Listening, Love, and Unity in Christ's Body

Devotional

Day 1: The Transformative Power of Listening

Listening is a profound act that goes beyond merely hearing words; it involves understanding and acting upon what is heard. This is essential in addressing historical and systemic issues that divide us. By engaging in open dialogue, we can better understand the experiences and sensitivities of others, fostering healing and unity. Listening with intention and empathy allows us to break down barriers and build bridges, creating a more inclusive and understanding community. It is through this active engagement that we can begin to address the deep-rooted issues that have long divided us and work towards reconciliation and unity. [19:46]

James 1:19-20 (ESV): "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

Reflection: Think of a recent conversation where you could have listened more intently. How can you practice active listening in your next interaction to foster understanding and unity?

Day 2: Building Relational Ecclesiology

The church must be a relational environment, emphasizing communication and understanding. Ecclesiology should go beyond preaching and singing to foster genuine relationships that bridge divides, allowing us to live out the one new man in Christ. This relational approach encourages us to engage with one another on a deeper level, moving past superficial interactions to form meaningful connections. By prioritizing relationships, the church can become a place where individuals feel seen, heard, and valued, ultimately reflecting the love and unity that Christ calls us to embody. [21:26]

Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV): "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

Reflection: Consider someone in your church community with whom you have not yet formed a relationship. How can you take a step towards building a genuine connection with them this week?

Day 3: Rooting Our Identity in Christ

Our ultimate identity should be rooted in Christ, transcending secondary markers like race or culture. This shift in perspective allows us to see others through the lens of Christ's love and grace, fostering unity and understanding. By focusing on our identity in Christ, we can move beyond the divisions that often separate us and embrace a more inclusive and loving community. This perspective encourages us to view others not through the lens of societal labels but through the transformative love and grace that Christ offers to all. [29:07]

Galatians 3:28 (ESV): "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Reflection: Reflect on an aspect of your identity that you often prioritize over your identity in Christ. How can you shift your perspective to see yourself and others primarily through the lens of Christ's love?

Day 4: Balancing Love and Truth

Love should never be divorced from truth. Truth should be spoken in love with the goal of building up rather than tearing down. The unity of the church is vital for God's presence to be revealed, as disunity can uninvite God from our midst. By balancing love and truth, we can create an environment where individuals feel safe to express themselves and grow in their faith. This balance encourages us to approach difficult conversations with grace and understanding, seeking to build up rather than tear down. [31:25]

Ephesians 4:25 (ESV): "Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."

Reflection: Think of a truth you need to communicate to someone in love. How can you ensure that your words are both truthful and loving, aiming to build up rather than tear down?

Day 5: Engaging in Difficult Conversations

Engaging in difficult conversations with those different from us allows us to discover blind spots and grow. By building relationships and understanding different perspectives, we can reflect the love of God and fulfill our call to love our neighbors as ourselves. These conversations, though challenging, are essential for personal and communal growth. They provide opportunities to learn from one another and to address the biases and assumptions that may hinder our relationships. By approaching these conversations with humility and openness, we can foster a more inclusive and loving community. [26:11]

Proverbs 27:17 (ESV): "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

Reflection: Identify a difficult conversation you have been avoiding. What steps can you take to approach this conversation with humility and a willingness to learn from the other person's perspective?

Sermon Summary

In today's discussion, we delved into the profound importance of listening and engaging in difficult conversations, particularly within the context of race and identity. Listening is not merely about hearing words but involves understanding and acting upon them. This is crucial in addressing the historical and systemic issues that have long divided us. We explored how personal and corporate guilt can perpetuate systems of exclusion, as illustrated by the story of the golf club that once barred Black individuals from membership. This example underscores the need for open dialogue to understand the experiences and sensitivities of others.

The church, as a relational environment, must go beyond preaching and singing to foster genuine relationships that bridge divides. Ecclesiology should be relational, emphasizing communication and understanding. We discussed the significance of identity markers and how they can hinder communication. Our ultimate identity should be rooted in Christ, transcending secondary markers like race or culture. This shift in perspective allows us to see others through the lens of Christ's love and grace.

Furthermore, we examined the balance between love and truth in maintaining unity within the body of Christ. Love should never be divorced from truth; instead, truth should be spoken in love with the goal of building up rather than tearing down. The unity of the church is vital for God's presence to be revealed, as disunity can uninvite God from our midst.

Finally, we reflected on the global and American church's strengths and weaknesses in addressing race discussions. The church must rediscover its call to love our neighbors as ourselves, embracing humility and grace. By engaging in difficult conversations and building relationships with those different from us, we can grow and learn, ultimately reflecting the love of God to the world.

