Removing Barriers Through Christ

Transcript

GR 987
Removing Barriers through Christ
Colossians 3:11
10-12-97

Paul is talking to the Colossians about the change in lifestyle that occurs in those who have been redeemed by the grace of God. It's a change not brought about by trying to conform to some external standards. But it's a change accomplished by God making us new on the inside. And He does that by first changing, putting to death, the old person that I was and replacing it with a new person, a new man. In verse 9 of Colossians chapter 3 Paul gave a command, "Do not lie to one another" and the reason is "since you laid aside the old self," the old man literally. The old man refers to all that we are as fallen sinful beings in Adam. Adam sinned, became a fallen being and he passed on that fallen-ness, that sin nature to all of us posterity. That's why David said in the psalms, "In sin did my mother conceive me." Meaning not that conception is sin but that sin is presence from the moment of conception which says something about when life begins in the womb. Because the sin nature, the fallen man in Adam, is passed on at the moment of conception. And then as we are born and grow that fallen-ness expresses itself in a variety of ways in our behavior.

Well, that old man was crucified with Christ. That took place when I placed my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I was identified with Christ in His death. The old man was crucified. Then you have verse 10, "And you have put on the new self or the new man." Now I am born again. I am born into the family of God. I am created new. The life of Christ becomes my life and now His character is produced in and through me. So the old man, the end of verse 9, with its practices was removed. The old man had a set of conduct associated with him. The conduct goes with the old man. The new man now manifests the character and behavior that's consistent with the knowledge of God and His character. So this new man is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created Him. A true knowledge of God, a true knowledge of God's will, and we noted as we studied this section passages like 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 whereas we behold in a mirror of the Word of God the image of Christ we are being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells us into the same image. So God's plan is now as His children we be nurtured on the Word of God as "newborn babes long for the pure milk of God's Word that you might grow with respect to your salvation," 1 Peter 2:2 says. And as we feed upon the Word of God, the Spirit of God takes that Word of God and uses it as nourishment for the new man in Christ. And that process of transformation in us takes place and we become more conformed to the image who created Him as verse 10 says.

Now what Paul does in verse 11 is proceed to show that it was not only sinful practices that were dealt with in our death and resurrection to new life in Christ but also the barriers, the divisions, that separated human beings have been dealt with in Christ as well. Very crucial area. Very important portion of the Word. The human race is divided by a variety of barriers but in Christ these barriers are removed and are not a factor in either our salvation or our sanctification and only in Christ do these barriers become removed.

We are going to deal with a variety of barriers here. We are going to deal with racial or national barriers. We are going to deal with religious barriers. We are going to deal with cultural barriers. We are going to deal with social barriers. And find that in Christ and in the Body of God they are all removed.

So let's look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 11 and we are going to focus on just this one verse in our time together. You'll note it is a continuation of the thought that he has been expressing. Really verses 5 to 11 form one paragraph. Even though we've been taking it piece by piece, the unit of thought is verses 5 to 11. And so he says in verse 11, "This is a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all."

Verse 11 picks up a renewal. Literally it just starts in "in which there is no Greek of Jew." We've inserted some words. They are in italics in your English Bible to make it flow, to make it more readable. But the idea is expressed here clearly. "A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew." Going back to what he said in verse 10. This work of God in our lives in salvation and the result of sanctification, transforming us to be more and more conformed to the image of the God who made us, is a work in which racial and national distinctions first of all do not play a role. And we'll walk through each of these barriers that are set up and dealt with.

The first is a distinction between Greek and Jew. And that's a reference to national or racial barriers. I'm going to use those terms somewhat interchangeably even though they are not exactly so but the idea I think goes together. This distinction divides people on the basis of their nationality or their race and the term Greek encompasses all those who are not Jews. The Hellenistic culture, and incidentally, the word translated "Greek" here is the word "hellen." We get Hellenistic from it. And the Greek or Hellenistic culture pervaded the Mediterranean basin, this area around the Mediterranean. And so Paul usually uses the expression "Greek" to distinguish from the Jew. There are times when he uses the word "nation" or "Gentile," the ethos, the Gentiles, and be saying the same thing. But the emphasis here is the contrast between Jews and non-Jews. The major racial barrier that would be of concern at Colossae and becomes an issue in a number of the churches that Paul has to deal with.

When we talk about racial and national barriers I want to just set a little background. Make sure we understand the foundation. Where the races came from. Where the different nationalities and nations came from and the purpose of these divisions that separate the peoples of the world.

