Accept One Another

Romans chapter 15 is in our text for this morning. Romans chapter 15. I don't know if you've heard the story of Gail Sayers and Brian Piccolo. It is chronicle in the movie Brian's song made back in 1971, but it's a fascinating story of two football players, two men who were star running backs for the Chicago Bears in the late part of the 1960s, and they were very different men in their backgrounds. Gail Sayers became one of the most outstanding running backs ever to play in the National Football League. By contrast, Brian Piccolo was too small to really be a full back like he became with Chicago. He was an over achiever, but he was full of grit and determination and not only made the team as a signy. He was not even drafted out of college, but rose to a starting position. But the two men were very different in other ways as well. Gail Sayers was a black man. Brian Piccolo was a white man, and the distinction they had in the NFL is they were the first white man and black man to room together in the NFL. And it caused quite a sensation. It should have been no surprised anyone who knew Brian Piccolo, his background. He had no not a bone of racial prejudice in him at all, even in the 60s. He had played his college football wake forest in the mid 60s. And in the Atlantic Coast Conference in that year, 1963, the year I'm thinking of, there was only one black player in the whole conference. He played for Maryland. Maryland was in Winston-Salem playing at Wake Forest, and the crowd was just merciless in their racial epithets that they were throwing up on this black player from Maryland. Brian Piccolo walked over to the Maryland sideline, grabbed this this player, pulled him over in front of the crowd that was hurling insults at him, put his arm around him and pulled him close to himself, and the crowd immediately stopped. So Brian Piccolo was just that kind of guy. But as Gail Sayers and Brian Piccolo began to room together, they're just so new and different in the 60s that reporters were constantly asking them questions. And they just kept a running joke going on in answering those questions. Reporter would ask, well, how do you guys like room and together? And Brian Piccolo would say, it's okay if he showers. And then they would ask him, what do you all talk about with each other and Gail Sayers would say, all just the normal racist stuff. So they carried on this running joke with the reporters, but all the time they were forming a deep friendship, a very deep bond with each other. In a game in 1969, Brian Piccolo took himself out of the game, which was unheard of for a guy with his grit and determination, but he just couldn't breathe right. When they got back to Chicago, the Rancentess and found out he had advanced cancer, which had already invaded his entire chest cavity. Within a year, Brian Piccolo would die. The end of that year, Gail Sayers was honored by the football writers of America with the most courageous player award in New York City. He and his wife attended that ceremony and Brian Piccolo and his wife were supposed to be there, but Brian was too sick and he couldn't make the trip. This is what Gail Sayers said when he got up to receive the award. He said, you flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accepted for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive this award. I love Brian Piccolo. And I'd like for you to love him too. Tonight when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him. What a great example of two men who accepted one another coming from such different backgrounds in a day when that was not well accepted in our country, sadly so. In Romans chapter 15, we find the next one another that we want to deal with. And that is very clearly, very simply Romans chapter 15 verse 7, accept one another then just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. Accept one another. That's our one another for today. Now I regret that I have to do this, but in the culture in which we live, this concept of accepting one another needs to begin with a disclaimer. Paul is not saying accept everything. We live in a culture today that shouts at us tolerance for any viewpoint because as we are told, there is no absolute truth. And so there must be an accepting of everybody's viewpoint regardless of where it is on the spectrum. That's not what Paul's saying. He's not saying we must accept every viewpoint. The culture also shouts at us that we must accept every moral choice or lifestyle choice regardless of whether or not it lines up with the teachings of the Bible. We must accept and be tolerant of everybody's lifestyle choice. But the Bible says there are absolute rights and there are absolute wrongs. There is such a thing as sin. And so while the Bible is clear that we should accept every person regardless of what lifestyle or sin they may be involved in we should accept the person. The Bible never says we should accept every viewpoint or every sinful lifestyle. Doesn't say that doesn't teach that and that's not what Paul is saying here. Obviously in the context of the one and others we're talking about fellow believers. All of the one and others have to do with how we relate to one another in the body of Christ. Obviously the term one another in references to Paul writing to churches means fellow believers. And so we'll restrict the message today to that because that's the meaning of the one and others. So when the Bible says accept one another, Paul is saying that we are to warmly welcome others in the body regardless of our differences. Now there are two ways and the Bible speaks clearly about two ways that we sometimes violate this command. Accept one another, warmly welcome and receive one another regardless of our differences. There are at least a couple of ways that we violate this command. And we're going to look at both of those this morning. We're going to kind of come at this command through the back door because I think we can best understand how to accept one another if we better understand how we typically violate that and then seeing how we correct that then leads us to a fuller understanding of how we should accept one another. There are two ways that we violate this command. One of them is with judgmentalism and the other is with partiality or prejudice. And so we're going to deal with both of those violations of the command to accept one another. First of all let's deal with judgmentalism. And in order to understand what Paul means by accept one another we've got to grasp first of all the context of this command. It is never right to rip a phrase or a verse out of its surrounding material and try to make it say something that the author didn't intend and it's certainly true in this case because the context really helps us understand what Paul means by accept one another. Look again at verse seven. He says accept one another then. There's a clue, a verbal clue that he's summarizing something except one another then. Why would he say then? It's because of everything he has said leading up to this. This is the concluding thought in a whole train of thought that goes all the way back to Romans 14 verse 1. If you find your way back to Romans 14 verse 1 look at what it says. 14 one says accept him whose faith is weak without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything but another man whose faith is weak eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does look at the next phrase for God has accepted him. So what we find in chapter 15 verse 7 is the summary thought of what Paul started in chapter 14 verse 1. He says accept him whose faith accept the other person whose faith is weak in a certain area because God has accepted him and he summarizes that in 157 by saying accept one another then just as Christ accepted you. So in order to understand what accept one another really means we've got to understand Romans chapter 14. Now just six months ago we were in the book of Romans traveling through with Paul and we were in Romans chapter 14 so I'm not going to repeat that message this morning but I do want to summarize some of the thoughts from Paul and Romans 14 because that helps bring all the baggage that we need to chapter 15 verse 7. Accept one another. Paul is talking about accepting one another in issues where God says we are free to choose our own course of action based on our personal preferences based on our own strong personal convictions maybe but those choices may differ from what other people choose. Now again please understand he's not talking about issues that are clearly defined in the Bible as right or wrong. It is always wrong to lie it is always wrong to steal it is always wrong to commit adultery it is always wrong to have any kind of immorality involved in our lives anything the Bible is clear on like that and give specific commands on we know that is how we're to live there is no choosing my own way in those areas but there are a lot of areas where the Bible gives no clear command or direction and we are given the freedom the liberty to choose what we want to do based on our own personal convictions or our own personal preferences. In Romans chapter 14 there were two such issues that Paul addresses one of them is the issue of eating meat and the other is the issue of observing certain days as more holy than others and both of those issues were addressed by Paul because many of the early believers in Rome came from a Jewish background and for Jews it was a huge issue about whether or not you should eat meat because you never could be sure if you bought meat in the marketplace if it had been drained of its blood properly and according to Jewish dietary laws the law of Moses you were not supposed to eat any blood you couldn't be sure that had been prepared in other ways correctly according to the mosaic law whether it was clean unclean so most Jews just didn't eat the meat sold in the marketplace and so they basically ate vegetables that was a huge issue in the early church and even though the mosaic law had been done away with still because this was such a part of people's tradition and family life a lot of Jews had trouble giving that up and so it was an issue for them and it was an issue that Paul brings up the same way with holy days days in the Jewish calendar that were special worship days or feast days that you could do certain things you couldn't do other things that was all the law of Moses but it was also a part of Jewish people's tradition and family background and so they had difficulty giving some of that up although the mosaic law is no longer binding some of those Jewish people just because of family traditions and so forth still observed some of those things because it was like a family meal it was like a family time and so Paul is saying that's no longer an issue of God's command except one another when you vary on those kinds of things now we don't deal with the same issues today the issues that we might address today that are issues of Christian liberty that we have the freedom to choose our own way on our issues like which is the best Bible translation or styles of music some of you love bluegrass and country and some of you like more upbeat contemporary or rock some of you like jazz some of you like classical and styles of music those are things that we may differ on you you'll not find any command about that in the Bible about a style of music issues about what a Christian should or should not do on Sunday some believers because of their backgrounds have a lot of trouble with the freedom that other Christians seem to enjoy on Sunday activities and what should or shouldn't do whether or not a believer ought to attend a movie theater and there are a myriad of other issues that believers can differ on because the Bible does not specifically address those issues so it's on those kinds of issues that Paul says you are free to choose your own course your own course of action and we're not to we're not to judge one another we ought to accept one another even though we may differ on those kinds of issues now when you face an issue like that Paul says since there's no direct command about those issues we accept one another here are some principles to operate by and we covered these in depth six months ago let me just mention them this morning for principles that were to use to guide our conduct in issues of Christian liberty principle number one is watch your attitude watch your attitude don't look down on or judge the person who may have a different conviction than you watch your attitude second principle remember is remember to whom you answer you answer to God Paul says we don't judge another man's servant and since you're a servant of God I'll let God take care of that I'm not going to judge you and we all need to remember that we answered a God we don't answer to other people's standards in these areas third principle is restrain your liberty when necessary so that you don't call someone else to stumble someone who may have that background that for them it's a real weak area of conscience their conscience still accuses them over something it's best for you in their presence or with them not to exercise that liberty so that you don't cause them to go against their conscience and maybe violate something they hold is very special that could in turn cause them to disobey what the Bible clearly teaches so it's just best in certain cases to restrain your liberty principle number four is this be settled in your own convictions and Paul makes it very clear at the end of chapter 14 if you have liberty in a certain area it's not a problem for you then maintain that liberty just don't flaunt it in front of everybody else especially if it's someone that will harm and then he says if you have a strong conviction maybe a more narrow view of something a more narrow conviction about some stick to it but don't push it on other people don't expect other people to live by your same personal preference or conviction those are the principles that we operate by in the area of Christian liberty but here's the problem the principles are clear here's the problem the problem is judgmentalism judgmentalism we all have a tendency to judge someone else based upon our own preferences or our own standards that we've set for ourselves in these issues of Christian liberty and by the way judgmentalism comes from both sides it goes both ways those who have the more narrow maybe more conservative convictions on these issues can become legalistic in their judgmentalism because they look at other people and they say well if you don't use the translation I use or if you don't like the same kind of music I like and this is the only worship style that's acceptable if you'd if you don't hold this view like I hold then you're not spiritual and that's pure legalism because the Bible doesn't make those things standards of spirituality check it out read through the lists that the Bible gives of what it means to be spiritual what it means to really walk with God there's several of them just lists I love them because I'm a list kind of person so I love these lists let me give them to you the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 a list of eight characteristics all of them have to do with your heart character none of them none of them have to do with debatable issues or issues of Christian liberty you'll not find anything in there about translations or music or what to do on Sunday or not to do on Sunday or anything like that it's all issues of character blessed are those who mourn over their sin blessed are the peacemakers blessed are the poor and spirit and all those blessings that the the the Beatitudes another passage is the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5 verses 22 and 23 a list of the fruit that the Holy Spirit will demonstrate in your life if you're walking by the spirit and it's all character qualities love joy peace gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance long suffering those nine characteristics are all character qualities have nothing to do with Christian liberty issues first Timothy 3 Paul gives the qualifications for spiritual leadership in the church there 25 of them in first Timothy 3 and Titus 1 all of them have to do with character qualities and how you treat relate to other people they have nothing to do with Christian liberty issues Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 to 14 another list of what it means to put on the new man and he says clothe yourselves with these qualities in Colossians 3 12 to 14 all of them have to do with things like kindness gentleness self-control perseverance those kinds of things and the last list is in second Peter chapter 1 verses 5 through 7 where Peter says add to your faith virtue and to your faith and to your faith and elicities whole list of things that he says will make you productive in your walk with Christ and none of them are Christian liberty issues all these things have to do with your character your heart that's how God measures spirituality so it's very easy for us to judge another person who doesn't have quite a strong a conviction as I do in a certain area or their preferences are not the same and that becomes legalism we're forcing on them a standard of spirituality the Bible doesn't but it's also possible for judgmentalism to come from others the other side those who do understand liberty well it's possible for those of us who understand the issue of liberty and may express that liberty in certain ways to be judgmental in the sense that we kind of what I like to call we kind of enforce a reverse legalism in other words if a person doesn't understand the