All Things to All People

We took a brief break from our series in the book of Acts so we can go through the book of Matthew,

the first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew during Advent and Christmas.

So we're resuming our series in the Acts today, so please turn with me to Acts chapter 21, verses 17 to 26.

Acts 21:17–26

And as you're turning there, just to refresh your memory of where we left off,

in the preceding section in the book of Acts, we saw Paul's missionary work in the city of Ephesus.

In chapter 20, verse 16, we learned that Paul was hastening to be at Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost.

And despite the fact that some believers in Ephesus prophesied that Paul would be imprisoned in Jerusalem,

and for that reason they tried to dissuade him from going there,

Paul nevertheless resolved to go to Jerusalem and said in chapter 21, verse 13,

I am ready not only to be imprisoned, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

And so in our passage this morning, Paul finally arrives in Jerusalem.

So we're in Acts 21, verses 17 to 26.

Acts 21:17–26

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

God, as we always find, we find that your word is true,

and that it brings us comfort as well as conviction.

We pray this morning that we'd be comforted by the gracious condescension of your son, Jesus,

in coming down in human flesh to save us, dying on the cross for us.

Comfort us with that grace.

We pray also that you would convict us by his example.

That we might live more sacrificially and lovingly in our relations to one another.

For the sake of the gospel.

For the glory of your name.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Acts 21, 17 to 26.

When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.

On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

And when they heard it, they glorified God.

And they said to him,

You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.

They are all zealous for the law.

And they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses.

Telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

What then is to be done?

They will certainly hear that you have come.

Do therefore what we tell you.

We have four men who are under a vow.

Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses.

So that they may shave their heads.

Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you.

But that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent the letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality.

Then Paul took the men.

And the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple.

Giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

As the gospel advances and as the church grows and incorporates believers from various cultures and backgrounds, inevitably new tensions arise.

And even suspicions arise.

We are a church made up of people from different races and cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds and status.

Some of us are from the west.

Some of us are from the midwest.

Some of us are from the south.

Some of us are from the northeast.

Some of us are from different countries.

Some of us went to conservative Christian colleges.

While others of us went to liberal secular universities.

And still others of us didn't go to college at all.

We have people who voted for Biden.

As well as people who voted for Trump.

In our church.

We have people who support stricter COVID policies.

As well as people who support more laissez-faire COVID approaches.

These differences inevitably create tensions.

And sometimes suspicion.

And the early church was not immune to these struggles.

And we see an example of one very divisive and volatile issue in the early church in our passage.

And this passage teaches us that we must preserve the unity of the church for the advance of the gospel.

So we're going to first talk about the advance of the gospel in verses 17 to 20.

And about the unity of the church in verses 20 to 26.

So let's look at the advance of the gospel in verses 17 to 20.

After receiving a warm reception from the church in Jerusalem.

From the apostles and the elders there.

Note the word of the gospel in verse 19.

It says that Paul related to them one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

Note the wording of verse 19 carefully.

It says Paul related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

God was the actor.

Paul was the instrument.

Luke drives this point home.

If you've been with us through the series in the book of Acts.

Luke drives this point home again and again and again.

And we need to hear it again and again and again.

Because self-absorbed and prideful human beings are prone to make the mistake of making ourselves the center of the story.

At the end of 2021, let us remember that as a church, that all the good things that have happened.

People getting baptized, converted.

Many new members joining and old members maturing.

And having a wonderful church-wide retreat.

And new community groups being started and community group leaders being added.

The preaching cohort we had over the summer.

The appointment of deacons.

Yes, we had a role in all of these things.

But only as instruments.

God did all those things.

Paul has accomplished much by this point of his ministry, his missionary life.

And he may have felt the temptation to elevate himself in front of this esteemed audience.

After all, this is the Jerusalem church.

The first ever local church.

The very place where Jesus died and was raised from the dead.

The very place where the Spirit of God first fell upon his people at Pentecost.

The place the church led by the 12 apostles themselves.

In fact, earlier in Acts chapter 9 verse 26, when Paul, after his conversion, tried to join up with the brothers in the Jerusalem church, they doubted that his conversion was authentic.

