Jesus is passionate for unity of the Spirit
In Jesus’s final words of hope and encouragement to His disciples in John 17, he prays extensively for them. At the end of this prayer, He prays not only for them, but all who would believe in Him through the ages. His prayer is that we may be one as He and His Father are one. One of His purposes in seeing this oneness is that it is a powerful witness to the world, and it is so that the world may know and understand His love for His followers.
This prayer is so profound, and it perhaps explains why I have such a passion for seeing unity throughout the entire Body of Christ. Not everybody shares this passion, and so perhaps God has granted me a revelation that He wants me to share. In what I write here, I want to explain what I see as being so important about unity, so that others can understand and perhaps join me in embracing what it takes to establish and maintain it.
In the New Testament, the theme of unity doesn’t end with Jesus. The Apostle Paul, for example, prized unity in the Body of Christ. In Ephesians 4:3, for example, Paul urges believers to keep unity. The fact that believers are all necessary and important parts of one Body is the main thrust of his discourses in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. He devoted much of his writing to practical thoughts on how to get along. Consider, for example, his writing in Philippians 2 in which he urged believers to follow Jesus’s example of humility, by living a life of sacrifice and honoring others above ourselves.
What is unity of the Spirit?
If unity of the Spirit is so important, the question naturally arises, “What is it?” I believe that unity of the Spirit is choosing to acknowledge other believers as part of the Family of God. It is loving these brothers and sisters with a genuine love, the kind described in 1 Corinthians 13: a love that is patient, kind, not self-seeking, and persevering through difficulties. It is esteeming them higher than ourselves. It is recognizing that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, is in them, loving them as they are, and transforming them into what God has created them to be.
It is not being in perfect agreement on theological points, or worshipping in similar styles, or anything else. It is choosing to affirm in a practical way that anybody Jesus calls a brother or sister is also a brother or sister to me.
A brother or sister is one who has Jesus as Savior and Lord
To recognize that we have brothers or sisters through Jesus is to also recognize that there are those who are not — at least not yet — brothers or sisters. What makes someone a brother or sister to Jesus? This is like Christianity 101, but let me just state what I believe is the correct answer: a person becomes a brother or sister to Jesus when he or she believes that Jesus paid the penalty for their sins on the cross, and makes a profession and a commitment to follow Jesus in every area of their lives, every moment of their lives. In shorthand notation, they ask Jesus to be their Savior and their Lord. I don’t think it is more complicated than that.
There are those who ask Jesus to be their Savior but not their Lord. I don’t think these people are truly Jesus’s brothers and sisters. There are those who make Jesus their Lord but make mistake after mistake, many seemingly trapped in patterns of sin, and yet trying not to. These people I believe ARE truly Jesus’s brothers and sisters.
Being adopted into God’s family is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). The Apostle Paul severely chastised the Galatian church for adding performance-based requirements to faith. Either Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was sufficient, or He died for nothing. There are many people who claim to be Christians — and as frustrated with them that I am, are probably genuine Christians — who add to the requirements of being in God’s family. They make statements like, “You cannot be a Christian and do such-and-such, or you cannot be a Christian and believe such-and-such.” The people who add to the requirements of true faith misunderstand and devalue what Jesus did for us on the cross.
On the other hand, making Jesus Lord means that He rightfully deserves our obedience in all areas of our lives at all times. As Jesus himself said, If we love Him, we will obey Him. That doesn’t mean we won’t fall short, it just means that we acknowledge our shortcomings and try again. Demons believe in Jesus, but they don’t willingly submit to Jesus.
Ways in Which People Justify Their Rejection of Unity, or Make it Difficult for Others to Be United with Them
There are a number of ways that people try to get around establishing and maintaining unity. This is probably because it is not easy to acknowledge someone as a brother or sister when they do things that we don’t believe a Christian ought to do or when they believe things that we believe are plainly contrary to what the Bible teaches. There are also a number of things that people do that make it difficult for others to acknowledge them as brothers or sisters. In the following paragraphs, I highlight three “cop outs”.
