Red and Yellow, Black and White

A crowd of high school students just dropped in the Chick-fil-A where I'm spending the morning. They were on field trip to the Little Rock Zoo. Must've been 50 of them.

I watched as they began to group together in booths and tables in the dining area. Some body language clearly said that some kids were welcome to sit with them and some weren't. I began to wonder how it was in my high school. We didn't have cell phones. We didn't drive $30,000 cars. But we were probably just as clique-ish as today's students.

Nowhere are divisions more noticeable than in the typical Baptist church in the south. I've read articles recently about white churches firing pastors for baptizing people of another color. I've read articles of churches requiring members to hold to particular forms of racism or discrimination. That's really sad.

If a person should feel accepted anywhere it should be in the church. If that "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" statement (Ephesians 4:5) is really true, then one Church is also true. Who is there to follow besides Christ? Sure, there are local expressions called churches that are uniquely fit for carrying out the Great Commission and Great Commandment, but that doesn't mean a local church can exclude anybody. We (Christians) are all on the same team. We ought to act like it.

I'm assistant coach for the Red Roc Rockets baseball team. We don't let the boys talk down to one another. They are on the same team. They are to encourage and help each other. That's how a church should be and how churches should interact with one another. What's at stake for the church is much more important than a baseball game. A vast majority of people alive today are headed for eternal separation from God if they don't hear the gospel and accept the gospel.

We have a huge task and we have no time to waste. So quit saving seats for the people you like and join with all Christians to win all kinds of people to Christ. Eternity depends upon it.