By Brandon Lemons
When preparing a sermon, I almost always have more to say than I have time to say it. This forces me to cut material I’d rather not cut. (Cutting material usually happens during the preparation process, not “on the fly” while delivering the sermon.) This process of cutting and condensing yields good results in terms of a more focused message that is communicated more efficiently. Sometimes, though, I must cut content that I would still like to share at some point.
In this article, I’m going to share some of what I cut from the sermon on February 9, titled “But Christians are too political.” I am glad I cut it, because it would have pulled attention away from the main points. At the same time, it has continued resonating in my mind – including its relevance to the sticky subject of politics – so I am sharing it in the form of an article.
“A Third Race”
Our world is deeply divided. So was the world of the early church. One of the big divisions was between Jews and Gentiles. A Gentile was anyone who wasn’t a Jew. This division was rooted in religion, politics, ethnicity, and historical grievances. Jews despised Gentiles, and Gentiles despised Jews. From both sides, the mentality was “us versus them.”
In the years after Jesus’ resurrection, a shocking thing occurred: Gentiles began turning to Jesus! Even more shocking to the Jews was the fact that God affirmed that this was His doing – that He wanted Gentiles to have equal access to Him that Jewish people had when they turned to Jesus!
In Ephesians 2:11-22, the apostle Paul describes the fact that Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are no longer to relate to each other as enemies, because Jesus has made a way for them to be united. Paul writes: “For [Christ] himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace.” (2:14-15) A key is the idea of “one new humanity out of the two.” They were no longer to identify as separate entities, but rather as one new group (literally, “one new person”) that has been united through their shared faith in Jesus, their shared access to God the Father through the same Holy Spirit (2:18), and the fact that God is building them into a metaphorical temple in which He resides (2:21-22).
After Ephesians was written, Christians began speaking of themselves as a “third race” that was neither Jew nor Gentile, but instead was the Church: the diverse people God is uniting through Jesus. A common way to think back then was that there are two “races” of people (they used the term “race” differently than we use it today). Back then, your “race” was the people who were like you, known as the “first race.” Then there were people who weren’t like you, known as the “second race.” For instance, from a Roman point of view, Romans were the first race and everyone else was a second race. From a Greek view, Greek-speaking people were the first race, and everyone else (called “barbarians”) was the second race. From a Jewish view, Jews were the first race, and Gentiles were the second race.
Christians began seeing themselves as a “third race” – a completely new category that is no longer defined by geography, ethnicity, language, or any other cultural identifier that was previously significant to them. Rather, this “third race” was defined by their shared allegiance to Jesus! Jesus became their primary way of identifying themselves, which also transformed the way they viewed others. Even people who were very different in terms of language, ethnicity, cultural traditions, politics, socioeconomic status, etc., were now united as brothers and sisters in “God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19)!
This dynamic of a “third race” shocked the Roman Empire, because the default mentality was (and still is) that people divide into groupings where everyone is like one another. The church introduced a completely new dynamic of diverse people who were lovingly united together! To this day, the Christian Church remains the most diverse group in the world! Even among religions, no other religion has the scope of diversity that Christianity has.
The Call to Love
Unity is difficult to maintain, even for Christians. One of my seminary professors, Don Carson, wrote:
I suspect that one of the reasons why there are so many exhortations in the New Testament for Christians to love other Christians is because this is not an easy thing to do…. Ideally, the church is not made up of natural ‘friends.’ It is made up of natural enemies. What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income levels, common politics, common nationality, common accents, common jobs, or anything else of that sort. Christians come together, not because they form a natural [association], but because they have all been saved by Jesus Christ and owe him a common allegiance…. They are a band of natural enemies who love one another for Jesus’ sake.
This quote is worth reading multiple times to let its message sink in.
Love is not easy – especially because Jesus calls us to love people who are not the same as us. It was unnatural for a Jew to love a Gentile. Or a Zealot to love a tax collector (Jesus recruited one of each for his band of twelve disciples). It’s natural to feel love toward people who are like us. But the Bible calls us – repeatedly – to love people who are unlike us.
