Unity Sermon Part 2

When I look at the cross, I don’t see harmony. I see conflict. When I read the gospel accounts I don’t see a unified group of believers, I see chaos. At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, followers of Jesus were down to a handful. Peter had denied him. The other disciples had gone underground. There was no unity. There was no expectation of salvation. Their hopes of a New Israel were little more than wasted dreams. It was over. The cross had destroyed everything.

But the story was not over. Acts 2 describes a group of people that were united in heart, mind, and purpose. It talks of thousands coming to believe in this crucified Jesus in one day. It describes perfect accord and amazing power among the believers. So what happened? What caused this transformation? How could this rag tag group of cast offs and never bes find unification? Why would thousands of people want to follow the teachings of some dead guy? Because the message of the cross spoke clearly. Christ’s sacrifice resulted in unity for all the world, and that was the message that brought them together, and changed their destinies. Because of the cross they were now a passionate group of believers, of one mind, one voice, and one heart. But all this talk of unity, what does it really mean? What does it entail? Well I see 2 types of unity that resulted from the cross. These 2 types of unity empowered the lowliest sinner and the highest government official to place faith in Christ.

The first is unity with God. Look at verse 30 again: “It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” Christ has become for us the very things we lacked. In God’s sight we were unrighteous, unholy, lost sinners. And Christ’s sacrifice on the cross changed all that. It removed the barrier between us and God.

I love eating at LaCarrettas. The food is good. The prices are inexpensive. The service is fast. But it is always interesting to take the youth group there. I spend half of the time acting as an interpreter between the teens and the waiters. There is a huge language barrier. The cook comes to the table with 15 piping hot plates on his arm, and he states, “Special la Casa.” All the kids look around in bewilderment. They have no clue what was just said. As the plates sear the poor man’s arm, he repeats, “Special la Casa.” Again, blank stares. Finally, I yell out, “Who ordered the Special La Casa? Oh, wait, I did.” There is this language barrier. They don’t know any Spanish, and the waiter’s English is pretty much limited to the menu. And so we often reach an impass until someone comes along and helps out.
The barrier with God is more than speech though. It is lifestyle. God lives the life of holiness and we live the life of sin. And there is this obstruction that is keeping us from being able to interact in a meaningful way. But along came Christ. Because of what he did, there would no longer be a wall between God and us. No longer would we be forced to adhere to a bunch of laws, constantly worrying about what would happen if we slipped up. No longer was there this big separation between the Creator and the Creation. As Ephesians 2:13 says “But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.” Unity with God. What a blessing from the cross.

I want to do something that I don’t think we do enough, at least not in the right way - affirmation. We build ourselves up through our accomplishments, but we don’t let God build us up despite our failures. So I want to take some time to do that. Close your eyes. Go ahead, we are all going to do it. Close your eyes, and I want you to think of something you don’t like about yourself. Maybe it is a physical characteristic that you have always struggled with—you don’t find yourself attractive enough. Maybe it is a mental thing—you don’t find yourself smart or good enough. Maybe it is an emotional thing—you can’t let go of a memory. Maybe it is a spiritual thing—you can’t get rid of the guilt from your past. Think about that thing that makes you feel like you don’t add? up. Now I want us all to say, out loud, “It doesn’t matter.” Let’s do it again, and this time everyone do it. Ready? One more time, like you actually believe it. Open your eyes.

That is exactly what God says to us because of the cross. Whatever is in your life that makes you feel self-conscious or awkward, God says, “It doesn’t matter. You are my child, you are my friend. We are united by love.” What more could we ask for? Not much. But God still did more.