...of one child of God to another.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I have a passion for unity and love and healing within the Body of Christ. There are many things we all carry along with us that complicate the basic issues of our faith. And these things become a stench of disunity before the world and keep those outside the faith from truly seeing the most important thing that Christianity reveals, namely, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

When I consider the sine quo non of Christianity, I find no greater doctrine, experience, cause or focus than that of "Christ and Him crucified." According to Scripture, He is the "Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." He is both the Who and the what of our salvation. And it is through His love that we live a new life unto Him.

In our youth we learn one simple truth: "Jesus loves me." That fact has so transformed my life that anything else is step-child theology. The only issue in life is whether we accept or reject His unconditional love and grace found on the cross. As Paul wrote concerning the good news of the cross and the resurrection of Christ, "it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'"

Brothers and sisters, our faith is grounded, established and built up in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. In Him we see the Father revealed. The Holy Spirit comes and proclaims Him to our hearts through His Word. And in fact, Jesus IS the Word of God.

We, as children of God, have received His Word, which is the Gospel of grace through Jesus Christ. In fact, we have received grace upon grace. The Scriptures says, "it is by grace we have been saved through faith, and this not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, unless any man should boast." This grace came when God stepped out of eternity, became a man and sacrificed Himself by brutal torture for the sins of the entire world -- past, present and future.

"He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Jesus was the wounded healer. He tasted death for us all and endured separation from the Father so that we might never endure such separation. And it is all of grace.

And life truly begins as we see Jesus and His work on our behalf and trust in Him. Faith is not something we work at. It is the gift of God. And we are called to live by faith in Christ. Jesus said, "Come unto me and I will give you rest." We are to learn of Him and step into the yoke -- the easy yoke -- with Jesus and walk daily by faith in Him.

Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live, but Jesus Christ lives in me, and the life I now live I live by faith in Jesus, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Brethren, we are crucified with Christ in our baptism and we have been raised to newness of life in Him. We must love one another. We must receive one another. We must depart from trying to use His Word as a sword against each other and, instead, use it to encourage, exhort, and build one another up.

I realize much of the issues in the contemporary Church are seemingly insurmountable and unresolvable. But those of us who are mature must bear with and undergird those who are weak in the faith. Instead of pointing fingers, dividing, and excommunicating, we should be about loving one another and gently guiding each other to a knowledge of the truth.

So much of the Church fights and bickers over so many things. And it turns those outside off to the Gospel. Moreover, we act in our churches in such a way that I think if Jesus were to stand in our midst we would not recognize Him, because we are off desiring this new teaching or this new experience in the Spirit or fighting the windmills of this age in the political realm.

Brethren, we need to love. We need to pray for one another, even the brothers and sisters we disagree with. It is not enough to simply name the name of Christ. We need to love as our Savior loved us. And we need to proclaim "Christ and Him crucified" over and above any denominational or personal distinctives.

He alone is Who saved us. His grace found in the cross and resurrection is the only foundation on which we stand. Without Him, we are nothing. And without Him, we can do nothing. Jesus Christ is the "Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." He is the "author and finisher of our faith." If it is through Christ that we begin this journey,then it is also through Him that we should continue on and finish this journey. So let us resolve as a Church to unite in Christ as our eternal Head.

This is a call to all who name the name of Christ; Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed and evangelical alike. It is well that we hold to our distinctives, but we are still brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord. We must all remember that it is upon the same cross that our Lord died for us. And it is from the same tomb that He rose again. And we are children baptized into "one holy catholic church" who partake of the same body and blood each Sunday around the world. This is truly the "communion of the saints" and "the aroma of Christ" of which Paul wrote.

If we would see Jesus only and desire Him alone, I think we would see the greatest move of God in history. For when we all see Jesus, true unity, love and peace is accomplished in the Body of Christ. And this "aroma" of love and unity is the only thing that will finally overpower the bitter stench of cold and selfish Church-ianity and draw a lost and dying world to the Savior.

May the Lord richly bless you as you consider these things. Amen.

Your brother in Christ,

...of one child of God to another.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Loren Michael Byelich

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