Reconciliation. It is and has been the sweeping expanse of God’s movement through history. Satan and sin separates; God brings back together.
God is in the reconciling business. First, He’s reconciling the world to Himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:19). Secondly, He’s reconciling us to each other.
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, [neither Republican nor Democrat, (and anything else you may want to put in here that can divide us, like Catholic and Protestant, home-schooler and public schooler, Caucasian and African-American, Hispanic and Asian, mega-church and cyber church)] for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)
Christ Jesus creates family. He wants us all together. He wants us to resolve conflict, find common ground, downplay our differences, put ourselves in each other’s shoes, and learn how to be all things to all people.
And that is not Christian people he’s talking about being all things to. Paul says he wants to be all things to all people that he might by all means save some, so he’s talking about being all things to people who are not saved. He’s talking about so identifying with unbelievers that his identification with them will help them eventually come to a place of belief. That would mean understanding why people don’t believe instead of calling them out for not believing. This erases the “us/them” kind of mentality common in so many Christian circles.
It’s “us and them” that makes us judgmental. It’s “us and them” that sets us apart in our own minds. It’s “us and them” that makes us haughty. It’s “us and them” that always leaves someone out.
I have an idea. How about we just do away with “them” altogether as a designation at least in our thinking. Try it for a while. There is no “them;” there is only “us.” God loves us. Christ died for us. He has a plan for us. His grace and mercy extends to us, and as far as we are concerned, “us” is everybody. And if there is a “them,” somewhere outside of God’s grace, I don’t know who “they” are, anyway, and I won’t, because that is not for me to know. Only my heavenly Father knows. Therefore as far as I am concerned, there is just us.
Meet a stranger; meet “us.” Meet the homeless; meet “us.” Visit the prisoners; visit “us.” Care for the dying; care for “us.” Befriend a foreigner; befriend “us.” There is no “us and them;” there is only us and… “us.”
There’s a world out there… look at us, love us, forgive us, have mercy on us, because God has.
John Fischer The Catch 
Like to add a big Amen to today’s Catch and this spoke to my heart: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, [neither Republican nor Democrat (and anything else you may want to put in here that can divide us… for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28) Especially, for me in this Political season, which seems to delight in wanting to divide most of us with this “us vs them” mentality – I often find myself wondering, why for me as a recovering Pharisee, I cannot just simply agree to disagree and not make or give into these often hurtful political & personal attacks…
As a general rule, for most purposes, yes and amen. But I’m also a little concerned about your undisclosed “mashup” of Galatians 3 with 1 Corinthians 9 (where the “all things to all people” discussion occurs). These are two different contexts, for two different purposes. They don’t necessarily mash-up without consequence. Of course there are “us” and “them” — for some purposes; Jesus said that, himself, in Matthew 7, speaking of recognizing false prophets by their fruit. So yes, in some circumstances we not only can, we must, recognize “them.” I think it would have been helpful for you to acknowledge this, while at the same time making your very valid point that the majority of the time, we’re all too ready to throw way, way too many people into the category of “them.”
Andrew…. good discernment… I agree with your observation. …,r
Thank you, Andrew. I’ll let you and Ralph acknowledge that. For me to have to cover every possible or supposed interpretation of what I say would greatly dilute its strength. Besides, I am not going after perfect and complete Biblical exposition here. I am going after getting people to think and in most cases letting them in on my own process of thinking which is far from perfect or complete. You might want to see to it that you’re not so busy making sure everything is correct that you can’t have any new thoughts.
That’s a very weak answer, John, to a legitimate comment and astute observation made by Andrew regarding an important part of our Christian lives. Some of your “new thoughts” are just either just plain wrong, or at least worthy of some discussion. I’m disappointed.
Hi John,
Discovering your site reminds me of something in the late 70’s, Los Altos. We were helping a young lady named Joyce, recovering from drugs, breakdown, etc., a concert singer. She loved to listen to your tape and also record heself singing with you. She would pause and comment on Jesus entering her life. Unfortunately she passed away. Several months later her mother from N.Y. knocked on the door and asked about her daughter who had run away at age 16 to join the Haight Ashbury movement. She heard her daughter was living with us. After sharing all we knew about Joyce I asked if she would like to hear her daughter sing. Of course she would. After listening to the tape including Joyce’s testimony she cried and asked if she could take that home to play for her family and friends. She wasn’t a Christian. So John, your ministry went to N.Y.
Lynn and Della (I entered this once before however I don’t think it transmitted.)
What an incredible story. Thanks for sharing it and for writing in. So many happy memories at the Berntsons. We always knew if we could just get to the Berntsons, everything would be okay.