The unity of the Spirit

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  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. Ephesians 4: 1 – 6

When Paul wrote these words to the church at Ephesus it was in the context of unity in the church between Jew and Gentile.  He was showing them how to live in the unity that God was calling them to.

Never have these words been more appropriate recently than in the UK where the country appears to be tearing itself apart over Brexit.  

Within the Church there are as many different opinions over Brexit as outside and no matter how much we believe we have heard from God, our attitude to those who may differ is vital. Having a condescending, superior, patronising attitude to those we disagree with will only reinforce divisions but the Church is called to live and work in unity. The Church in the land needs to model and show a different way and not join in the highly opinionated, wholesale anger and frustration that is so evident.

God has an incredible plan and purpose for the UK but it involves bringing his Kingdom and his will into the land. Brexit is part of that process but not the destination. The Church has a great calling to rise above the divisions and dissent and focus on the Lord and his designs. 

I don’t think any part of the Body of Christ does not earnestly desire God to move in sovereign power and bring revival to our land. All of us want to see loved ones saved. All of us, I am sure, long for God to breakthrough with miracle working power to bring healing, restoration and reconciliation but for our nation to benefit from this, it requires the Church to arise in unity; to deal with jealousy, personal and selfish ambition, to show love and grace to those we disagree with. The Brexit process is a great learning experience. 

Paul shows us the way. First we must be humble and gentle. That is a million miles away from the worldly sense of entitlement especially to personal opinion that is so prevalent. Being humble means considering others before ourselves, listening calmly even to things we would never agree with and not shoving our opinions, no matter how Biblical, down the throats of others even if they are trying to do this to us.  

Secondly we must be patient, a quality most of us struggle with. We want things now, we want our opinion heard and we get frustrated when others do not see the sense in what we are saying. The key here is prayer. God can change opinions, even our own, in a microsecond with his divine revelation. Asking God to intervene, to show us where we may be in the wrong and to grant us patience with others of different opinions, will achieve far more than half an hour’s carefully crafted argument, let alone ten minutes haranguing. This will help us bear with others in love.  

Finally Paul exhorts us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.This excludes loud arguments, flouncing, huffing and puffing and nasty looks. Instead we must focus our eyes on Jesus, looking to him to and trusting him to work out his plans and purposes for our lives, for the Church and for the nation. 

As the Body of Christ, we have a high calling to pray and bring in God’s Kingdom and will for our nation. But this will only be achieved as we model unity in the Church to the nations.

Father, I pray that you would show us the way of unity, to love those we disagree with and to be one, even as you are one. Forgive us for our jealousies and pride that drive divisions into your body and the nation and help us look to you who loves us all. We declare you have a high calling on United Kingdom. Show us how to participate through prayer and attitude in your plans. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Visit another church for a change

We have been privileged over the years to visit different churches in three continents from those who meet under palm branches in Uganda to slick mega churches in the States. We’ve been to seemingly insignificant, tiny churches to the big churches of the famous.

This weekend we visited another church, new to us, in a town north of Boston in USA. It was a wonderful expression of the local Body of Christ faithfully meeting and worshipping together, learning from the Word and with a great desire to see souls saved both at home and abroad.

I love the sheer diversity of the Body of Christ which should not depress or discourage us.  Rather it should be a source of encouragement. Unfortunately too often though this diversity opens up opportunities for division.  But God loves diversity. 

Every one of the 7.3 billion people on the planet is unique. There is no one like them and never has been and never will.  Creation is an endless tableau of diversity with an eye watering collection of animals, birds, insects, fish, reptiles and bugs from the massive to the tiny in every colour and shape imaginable.  From the largest elephant to the amoeba the Creator’s love for things that are different, unique and incredible is absolutely mind blowing.

I don’t believe that God is shocked or disappointed by the different churches but what he does require of his people is to love one another despite our differences.

Jesus said ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’ John 13: 35

The problem seems to be that instead of celebrating the different emphases and ways of worship, there is a tendency to criticize the differences.  No church has the monopoly on the truth and the right way to do things and no church is perfect because it is full of imperfect people. Even with those whose theology we may fundamentally disagree with and maybe with good reason they do not deserve vitriol or Crusader or Inquisition style condemnation. People will not change because the truth is screamed at them. They will change and respond to the truth shared in love. They may also have some things to teach others. 

