Maintaining Unity
Have you ever stopped to think about the things you protect or guard? We protect our homes. We protect our skin. We guard our time. One of the biggest industries these days is the effort to protect our cyber presence. We guard our reputations. We put insurance on our cars and security cameras in our doorbells. The list goes on. While none of these things are wrong in and of themselves, they do paint a picture of what we value. It would be interesting to stack what Americans usually protect against cultures around the world or from different eras.
Biblically we are encouraged to keep watch over our tongues (Psalm 39:1, James 3), keep the commands of our Lord (John 14:21), guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), and as we will see Sunday, to maintain (preserve) the unity of the church (Ephesians 4:3). Protecting, preserving, guarding (all words that could be substituted for what we have translated "maintaining") this unity is a big part of responding to the calling that we have received from the Lord. As we will note on Sunday, we are called to maintain this unity, not create it. In other words, when we surrender to Christ we objectively have this unity with others who also are following the Savior. I'd encourage you to stop and think about that a moment; you are unified with Christians all over the world (and throughout time!). On the one hand this includes people who think and talk like you, but it also includes folks who are vastly different from you, culturally, socio-economically, theologically, etc...
The Greco-Roman world Paul lived in, like our modern times, was more about divisions than unity. There were citizens and there were slaves. There were men and there were women. There were aristocrats and there were the poor. There were Jews and there were Gentiles. And the lists go on and on. It is into this world, as well as into ours, that the words of Ephesians come. You are different. You are one. You have a unity that goes beyond all of the things that might otherwise separate you culturally. Keep watch over that unity. Maintain it. Preserve it. It is valuable!
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash