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On April 27, 2003 parishioners gathered for church at Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church in New Sweden, Maine, a small potato-farming community of less than 1000 people. After the service people gathered in the fellowship hall for coffee. Some complained that it tasted funny but drank it anyway. Within hours, several were in the emergency room at the local hospital, and by the next morning one person had died. A few days later Daniel Bondeson was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He left a note confessing that he had poisoned his fellow church family with arsenic. No one could identify the grievance that would push a man to such extremes. 

When we allow unresolved issues to take root in our hearts, it destroys unity like a deadly poison. In Acts 15 we read that a disagreement has surfaced over the requirements for Gentiles who are now being saved. The leaders of the new members class of the Church were telling all Gentiles that they had to be circumcised according to the Jewish law. In the verses we read, Peter stands to address the crowd gathered at the Jerusalem Council in 48 A.D. and he reminds us all of a few things that are important to remember as it relates to unity.

1. God withholds His saving grace from no one, regardless of their ethnicity. (vs. 8)

2. God makes no distinction between people who are saved, no matter what nation they are from or what color their skin may be. (vs. 9)

3. Our unwillingness to accept others into the family of believers is an affront to God. (vs. 10)

4. Because of His precious blood, we are all red, covered by His grace. (vs. 11)

The Bible says the angels in heaven rejoice and celebrate when one person accepts Christ as their Savior. Shouldn’t we do the same? May we refuse to allow the poison of disunity to seep into our spirits, our relationships, our churches, or our families.