issues like I do and thus take the same stand that I do then they're not spiritual either and it's the same attitude it's reverse legalism well if they like the King James well that's not very spiritual they should like the NIV well that's the same attitude as the King James only people it's reverse legalism and if they don't like contemporary Christian music then there's something wrong with them well maybe not maybe they just have a classical music background so don't judge them over that either you see reverse legalism does the same thing it judges someone else on a standard that the Bible doesn't make a standard of spirituality so either way from either side we can become very judgmental and that's what Paul says we got to deal with in the context of 157 he's talking about this whole issue of accepting one another even though we may differ on areas of Christian liberty so what is the solution to this problem the solution is verse seven except one another then just as Christ accepted you and he goes on to talk about the fact that Christ first of all accepted Jews in verse eight and Christ accepted Gentiles in verses nine through twelve accepted people from very different backgrounds very different standards of how they live he accepted both and brought them into one body the church so that's our standard that's that's how we're to accept one another we're not to be judgmental of each other but to accept one another so take to yourself receive warmly to yourself people who may have differing convictions with you on certain areas of Christian liberty it is so easy to see something or to hear something and misrepresent that person and misjudge them and judge them prematurely when you don't understand their background you don't know their history you don't know what they've come out of and why they feel the way they do so please be careful about judging each other on either side of the spectrum judging the person who may differ with you on Christian liberty issues some years ago it's been three four years ago someone emailed me some mortgage company TV advertisements and I know it's dangerous to say that because I'll get a hundred things like that this week probably but someone emailed this to me a few years ago and I thought it is just such a classic picture of how we can so easily see something or hear something and misread the situation and judge someone quickly a picture is worth a thousand words so let's look at them hello one with a nasty well that's a lot of money for a deck well I hate to tell you this but you're getting robbed that did you hear me you're getting robbed that's great isn't it it is so easy to see something or hear something about someone else and without understanding how they have come to that conclusion or why they feel the way they do about not knowing their background not knowing their history not knowing their upbringing their training whatever to jump to some conclusion and judge someone too quickly and Paul is saying don't judge one another over these issues that we are free to differ on don't judge as a legal list those who may be a little less conservative than you and don't judge as one who understands freedom those who may have tighter standards than you don't judge each other except one another he says so we've got to deal with judgmentalism but we also need to deal with prejudice that's the second way that we violate this command to accept one another is with prejudice now there are different forms of prejudice the one that we typically think of when we hear that word is racial prejudice but there are different forms of prejudice let me first of all define what prejudice is I'm just going to give you a a dictionary definition I think will help us to understand what we're talking about here here's here's what it is prejudice is an opinion formed of someone usually an unfavorable opinion so an unfavorable opinion formed of someone based on three things number one insufficient knowledge you really don't know enough about the person or their background or secondly irrational feelings you prejudge someone based on irrational feelings or thirdly on inaccurate stereotypes for whatever reason your background your training whatever the way you were brought up you have a stereotype of a certain person or people group and you see a person and you place them in that group in that stereotype and you identify everything in your stereotype to that person it's prejudging prejudice it's prejudging someone forming an opinion of them ahead of time and then holding on to those preformed opinions without ever getting to know the other person that's what prejudice is now I said there are different forms of prejudice the one we typically think of racial prejudice and that's someone who comes from a different ethnic or racial background than you and you have a stereotype maybe about that racial background or that ethnic background or group people group and so you immediately prejudge form an opinion based on inaccurate stereotypes or irrational feelings that you have Mahatma Gandhi was the father of Indian independence the country of India Gandhi was a man who by nonviolent peaceful resistance movement forced the hand of the British government to allow India to become independent and you probably know his his story it's quite a fascinating story being Indian he was darker skinned what he tells in his autobiography is a stunning story in his autobiography Mahatma Gandhi says that when he was a student he was investigating the claims of Christianity he was reading the gospels and he was so moved by what he was reading in the gospels we would interpret that as what the conviction of the Holy Spirit he was so moved by what he was reading in the gospels he thought you know if there is an answer to the caste system in India that racial distinction or ethnic distinction based on class cast if there's an answer to this