Pursue What Makes for Peace

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Sermon by Kenny Foster, Associate Pastor, from Jeremiah 29:4-11 and Romans 14:10-5:3. We are looking at the vision the Bible sets before us of being one body with multiple ethnicities, classes, languages, and preferences…including political ones. We have sought to answer the question, “What does it mean to be a gospel community?” Each week we have addressed how the gospel enables us to go beyond the barriers that the culture places before us. In this sermon we take a look at the barrier of politics.
Politics in our culture is divisive and polarizing. Yet the two dominant parties, Republicans and Democrats, each claim they know the path to peace and unity. Neither are able to agree upon who’s plan is right. Both are out for dominance over the other. Many believers are just as divided over politics as the partisans of both parties. If unity of the Church is what Jesus says will cause the world to know that the Father sent him, then the Church can’t be divided by the political ideologies of the culture. If the culture is divided, what does the Church do to maintain its unity? The Scripture says, “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” (Romans 14:19) Unlike the world, the gospel gives the Church something more than the interests of self and party to hold us together. It offers a powerful motivation through Jesus Christ who enables us to thrive the gift of unity in a world that is bitterly divided. The Communion most vividly demonstrates how this is possible.