Come back to Genesis chapter 11 for a moment. And here you have the record of where the nations or races of the world developed from. Chapter 11 begins "Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there." A region of Babylon. This is after the Flood. We don't know how long after the Flood but some time has passed since the Flood and the days of Noah. "They said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.' And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. And they said, 'Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.' And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built." Verse 5 is obviously what we call anthropomorphism. It is speaking of God in human terms. And this kind of expression is used often in the Old Testament and often refers to God coming down to intervene or to bring judgment for certain behavior.

The peoples of the earth were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. God's instructions after the Flood of Noah because only Noah and his immediately family had survived that Flood. Here they have decided that they will work to stay together and not be scattered around the world. They'll construct a city and in connection with that city they will construct a tower that will be a center of worship that will help keep the people united. Probably they are not thinking of a tower that will go all the way to heaven. They would have had an understanding of the impossibility of that. Probably the tower is the kind of structure that they have found in archeology back in these periods of time called a ziggurat where it is really a tower that goes up and then has a somewhat flat top and the top is a center of worship. They build the tower because it moves you up closer to heaven and the top of the tower becomes your worship center. But whatever it was this was going to be the focal point for them.

Verse 6, "The Lord said, 'Behold, they are one people, they all have the same language. This is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them." Obviously, He is not saying here that they have become God in the full sense. But what He is dealing with is the fact that their unity becomes an occasion for them to magnify their depravity. They all join together in their work of resisting God and His purposes and plans.

Now this has happened before the Flood. Back in Genesis 6 if you want to thumb back there quickly. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Man was a sinner. Had been from the fall of Adam. That sinfulness had been passed on. And here you see mankind united with one thought, one intentwickedness. Verse 11, "Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, the earth was filled with violence. The Lord looked on the earth, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth." So He brought the Flood in judgment but the sin nature from Adam came through the Flood on the ark in the person of Noah and his family. So you have sinners after the Flood just like before the Flood. But God had promised He would not destroy the world with a Flood anymore. So here He intends to divide mankind which will serve to inhibit them in the accomplishing of their evil purposes.

So He says in verse 7, "'Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s' speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the world earth." So all the nations of the earth, all the languages of the earth, all the races of the earth find their source and origin here in Genesis chapter 11. What happened, they get up in the morning and they can't talk to one another. Now it doesn't mean every single individual had a different language. How it was broken down . . . family units? We are not told. But the people were divided and there were a variety of languages being spoken. A miracle. They didn't learn them. They just get up and started talking. But someone was talking in one language, somebody else was talking in another language, somebody else was talking in another language. That doesn't work very well. And how are they going to teach each other their language. They never learned it. Just there.

If you've ever visited a foreign country, you know how isolated you feel when you can't communicate and pretty soon you just get frustrated. I can't even talk to these people. Even when I talk slow they don't understand and furthermore when they try to make me understand and they talk slow it doesn't help a bit. It a buddel, waba, hoba. Doesn't help me fast or slow. So what happens? They move away from each other according to their languages. As they move to different places in the world and out of that will develop for the genes inherit in them certain racial characteristics and with that then becomes the national entity that is formed. Now what we see here is that it was God's intention that the world be divided nationally, racially, linguistically. It served and, I take it, continues to serve a purpose and that is to prevent mankind from being united in rebellion against God.

Now I trust you'll follow this portion of the sermon particularly because there's some people in the city who believe I'm a racist. And they may pick it up from statements like we've saying now. So your tract through to the end of this and I trust you'll understand I am not. I want to have our understanding of races, nations rooted in what the Bible says about them, not in the emotional climate of the day. It is not God's intention for the world to be united until Jesus Christ comes. We'll say more about that in a moment.

If you're still in Genesis 11, look at verse 10, "These are the records of the generations of Shem." What he does here is give you a summary of how the nations of the earth came about. Now he proceeds to focus on the nation Israel. So you start here at the records of Shem because what he's going to do is give you the line of the Jewish nation. Give you the line of Abraham who will be the father of the Jewish people. And as we come to the New Testament the major racial distinction and barrier was the Jew and the non-Jew.

F.F. Bruce, a New Testament commentator, wrote, "No iron curtain of the present day presents a more forbidding barrier than did the middle wall of petition which separated Jew from Gentile." That was the biggest racial, national barrier in Paul's worldJew and non-Jew.

