Zephaniah 3:9 “Then will I purify the lips of the peoples,
that all of them may call on the name of the LORD
and serve him shoulder to shoulder.”

Once again through yet another prophet we have the Lord proclaiming the inclusiveness of His grace. It is important to note here that everyone requires purification. I am reminded of Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in which he was called to ministry, when his lips were purified by a coal from the altar. (Isaiah 6:6-7) We cannot even pray properly apart from God’s grace, but need the help of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:26-27) James refers to our tongues rather than our lips, but he is quite direct on the issue of what we speak. (James 3:3-12) If we do not let God be in control of what comes out of our mouths, we certainly aren’t submitted to the Lordship of Christ, and that is an essential part of salvation. (Romans 10:9-10) The second thing that strikes me about this verse is the unity of those who serve God. The NIV says “shoulder to shoulder” and the Japanese says “as one.” In Christ differences of race, culture, and gender pale to insignificance, as again Paul made clear. (Galatians 3:26-28) To be honest, those differences don’t disappear, but that’s a good thing: each has unique contributions to make. When we confuse unity with sameness we get into real trouble, as Paul stressed in his discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. The Body of Christ has many different parts with different functions, but every part of it has been purified and has equal access to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As a Caucasian in Japan I run into both sides of this constantly. People with a polytheistic background don’t understand why they can’t “add Jesus to their god shelf,” so to speak, and need to have their minds purified and renewed by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 12:2) Often they have trouble understanding that everything that is operative for me is equally operative for them, even though we are racially different. Japanese culture stresses unity, but often at the expense of individuality. This problem isn’t unique to Japan, but a lot of effort has to be put into helping people understand that differences of opinion don’t have to rupture unity. I don’t have wisdom or patience in myself to accomplish that, so I’ve got to rely on the Lord all the way around – and that’s not a bad thing!

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all that You are doing in this church. Thank You for the recent influx of non-Japanese. I pray that the Japanese wouldn’t be resentful and the non-Japanese wouldn’t be cliquish, but that barriers of language and culture would be crossed, intentionally and effectively. I pray that we would be a good demonstration of this verse, drawing many more into Your family for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!