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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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,
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,
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.
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