Now what Paul is saying in writing to the Colossians. This national or racial barrier is removed in Christ and in His salvation and His work of sanctification in making us like Himself, racial and national identity is not an issue.

Look over in Ephesians chapter 2. Paul unfolds in some detail what he summarizes very concisely in Colossians. He says to the Gentiles . . . We'll pick up in verse 12, "remember that you were at that time [before your conversion, before your salvation] separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." For you see before the coming of Christ salvation centered in Israel, in that nation. That nation, that race of people, descended from Abraham were the chosen people of God. And then any Gentiles that were saved converted to Judaism.

"But now in Christ Jesus," verse 13, "you who formerly were far off." That means you Gentiles. It means us Gentiles. We were formerly far off. "Have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one." Made Jew and Greek, Jew and Gentile, into one group. He broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.

Verse 16 his intention. The end of verse 15 "was that he might make the two into one new man." You know, we talk about the new man, old man. The new man is not only individually within the believer but the new man is also believers together comprising the Body of Christ, the Church. His desire, verse 16, is that He "might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity." Then the closing of chapter 2 He pictures the Church as a building. And we are being built up as one body. Verse 21 "a holy temple." And that analogy in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 Paul uses the analogy of a temple to describe the church, the local church, the church at Corinth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 he uses the temple of the body of a believer. So both God's work in us individually and God's work in us corporately can be in view.

And you know I want you to note the end of verse 16. It's by the cross God put to death the enmity between the races, particularly the major racial divisionJew and Gentile, Jew and non-Jew. That which F.F. Bruce said was the iron curtain, the most forbidding barrier.

Incidentally, this that we are talking about in Ephesians 2 is the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus in John 17. And you may want to turn there for a moment. This keeps coming up because unity is the major wedge being used to bring ecumenical thinking into the evangelical church today. And sound doctrine, sound Bible teaching is being replaced by some fussy notion of unity and the idea that we must fulfill what Jesus prayed in John 17. Forget it. He already did it.

John 17. Look at verse 11, "And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name that You have given Me." Now note the last part of verse 11, "That they may be one, even as We are." Verse 20, I do not ask on behalf of these alone [His disciples, the Jews. The disciples being Jewish.]. "I don't ask on behalf of these alone but for those also who believe in Me through their word." That would include all the way down to us today. "That they may all be one even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they may also be in Us; that the world may believe that You did send Me."

The end of verse 22, "That they may be one just as We are one. I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity."

Now that's what has happened with the death of Christ. And when you come to believe in Jesus Christ, you are brought into Christ and Christ comes into you whether you are a Jew or a non-Jew. And you are brought into the Body of Christ. You abide in Him and He abides in you and we abide in one another. And that's the unity we're talking about. Oh, people grab on to John 17 and say, Look, we got to do away with the distinctions and divisions that divide us. Well, understand that in Christ these are dealt with. These divisions are to be dealt with in light of what Christ has done in us, to us and is doing through us. So be careful the context of John 17 verse 17 is "sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth." The end of verse 19, "That they themselves might be sanctified in truth." Somehow we just drive on with the desire for unity and ignore that the work of God in bringing us to maturity and thus more complete unity as an expression of the unity that we have in Him takes place in the context of His truth. In Christ these racial and national barriers are dealt with.

So when you come back to Colossians chapter 3 what Paul is saying as the new man is being renewed and we are being conformed to the image of Christ, racial, national barriers do not play a part in this. But I want you to note these barriers are done away with in Christ. So I'm back to what I referred to earlier. It is not God's intention for the world to be united today beyond national and racial barriers. That does not mean I'm a racist. It means I understand the purpose of God in creating the races, the nationalities, the languages of the world. Now that doesn't mean that everything that is done within this framework is right but the divisions themselves are ordained of God. And it's God's intention that there be one world government when His Son comes to rule and reign. There will be, as we come to the climax of time before the return of Christ, an attempt by Satan to unite the world. He is the god of this world, but he does not have a united empire. But in the Tribulation there will be a bringing together of the world in a greater way than there ever has been before and what will it be? It will be the greatest outpouring of rebellion and sin that the world has ever seen.

