Close the Gap

Excerpt from Thabiti Anyabwile post:  An Existential Affirmation of the Truth of the Gospel

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In God’s providence, since the conference we’ve been studying 1 Corinthians 6 in our Wednesday night Bible study.  Our Wednesday nights have been a good reinforcement of many of the peacemaking principles we’ve learned and are practicing with God’s help.  And more and more we’re seeing that our ability to live as a community of peace, which pleases God (1 Tim. 2:2-3), either affirms or denies our testimony of Christ’s redemptive work in our lives.  The presence or absence of peace testifies to a watching, unbelieving world.

As one commentator puts it:

A united community in which love dominates is the existential affirmation of the truth of the gospel.  A community which contains within itself the divisions which characterize ‘the world’ has no power to transform its environment, because the contradiction between theory and practice is too evident.

–J. Murphy-O’Connor, 1 Corinthians (Wilmington, DE: Glazier, 1979); cited in David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians (Baker), p. 210.

Have you thought lately about the unity of your church family and its affirmation of the truth of the gospel?  Have you prayed lately for the unity of your church?  Have you thought and prayed that your church’s unity might be used of the Lord to transform your community?  May the Lord close the gap between gospel theory and gospel practice in all His churches!