God's Great Passion For Unity預覽

Everything God Does Multiplies Unity

God is the master reconciler. 

Everything God does always multiplies and generates unity. Between God and man. Between creation and God. Between Jew and Gentile. Between neighbors, cultures, socioeconomic classes, or nationalistic divides. In fact, the cross is the only place where the irreconcilable becomes reconciled. 

In Ephesians 1, we read an incredible, yet largely overlooked proclamation about God’s design to multiply unity: “He made known to us the mystery of His will…that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.” Ephesians 1:9-10 NASB. 

Let the truth of that hit you. 

In other words, in Christ, God revealed the mystery of His will, which is to bring unity to all things in heaven and earth. 

The weight of Paul’s great declaration here demands an expansion of how we define and understand the Gospel. Unity is a keystone element of Jesus’ work on the cross. You have likely experienced the devastatingly divisive power of sin. Sin separates us from God and from each other. But at the cross, Jesus demolished the divisive power of sin. That is why the whole point of Christ’s work was to reconcile that which was pulled apart.

Stories from the book of Acts also show us that God’s work multiplies unity. In so many places throughout Acts, powerful moves of God are associated with believers being of one heart and mind. This unity was not only of a spiritual nature, but also a tangible and visible unity with solutions to real-world problems. Then in Acts 10, a pivotal moment for the Church occurs. This is the story when Cornelius, a Roman officer, invited Peter to his house. This is not a casual Sunday afternoon gathering— Jews were not even allowed to enter the homes of Gentiles. But now, God was on the move reproducing unity. When Peter obeyed and moved into unity, crossing Jew and Gentile lines, this opened the door for the Holy Spirit to move, and the entire centurion’s household gave their lives to Jesus. God is looking for opportunities to multiply unity, because work done in unity among the people of God releases the power of God.