Acts 9:26

And they were reluctant to meet with him.

It was only when Barnabas took him and introduced him that they finally met Paul and was willing to have fellowship with him.

So this would have been totally understandable for Paul to have a bit of a chip on his shoulders.

And this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to, you know, preen his feathers and congratulate himself a little bit.

Hey, look at all that I've accomplished over these years.

Aren't you glad that you received me into fellowship?

I'm an apostle just as bit as much as you.

Look at all my followers.

Look at all these people reading my books.

Or letters, I suppose.

But that's not what Paul does.

He says instead he carefully, one by one, recounts all that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

Listen up, brothers.

You won't believe all that God has done since last time I saw you guys.

In Philippi, God saved a wealthy woman named Lydia.

And God's not using her home as a home base for the local church that is thriving in Philippi.

Well, there was that little detour in the prison cell for a night.

Silas and I spent the night there.

But guess what?

Even that, God was doing that.

To save the Philippian jailer.

Who would have guessed?

As we were singing and praying in that prison cell, God brought a huge earthquake and shook open the prison cells.

And loosened all of our chains.

And the Philippian jailer who saw that came to faith in the Lord Jesus along with his entire household.

And then in Ephesus, because the Lord Jesus was driving out so many demons during my ministry, some Jewish exorcists thought that they would try their hand in doing the same thing.

And they tried to drive out demons, quote, by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.

Isn't that funny?

But of course, their attempt to manipulate God didn't work.

And they were beaten senseless by the demon-possessed man.

And all the residents of Ephesus heard about this incident.

And many of them confessed their occult practices and came to faith in Jesus.

In fact, so many of them did this that the total value of all the magical books that they burned came to about $6 million.

Can you believe it?

Let me tell you about all the people that God has healed.

Let me tell you about all the people that God has saved.

Let me tell you about all the wonderful things that God has done.

God, God, God.

Christian ministry is all about God.

It's not about us.

That's why in verse 20, after the elders of the Jerusalem church hear Paul's report,

it says that they glorified God.

They don't praise Paul for all that he has done.

No, they glorified God.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.

God had done amazing things through Paul's ministry.

The gospel of Jesus Christ was going forward in power among the Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire.

But when the gospel crosses into new territory, the church becomes more diverse.

And as the church becomes more diverse, new tensions and suspicions arise.

And that's exactly why we see in verses 20, 26, the need for the unity of the church.

The elders of the Jerusalem church put it this way to Paul in verse 20.

You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed.

They are all zealous for the law.

So this is what they're saying to him.

Brother Paul, we're delighted that so many Gentiles are coming to faith in Jesus through your ministry,

and we give glory to God for it.

But there are also thousands of Jews that are being saved here in Jerusalem and Judea.

And they are all zealous for the law.

And here lies the problem.

They continue in verse 21.

They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses,

telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.

It had been six years or so since Paul had last been with the Jerusalem church.

And in the intervening period, Paul had ministered in primarily Gentile cities.

And though he was opposed by the Jews in many of those places,

he found the Gentiles to be quite receptive to his proclamation of the gospel.

And since, according to the Jerusalem Council's decree in Acts 15,

the Gentiles were not required to become Jewish in order to become Christians,

but they were only required, as verse 25 says,

to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood

and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality,

Paul had not been teaching the Gentile converts to get circumcised.

He hadn't been teaching them to follow Jewish customs.

That's what they had agreed to do.

But then rumors began to circulate among the Jewish Christians

that Paul even teaches the Jewish believers who live among the Gentiles

to abandon the Jewish customs, the law of Moses,

telling them not to circumcise their children.

But this was a baseless rumor,

and we know this because of what the apostles and the elders say in verse 24.

They say this to Paul,

Thus, all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you,

but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

Right?

So the elders of the Jerusalem church are not correcting Paul

or telling him to live differently.

Rather, they think that Paul already lives in observance

of the Jewish customs and the Mosaic law.

They just need to figure out a way to demonstrate this

to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem.

They believe that these are baseless rumors.

There's nothing to them.

So though Paul did teach clearly,

in agreement with the decree of the Jerusalem Council,

that circumcision is not necessary for salvation,

Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 7, 19,

that for neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision,

but keeping the commandments of God.