it may be what I'm reading here what Jesus says it may be in Christianity and so he determined he would go to a church one Sunday and listen to the sermon and then afterwards he planned to talk to the pastor about what it meant to be a Christian please explain to me how do you become a Christian what does it mean to be a Christian when you reach the church that morning he came in the door to usher's met him at the door and did not allow him to go any further to get a seat and said why don't you go worship with your own people Gandhi walked out of that church and this is what he wrote and records in his autobiography he said if Christians have cast differences also I might as well remain a Hindu can you imagine what might have happened in the country of India if Mahatma Gandhi would have become a believer can you imagine do we have any idea what that one act of racial prejudice may have done to the history of that country God forgive us for the sin of racial prejudice but there are other kinds of prejudice that we don't often think about but they're just as real and just as deep in our culture one is social prejudice because you may have come from a different background maybe a different level of income or a different level of education you look down on someone who doesn't have the same level of those things as you would or maybe you think of someone who may have had more opportunity for more education or more income or little little different background than you you think of them as being up to up and you know snobbish social prejudice but there is also generational prejudice this is one that causes a lot of conflict in the body of Christ generational prejudice we form stereotypes of different generations that are just unfair some of us who are a little older have stereotypes of younger generations it is generational prejudice we have a tendency to think well all young people they're all irresponsible and they're lazy and they're stuck up they got these wires hanging out of their ears listening to who knows what kind of music and they always got their nose in the cell phone they're gonna get arthritis by the time of 25 from all the texting they do stereotype of younger generation and younger generations have stereotypes of older generations too that wouldn't go both ways all those older people they're all stuffy no fun they're all critical they're completely out of touch to them an eye-tune is getting your glasses refocused they don't even know what a cell phone is all they got to jitterbug anyway okay we can do that with both generations and it's not fair it's not right and it keeps us from learning from each other younger people can learn a lot from the wisdom and experience of older people older people can learn a lot from the exuberance and energy and vision of younger people and we need both in the family of God so generational prejudice is a reality but there's a fourth kind of prejudice that we don't often like to admit and that's what I'm gonna call regional prejudice regional prejudice and we struggle with that here don't we I mean I can talk about that I'm a I'm a native Princetonian I was born here in Princeton I grew up here in West Virginia so I can talk about this we struggle with regional prejudices you know those Yankees they come down here and try to tell us what to do now I understand as well as any West Virginia who's taken seventh grade West Virginia history I understand I understand the background of that I understand the corporate background of that the background of it the way our state was founded and so for I understand all that I thank God that he has allowed me to live in different parts of the country to help me to see that for what it is I spent 10 years in North Carolina got a little tar on my heels I spent a year in Florida what a crazy place to live but I spent a year there I spent nine years in Indiana and when I went to Indiana from West Virginia North Carolina Florida I thought man I'm going to the wicked North you know I have lifelong friendships there with people that I'd dearly love and people that are so wonderful and gracious and kind hey I'm married a gal from New York state and her family some of the most down home wonderful most friendly people I've ever known and every time we go up to Corning New York we are treated I mean we don't have any family up there anymore but we go up we went up this past summer to a family reunion spent a couple of nights in a motel there's no family home place anymore left and we just kind of roam this market street area of downtown Corning and people were so friendly and welcoming and those stereotypes are not fair and they're not right those kind of regional stereotypes or even the kind of regional stereotypes that say oh I just a city slicker or that's just a country bump gonna hit from the South now I will admit I struggle with with a regional prejudice and I'm gonna I'm just gonna be very confessional this morning I do it's drivers from Ohio I just struggle with that you know you get behind them on the turnpike the only thing they know is a left lane I mean you know and to clog it up you can't pass and so we'll be coming up on someone like that and I'll say to Jeannie huh another Ohio driver and we get a little closer to them and it's a North Carolina tag and she says now honey you really shouldn't feel that way and I say yeah but they just moved there from Ohio I know Ohio drivers okay so I got to do a little bit of work there regional prejudice any kind of prejudice preformed opinion of someone based on inaccurate information inaccurate feelings inaccurate stereotypes that's wrong that's sin what does the Bible say about it what are the scriptures say about prejudice let's talk a bit about the scriptures on prejudice here in Romans 15 Jesus is the example of accepting other people because as Paul says in verse 8 he accepted Jews he became a servant