Nuts And Bolts Unity
I have noticed an unfortunate pattern in the course of my religious discourse. This pattern has to do with the typical reaction to any sort of disagreement concerning the proper application of Scripture to specific issues. The disagreement, even if it is noted or brought up is all too often ignored or glossed over. I am talking about internal relationships within a religious group or local church. The reaction should be when these discrepancies come to light is everyone involved making every effort to resolve the disagreement according to the Scriptures. All too often I find myself in the position of being the only one making an effort work out these differences. It is becoming clearer to me as time goes by that most programs of religious instruction fail to apply the teachings concerning unity found in the Holy Scriptures. Let me say before I continue that the local church (Upper West Manhattan church of Christ) where I currently worship has some members who are aware of this problem. I have had more conversations with Don Bunting on this topic than I have had with everyone else put together. But this is a serious problem in many other local churches and denominations. Lets look at some Scripture. I often quote this passage from the gospel of John. Jesus Christ is praying to God the Father just before his betrayal:
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name — the name you gave me — so that they may be one as we are one.
“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. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
I have covered my thoughts on this passage in various postings in the past so I will just say here that our unity is clearly very important to Jesus Christ. Our continued disunity undermines the very authenticity of the Gospel as the world observes us. The apostle Paul understood the importance of unity among believers and when divisions arose in the church at Corinth he was very specific and firm in his response:
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.
The apostles commands us to be “perfectly united in mind and thought”. So when these disagreements come up, even minor ones, we all need to be obeying this command and making every effort to come to perfect unity in Spirit and in truth. The way this should work itself out in our nuts and bolts daily interaction is that when we become aware of any points where we are not “perfectly united in mind and thought” it should be job one to obey the instructions found in the word of God and make every effort to agree with one another. Over time divisions will naturally become more entrenched and we will be moving away from the kind of people Jesus Christ wants us to be.