So Paul did teach this very clearly.

You don't need to be circumcised.

You don't need to become a Jew if you're a Gentile

in order to be a Christian.

However, there is no evidence in Scripture

that Paul tried actively to steer Jewish Christians

away from their Jewish customs.

Paul articulates his reasons for that in 1 Corinthians 9, 19-23.

I have that, I think, to project.

He says,

For though I am free from all,

I have made myself a servant to all,

that I might win more of them.

To the Jews, I became as a Jew in order to win Jews.

To those under the law, I became as one under the law,

though not being myself under the law,

that I might win those under the law.

To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law,

not being outside the law of God,

but under the law of Christ,

that I might win those outside the law.

To the weak, I became weak,

that I might win the weak.

I become all things to all people,

that by all means I might save some.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel,

that I may share it with them in its blessing.

When he was with Jews,

Paul became as a Jew in order to win Jews.

Even though he knew that he was no longer under the law of Moses,

he lived as one under the law when among the Jews,

in order not to raise unnecessary obstacles to their faith in Jesus.

We saw Paul's principle in action earlier in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

I don't know if you remember when Paul took Timothy to be circumcised,

in order, at least in part, to appease the Jews.

Timothy had a Jewish mother.

The problem, however, was that he had a Gentile father,

a Greek father, which rendered his ethnic and religious status ambiguous.

And so some Jews were deeply offended that Timothy,

who had at least some Jewish upbringing, was not circumcised.

It's not hard to imagine why they were offended,

what the controversy was.

Like, Timothy was taken to the synagogues from an early age

by his mother, Jewish mother Eunice.

He studied the Torah like a Jew.

He lived like a Jew, dressed like a Jew.

But he was not circumcised, which was anathema to Jews.

And so Paul took decisive action and circumcised Timothy

before taking him along with him on his missionary journey

so that Timothy wouldn't cause offense every synagogue that they visit.

Paul was not conceding when he did that,

that Timothy needed to be circumcised in order to be saved.

But that Timothy needed to be circumcised in order to be accepted by the Jews.

It was a cultural rationale rather than a salvation one.

He became like a Jew when among the Jews,

in order to win Jews to Christ.

Even though Paul consistently and vehemently objected

to Gentile believers being circumcised,

he never objected to Jewish people being circumcised.

But to Gentiles, Paul became as a Gentile in order to win Gentiles.

So in Galatians chapter 2, verses 1 to 5,

Galatians 2:1–5

Paul recounts that when he traveled to Jerusalem with Titus,

he did not circumcise Titus.

Why the different response?

Because Titus was Greek.

He was totally Greek.

So when Judaizers took issue with this

and insisted on his circumcision,

saying that Titus must be circumcised in order to be saved,

Paul said,

we did not yield,

this is his quote,

we did not yield in submission even for a moment

so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Because if he conceded in that moment,

it would mean that faith in Jesus Christ would not be enough.

It would mean that you would also need to be circumcised to be saved

because he was a Gentile.

Titus was a Gentile.

That would have undermined the gospel,

and Paul resisted it for that reason.

The elders of the Jerusalem church understand this,

and he's actually on the same page with Paul.

So that's why they suggest the course of action

to dispel these baseless rumors.

They say to Paul in verses 22 to 24,

what then is to be done?

They will certainly hear that you have come,

so do therefore what we tell you.

We have four men who are under a vow.

Take these men and purify yourself along with them

and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads.

Thus all will know that there is nothing

in what they have been told about you,

but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.

The detail about shaving their heads suggests a Nazarite vow.

When Jews entered into a Nazarite vow,

as stipulated in Numbers chapter 6, verses 1 to 21,

Numbers 6:1–21

they asked God to intervene in a certain matter,

and in order to beseech God,

they consecrated themselves to God

by abstaining from alcohol

and keeping a distance from things that would make them unclean,

including dead bodies,

and by not cutting their hair.

Those were the stipulations of a Nazarite vow.

And then at the completion of their Nazarite vow,

they would shave their heads

and make animal sacrifices in worship.

But the usual length of a Nazarite vow in those days

was 30 days.

