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There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-6).

The things that divide often loom large, too large. An argument with a family member or close friend can cause us to lose perspective. All we see is how wrong that other is. Beautiful years of relationship can disappear in moments; conflict eclipsing all that has gone before. How could we have ever enjoyed this person\u2019s company? They have so many bad habits. How could we have put up with them for so long?

As in the biological family, so in the family of God. We hear Paul\u2019s call to be \u201ccompletely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love\u201d (2). We want to argue with him, \u201cYou don\u2019t know the people in my family, my church. You don\u2019t know how self-absorbed, cantankerous, and ego-driven they are. They are not lovable.\u201d Unity it too much to ask.

But it seems that our objections have been anticipated. For three chapters, we have enjoyed a long, slow, gaze at the grandeur of God\u2019s work in Christ. With pain-staking detail, Paul has shown God\u2019s love for us, which pre-dates time itself. The grand arc of history is to reconcile all things together in Christ. In the end, God will receive all the glory for his redeeming love, the church being its show case in this era.

Now we are invited to role up our sleaves to participate in this great reconciling work. But as we pull on our coveralls, we recoil at what it will require of us: humility, gentleness, patience, and love that covers over other\u2019s sins. We are called to respond kindly to hostile words, to turn the other cheek. This we do not want to do. The cost is too much.

And so, before he goes on to spell out in more detail how much unity costs and the various contours of our calling in Christ; before we can raise more objections against the practice of resurrection, he pulls us back to our rootedness in Christ. He has us recall all the resources that we have available for practicing the Christian life.

The first resource is unity. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Our eyes can get so focussed on what is right in front of us. We see what we want to see. What we want to see is the hurts and pains that others have caused us. But this is not the way of resurrection. The writer of Hebrews tells us how to practice resurrection, \u201cAnd let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart\u201d (12:1-3).

It is not just \u2018Jesus\u2019 that we fix our eyes on. It is the Jesus \u201cwho endured the cross, scoring its shame\u2026who endured such opposition from sinners.\u201d This is the Messiah we see. We set our sights beyond the pain and struggle and injustices to see the one Messiah, who sends one Spirit, to bring together the children of the one Father in his family, into one church.

Setting our sights on this Messiah, we see that our \u201cone God and Fatherl\u2026is over all and through all and in all\u201d. Though it is beyond our comprehension, this God is at work in our humility, gentleness, patience, and love that covers over other\u2019s sins, to bring about his redemptive purposes. Such qualities are not signs of weakness, but rather of hope and trust in God.

Many human sins, often motivated by the ego, drive Christians apart. Before we began practicing resurrection, we saw only insults and the sins of others. But now we see God; we see Jesus, the Lamb that was slain. His blood is stronger than our divisiveness. In him is our faith, our hope, our baptism. No matter all evidence to the contrary, there is only one body, one family of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).