Unity

A few months ago I was reading through Ephesians and I was convicted by the verse that reads "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph. 4:3) The reason this verse struck me so powerfully is that I don't think I ever would have described myself as eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Don't get me wrong, I like unity and I think we should strive for it, but I was also willing to forgo unity in order to prove my theology. If there was a disagreement on some issue that I found important (not determining our salvation, but an important secondary issue) I would engage in the argument until I won, not until we were brought to union in the Spirit. My goal was to increase my glory and fame at the expense of our unity. So this verse really brought me low and showed the depth of my pride and my lack of fear of God. This morning God brought this section of verses to mind again. I realized that, generally, we the church view unity as not arguing over secondary issues or not splitting or being able to hang out. But that is not what the context says. If we take this as our goal, then we will end up being a useless church that doesn't edify one another and we won't be effective in carrying out Jesus' mission on earth. The verses after that read "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." The unity that we should be eager to maintain is related to the unity of our God, our faith, our baptism, the oneness of the body, the Spirit, and God, (the greek word for unity is taken from the word for "one") and his reign over all of earth (possibly making reference back to chapter one where Paul tells us that God's plan is to reconcile all of the world in Christ). Let's just look at a couple of these. First our union is to resemble the oneness of God. God is the Trinity. Within the Trinity there are three persons and yet they are one. Our unity is to resemble the Trinity. We see this in other books of the Bible. Every member of the body is given gifts to use for the building up of the body. There are a variety of gifts but they are all to be used for the sake of the one body. Just as there are three members of the Godhead but only one God, we must demonstrate our unity by the use of all of our gifts for the one body.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves [4] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, [5] yet one body." (I cor. 12:12-20)

Our unity should also resemble the oneness of our faith and our baptism. As Christians we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and are brought into a single faith. There is no post-modern, relativistic, unitarian faith here. There are no other baptisms (at least that relate to our salvation, I don't think this refers to our denominational traditions symbolizing this spiritual baptism). We are brought into a single faith. As the body of Christ we must be eager to maintain this oneness. We are one, not in a panantheistic way, but one nevertheless. Do we act like it? Do we show the world that there is a oneness to us? Do we demonstrate the relationship of the Trinity in our own relationships with other believers? Do we show the world that even though we might disagree on the finer points we are still one body, with one faith and one baptism? At the end of the day I think we all have to agree that we've failed at this. We do not strive for the oneness that God has given and modeled for us.

So how do we it? The first two verses of Ephesians four tell us: "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love." If our lives are not marked with humility and love, with gentleness and patience, then this unity will not be maintained. Being eager to maintain this unity means that we are going to have to love people that really annoy us. We are going to have to be patient with that couple's kids. I'm going to have to be gentle toward that arrogant theonazi that is always trying to pick a fight (that's right, you'll have to be gentle and patient toward even me :) ). We are going to have to be humble and put everyone else's desires for worship songs and styles ahead of ours. I have to admit that when it comes to this I'm usually the last to do it and worst at it. I think I'm right and I'm not going to give up my "rightness" for anything. In the end, all I do is make myself more important and bigger than the church and God and tear all of His work down (or at least as much as He'll allow before the holy 2x4 comes in). So as we finish up our Sundays and go about the rest of the week, may we be eager to maintain our unity by being gentle, patient, humble, and loving. Myself most of all. God bless.