Readings:
Esther 10
Romans 15:14-33
Focus:
Romans 15:30a: "I implore you by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit inspires, be my allies in the fight."
Paul tells the Roman Christians that it has been his task to tell the Gospel to the Gentiles (the non-Jews), and that he has been particularly careful to go to places where no Christian has gone before to tell the message. He thus contrasts Jews with Gentiles, and Gentiles who have never heard the Gospel at all with Gentiles who have already heard it.
Yet Paul also binds all these groups together into one family of God. Before he can visit the Romans, he is going to take money to the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, who are experiencing economic distress. This money has been raised by Gentile Christians. As Paul says, the Jewish Christians have shared their spiritual treasures with the Gentiles, and in return the Gentiles are sharing their material treasures.
Paul knows that there will be foes in Jerusalem who will seek to arrest him, and he asks the Roman Christians to pray for him as he goes there--to be his allies in the fight. Once again he binds the groups together into one family of God.
This is a model for us. We cannot always be together with our brothers and sisters, but we can support them through financial aid, through prayer, and through contacting them to tell them of our support. We can be their allies in the fight.
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Thanks, Debbie. You have encouraged me by this post. It is good to remember that there is a unity in the Body of Christ that reaches across time and space. It is so much more real than the false unity of compromise and tolerance without discernment that is too often offered as a substitute for true Christian unity in the bond of Christ.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about that false unity. Although we should love all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important to maintain the truth as well. Without that, our unity is somewhat meaningless. But even so, we should not forget our love for those others. We may bring them back to the true unity in the bond of Christ, besides the false unity of compromise and "tolerance" (and it's also possible we may have some errors that they can show us--hard as that may be to accept.) :-)
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