How Kingdom Citizenship Provides Basis for Racial Harmony

One of the things I love about my church is we are truly diverse.  In fact, if you were to visit our church you would see it looks very much like the major city in which I live.  This is as it should be, and for good reason.

The Apostle Paul said that Jesus, through the cross, abolished the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles and reconciled them into one. (Ephesians 2:11-16).  This was a result of the cross of Christ.  The genius of the cross is it ensures all must come the same way to God.  It doesn’t matter how much money one has, how skilled they are, how strong they are, how religious or how good they are, because none of that is a basis for being reconciled to God.

Only through the finished work of the cross does one gain access to God.  Therefore, we all come the same way, and consequently, we are all born again “equal.”  This is the basis for racial harmony.  All others are cheap imitations: they may achieve some progress, but they do not get one to the finish line.

The foundation for the love the members of our racially diverse church have for one another is not inspired by a humanitarian impulse, man-made political correctness or even a common cause, but that we were all rescued the same way, by the same Person, through nothing we brought to the table.  As a result, none of us can claim to have been more deserving of our reconciliation to our Creator. As the Apostle Paul said, “by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The cross, and hence citizenship in the Kingdom, is the foundation for racial harmony.  GS

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