Cop out #1: I can write off someone as not being a TRUE Christian if he or she believes differently on a point of theology that I think is important
Some people define Christianity so narrowly that it’s a wonder anybody fits the definition! I suppose their reasoning goes something like, “If Jesus is their Lord, then those ‘sinners’ wouldn’t believe or say or do the things that they do. Therefore, Jesus must not be their Lord, and if not, then I don’t have to treat them as a brother or sister.” This line of reasoning presumes that our interpretation of the Bible is correct and that the “disobedient people” also knew precisely what God meant, and yet willfully turned away from God. If God meant something different than what we thought He meant, then we are the ones in error. Even if we correctly understood God’s will, the other person could simply be mistaken, or immature, or trapped in a sinful behavior. But being mistaken on a non-essential theological point does not cause anyone to be booted out of God’s family (nor does immaturity or being stuck in sin). As already stated, the essential theological points for salvation are few indeed.
By defining somebody with genuine faith as not being “truly Christian”, we justify our judgment of them, and justify our rejection of them. If Jesus, however, has received them as His own, we are really snubbing our Lord, saying that He doesn’t know what He’s doing welcoming “those people” into His family. How can we love God, whom we have not seen, when we do not love our brothers and sisters, whom we have seen (1 John 4:20-21)? The issue is whether Jesus calls them a brother or sister. If Jesus has received them into God’s family, how can we treat them as less than our brother or sister?
Cop out #2: Saying that you love somebody but not wanting to have anything to do with them
Love is more than saying “I love you”. True love doesn’t make people feel like dirt. Christians make claims of loving people who disagree with them, but the sincerity of that love is often dubious. Christians often say things like, “I have to love them, but I don’t have to like them”, and by saying so, reveal they really don’t love, as well. Love involves treating people well, not making them feel inferior to us. It involves receiving them joyfully, not rejecting them as not fitting in.
Cop out #3: Being more accepting of sin than Jesus is
Jesus was always challenging people to change. When the woman caught in adultery was brought before Jesus, he rescued her from the religious people who would have killed her — something they were called to do in accordance with the written code found in Scripture. Jesus forgave her, then told her truth in saying “go and sin no more”. By saying that, Jesus was acknowledging her sinfulness and telling her that she needed to change.
Likewise, we are called to speak the truth in love. Failing to tell people that they need to change when they do is not God’s way, is not loving, and is not really doing anyone a favor.
Building unity takes time and commitment, but damage to it can be swift
Establishing and maintaining unity is not easy. It requires building relationships, and it takes time to build relationships. Here are some thoughts on practical steps for unity.
We need to make regular investments in unity
* Honor brothers and sisters, especially those who are different from us
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* Listen to the heart of each person
When there are differences
* Demonstrate forbearance when possible (graciously overlook a brother’s or sister’s faults and weaknesses)
* Talk with the other person, one-on-one if possible. Try to understand why they believe or do what they do.
* Choose your words carefully.
* If words cannot be spoken lovingly, wait until they can.
* Stay committed to the relationship, even if you’re frustrated or angry. True love is patient and persevering.
* Try not to address sensitive issues in writing. Written words are easily misunderstood and misinterpreted — or written poorly — and there is a permanent record to prove it!
* Try to discuss sensitive matters in person, or on the phone if meeting is not possible
Trying to apply unity in the multi-church world in which we live
This last section is perhaps the most useful for people to read, and yet the most difficult for me to write, since I present practical advice rather than straight Biblical teaching. Unlike New Testament times, there are many churches within driving distance of each of our homes. These churches are from many different denominations, that have taken doctrinal positions on various issues. Since there are a variety of churches to choose from, we have the ability to pick a church that least “rubs us the wrong way”. That is, let’s say I like hymns, choirs, and organ music, and perhaps believe that is the only kind of music that should be in church. I can probably find a church like that, so that I don’t have to listen to contemporary Christian music with guitar, keyboard, and drums.
