Unity? Get Real!
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to be able to re-publish Al Hulbert’s articles from his Substack. He writes weekly articles to encourage us in our walk with Christ, and you can subscribe to his newsletter directly here. Otherwise, enjoy the re-publishing here!
Reading the letters from Paul to various churches, it’s easy to paint a rosy picture of new believers following the Way, who lived out a first-century version of an idyllic commune: No conflicts or quarrels, no personality clashes or favoritism, no worries or hassles.
But an honest reading of the content and sifting through the letters, these small clusters of believers dealt with plenty of problems, like:
Doctrinal disputes
Disagreements over what “holy” looked like
Popularity rivalries and questioning motives
Both men and women in open conflict
Sexual sins, drunkenness, greed, and general ungodly living
Favoritism and social injustices
and plenty more
So, it makes sense that Paul would, in the middle of his letter to the church at Ephesus, include the plea/challenge that says,
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
OK, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of how similar our days are to theirs. Look back over that brief list and see what translates to our times. On top of that we have churches splitting over political leaders and social issues, even a person’s salvation questioned if they stray from the tribe’s ideas on how life should be lived, and a general harshness that more mimics the worst in society than it does Jesus.
Just like us, the early church faced forces threatening to divide the body. When he says to make every effort toward maintaining unity, that goes far beyond a passive willingness and demands action. Paul calls for the church to go the extra distance, aggressively, to iron out problems.
The advantage Paul and the early believers had was, there was usually only one gathering of believers in a town. Today, if someone gets their shorts in a bunch, it’s common to pack up and move down the street to another group. It’s harder today to hold together a group that is unified and healthy, but we are called to do just that.
One of the great distinctions of a local church ought to be our unity amid diversity. We are not called to be uniform in thought and action but gloriously diverse and heterogeneous.
Uniformity is tidy and controllable and…boring.
Unity is dynamic and messy and wildly entertaining.
Just look at the collection of people Jesus assembled as his apprentices and the wide range of personalities and experiences they brought with them. I imagine their unity was regularly strained.
Their version of blue collar and white collar dudes
A collaborator with the government and a radical insurrectionist
A few who were always welcoming others in and probably ones who tended toward introversion
Hot-heads and cool characters
For us today, it is unrealistic to pretend we have fewer differences than this bunch. But if we view those differences as advantages to learn from and grow with rather than errors to correct or expel, unity amid diversity is a powerful testimony to a God who welcomes rich and poor, conservative and progressive, all the colors people come in, and makes a place for anyone, anyone, who has thrown in with Jesus.
On top of that, such unity gives believers the chance to practice love like how Jesus describes it: open-armed and looking for the best for the others without negatively “othering” those not like you. One passage from Jesus that’s almost never used for folks within the body of Christ (but sure can be!) is Luke 6:27ff. Take a fresh look with other church folk in mind.
But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on the one cheek, offer the other also…. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!… Love your enemies! Do them good. Lend without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will be acting as children of the Most High…. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.
It takes work to maintain unity in any church group. The unity is already there, we don’t have to create it, because it flows from God through our relationship with him. But keeping it strong and healthy is our task, and it is not an easy one to pull off.
Keeping unity strong comes through choosing to love others as Jesus has loved us…just as we are…then traveling together toward maturity in faith and life. In these days when we seem to be herded by messages of fear and outrage over the smallest of slights, this call to hang together is more important than ever. Like it says in Proverbs 17:9,
Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends.
Consider your part in standing together with the family of God you associate with, while letting them see the issues of life differently than you see them. Let unity amid diversity be our calling card.
Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
I ran across a prayer from Lectio 365 last Sunday that captures this spirit as we close:
Father, thank you for your beautiful, multicultural, intergenerational family, gathering today in so many countries. Forgive us our many failings, heal our deep divisions, and make us one. Let strangers be welcomed in Your house today. May sinners sense amazing grace. Let preachers and worship leaders step out of the limelight into the twilight to fix the spotlight of their words entirely upon You.
…and time for a bit of music
Funnies? Sure
People who do lots of work ... make lots of mistakes.
People who do less work ... make less mistakes.
People who do no work ... make no mistakes.
People who make no mistakes ... get promoted.
So that's why I spend my time sending funny e-mails at work. I want a promotion!
__________
Three couples decided to meet at a local diner for breakfast, and while they were eating the the first husband looks lovingly at his wife and said to her, “Please pass the the honey, honey.”
Well, the second husband thinks to himself, I need to step up my game. So he he looks at his wife and said, “Please pass the sugar, sugar.”
The third husband starts to panic, because he needs to hit his comment out of the park. So he holds his wife’s hands and looks romantically into her eyes and says, “Please pass the tea...bag.” AND that's when the fight started.