The Elusive Unity

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:20–23

Perhaps you’ve heard the humorous story of the man who was rescued from a deserted island. His rescuers noticed three crude structures and asked the man about them. Pointing at the first hut, the man told them that this was his house.

“What’s that one?” a rescuer asked while pointing at the second building.

Proudly, he responded, “Oh, that’s my church.”

“Then what’s the third one?” another rescuer asked.

Without batting an eye, he declared, “That’s the church I used to go to.”

Having served as a pastor for over four decades, I’ve seen this story play itself out time and time again. In some cases the church I served was one the receiving end of a change in churches. Inevitably I’d be told of how unhappy they were at their previous church, how the pastor just wasn’t meeting their needs or was too controlling, or that the music wasn’t to their liking and more. But now they had found heaven on earth in our church.

Sadly, I’ve been on the other end of the equation as well. Often some of the same ones who left their previous church to join our’s would move their disgruntled selves to some other church. It seems that heaven keeps changing its mailing address.

Between all of this coming and going is a litany of conflict, finger pointing, and in some cases ugly, ugly behavior. In the process the witness of the church is damaged, pastors are discouraged, and the Lord is dishonored.

In the face of these congregational tragedies are the words of our Lord from John 17. They are a part of what is called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. John positions this prayer immediately before the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. I think this was a way for John to highlight just how important this prayer is. It’s a summation of everything that was on Jesus’ heart prior to giving Himself for the sins of the world.

Central to that prayer was Jesus’ desire for His followers to have unity. Why? Because in that unity, the world would see a living affirmation of the reality of God in Christ. Unity then is the glue that holds the gospel together. Without unity, the gospel message is mocked. How can an unbelieving world trust that God loves them and that we love them if we can’t even love our fellow believers?

So what causes this disunity? Many things. In some cases, the lack of unity is breathtaking in its craziness. Take for instance the church that had a major split over the whether you should say Alleluia or Hallelujah. The fight got so bad that one group of church members questioned the salvation of the other side. And in one instance a rock was thrown threw the window in a home of a member of the opposition’s group. Around the rock was taped the word: Alleluia. Incredible.

Added to this are disruptions to unity over any number of secondary doctrinal issues concerning such things as the millennium, modes of baptism, which translation of the Bible to use, and, our course, whether or not the music is to one’s liking. One church tried to handle any potential disruption to their fellowship over matters of belief by making it clear where they stood. On their sign were printed the words: Bible Believing, Premillennial, King James, Calvanist, and so forth and so on. The message whether unintended or not was clear. “If you aren’t like us, we don’t want you.”

How very different the picture of the Kingdom Jesus envisioned. In His Kingdom the normal social distinctions that kept people apart where erased. Now women, Gentiles, and tax collectors could worship along side men, Jews, and Pharisees as equals. The glue that held them together was the transforming grace of God they had found in Christ.

I recently ran across one congregation’s attempt to value the unity of the Spirit. They based their foundational doctrinal statement on a passage from I Corinthians 15:3-4.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

I don’t know how it’s going with that church as to how well they are allowing these truths to keep them bound together, but I think they are on the right track. If somehow we can get our focus on the crucified and living Lord and off of ourselves and our doctrinal rigidity on secondary matters, then maybe, just maybe we can be a part of the answer to Jesus’ prayer.

Unity may truly be elusive, but it’s not impossible. We just have to want it and protect it enough to have it. For the sake of Kingdom that Jesus died to create, let us strive to settle for nothing less than the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.