Break Down the Walls

In Acts 6, a man named Stephen is seized.  He was chosen to serve his community by the Apostles.  He was seized because some of the Jews disagreed with Stephen's love for Christ.  Stephen became the first martyr, being stoned to death.

Reading this, God laid some heavy convictions on me.  We think of martyrs today as people who die for Christ by the hands of godless people.  But the truth is, the first martyr died at the hands of "God-fearing people".

When Christianity started, it was just a "Jewish sect", or a part of Judaism.  When this occured, it wasn't even that official, it was just a group of Jews who believed that Christ was, in fact, the Messiah that was promised.
But the Jews were so closed-minded that they killed any variation of their version of God, or at least they tried to.

Today, in Christianity, there are hundreds of variations.  We get so wrapped up in the differences in them that we many times forget the similarities- we worship a risen Lord and want to see the world know Him intimately.

Stephen death today would be like if a group of Catholics killed a person for believing Baptist theology.  That has happened throughout history.

This saddens me, but it shows a reality that even church-people need Christ. I am saddened because I see that kind of attitude in myself growing up.  I used to believe that Baptists were right, everyone else was wrong, and that Heaven was for those who were right.  I wasn't verbally taught this, my parents never trained me to believe this, but somehow I formed this view due to a traditional Baptist upbringing.

Denominations all started from an argument. Somebody believed something different and split.  And yes, there are denominations with pretty messed up views, but in the realm of Protestantism, every denomination believes a common idea of a risen Christ and a world in need of knowing Him.

Can we just celebrate that for a second.  You can go back to fighting in a second, but let's just celebrate that today, on Easter, there are millions of people celebrating the fact that the cross and the tomb are empty today!

Let's celebrate the common goals.
Let's celebrate the fact that we will stand side by side in Heaven praising our Lord and Savior.
Let's celebrate our mission: to let the world hear the Gospel of Christ.