Two diametrically opposing scenes are revealed in the Word of God. One is found in the beginning of the Old Testament. The other shows up at another beginning; the church.
Genesis 11 calls attention to the harmony of created man wishing to build a name for himself. Their fear was that they would be scattered. They all spoke one language. Their goal was to keep this intact for in doing so it is said that there would be nothing impossible for them to accomplish.
Come let us build for ourselves a city, 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.
It was God who immediately broke up their self-designed union. They had determined they could handle life without Him. They could pull together this and that. Ah, nothing would be impossible if they just banded together.
The flip-side of the story is then noted in Acts 2. Nations and peoples who generations earlier had been dissolved and scattered in Genesis 11 are now found gathered in Jerusalem; each a representation of multiple languages foreign to the others.
A new power came in; not of man's conniving design of unity; but of God's dynamic...a holy unity.
And they were amazed and marveled, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of them in our own language to which we were born?"
A marvelous matter occurred. The unity of sin which instead divided the self-centered stronghold of Genesis 11 was soon to be restored in Acts 2 through unity; not of man's sinful manipulative ego, but by a new power which would unite foreign languages into one in order to give glory to God. The unity of holiness abounded at this Jerusalem gathering.
Today, when man tries to give glory to his religious standard and conviction, it seems this unity of sin does not bring about a harmony with others. Yet, when we use our voices from distant doctrines with varying accents to give glory to God, a unity of holiness seems to arise from the ashes of division.
On the one hand, sin injures. On the other, holiness heals.
On the sin hand, those formerly in sync find themselves in opposition. On the holy side those who have grown distant seem to find a way to draw together in the love of Christ.
Tomorrow I will participate in something I once opposed. Whether it is right (and I believe it is), my motive is of holy intent. A gathering of the Tulsa religious will assemble at ORU (Oral Roberts University) for the National Day of Prayer. I don't know why or how, but I have been invited to lead one of the prayers on stage with other pastors at whom I once sneered.
I'm going.
I'm not going to show them what a true Christian looks like. They can look among themselves and find the more superior. I want to participate due to the mercy of Jesus that would let me dare be allowed to be included among these whose voices also matter to Him greatly.
Where I once balked at such moments due to my arrogance, God has shown me my own lack; not theirs. It isn't a matter of whether I grace their stage. It is an issue of would a guy like me blemish their efforts. By their kindness they evidently seem to think not.
All of us, within our ranks of drive and conviction, have enormous need for Jesus to cleanse day by day. There are no exceptions.
The unity of sin keeps us apart. The unity of holiness draws us together. The first huddles with those who speak the same narrow language believing we can do all things by our assumed right ways. The latter are the scattered in our belief systems who are now being called to a new kind of unity.
We are to be found bragging on Him; not our stances....finally.
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