In John 13:34-35, Jesus said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love for other Christians is the distinguishing characteristic Jesus says the world should see among His followers; He says Christians’ love for each other will demonstrate that we are His disciples. This means our primary identifying factor is not morality or politics; it is not our religious beliefs or religious activities. It’s our love for one another! Why? I think Jesus highlights love among His followers because this type of love is so unnatural; the world cannot consistently generate this type of love; love between diverse people is supernatural, which is why love among Jesus’ followers is the identifying characteristic for how people will know we are His followers.
Unity or Uniformity?
Throughout the New Testament, there is a strong call for unity among Christians. This call first comes from Jesus Himself. The night before He was crucified, Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through [the disciples’] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” This remarkable passage from John 17:20-23 demonstrates that unity among Jesus’ followers is a powerful indicator to the world of who Jesus is. If Christians are easily divided and are fighting among ourselves, the world won’t see any difference that makes Christ worth following. But if Christians – who are naturally a diverse group of people – can maintain love and unity despite our differences, that is a powerful testimony!
It is natural to confuse unity with uniformity. Uniformity is when everything is the same. A group of people experiencing uniformity is likely to talk the same, dress the same, and hold the same views on politics, parenting, religion, morality, etc. Uniformity seeks to make people into clones and frequently leverages power to enforce uniformity.
Unity is different than uniformity. Unity depends on a “common thread” holding people together – usually a common allegiance or a shared goal. Unity allows more freedom to recognize that there are complex situations and that not everyone draws identical conclusions about how to handle those situations.
The temptation to want uniformity is often strong. For instance, if I interpret a tricky Bible passage a certain way, it’s tempting to want everyone to interpret the passage the way I do. It’s often natural to want other people to choose the same style of education for their children that I choose for my children. It’s natural to want everyone to make the decisions I make, to value what I value, or to vote like I vote. People often feel a drive toward uniformity, because uniformity is more comfortable and supports our preferences and priorities. Leaders often push people toward uniformity, because uniformity is far less messy and less complex than pursuing unity-amid-diversity.
For many, the pull toward uniformity is so strong that they exit diverse environments for the comfort of environments where everyone looks, thinks, or acts like they do. This happens frequently in churches, whether we look at ethnic demographics of churches, economic demographics of churches, or political demographics of churches. However, the call in Scripture is not for uniformity, but for unity as Christians prioritize their shared allegiance to Jesus.
Paul’s Rallying Cry for Unity
Earlier, I referenced Ephesians 2, which lays a theological foundation for unity among Jewish and Gentile Christians. Later in the same letter, Paul gives practical guidance for how to experience this unity. He says in Ephesians 4:1-6, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Verse 2 outlines the demeanor that is necessary for unity: humility, gentleness, patience, and a readiness to bear with one another in love. Unity does not call us to be silent about our opinions and perspectives. In fact, growth in sanctification and wisdom requires us to sharpen each other, to work through our differences, and to help each other identify blind spots and keep learning. At the same time, it is vital to prioritize humility, gentleness, patience, and love.
For a group to maintain unity, they also must have a common thread that pulls them together. In Ephesians 4:4-6, Paul highlights Christians’ primary common thread, which is our shared allegiance to God through Christ. Paul repeats the word “one” six times to highlight the commonality Christians share. If our ultimate allegiance is to Jesus, and we humbly submit ourselves to Him, then unity that honors Him is truly possible.
Prioritizing Allegiances
In summary, it is crucial for Christians to “march to the beat of a different drummer” than our world does. Our “drummer” is Jesus. It is shared allegiance to Jesus that makes us “a third race” – an entity that lives by Jesus’ “beautiful tune” (“beautiful tune” is my favorite description of Jesus’ life and teaching), an entity that learns to live out a love for one another that shocks the world. This entity I speak of is the Church, which consists of all Christians everywhere and is manifested in local churches like Friedens Church.
There are many people, groups, and causes that call for our allegiance. Jesus, too, calls for allegiance – for absolute allegiance to Himself, to the point where all other allegiances and loyalties are of lesser importance. When we live with Jesus as our highest allegiance and experience unity with fellow Christians, that is when we live as “a third race” that honors Him in a divided world.
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