Key Takeaways

1. The Power of Listening: Listening goes beyond hearing; it involves understanding and acting upon what is heard. This is essential in addressing historical and systemic issues that divide us. By engaging in open dialogue, we can better understand the experiences and sensitivities of others, fostering healing and unity. [19:46]
2. Relational Ecclesiology: The church must be a relational environment, emphasizing communication and understanding. Ecclesiology should go beyond preaching and singing to foster genuine relationships that bridge divides, allowing us to live out the one new man in Christ. [21:26]
3. Identity in Christ: Our ultimate identity should be rooted in Christ, transcending secondary markers like race or culture. This shift in perspective allows us to see others through the lens of Christ's love and grace, fostering unity and understanding. [29:07]
4. Balancing Love and Truth: Love should never be divorced from truth. Truth should be spoken in love with the goal of building up rather than tearing down. The unity of the church is vital for God's presence to be revealed, as disunity can uninvite God from our midst. [31:25]
5. Engaging in Difficult Conversations: Engaging in difficult conversations with those different from us allows us to discover blind spots and grow. By building relationships and understanding different perspectives, we can reflect the love of God and fulfill our call to love our neighbors as ourselves. [26:11]
** [26:11]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[19:46] - Importance of Listening
[20:04] - Personal Experience with Historical Terms
[21:00] - Relational Ecclesiology
[22:02] - Story of Systemic Exclusion
[23:16] - Healing Through Understanding
[24:26] - Reversal of History
[25:36] - Communion as a Symbol of Unity
[26:00] - Importance of Difficult Conversations
[27:10] - Discovering Blind Spots
[28:13] - Identity Markers and Communication
[29:07] - Rooting Identity in Christ
[31:25] - Balancing Love and Truth
[34:04] - Strengths and Weaknesses of the Church
[36:25] - Closing Statements and Prayer

Sermon Clips

"Unless we are willing to talk to one another and get to understand why there are sensitivities on my side that you may not understand, or that you may need to become more familiar with, then we will go into our own corners with our own judgment, and perhaps many of those judgments will be errant." [00:21:00]

"The church is supposed to be a relational environment right right so just coming for preaching and teaching and singing as important in foundation as those things are is not sufficient ecclesiology ecclesiology must be relational, and without that relational component, which includes the communicative parts of it." [00:21:26]

"Located adjacent to our church is a golf course of a golf club of Dallas. The golf club of Dallas would not allow blacks to play on it until 1994. We tried to, the way they had it structured was if a person brought a black person to the golf course, you had to get two-thirds votes in order to be admitted." [00:22:02]

"Actively listening is more than just being exposed to noise and sound. It's hearing and acting upon it. Daryl, I know this is a topic that you and I have had discussion on a lot, the importance of difficult conversations. I know you're just chomping at the bit to probably say something about that particular." [00:25:36]

"Working through it is really the best way to proceed because what engaging in a difficult conversation with someone whose experience is different than yours gives you the opportunity to do is to discover blind spots that you may have, and it's the blind spots that we have that we're not even aware of." [00:26:11]

"So here we are with identity markers. It's the number one question in my opinion of the human condition: where do you source your identity? And if it is in any of these markers like language, apartheid for South Africa when I got to be there, you mean they had these wonderful streets which stopped at the white neighborhoods." [00:28:13]

"Identity markets are extremely critical. The question is how much weight do we want to give to the secondary relative identity markers or do we really subsume our identity under the ultimate, the absolute ultimate, who is the Lord Jesus. So internal reference, we are people of minds and hearts." [00:29:07]

"Love is never to be divorced from truth. So you don't excuse truth in order to maintain love. You speak truth in a way that demonstrates love, and the way you speak truth in a way that demonstrates love is that your goal is to build up and not to tear down." [00:31:25]

"God will only reveal his presence to the level of our unity. So when Jesus, who uses the word one about 10 times in John 17, and he comes to verses 23 to 25 and he says, preserve the unity, oh no he tells them to keep the unity to perfect them in unity and then he says, so that they may see my glory." [00:32:44]

"I think the weakness in the church right now is the inability to think about and appreciate people who are different than us, to understand our commission that our call is to call people outside the church into an invitation to come into the church, and to do so in such a way that we show and reflect the love of God." [00:34:04]

"We need to rediscover that we need to discover the humility that comes with that we need to exalt the grace that comes with that, and we need to work to care about people enough who are different from us enough to think about how we were once in the same situation that they are in." [00:35:36]

"We must let being biblical Christians trump being cultural Christians. If I say I'm a black Christian, somebody else says a white Christian, you make black and white an adjective you may Christian a noun. The job of the adjective is to modify the noun so that you must always make Christianity the noun." [00:38:48]

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