Unity

With it being an election year and campaigning being in full swing, there will be lots of talk about unity. From unifying the parties together to unifying each individual's party base, candidates will work tirelessly to convince you that they are the one that will bring unity to America. If history is any indicator, their chances don't look too hot.

But within the Christian faith, there is a more urgent need for unity. What are the things that divide the church? In my opinion, there is a no more powerful unifying and dividing factor than theology. Yet, it often isn't theology that divides many of us but rather trivial issues and petty disagreements.

The apostle Paul penned the beautiful words in the book of Philippians to address the issue of unity, among other issues, to the church in Philippi. In the very first chapter, he offers up a prayer for the church in Philippi (verses 9-11) that calls for their hearts and minds to be as one for the cause of Christ.

First, he admonishes them to grow in knowledge and discernment of God. When you seek after God to know Him, you can't help but fall more in love with Him. Next, he asks that that this knowledge and discernment would lead to their ability to determine what really matters (i.e., to be unified in their theology, decisions, etc.) and that in turn would lead to their own purity.

As a result of these things, Paul finishes his prayer by asking that the church in Philippi be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ and is for the glory of God. Church unity will bear the fruit of righteousness and God will receive the glory. We don't want some man or leader to be the face of our church. We want the Lord Jesus Christ to be the face of our churches, for the glory of God and not ourselves.

At the end of chapter one there is a fitting admonition to this church found in verse 27: "Standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith of the gospel." Wouldn't it be great if we could lose the pettiness and immaturity that often surrounds our churches (and convention) so that we could truly seek God's glory by the building up of His kingdom and not of ourselves?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be great if we could lose the pettiness and immaturity that often surrounds our churches (and convention) so that we could truly seek God's glory by the building up of His kingdom and not of ourselves?


^AMEN!

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