to Jews in verses 9 to 10 he became a servant of Gentiles or verses 9 through 12 so he brought Jew and Gentile get this different ethnic racial backgrounds he accepted both and embraced them receive them both warmly and brought them into his body the church Jesus is the example racial prejudice is a sin in in Romans chapter 12 we're close enough to turn back to that look at Romans 12 and verse 16 Romans 12 16 says live in harmony with one another now notice the next sentence do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position do not be conceited now associating with a person of low position what is that talking about it doesn't mean just to be willing to kind of be in the same room with him you know what he's talking about here is be willing to lovingly embrace and welcome people who have a different social standing than you do who may not have the same opportunity for education or income or background that you have had that makes absolutely no difference and Paul is saying if you feel otherwise you're conceited you're proud it's the sin of pride so social prejudice is a sin in Ephesians chapter 2 Paul talks about the body of Christ again and he talks about how Jesus brought together again Jew and Gentile listen to these words in Ephesians 2 verse 11 therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and then notice the racial overtones here ethnic overtones and called uncircumcised by those who called themselves the circumcision that done in the body by the hands of men remember that at that time you were separate from Christ excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise without hope and without God in the world those are theological realities but they're also social ethnic distinctions and Paul says about the man verse 13 but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made the two Jew and Gentile made the two one and has destroyed the barrier the dividing wall of hostility and he did that by putting away the law Jesus goes on or Paul goes on to say Jesus in his death put away the law that was the barrier between Jew and Gentile but the idea is not only a theological union of the two in the body of Christ but also a breaking down of barriers between those two ethnic and social groups to bring them together look at these verses in James chapter 2 they're on the screen for you this time James says my brothers and sisters believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in if you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say here's a good seat for you but say to the poor man you stand there sit on the floor by my feet have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts that sounds like sin to me doesn't notice what he goes on to Saint verses eight and nine if you really keep the royal law found in scripture love your neighbor as yourself you are doing right but if you show favoritism you sin I didn't say that God said that and his word you sin and are convicted by the law as law breakers now what he's talking about there is social distinctions in the church I'm better than someone because I have more education I'm better than someone because I have more money I'm better than someone because I have this kind of background and upbringing and you don't that's sin that is sin James says social prejudice what Paul says in Glacian's three verse 28 again on the screen there is neither June or Gentile that's racial ethnic division neither slave nor free social distinctions in the Roman Empire you could be a freed person or you could be a slave and those two didn't mix very well except in the church okay in Christ there's neither slave and free and he says in Christ there is neither male nor female no gender distinctions for you're all one in Christ Jesus now don't misunderstand that last when Paul makes in clear in some other areas like first Corinthians 14 first Timothy 2 that there are some gender differences in church leadership and Paul qualifies that but here he's talking about in the body in Christ in Christ as far as spiritual position being in Christ being a believer a fellow believer there's absolutely no distinction between male and female no gender distinction no social distinction no racial ethnic distinction none at all none at all and if we try to make distinctions like that we're violating scripture that's sin it's just sin and we need to face prejudice for what it is it is sin whether it is racial social generational or regional I had someone come up to me after the first service and said can we still hate Pennsylvania drivers no no prejudice may ask you this question is there anyone you're having trouble accepting anyone thank for a minute anyone any person or any people group that you have trouble accepting that you have trouble warmly embracing and welcoming into your world and to your life anybody anybody come to mind if so please go home go home today get on your knees before God confess your attitude as sin and take whatever steps are necessary through the renewing of your mind through the word of God to begin to welcome receive embrace lovingly demonstrate Christ's love to that person or to that people group let's pray together Father help us to deal with prejudices that we have in our hearts and lives help us to deal with judgmental spirits or whether we have difficulty accepting someone because they have a different conviction or preference than we do about an issue of Christian liberty or because they're a different racial background different generation different social group or because maybe they're from another part of the country father help us to overcome those kinds of barriers that you've broken down in Christ to warmly receive welcome and accept one another so that the work of God will not face hindrance from attitudes that are unspiritual and ungodly help us to deal with those areas honestly before you in Jesus name we pray amen