I think one of the most encouraging things over the last 10 years has been a genuine desire by Christians to work with those from different denominations and movements to see the Kingdom advance. You see we are not called to build the church. That is Jesus’s job (Matthew 16: 18). What we should be doing is going out into all the world with the Gospel to make disciples and see the Kingdom of God grow and flourish.

History itself is a good indicator that when churches lay aside their differences and work together with this aim, the Kingdom goes forward and the world is impacted by the Gospel and the unity that the Church shows.

Visiting other churches is a wonderful way to broaden our horizons.  I am not talking about church hopping with no commitment to a local church but an occasional visit to another church whether locally or further afield. It helps us see the bigger picture. It stops any sense of isolation and especially pride that our way is the best way. It helps us value and appreciate others and forges relationships that build unity.

If you haven’t visited another church in a while, why not give it a go? 

A sense of belonging

There is a Hillsong song that says, ‘Jesus I believe in you, Jesus I belong to you. You’re the reason that I live, the reason that I sing with all I am.  A sense of belonging is essential to each one of us for our identity, security and general well being. We get this sense of belonging from the people and places around us. 

As Christians our sense of belonging should come from our identity as children of God. This is strengthened by our Christian family of friends and church. The family is God’s plan for people, both naturally and spiritually. It is in our natural family where we initially forge our greatest sense of belonging. The same is true in God’s family but it is when the family breaks down, either in the natural one or in the church that some big problems can occur.

It is when we feel let down, hurt and rejected by parents, brothers and sisters or in the church by our Christian friends or leaders that our sense of belonging to these invaluable institutions begins to unravel..  We may then exchange our family or Christian sense of belonging by finding  people and communities who have not hurt us. This situation is always made worse in churches by the feeling that Christians shouldn't behave like this; that they should know better.

I am sure we can all think of people who have left the church or even backslidden because of what a Christian or a church has said or done.  It is heart breaking when this happens. These people have found greater love and acceptance from the world than from Christians and the church.

However, when the church loves, honours and works together in unity and always tries to deal with difficulties it becomes a very powerful family and individuals have a strong sense of belonging and identity. When churches then try and work together across denominations or even nations, the sense of belonging it engenders can help people feel they are working together for something much bigger than themselves or even the locality.  As Psalm 133 says, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! … For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life for evermore.’ God blesses unity.

The church is at it most effective in outreach when we show love to the world based on love within the local church and even more love across churches. Jesus said, ^‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’(John 13: 35). 

When the world looks at a church full of saints who have such a strong sense of belonging both to God and one another that instead of complaining and criticising one another they love and honour others, then that becomes extremely attractive to unbelievers.

A sense of belonging is so important to each one of us. If you don’t feel you belong either to God or the local church, ask him today to help you understand why, to forgive any who have hurt you and to forge the strong bonds of love and unity with others that will help you feel the love and acceptance that a child of God should have. 

The blessing of unity

The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you’ and the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you. I Corinthians 12: 21

Some years ago a friend said to me, ‘You know, someone else does not have to fail in order for you to succeed.’  This was a bit of a revelation for me because unknowingly that was exactly what I thought and it was obvious enough for my friend to say so to me.

My wrong thinking that success for me was at the expense of someone else’s failure was a lie that needed exposing.  We are called to be a body working together not a set of spare parts competing for top spot.  Our greatest and most fruitful moments come when we work together. If I am a finger I do not compete against the thumb but work with it to achieve something neither of us could do separately.

There are two problems in most churches and certainly between churches and one is the confident people working independently and the other is those lacking in confidence feeling they have nothing to contribute. Both are wrong. The over confident need to start working better with others and the timid need to realise and start to operate in the gifting and function that God has placed in them.

The body needs all the parts operating well together to fulfil what God has called it to do.  This is true unity.  Others do not have to fail in order for us to succeed but if we are to succeed we need to work together in unity blessing what is going on and honouring one another. At the end of the day it is not about personal success or failure or even our church’s success or failure but all about God. Do we honour him with our words, our service and our attitudes? Do we bring him glory in what we do?

We are the body of Christ. Let each one of us play our part and bring glory to him in all we do.