Unity in Christ

Being a Christ follower is always a team sport. It will always be tied to other people. It will always involve considering other people, taking into account their perspectives, harnessing empathy, and maintaining unity.

That is a commitment to maintaining unity. This is a hallmark of our church. We are a notoriously non-complaining church. Unity doesn't mean that we agree on everything. It doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. It means that when we do disagree, we do it well.

We are not a church of people who run over to Facebook and build a coalition of 20 people who agree with us.

When we disagree, we do it well. We go to the person and we talk to the person and we address it in a scriptural way, in a loving way, in a grace-filled way. We do it humbly and gently and patiently, as Paul instructs the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 4:2-7.

He tells them, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Paul says we need to make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit because that unity has already been given to us by Jesus. That is who we're naturally supposed to be. Unity and peace are made possible by Jesus, but we must do the work of maintaining these virtues. We must maintain unity even in the midst of disagreements, especially when disagreements arise, because it is easy to get along with people who think and believe the same things. That is why Paul says we must make every effort to maintain unity.

There are some Christians who make every effort to find a way to be offended instead of making every effort to keep the unity. One of the greatest gifts that we can give each other is the benefit of the doubt. That is such a gift — to believe the best about each other until proven otherwise.

When we give each other the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, we say, "Hey I'm not sure why they said that but I'm going to go talk to them and have a conversation and give them a chance to explain it," as opposed to just saying, "They're a terrible person. I knew it."

In the second half of those verses from Ephesians, there’s a word that stands out — one. One hope,  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. We are to serve one God. We’re covered by one baptism through faith. We are united with one hope, so why would we ever focus on the differences instead of everything we have in common?

This is why we need to keep the main thing the main thing. Jesus Christ is the son of God. He came to earth to die for our sins. We’ve accepted that grace as the only way that we can be forgiven. It is the only way that we obtain eternal life. If we agree on that, we're good. There might be some non-essentials. There may be some preferences with which we disagree. There might be styles where we are on opposite sides, but if we agree on those things, we're good. When we do disagree, it's okay as long as we do it well and in a way that maintains unity. We do it in a way that allows us to continue worshiping together, because that is a commitment we have made to each other as followers of Jesus.