#3 Who Can I Count On?
 

Break Down the Barriers
 

Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all.
(Colossians 3:11)
 

    One of the most awesome major league baseball teams in history was the Oakland Athletics of the early 1970's. The team won three straight world championships, something no one else has done since.
    You never would have guessed it had you visited their locker room.
    They fought like cats and dogs. They needled each other, scuffled with each other, called each other names, played nasty tricks on each other.
    But when they got out on the playing field, they were nearly unbeatable. Why?
    Because when it came time for the game to begin, they put everything else aside and focused on baseball.
    Paul has something very like that in mind here. He says the people in the pews are focused on Christ. They have all kinds of varying interests and ideas. But when they come together as believers, all those ideas are subjected to the one predominant idea - Christ is all that matters. He is the focus of our attention; he is the one we seek to honor, to love, and to serve.
    Believers know that Christ dwells in them through the Holy Spirit. Whatever may be happening in their lives, they must see that he is alive in them and in others. It is the same Lord living and working in every believer. That is what binds them together.
    Diverse interests, prejudices, and priorities in any group are bound to generate problems. If, however, these things become secondary, not primary, then the fellowship of believers will flourish.
    Paul had to overcome all kinds of barriers in the church at Colosse: racial and ethnic differences, religious differences, cultural differences, social differences.
    Occasionally I hear rumbles in my own church over social distinctions. Some groups make sure they never get together with other groups. It's hard for me to understand. I'd love to take these people by the hand and drop them in the church at Colosse, where they'd find both slaves and slave owners. Paul says when you focus on Christ, social distinctions don't count for much.
    When we focus on Christ, all barriers are transcended. Lose your focus on Christ, and there will be as many barriers as people.
    What is it that splits a church? It is people who major on differences. When our focus is on Christ - when he is allowed to work in each of our lives - then these barriers can be transcended in him.
    Where is the focus in your church family? On Christ? Or on differences?
 

Father, please help us as a church to focus on you and learn to really love one another despite our differences, Amen
 

~Stuart Briscoe~