Now do I say this because I want to promote racial divisions and conflict and national conflict? No. But neither do I want to be a Christian running around babbling verses that I don't have any idea what they mean. I am not for one world. I am not for the dissolving of national and racial distinctions in the world. Now I understand that we have come together as a nation, the United States of America, and we are comprised of a diversity of racial or national backgrounds. And for us to function as a nation those backgrounds must be set aside and we must be united as a nation. But we recognize that it is a problem in our nation as well as other nations of the world. The Russian empire, the Soviet Union perhaps better to say, broke up with the breaking up of their centralized government. And what immediately happens? People retreat to their national identities. Did they not? We see what? Performing atrocities on other people that they've been neighbors with for years. But there's something inherit in them that pulls them. We find in our country what? When we get large groups of different nationalities or races together, it becomes more difficult to weave them in. Why? Well, we want to preserve our own identity, our way of doing things, roots. The book promoted that. We want to get back to our roots which . . . said. We want to get back to our origins. Take us back to our country of origin, our racial and national identity. But the problem we find is that that fragments us in ways that make it difficult. I'm not condoning the racial bigotry and hatred and all the manifestations of that that have taken place but as Christians I also want us to realize that in the world the division of the world into racial and national entities serves a purpose of God in these days. I could not be part of a group that wanted to promote world unity. It's not God's plan. Because fallen, sinful humanity will corrupt that and use it as an occasion for greater rebellion.

But in Christ they are removed. Understand that. In the Church particularly racial, national distinctions have no barrier. It doesn't matter what's your race or national background. God's salvation is offered to you on the same termsHis grace. And we have to work at that. That's why Paul reminds them. These are not issues. Why? Because in fallen humanity there are those divisions that exist even in our mind, in our thinking. And in the Church they play a role. We think, Well, that's fine. They get saved. They ought to have for themselves. No, it's God's intention that the Church be a manifestation of His work of grace and the removal of those distinctions. But only in Christ.

All right let's look at some other barriers that are removed. And we'll look at these a little more briefly. Religious barriers. I take it that's the second division here. The first were racial or national barriers. The second are religious barrierscircumcised and uncircumcised. Now these follow somewhat in this case the national or racial distinctions of Greek and Jew. But they have a religious focus. Circumcision and uncircumcision focuses on the religious practice of the Jews and it goes back to Genesis 17 verses 9 to 14 where circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God established between Himself and the nation Israel. Now for the Jews this became an essential part of their relationship with God. The Judaizers that were a problem at the church at Colossae and other churches, Galatia and so on, were Jews who had professed to convert to Christianity, claimed to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and related truths, but they also said you have to continue some of the religious practices characteristic of Judaism either for salvation or if not for salvation in order for you to experience sanctification, for you to be a truly godly person. And circumcision becomes a focal issue.

Back up a few pages to the book of Galatians. Pick up chapter 3 verse 3 just for a statement. "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now perfected by the flesh?" He's dealt with in chapter 1 the fact that salvation cannot be a matter of believing in Christ plus being circumcised. Now he wants to make clear nor is your sanctification a work accomplished by believing in Christ plus performing some kind of religious ritual. You don't begin by faith and then bring the work to completion and perfection by your works, circumcision, a religious right.

So in chapter 5 verse 2 he said, "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you." verse 4, "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the law; you've fallen from grace." Meaning, grace is either grace or it's not grace. If you make it grace plus works, grace is no longer grace as Paul told the Romans. So when you bring in certain religious practices and say they are necessary for godliness, certain religious ritual, then you nullify the grace of God.

Now there are certain things instructed to us. We are to study the Word of God. We are to feed upon God's Word. We are to fellowship together with our various gifts in the Body of Christ, expressed in the local church. We are talking about the ritual that would be imposed by men like circumcision.

In fact, Paul gets very direct. In verse 12, "Would that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves," castrate themselves. You're going to be . . . It's pagan to bring those religious practices into the Body of Christ. You might as well go all the way with your paganism as certain pagan groups did and castrate yourself. Go all the way in your paganism if that's what you want to do. You see with Paul there is no give and take here. Everybody today wants unity. We got to play down our differences. Paul wouldn't have anything to do with it. You say, well, look if you want to promote circumcision it doesn't matter as long as we all love the same Christ and want to serve Him and want to grow in Him. I mean we don't have to divide over this. Paul says we do have to divide over it because you're no longer associated with Christ if you practice that. You might as well go all the way in your paganism and practice mutilation.

