Praying for Unity

"Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."

(Galatians 3:23–29 ESV)

One of the critical areas of prayer for our time is the need to pray for unity. Our nation is the most divided that I have personally witnessed during my lifetime.  Some of you were alive to witness similar times of unrest in our nation's history during the civil rights movement and during the Vietnam war. 

Perhaps what our nation's history teaches us is that national unity ebbs and flows.  Our country's unity is perpetually dependent upon political agreement.  When our level of agreement is strong, we experience national unity; when our level of disagreement is greater, we experience division.

There is a more secure platform for unity, but it is not based on any nation or worldly kingdom.  It is based on the unity that all believers experience in Christ.  This is the unity that Galatians 3 describes.

There is a solidarity that we all have apart from Christ.  It is solidarity to which we belong regardless of race, religion, gender, national origin, or national citizenship.  Unfortunately, it is also the kind of solidarity that no-one of sound mind desires.  It is the solidarity of our slavery to sin.  Paul tells the Galatians that before faith came, we were all imprisoned under the law.

Now, wait!

Haven't we been told that God's Law is good, holy, and righteous?

Remember Psalm 119:97, "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day."

And it is, absolutely, good, holy, and righteous.  It is God-breathed, and we do well to allow it to show us what a righteous life looks like, as did David.

But also, like David, we fall short of that standard, which is why Paul can refer to the work of that righteous law as a ministry of death.

"Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?" (2 Corinthians 3:7–8 ESV)

The law brings death not because it isn't righteous, but because we aren't righteous.  We all share solidarity in sin.

In contrast, the good news is a reflection of the ministry of the Spirit that Paul talks about in 2 Cor 3:7-8.  It is also the spiritual truth that Paul talks about in Galatians 3, where we are no longer under the tutelage of the law that could never have conferred life.  Rather, faith has come; we are no longer under the condemnation of the law; through faith, we have been made sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus. 

This is the second form of unity that we see in Galatians 3.  Paul says that as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and there are consequences that impact how we relate to one another.  In Christ, the ethnic boundaries that separated Jews and gentiles were broken down.  The status that separated slaves from free men and women has been erased, for we are all free in Christ, and we are also all servants of Christ.  The antipathy that can exist between males and females is gone. 

This unity doesn't erase those distinctions.

Jews were still ethnically Jewish.  Greeks were still ethnically gentile.

Slaves were still enslaved and dependent on the financial providence of their masters; likewise, masters were given charge over the well-being of the servants in their home. 

Men are still male, and women still female.

The distinctions haven't been erased, but the divisions have.

Jews and Greeks were now brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Slaves and free men and women were equal before God.

Men and women are fellow heirs of the grace of life.

The diversity isn't erased, but the disharmony has been remedied.

The unity we have in Christ is the only remedy to the division we see in our nation and in the world.  And in Christ, though we are all different, we can continually bear with one another in love, showing grace despite our dissimilarities, because the blood of Christ, shed to unite us, is much more powerful than whatever the enemy might use to divide us.

Keep safe, be well, and stay encouraged.

Brian

P.S.  We encourage you to join us as we pray for the unity in our country and in the church.

Two very helpful prayer resources that you can utilize can be found here on our website.