August 13 Romans 10:5-15 Gospel unity        The Gospel unifies people around the world in Jesus Christ.

Psalter reading Psalm 85:8-13

8I will listen to what God the LORD says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly. 9Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. 10Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. 12The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. 13Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps. Psalm 85:8-13NIV

5Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” a 6But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’  ” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7“ or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’  ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile— the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:5-15 NIV

The world sees religion as a great divider and they are right!  Religion is humanities effort to come to God individually and through their efforts.  This means we have levels of success and that builds pride in us.

But Christianity is a lack of merit based system.  We are not capable of reaching God and so each of us are equally dependent upon God for salvation and for life.

As we receive God’s grace we also are equally called and must serve the God whom we have believed in to glorify Him and so that others can receive God’s grace.

We are also dependent on each other to form a community of believers to impact our society, to have the freedom to live out our faith and to serve God and our community.

Through our common need and God’s common (yet uncommon) grace we have no right to see others as less-than!  In Jesus God destroys our artificial walls we use to separate us – even from our enemies!  For we who were the enemies of God are also recipients of God’s grace!

Let us come together in Jesus united in our common need and God’s grace offered to each one!