Paul would have known nothing about the kind of unity that's being foisted on the evangelical church today under the guise of fulfilling John 17. These religious practices add nothing to our salvation, add nothing to our sanctification. Now we say, oh, well, that's not an issue for us. It's very much an issue in the evangelical church today. Many are turning to various forms of sacramentalism and bringing that into the church. The sacraments even in evangelicals . . . among evangelicals . . . more emphasis on the sacraments as a means of God's grace, certain religious practices. We usually associate them with Roman Catholicism but it is becoming more and more focal point in evangelicalism. We find many evangelicalisms . . . evangelicals or professing evangelicals turning to sacramental kind of religious like Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy.

I was reading the account of some of have converted to Eastern Orthodoxy this past week. One of the more well known. Many who are familiar with the ministry of Frances Shaeffer, now home with the Lord. Frances E. Shaeffer, some of his writings, the films that he had done. Yet his son Frankie Shaeffer has converted to Eastern Orthodoxy and now is bitingly critical of the evangelical faith of his parents.

Note . . . as the Word of God is a smaller and smaller place in the evangelical church, it is replaced with something. And what it gets replaced with is religious ritual. Look at churches, the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, since we are talking about those two, what? There is almost nothing of the Word of God but lots of religious ritual. Understand that these things add nothing to your life in Christ. They are nothing. They are removed in Him. And to say they are necessary or they will help you be more godly is a lie. It's pure paganism. And it severs you from the grace of Christ and His work in a life.

I'm not saying you lose your salvation. I'm saying it raises the question whether you were ever saved. And secondly, if you were, it stops the process of growth and you become a case of improper and arrested development.

So religious barriers are removed in Christ. Thirdly, cultural barriers are removed. Cultural barriersbarbarian, Scythian. And you note there is no "and" here because barbarian is not contrasted with Scythian. Scythians are the more barbaric barbarians. Scythians were the lowest of the barbarians. In the Greek world, in the Roman world that was saturated with Greek culture, a barbarian was one who did not speak Greek and was not acclimated to Greek culture. So you were looked down upon. I mean if you had not, could not speak Greek and were not cultured in the Greek ways, you were a barbarian.

Now a Scythian was the lowest of the barbarians. They were the crude of the crude. And you can read commentaries on this portion of Colossians that will tell you about the Scythians, how they had perfected the skinning of head and the softening of the skin that they took off to use it for other purposes. How they would cut then the top of the skull off clean it out and use it as a bowl to drink from and really neat people. Not the kind of people you'd want to go to dinner with. You'd say you know, they're crude. I mean, they not only don't know which fork to use, they don't even bother with forks. I mean, how would you like to sit down at the table with someone who was using the top of a skull to drink from. I mean, you talk about losing your appetite. These are people who have no manners.

But you know what Paul says. They were barbarian. Even being a Scythian is a non-issue in the work of salvation and the work of sanctification. Cultural barriers are removed. That's why Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans chapter 1 verse 14 and said, "I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." The crudest and most uneducated are included in the provisions of the Gospel. They are included in God's work of sanctification. And we must recognize these kind of distinctions are irrelevant in the work that God is doing in this Body for example.

A person's educational level, a person's social skills are not factors in being conformed to the image of Christ. Now I'm not saying there's any premium placed on being crude. I don't think Paul is saying that. But he is saying this is not an issue in salvation. It is not an issue in sanctification. Do we understand that? This new man being renewed, being a barbarian or Scythian does not keep you from being renewed and conformed to the image of God. That's a superficial issue compared to this heart lifechanging matter.

None of us like to admit the prejudices. Now we don't look down on people but we live in a city that is a college town and we value education. And we like to be cultured and that is fine. But you know, pretty soon we begin to evaluate people on this level and it divides within the church. You know, if a welleducated, cultured person comes, well, we hope they got a good seat where they could see and hear. Now I hope several people talk to them. Somebody comes in that crude, whose clothes aren't as clean as we would like them to be, whose hair wasn't as washed and they only went to the fourth grade. It doesn't really matter where they sit as long as it's not next to me. And I hope I can get out of here without having to say hi and shake their hand because who knows where their hand has been. And boy I hope the Lord saves them and I'm sure they'd be happier in this church, in this place or this place. Cause I just don't think they fit here. They wouldn't be happy here. It's not we wouldn't want them, you know. But they probably wouldn't be happy here.

