The Goal of Unity
by Andy White
"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
(Eph.4:1-6)
The Lord has been doing a fresh new thing in His church. All over, churches and ministries have been coming together in a new Spirit of cooperation and unity. Those who are seeking the face of God, and are discerning the voice of the Spirit, are also learning to forbear with others who may differ in style and method, recognizing that Jesus alone is the center of our faith. We are in the process of learning that endeavoring to keep the "Unity of the Spirit", is more than attending a huge rally with thousands of people one will never know and applauding a few slogans that most people would agree on. The preservation of the unity of the Spirit costs much more than that. It costs us our self-centered lives that must be crucified with Christ. It costs a willingness to build real relationships with flesh and blood people who know us so well that they cannot be impressed with a superficial veneer of religiosity.
Jesus knew that unity among His disciples would be, as Francis Shaeffer put it, "the final apologetic";
(Jn.17:20-22)
"I …pray… . for those who will believe in Me through their word; "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
We need to become a people of unity – understanding our diversity – respecting our differences and endeavoring to preserve the "Unity of the Spirit," for the express purpose of the glory of Jesus Christ! Unity based on any other motive other then the glory of God, is not a biblical unity. We can unify for causes, and come together for events, and that is all fine and good, but that can never be the foundational motive of "keeping the unity of the spirit". I hear many say that the purpose of unity is for evangelism, or for political power, or some other such thing. No. The reason we must pursue the unity of the Spirit is for the sake of the glory of Jesus Christ!
The church’s primary objective is to bring Glory to Christ!
The goal of unity is to manifest the glory of Jesus Christ!
Soul’s will be brought into the kingdom as the fruit and result of this unity, but that can never be our motivating reason, because if it is, then once we have revival, and our churches are full, we will all once again go our separate ways! No, let’s get our priorities straight, biblical unity is for the sake of the glory of Jesus Christ and no other reason!
(John 13:34-35) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
In view of Jesus' words, is it any wonder when unbelievers are slow to accept the gospel coming from a divided church? I’m sure all of us know people who point to the divided condition of those professing to follow Christ & often use religious division as an excuse not to believe in God. I believe that by God’s grace, we can maintain a unity that gives credibility to our proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, our responsibility – our calling as The Church is to represent God in this manner and matter, in and to this community. Therefore, we must make it our priority to be a demonstration of this unity, because, a credible proclamation can only be made by a visible demonstration!
(Gal 3:28 NKJV) "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
What makes the church unique is that we hold in common someone who transcends all the distinctions that divide people relationally, and culturally, and that is the person of Jesus Christ! If we lose that understanding, we cease to be the prophetic voice that we are meant to be in this world. The Church is to be made visible not merely by proclamation, not by denomination, but by demonstration!
THIS DEMONSTRATION OF UNITY
WILL RESULT IN THE MANIFESTATION
OF THE POWER AND
WISDOM OF ALMIGHTY GOD!
It is the Lord’s intention, "...to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church..."
No one can really understand the lack of power and the weakness that prevails in much of the church today unless they contrast it with the vitality, life, and excitement of the early church.Acts 4:33 tells us that, "with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all." The early church possessed "great power", and Great Grace", I believe as a result of what was occurring in Verse 32; "Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common."
If we are to have ‘Great Power, And great grace,’ in the days in which we live - then we need to live as the early church did! That is, what is lacking today and what the early church so wonderfully possessed!
Here were these early Christians, one in heart and soul, united together. That is the church, as it ought to be. Wherever that kind of vital life occurs there will always be results. Moreover, Luke tells us what these results are, Great Power, and Great Grace!
God has designed that his church should operate as a body. The Body manifests and communicates the life, which is in it. Without the proper functioning of the bodies in which we live, our life, the life of our spirit, our personality if you like, can never be made manifest to anyone else. It takes the body to make the life visible. If the church of Jesus Christ is not functioning as a body, then the life that is in it (which is the life of Jesus) can never be seen! It takes the body to make the life visible. That life is the resurrected life of a risen Lord!
I am becoming more and more convinced that we need to gain a greater understanding of what the church is, and what it means to God! We need in this hour to gain a greater appreciation of, and understanding of, this thing called, "The Church". Author Pastor John Stott said; "Today more than ever we need to catch a biblical vision of the church" I wholeheartedly want to echo that sentiment!
The Scripture tells us that, "...He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." (Eph 1:22-23)
The Church is the fullness of Him! You and I cannot experience His fullness without the church! The whole Church! Both the local and the Trans-local corporate Body. And we are together to, "...grow up in all things into Him who is the head; Christ; from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Let’s grow up Church. Let’s bring the Glory to Jesus Christ which is due His name! In closing, I want to share with you some provocative quotes that I came across which caught my attention;
Martin Luther -
"I ask that men make no reference to my name, and call themselves not Lutherans, but Christians. What is Luther? My doctrine, I am sure, is not mine, nor have I been crucified for any one. St. Paul, in 1 Cor. 3, would not allow Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian. How then should I, poor, foul carcass that I am, come to have men give to the children of Christ a name derived from my worthless name? No, no, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names, and call ourselves Christians after Him Whose doctrine we have."
John Wesley -
"Would to God that all party names, and unscriptural phrases and forms which have divided the Christian world, were forgot and that the very name [Methodist] might never be mentioned more, but be buried in eternal oblivion."
From Charles Spurgeon - One of the greatest of all Baptist preachers;
"I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not be a Baptist living! I hope that the Baptist name will soon perish, but let Christ's name last forever."
(1 Pet 5:11) "To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."