Since verse 27 specifies

that the process would have taken seven days,

and it seems that these men needed to be purified,

which a Nazarite vow did not require,

the most plausible explanation is that these four men

had contracted ritual uncleanness during their Nazarite vow.

According to various verses in Leviticus and Numbers,

when a Jew comes into proximity of something that reeks of death,

such as a corpse or blood,

they were deemed unclean for seven days.

In fact, Numbers 6, 9 to 12,

specifically says that a man under a Nazarite vow,

if he comes into contact with the dead body,

would need to purify himself for seven days

and then shave his head on the seventh day

and on the eighth day offer sacrifices to make atonement.

So this appears to be exactly what is going on here.

These men had contracted some kind of ritual uncleanness

during their Nazarite vow,

so they needed to go to the purification ritual

and shave their heads and bring an offering at the end of it.

And so the Jerusalem elders want Paul

to take these four men under his wings,

like a teacher guiding his pupils,

and purify himself along with them

and pay their expenses.

That's showing and demonstrating to everybody

that he is not in defiance of the Mosaic law,

that he is not counseling Jews to abandon their customs.

We know that this is something that Paul

would have had no qualms about doing

because earlier in Acts 18, verse 18,

Acts 18:18

we glossed over the detail at the time,

but he said that at Centraea,

Paul had cut his hair,

for he was under a vow.

That's what it says in Acts 18, 18.

Now, that seemingly insignificant detail

appears significant here

because Paul had himself taken a Nazarite vow

in recent years.

He had walked through this very process himself

as a Jew.

So obviously, Paul does not have a problem

with following these customs

that every faithful Jew up to this point

had been following.

The problem, of course,

is that the Jewish believers in Jerusalem

are not aware of that.

They have never seen Paul go through a Nazarite vow.

They have formed their conclusions about Paul

only based on the rumors

that they had heard about him

during his ministry among the Gentiles.

So in making this request of Paul,

the apostles and the elders of Jerusalem,

it's important to note

that they're not reversing course

on the decree of the Jerusalem Council

in chapter 15.

That's why they reiterate in verse 25

that they are not asking Gentile converts

to become Jewish,

but only requiring them to abstain

from eating food sacrificed to idols

or eating food made of blood

and from animals that had been sacrificed

or that had been strangled

because that means blood is still in them

and also from sexual immorality.

Now, these particular sins

were so normal and so widespread

among the Gentiles

that the apostles had to single them out

for new Gentile converts.

These requirements for Gentiles

have not changed.

That's not the issue at hand.

The issue at hand is how Jews

should behave with regard

to their ancestral customs.

And precisely because these are non-issues

when it comes to salvation,

there is no need for Jews

to abandon the customs

that they have followed

for millennia up to this point.

They are not asking Gentile Christians

to become Jewish Christians.

The elders of the Jerusalem church

are simply asking

that Jewish Christians

not be made Gentile Christians.

So Paul graciously complies in verse 26.

Then Paul took the men

and the next day he purified himself

along with them

and went into the temple

giving notice

when the days of purification

would be fulfilled

and the offering presented

for each one of them.

Think about it in Paul's shoes

for a moment.

Paul could have been stubborn

and insisted on his rights

at this moment.

Why should I go through

all this trouble

to abuse these people

who are believing baseless rumors

and are spreading this slander about me?

Who cares what they think?

I haven't done anything wrong.

And so what if some of the Jewish people

stopped circumcising their children?

The law has been fulfilled by Christ.

Circumcision is no longer necessary

to be part of the people of God anyway.

If he did that,

Paul would have been right,

but that would not have been

the way of love.

We are no longer under the law of Moses,

but we are under the law of Christ,

which is the way of love.

And for that reason,

Paul would have been wrong.

These Jewish brothers and sisters

in Jerusalem understood

that salvation was by grace alone

through faith in Christ alone,

but they also believed

that it was important for them

to maintain their Jewish heritage

and to steward the venerable traditions

that had been handed down

from their forefathers.

And it's important to note

it was not sinful for them to do so.

Paul would have never done this

if it had been sinful for him to do.

He will never follow.

He will never condone sin.

