United in Christ

Because if we are in Christ, we're never truly a divided people.

By: Caleb Click, FORMER Perimeter school dad and FORMER Perimeter church Pastor of Spiritual and Theological Formation

Former Perimeter School Dad and Perimeter Church Pastor Caleb Click wrote this blog post for our school families four years ago. His words are so timeless and timely that we wanted to share them again. We hope that you are encouraged by the wisdom he shares…

When Perimeter School approached me about writing a blog for Election Day, my first instinct was to duck for cover and scramble frantically for any excuse to avoid doing it. Because what could I write that wouldn't end up being a lose-lose situation? What could I say amid all this tumult that wouldn't end up angering somebody? It's a little like handing someone a live grenade, pulling the pin, and then running away, shouting, "Good luck!"

How do you speak to something that feels so explosive?

Driving through my neighborhood, the visual evidence of our fractured state is unmistakable. Everywhere I look, there are banners and signs loudly declaring people's allegiance to one side of the political aisle or another. And, as news and social media daily remind us, that divide is not particularly amicable. A tempest of fear and anger with far too little grace and truth has descended, a divisive storm raging not only in the surrounding culture but even in the body of Christ and, if I'm honest, in my own heart.

Who We Truly Are

Next Week, as ballots are cast and votes are counted, it's important to remember who we – as the body of Christ – truly are. Because if we are in Christ, while we may live in a divided world, we're never truly a divided people.

We may fail daily to live in line with that reality, but the gospel says it never ceases to be one.

Jesus didn't come to save individual people and then leave them to live their disparate lives. He came to make the many one, to preach peace to those who were far off and peace to those who were near, "reconciling us both to God in one body through the cross." (Ephesians 2:13-18)

He laid down his life to redeem a people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation (Acts 20:28; Revelation 5:9-10) and to adopt them into a new family, born of grace. (Ephesians 1:5)

Heirs of the Same Promise

And this unity does not exist only in theory; rather, it's a spiritual reality. If Christ is our head, then we are members of one another whether we like it or not (Romans 12:5; Ephesians 1:22-23), and the things that divided us – Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, etc. – have ceased to exist as barriers to inclusion. (Galatians 3:28)

Christ has washed all of them away, making us all heirs of the same promise, recipients of the same hope, and branches grafted into the same life-giving sap of the True Vine. (Galatians 3:29; John 15:1-17)

As Paul says, "There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – 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)

While we do not experience this unity's fullness in the present, the gospel promises that one day we will. (Ephesians 4:13) It's a reality born of the love of the Father (Ephesians 1:3-6), purchased and prayed for by the Son (Ephesians 1:6-7; John 17:21), and sealed by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:13-14; 1 Corinthians 12:13)

We are His

You may read all this and wonder, "Caleb, what does this actually mean?" My answer would be at least two things …

One, as we continue to navigate this divisive and divided world, it means that we need to remember our true identity and embrace it. If we are in Christ, then, before we are anything else, we are the redeemed citizens of heaven. We may live in exile now, but we live by faith in the King who is coming and whose kingdom is coming with Him in full. (1 Peter 1:13)

As pilgrims on the way to that kingdom, we have infinitely more in common with fellow exiles than we do with people who share similar political beliefs or any other identifying marker. There is a bond that runs deeper than any name we punch in the ballot box, and it is one worth preserving with all humility, gentleness, patience, and love. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Through His cross, Christ has made seemingly irreconcilable people – zealots and tax collectors, Pharisees and prostitutes, Jews and Gentiles – into one new body, His Church. We're members of that body, and when we embrace that truth, we embrace the one who is the head, Christ himself. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Secondly, if all this is true, we don't need to fear the results of next week’s election. We don't know what will happen when the polls close, only that someone will win and someone will lose. However, we can say this with certainty: no matter what the outcome, we, as God's people, have not lost and our future has not changed one iota. Why? Because our trust is not in princes who cannot save but in the LORD our God who reigns forever. (Psalm 146) We are His, and He is ours. (Song of Songs 6:3; Psalm 95:7)

May we entrust our souls to His tender care and faithfully follow Him.