What does First B Jackson teach about unity in the church?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on unity starts with a conviction that it is not optional or decorative. It is built into the structure of what God actually did in salvation. When Pastor Ray worked through Ephesians 2, he kept returning to the word "together." God did not make a series of individuals alive one by one. He made a people alive, joined to Christ and joined to one another. The unity of the church is not a goal the church generates on its own; it is a reality God created, and the church is called to live up to it.
That unity has always crossed lines that human culture treats as permanent. In Ephesians 2, the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile was not just a metaphor. There was a literal barrier around the temple in Jerusalem, with warning letters painted red, threatening death to any foreigner who crossed it. Christ abolished that wall in his flesh. Pastor Jon, teaching through the same territory in Ephesians 1-3, described the mystery Paul names in chapter three: Gentiles are now fellow heirs and members of the same body, and the manifold wisdom of God is made known through that unified, called-out people. This pattern shows up in Romans 16 as well, where Pastor Mark slowed down over the long name list to show what the early church actually looked like: Jewish names and Gentile names, slave names and free names, men and women, all described as partners and hard workers in the same body.
The practical weight of that unity falls hardest in Romans 14 and 15, which Pastor Kevin taught as a sustained call to bear with one another across real differences in conviction and background. The point Paul makes, and that the teaching here echoes, is not that differences disappear but that the people who hold them are called to stay together. That requires actual relationship, the kind where you know whether something genuinely tempts a brother rather than simply assuming. The same thread runs through the closing prayer of Ephesians 3, which Pastor Jon described as Paul asking God to do what he knows people cannot do on their own: to be rooted and grounded in love and filled to the fullness of God. Unity is a gift from God to be received and then walked out, not a project the church manages.
Taught from Ephesians 2:14-15 · Ephesians 2:19-22 · Ephesians 4:1-3 · Romans 15:5-6 · Romans 16:1-27
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
2 to the assembly of God which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- March 22, 2026 But God: Rich in Mercy Ephesians 2 shows every person starts dead in sin, but God's mercy brings Jews and Gentiles alike into one body through Christ's blood, not our works.
- July 9, 2017 First Be, Then Do A review of Ephesians 1-3 showing that who we are in Christ comes before what we do for Him, and that the church exists to carry God's wisdom to the world.
- January 1, 2017 People Matter, Unity Matters, Obedience Matters Paul walks through every name in Romans 16, showing how individual people, their backgrounds, and their unity in Christ carry the gospel forward across every barrier.
- November 20, 2016 Towards Unity and Diversity- Traditional (3) Romans 14-15 explores Christian unity across differences, what sin really is, and why staying grounded in belief is the source of lasting hope and joy.
Mentioned along the way
- November 27, 2016 Admonishments from Romans (3) Ray walks through Romans 15, showing how Paul's confidence in the Roman church points to what God's grace produces in every believer: goodness, knowledge, and the ability to encourage one another.
- September 6, 2015 Always Carrying the Dying of Jesus Paul shows that the gospel of Christ's death and the Spirit's freedom transform believers together, as one body, from one degree of glory to another.