So Paul,

the great apostle to the Gentiles,

who was not afraid to rebuke

even the apostle Peter

in Galatians 2, 11 to 13,

when Peter refused to eat with the Gentiles

out of fear of the Jews

who were judging him

and insisting that Gentiles

need to be circumcised,

Paul rebuked him.

But that great apostle Paul,

that fearless apostle here,

graciously complies.

That's the way of Christian love.

As the gospel of Jesus Christ

crosses cultures and boundaries

and as the church grows larger

and more diverse,

there are always new tensions

and suspicions that arise.

But in such situations,

we must preserve the unity of the church

for the advance of the gospel.

Unity is not optional for the church.

It is commanded.

Ephesians 4, 3 says

that we should be eager

to maintain the unity of the spirit

and the bond of peace.

In John 17, verses 20 to 21,

John 17:20–21

Jesus prays for us.

He prays for all those

who will believe in him

through the proclamation of the gospel

by his apostles.

And this is what he prays for us.

He says,

that they may all be one,

just as you, Father,

are in me and I in you,

that they also may be in us

so that the world may believe

that you have sent me.

What does that mean?

The unity of the body of Christ

is an important aspect

of our witness to Jesus.

So that means whether or not

the world will believe in Jesus

is to some degree,

humanly speaking,

contingent upon our unity as a church.

This is why Paul complies

with the request

of the Jerusalem elders.

For the sake of the church's unity,

for the advance of the gospel,

it is important for Paul

to regain the trust

of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.

There are, there remains,

a number of differences

and disagreements

about secondary issues

within our church.

They are not issues

that pertain to salvation.

And if we all find

our primary identity in Jesus,

then we can preserve

the unity of the church

for the advance of the gospel.

I think there are several

biblical and common sense principles

that can guide us

to promote that kind of unity.

First, I think if we find ourselves

more animated or passionate

about things of secondary importance

than the gospel of Jesus Christ,

then I think we need

to examine our hearts

to see if the affections

of our hearts are misordered

or disordered.

Where is our ultimate hope?

Is our hope in Jesus?

Or is it in politics?

Or in science and education?

Secondly, we should labor

to give each other

the benefit of the doubt

and to give each other

the best possible framework

and construction.

Assume the best of one another.

Listen to one another.

Try truly to understand

one another

instead of banding

talking points

and slogans back and forth.

Third, I think we need

to guard our speech.

We should avoid

extreme rhetoric.

Avoid slander

and name-calling

of all kind.

Can you imagine

if the Jewish believers

at this point

in the book of Acts

called Paul

an anti-Semitic?

Similarly, people

who refuse to get vaccinated

are not murderers.

And people

who mandate vaccines

for public health reasons

are not fascists.

Fourth,

instead of focusing

on how other people

can accommodate us,

we should focus

on how we

can make sacrifices

to accommodate them

as Apostle Paul did.

And when we start

to feel entitled

and disgruntled

as time to time

will happen

to all of us,

thinking,

why should I have

to give up

my freedoms

on count of them?

Think about

what Jesus did,

all that he gave up

in his incarnation

and his humiliation

in his death

on the cross

to save us.

We find a great example

of this principle

in Hudson Taylor.

Hudson Taylor

was a 19th century

British Christian missionary

to China.

He's the founder

of China Inland Mission,

which is now called

OMF International.

He lived and ministered

in China for 51 years.

He was responsible

for bringing over

800 missionaries

and starting 125 schools

in China.

God used him

and those 800 missionaries

to save 18,000

Chinese people.

Hudson Taylor

was a pioneer

in many ways.

Unlike his missionary peers

who spent the bulk

of their time

with English businessmen

and diplomats

who needed their services

as translators

in major port cities,

Hudson Taylor

went inland

where other missionaries

had not gone.

And he lived

among the Chinese people

that he loved

and served.

Also,

shortly after arriving

in Shanghai

in 1854,

Hudson Taylor

decided to dress

in Chinese clothes

and grow a queue.

The traditional

Chinese pigtail

with the shaved front

that I don't think

is in use now

was back then.

Other Christian missionaries

around him

were incredulous

or critical,

thinking it unnecessary

and sometimes undignified

that Taylor would do that.

But Taylor's actions

were based on his

biblical convictions.

