While we are waiting for God’s parousia, His presence, to come and unify His people, let us do what we can to prepare the way. We know this is important to our King. How can we not do everything possible to prepare the way for Him by making His way straight, bringing down the mountains and hills, and raising up the low places, as we are told in Isaiah 40:4?
The first requirement for true koinonia (unity) is to be Christ-centered, not man-centered. When our hearts begin to burn like King David’s did for the Lord to have a house to dwell in, that’s the heart that will likely bring forth what He truly wants to dwell in, not just what we want, or what He blesses or occasionally visits.
Some of Jesus’ best friends were Lazarus, Martha, and Mary of Bethany. After the Lord had raised Lazarus from the dead, it seems He just hung out with them for several days. Instead of using His last days on earth as a man to teach and train His future leaders, the apostles, He chose to enjoy the company of His friends—people who may have had little strategic importance for His ultimate purpose. Why? Bethany could be translated “a home of kindness.” Isn’t that basically what He has called His church to be? This is not just about good works. It’s about an atmosphere. True kindness can only be rooted in love.
He made each of us unique and so it should be expected that we would each have a unique perspective on this. Unity by conformity is from hell, not heaven. We can easily discern teaching and leadership by the ability of teachers and leaders to accept debate and challenges with grace and wisdom. Those who cannot tolerate challenges often have a concept of unity that is based on conformity, which requires pressure, control, and human effort instead of heart transformation. Debate threatens such leaders because it upsets the unity they are seeking, which is basically control.
“Concerning the basics, we must have unity,” the Moravians declared. “With all other doctrines there must be liberty, and in all things we must have charity.” This mentality enabled the Moravians to have significant influence in almost every major spiritual camp in their time. They did not do this by compromising their beliefs or vision but treated those of every group with respect and kindness, which made those in other groups open to them.
One reason for many divisions among Christians is we try to agree about too much. Israel was only required to be in unity about two things: worship and warfare. They were to worship Jehovah, and all the others were to mobilize and defend their brothers if any of the tribes were attacked. How could such a resolve change the body of Christ today? Such could only happen if Christians committed to respect and to be open to differences instead of rejecting them by default.
This is not to imply that we should compromise our convictions. But since we know that we all see in part and know in part, wisdom dictates that we remain open to those who may have different perspectives than we do. Their differences may not conflict with what we see, and may actually add parts that we do not yet see.
As noted often, the Lord made every snowflake, every tree, and every person unique. Why, then, does the church, which is supposed to be the most representative of Him, exert so much pressure to conform and be uniform? God made mankind in His image because it requires the diversity of all the tribes, nations, and cultures to represent all that He is.
God’s unity is a unity of diversity, not conformity. If the people who tend to get upset with change gain control of the church, it will likely be the last place you will ever find God. Perhaps this is one reason it is already so hard to find Him in the church. One of the most distressing verses in the Bible is Revelation 3:20, where Jesus is standing outside of the church to see if any will open to Him. Could that be our church? Could it be the congregation we left because of their rigidity and old wineskin mentality? Could we help them change and be open to His new wine if we went back and did not desert them again?
After sending His disciples out to do ministry, Jesus instructed them that there are times to move on when you are not received. If that time has come for us, we should not leave in frustration or impatience, as these are not the fruit of the Spirit, and if we are led by them, we will not be led by the Spirit.
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