Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living in The Global Church of the Naarene in Lenexa, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 11 July 2015 - "No 'Isms' Needed" Scripturre: Ephesians 2:11-18

Reflecting God - Embrace Holy Living in The Global Church of the Naarene in Lenexa, Kansas, United States for Saturday, 11 July 2015 - "No 'Isms' Needed" Scripturre: Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth — called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation on their flesh, are called the Circumcised — 12 at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Isra’el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God’s promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.

13 But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood. 14 For he himself is our shalom — he has made us both one and has broken down the m’chitzah which divided us 15 by destroying in his own body the enmity occasioned by the Torah, with its commands set forth in the form of ordinances. He did this in order to create in union with himself from the two groups a single new humanity and thus make shalom, 16 and in order to reconcile to God both in a single body by being executed on a stake as a criminal and thus in himself killing that enmity.

17 Also, when he came, he announced as Good News shalom to you far off and shalom to those nearby,[Ephesians 2:17 Isaiah 57:19] 18 news that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

"No “Isms” Needed" by Author: Paul Sheneman
We have so many “isms” which separate us; racism, sexism, ageism, elitism, and intellectualism are just a few. All humans are great at creating these invisible barriers within our minds and constructing social norms, taboos and etiquettes to divide us from one another. We each have an “ism” we follow.
In our scripture today, Paul is writing to a church divided between those who maintained the Jewish rituals and those who did not. Paul looks beyond Judaism and Paganism and calls for unity. Paul does not point to another “ism” but to a person, Jesus Christ.

It is a point we need to consider today. Jesus makes this issue personal; because we must wrestle with the implication of what He did. Are we going to embrace the new humanity Jesus created? Are we going to give our “isms” over to Him? Will we receive the good news that together we can stand before the Father in one Spirit? Or are we going to retreat back behind our invisible barrier holding tightly to our “isms”?
Hymn for Today: "The Bond of Love" by Otis Skillings [Copyright 1971 by Lillenus Publishing Company. All rights reserved.]

1. We are one in the bond of love,

We are one in the bond of love;

We have joined our spirit with the Spirit of God,

We are one in the bond of love.

2. Let us sing now, every one,

Let us feel His love begun;

Let us join our hands that the world will know

We are one in the bond of love. 

Thought for Today:

"The One who unites us is far greater than the things that divide us."
Please pray:
That many people in Madaascar will come to know Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
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