He was following

the example

of Apostle Paul.

He explicitly states this.

He was trying

like the Apostle Paul

to become all things

to all people

that by all means

he might save some.

In the book

Hudson Taylor

and the China Inland Mission,

The Growth of a Work of God,

it's written by

Hudson Taylor's son

and daughter-in-law

Howard and Geraldine Taylor.

There's an excerpt

from a letter

that Hudson Taylor wrote

to William Thomas Berger

who was responsible

for training new missionaries

back in England

for China Inland Mission.

In that letter,

Hudson Taylor

addresses the new missionaries

in training

and tries to persuade them

to adopt

the Chinese lifestyle

once they arrive there.

It's a lengthy quote

but it's worth quoting in full

so I'm going to read it.

It's projected for you

on the screen.

This is what he says.

I am not alone

in the opinion

that the foreign dress

and carriage of missionaries,

the foreign appearance

of chapels

and indeed the foreign air

imparted to everything

connected with their work

has seriously hindered

the rapid dissemination

of the truth

among the Chinese.

And why should

such a foreign aspect

be given to Christianity?

The word of God

does not require it

nor I conceive

could sound reason

justify it.

It is not

the denationalization

but the Christianization

of this people

that we seek.

We wish to see

Chinese Christians

raised up.

Men and women

truly Christian

but with all

truly Chinese

in every right sense

of the word.

We wish to see

churches of such believers

presided over

by pastors

and officers

of their own countrymen

worshiping God

in the land

of their fathers

in their own tongue

and in edifices

of a thoroughly

native style

of architecture.

It is enough

that the disciple

be as his master.

If we really wish

to see the Chinese

such as we have described

let us as far as possible

set before them

a true example.

Let us in everything

not sinful

become Chinese

that we may by all means

save some.

Let us adopt their dress

acquire their language

seek to conform

to their habits

and approximate

to their diet

as far as health

and constitution

will allow.

let us live

in their houses

making no unnecessary

alteration in external form

and only so far

modifying their

internal arrangements

as health

and efficiency

for work

absolutely require.

This cannot

but involve

of course

a certain measure

of inconvenience

such as the sacrifice

of some accustomed

articles of diet

etc.

etc.

But will anyone

reflecting on what

he gave up

who left heaven's throne

to be cradled in a manger

who having failed all things

and wielded omnipotence

became a feeble infant

wrapped in swaddling clothes

who from being the loved one

of the father

never misjudged

never unappreciated

and receiving the ceaseless

adoration of all the hierarchies

of heaven

became a despised

Nazarene

misunderstood

by his most faithful followers

neglected

and rejected

by men

who owed him

their very being

and whose salvation

he had come to seek

and finally mocked

spit upon

crucified

and slain

with thieves

and outlaws

will any follower

of Christ

reflecting on

these things

hesitate

to make the trifling

sacrifice

indicated above

we just celebrated

Christmas

and remembered

how Jesus

humbled himself

and was born

in the form

of a servant

as a baby

in a manger

if the God

of all creation

took on

our lowly

human garb

in order to save us

can we not

accommodate

our fellow human beings

for the sake

of the gospel

so that's our exhortation

at the end of the year

I think it's fitting

let us labor

to preserve

the unity of the church

for the advance

of the gospel

let me pray

heavenly father

grant us

the humility

of Jesus

for that

is the solution

for the divisions

for the hostilities

for the bitterness

and resentment

grant us

the humility

of Christ

help us

to remember

that it's not

about us

but about you

help us

to love

one another

and bear

with one another

Lord we know

that it's not

a marvel

to create

a society

where everyone

agrees

with enough

persecution

and oppression

that is attainable

but Lord

it is a marvel

when people

who disagree

on a whole host

of issues

can live in peace

in unity

and center

themselves

around something

that is higher

and more important

and that Lord

we believe

can only happen

in your family

so we pray

Lord

that that would

be our witness

that the unity

of our church

not necessarily

the uniformity

but the unity

of our church

in the spirit

with the bond

of peace

would be a witness

to the watching world

so that they might believe

that you indeed

sent Jesus

to save us

help us with that now

in Jesus name

we pray

amen