what happened in Christ?

In our place,

Christ,

the only covenant keeper,

the only one

who never broke the law,

the only one

who always,

ever,

always honored God.

Paul says elsewhere

in his letter to Colossae

that in Christ,

by his death,

we were circumcised.

Our sin natures

put to death

and buried with him,

nailed to a cross,

our debts canceled.

And this,

this gospel truth

is the only kind of truth

that can change our hearts.

The truth of God's

sacrificial love

for us in Christ.

In other words,

the written code of the law

could only ever tell us

to obey

and to get circumcised.

The spirit of the gospel

proclaims to us

that Christ

has obeyed the law

in our place

and that Christ

is our circumcision,

the one who bore

our covenant curse

and was cut off

so that we might live,

so that we might be forgiven.

And the question for us is,

do we just have

a hold of this truth

in our heads

or does this truth

have a hold of our hearts

and our hands as well?

You know,

in verse 29,

chapter 2,

verse 29,

chapter 2,

it closes

with this interesting line

about the person

whose heart is circumcised

by the spirit

rather than the written

code of the law.

And Paul says

that such a person's praise,

listen,

such a person's praise

is not from other people

but from who?

It's from God.

And I think that

that is so key

to what Paul

is trying to accomplish

in his letter

to the Romans

in this mixed congregation

of Jewish

and Greco-Roman people.

I think it's so key

to what he's doing there

and what God's doing

here through us.

What God wants to do

by the logic

of his gospel.

You know,

when I yelled

at those high schoolers

that were,

when I told them,

you know,

you're all going to hell

20 years ago,

I was doing so

from my tribe,

right?

And on behalf

of my tribe.

And I even remember

my two Christian buddies

running beside me

chuckling

at what they understood

to be,

yeah,

maybe brash,

but in their minds

probably a true statement.

And this was all part

of our tribal

understanding

of Christianity.

And you know,

their chuckles,

it made me feel affirmed,

right?

I felt like I had

their praise,

I had their affirmation,

I had the approval

of my tribe.

You know,

this is how

every single

tribal identity

works though.

Every hostile

in-group,

out-group

dynamic,

it's always about

seeking the praise

of mere mortals

from within

our tribe,

right?

And even when

God is often

involved

in our tribalistic

ways,

God is made out

to be a God

in our own image,

right?

Some parochial God

who only serves

our interests,

right?

A God who

hates the uncircumcised

or who hates

those who don't

eat kosher

or a God who hates

those who vote

differently than we do.

A God who hates

the particular sins

of this certain group

but tolerates

all of our behavior.

But Paul says

that those who have

had their hearts

circumcised

by the Spirit,

hearts made tender

by the gospel,

this message

about the righteous

Son of God,

sacrificing His life

to save

the unrighteous,

they no longer

need,

want,

or even satisfied

by the hollow

praises

of mere

mortals.

but their praise,

Paul says,

is from God.

And man,

isn't that

not only

incredibly liberating

to not have to live

for the praise

of fickle,

flawed,

and finite

human beings anymore

but isn't it

just altogether

better?

Like who cares

what the peasants

think if I have

the love

and affirmation

of the King,

right?

If I have

the adoration

of the King,

who cares

how the world

values me

or how much

praise they give me

if the creator

of the world

praises me

for my immaculate

righteousness

in Christ

by faith.

And not only

is this liberating

and life-giving

and the highest

possible honor

to receive

the praise

of God

because of what

Christ has done

for us,

but don't you see

how it also opens

up our hearts

toward any

and everybody

no matter

how different

they are

from us?

Like how

simultaneously

destroys any

reason we might

have to boast

of our own

superiority.

And yet it

doesn't reduce us

to a humility

that is humiliating

and dehumanizing

and dishonorable,

but rather it

maintains for us

a noble,

confident,

secure,

and honorable

humility

in Christ.

See, this is the

incredible logic

of the gospel

that Paul is

commending

to the church

in Rome.

In Christ's church,

God commends it

to us today

as well.

The power of God

unto salvation,

the good news,

right?

The power of God

unto salvation

for everyone,

every kind of person

who believes.

And that's the

good news of Jesus,

that's the good news

of Pentecost,

and that's the good news

that will transform

our lives

and our city.

In the name of the

Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Will you pray with me?

Father, would you

forgive our

tribalistic

instincts,

our tribalistic

ways,

our scarcity

mindsets,

and all the divisions

and barriers

that we put up

to position

ourselves

as superior

to others?

God, the truth

of the matter

is that we are

insecure

because we know

we've rebelled

against you.

We know what's

coming to us

and we're just

trying to get

as much as we can

before we meet

our maker.

But God,

you've offered us

a better way.

You've offered us

abundance in Christ.

You've offered us

not uniformity,

but true unity

in diversity

by your Spirit.

You've leveled

the playing field.

We're all sinners

before you

and we can all

be saved

the same way

by grace

through faith

in Christ.

Would you make

this a church,

oh God,

that bears witness

to that wonderful

reality?

Would you make

us a church

that tears down

these barriers

in the name

of Jesus

and with the Spirit,

with the power

of the Spirit

be so evident

here as we go forth

making disciples

of all the nations

in the name

of Jesus.

Amen.