You know there is a church growth principle taught in church growth literature called the homogenous unit. The homogenous unit says you're happier with people of your kind. So if you want to grow a church, you want to grow it with people who are of the same kind because your church will grow faster and better. I understand what Paul is saying here. The very purpose of the church is to show that those kinds of barriers have been broken down. What did God had given us a better mixture than we have.

When we're looking for evangelistic outreach, we always want to look for likekind people. Maybe that becomes a restriction for us in our outreach. Other ways it comes . . . We're reading a book on prayer by D. A. Carson and he speaks to this. He's not talking about this subject but it relates. I'm trying to read this so I don't get into trouble personally. "Many of us have had the experience of asking a parent, how are your children doing, only to get an answer like this, 'Oh, John, he's doing very well now. His career as a research physicist has really taken off. He's the youngest person in his company to have been appointed to the board. And Evelyn is doing really well too. She's in computer programs and is already the head of section." "And how are they doing spiritually?" A long pause. "I'm afraid they're not really walking with the Lord at the moment. We're hoping they'll come back some day." Now he acknowledges that it may be the privacy that you're trying to respect but too often it reflects warped priorities. "Others are joyous over their children's material prosperity and not terribly concerned over their children's utter indifference to the God who made them."

You know we have to be careful. You know, am I as thrilled? You know, what's the concern. Am I concerned that my children will marry well or that they'll marry godly. Well, you know, I'm sure they love the Lord. I'm sure they want to serve the Lord. I'm sure they're a godly person, but you know, they just aren't very well educated. You know, I'd thought you'd get somebody more cultured. You know, they are never going to rise very far in the world. What am I saying? I am saying there is something more important than godliness. Now the most desirable thing is to find a godly, rich wellthoughtof mate. That's what you really pray for. But when push comes to shove, take the money and the culture and hopefully they'll get saved later or come along later. You know, it reflects where we really are, doesn't it? More than I would like to reveal. These divisions are important to me.

All of us want our children to do a little better than we did. I mean you'll never have any money. I mean you'll never be in this certain circles and on we go in our thinking and we reveal how stunted we are in our growth spiritually. That I'm so thrilled that you found someone who loves the Lord. I am thrilled that they are committed to serving the Lord and want their life to count for Him. They don't use English grammar very well. They use their spoon instead of their fork. That's something they can grow in. We need to keep our focus. Sometimes these divisions are more present than we would admit it.

Then keep in mind Paul wrote to the Corinthians. We don't have time to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 26 to 30. "Consider your own selves, brethren, not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble have been called." You know, we want our church to grow. We want people to be saved but we want them from the wise, the mighty, the noble, the important. God's not calling many of those. Look around. Common, ordinary, uncultured us. It doesn't matter whether you went to finishing school or not. That doesn't affect your sanctification.

Now again, some of you are going to go away and say, you know, I've been trying to teach my kids manners and you blew it all in that sermon. I've tried to tell them how to use their napkin and how to use their silverware and you blew it. I'm not saying we shouldn't teach our kids that but nor do I want to teach my kids that these things are on the same level as godliness. The lowest, crudest person from the street can enter into the salvation God has provided and be conformed to the beauty of His character. And he ought to be able to do it in this Body.

Cultural barriers. Cultural divisions removed. One other areasocial barriers. "Slave and free man." Slave and free man. And you understand that a lot of the world were slaves in New Testament times. In fact, one commentator wrote that up to a third of those living in city like Colossae may have been slaves as Paul wrote. That's a large number. And you understand a slave legally speaking in the New Testament world was simply a piece of property. Aristotle called slaves a living tool. Just like a tool, only it's living. It's to be used for what you want to get done. So there is even a greater distinction than we have in our world with those who have menial jobs in a company and those who run the company. The idea would be there. But you understand we're talking about radical distinction and major social barriers. But your social status, your job position is not a factor in God's work in your life. These are not issues.

In the Body of Christ, you know, you can be saved whether you have the lowest position in the company or the highest. Whether you are the poorest or the richest. And the functioning of the body is a nonentity. Keep in mind some of these people would get saved . . . the master would get saved, a few of his slaves get saved, and they came to the church, may end up the slaves have grown more maturity. They're on the board of elders and the master is under their authority at the church. This living tool of mine is my spiritual leader? That's right. Nothing to do with spiritualityyour social standing.

We need to remember that in the church. Comes similar to the cultural barriers, the social barriers that get built up. Well, the slave he's a nonperson. Not in Christ he's not. He has the fullness of salvation in Christ. He has the fullness of God's work in his life to conform him to the image of Christ. Better be careful I don't look down on him, I don't consider him my inferior because you know, he doesn't have as important position as me. And the church needs to function that way.