We can do the same with doctrinal points. If I believe in predestination, I can look for a good Calvinist church. If I think that Christians have free will to choose to follow God, I can look for a nice Arminian church. If I happen to be Arminian in my theology and the church I go to is Calvinist but doesn’t push it very much, I might be quite content in that church, especially if it has a lot of other qualities that I like. Or perhaps I don’t really care about the whole Calvinism-Arminian divide. Then my church could be strongly one or the other, and it wouldn’t matter to me.
Since churches by their very nature are social organisms, it is much harder to leave a church once we have been a part of one for some time, because it often involves severing ties with people we are fond of and have depended on. Even if ties are not severed completely, we at least expect that the frequency we interact with these friends will decrease, just because we will not be seeing them in church and church-related activities.
You can begin to understand the problems with the current hot button issue of same sex marriage. This issue is hard for people to deal with for a number of reasons. First of all, churches have traditionally condemned the idea of same sex marriage, so those that are now open to it are either in the process of change or have recently been through the process of change. Churches that change points that are important to people are likely to have a lot of upset people for a while, and experience loss of long-time members, but might gain some new members who like the change.
A second reason that this is a tough issue is that those taking the traditional position feel like the Bible is very clear on the issue of homosexuality, so this issue for them easily becomes one of whether we are going to consider what is written in the Bible to be the ultimate guide to the practice of our faith. I believe that once we get disconnected from the Bible as our standard by which to measure our belief system, we are on a slippery slope leading to the abandonment of our faith in Jesus. This is so because the primary way that we know about Jesus is what is written in the New Testament.
To my fellow traditionalists, you may be surprised to find that some of those who take the non-traditionalist view have spent much time studying the Bible on this issue, and feel that there are Biblical grounds to support same-sex marriage.
Another reason the issue of same sex marriages is an especially tough one is that it is an “in your face” issue. If I held the traditional view and my congregation held the non-traditional view, then there will be services for blessing same sex commitments in my church, announcements in the bulletin for that, and then having to socially interact with couples so joined with the church’s full blessing. It’s one thing to love people who are in the process of transition — whose behavior is not very Christ-like — while they change their way of thinking and acting as a result of growing in faith. It is another when the church says someone is already acting the way they should, even when you believe God and the Bible say otherwise.
Since I am a traditionalist on the issue of same sex marriage — and feel very strongly about it — I would not be able to be a member of a congregation which believed in same sex marriage. But can I still call someone a brother or sister who is a non-traditionalist? My answer is “Yes”. But how do I deal with a friend who believes in same sex marriage and goes to another church? While I would feel uncomfortable supporting activities of my friend that are blatantly in supportive of same sex marriage, I can be support of other faith activities that are on areas of agreement in our faith. And of course, many things we do in life are common to all, believers and unbelievers. Eating, caring for our kids, concern for our schools, recreation, and many other things are things that we can do together and affirm each other in.
What if my denomination is strongly non-traditional on an issue while I am traditional? What do I do? For me, the issue comes down to my local congregation and how “in my face” an issue is. If a denomination’s influence on the congregation is limited, then it might not be too difficult to stay in the congregation. But if the influence is strong, then I may feel like it is too important of an issue to remain. You can appreciate the problem the Episcopal Church is facing, because the denomination does have a strong impact on each congregation. The Episcopal Church’s problem is also complicated because they have a strong sense of tradition and strong ties to buildings and property as important elements of the practice of their faith.
For a pastor, the denomination’s influence might be much stronger than it is on the average member of the congregation. That is one reason why pastors may struggle more with this particular area.
While I do not have all the answers, I hope that by articulating first the principles of unity and second, a practical issue for which we can apply the principles, you have been able to see yourself more clearly. Might God be trying to stretch you to embrace brothers or sisters that you have previously avoided?