James . . . we don't have time to turn to it. James chapter 2 verses 1 to 5. James warned his people. What happened? A poor man comes into your city . . . in your church poorly dressed. You don't care where he sits. Sit over here. That's good. But somebody comes in with gold, welldressed. Well here. Sit right here. You know, these social divisions have been removed in Christ. Now we say but we often don't live it.

Now let me read you a quote from a commentator on this whole area. "The apostle is not speaking about some natural equality of all persons, nor about a morality that is binding on all." He's talking about those who have experienced the work of Christ in their life. When in Galatians 3:28 he says that in Christ there is no male or female, he does not mean that the distinctive functions or capacities of men and women are abolished. For they like Greeks and Jews, slaves and free, continue to live in the various roles that the Word assigns them. But in Christ there is no inferiority of the one sex to the other or one class to another. Men and women of completely diverse origins are gathered together in unity in Christ through a common allegiance to their Lord. There is no difference in spiritual status between them."

He's going to go on to talk at the end of chapter 3 and into chapter 4 on different roles assigned. So this idea that this means there is no difference in roles fails to understand what he is talking about in the immediate context. There are no distinctions spiritually in salvation or sanctification. But that doesn't mean we have the same role assigned to us by God and the same responsibility in function.

No division. The world has division. But. That "but" that begins verse 11. Pick up the end of verse 11, "Christ is all, in all." But Christ is all, in all, chapter 3 verse 11. But Christ is all, in all. Christ is all means He is absolutely everything. Christ is all that matters is the thrust. The distinctions that are so important among fallen humanity are nothing in Christ for He is everything. So I am not focusing on your education, on your race, on your social standing. I am focusing on Christ and you are in Him and He is everything. Christ is all that matters. He is the focal point.

Christ is also in all. Everyone who is in Christ has Christ in them. He dwells in all the redeemed without distinction. That I should hold in low esteem, that I should think myself better than this one for whom Christ died, this one in whom Christ has worked salvation, this one in whom Christ is producing and accomplishing the marvel of conformity into the image of God. And I hold them in disdain because of these superficial human distinctions.

Let me read you two passages. Galatians 3:28 which just was referred to, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female," note this, "for you are all one in Christ Jesus." That's the oneness we have. That does not have mean a sameness. There will be differing roles and responsibilities as there are with the gifts in the Body. But we have a oneness in Christ.

And 1 Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body." One spirit, one body. "Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one spirit." So one Spirit placed us into one Body and that one Spirit indwells us all. There is a unity and a harmony.

As we close, let me read the comments from another section on Carson's book on prayer, "A closeknit society we shared ideals and goals frequently finds it relatively easy to foster love, tolerance and inner cohesion. Whether we think of the local rock climbing club, the regional football team or a socially cohesive local church, a certain amount of fraternal depth is common enough. Of course such groups may run into terrible division over power politics or a disrupted member or a nasty bit of nepotism, but some measure of transparent love is not all that unusual in such groups. Ideally the church is different. It is made of people who are as varied as can be, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, practical and impractical, sophisticated and unsophisticated, aristocratic and plebeian, disciplined and slightly, intense and carefree, extrovert and introvert and everything in between. The only thing that holds such people together is their shared allegiance to Jesus Christ, their devotion to Him, stemming from His indescribable love for them. When Christians lost sight of their first and primary allegiance, they will scrabble."

I trust God will keep us focused on what He has done for and what He is doing for us. And I trust this Body will be a reflection before the world of the unity and harmony and oneness that only God could produce with such diversity. May God by His grace give us an increasing diversity of all kinds in the days ahead. Let's pray together.

Father, we indeed are sinful, fallen beings. Lord, even as we have been redeemed and made new by Your grace, we see the old person constantly trying to assert itself. Lord, we find ourselves lapping into the mindset of the world with its divisions and conflicts and barriers. Thank you, Lord, for making us new in Christ. Our desire is that new man might be manifested more fully and more clearly. Thank you for the diversity of all kinds that exist within the Body of Christ. Thanks for what we must learn in appreciating that diversity, in constantly being reminded and reminding ourselves that Christ is all. He is everything. He is all that matters and He is in all. Lord, may this local church be a manifestation of that wonderful truth. And we pray in Christ's name, amen.