Unity in the church

  

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 NIV)

Jesus prayed the above prayer just before He died.  Certain words caught my eye recently – believe, unity, glory, world, love of the Father …

I think of the prophesies about the great end time revival and this prayer has all the elements of that.  What if it’s yet to be fulfilled?

If Jesus came back now, is his bride ready?  Maybe in some ways, but there’s still quite a bit of division.  We don’t see the love, glory and unity that Jesus prayed for yet.  I know you know what I mean…

Some churches believe in tongues, some don’t

Some believe in following the Sabbath rest, some don’t

Some women only wear dresses, others wear pants

Some eat only fish on Friday, others eat whatever they want

You get the point.  We all believe in Jesus, yet we divide over things like this.  When will the dividing walls among believers be torn down?  When will the church, as Jesus said, be “brought to complete unity?”

In the early church, an argument arose.  Some believers said, “The gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts 15:5 NIV)

Circumcision was a major division in those days.  We know from Galatians that Paul felt very strongly against circumcision.  He wrote, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all."  (Galatians 5:2 NIV)

The apostles and elders met to consider this question.  In the end, they sided with Paul and said that new believers did not have to be circumcised.  They wrote a letter to all the churches that said:

We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements:  You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.  You will do well to avoid these things.  (Acts 15:24-29 NIV) 

Basically, Christians didn’t have to worry about circumcision or any of the other requirements of the law, except for a few minor things.  It seems that Paul had won the circumcision battle.

But then, in the next chapter, we see an interesting twist in the story.  Paul and Timothy set out to deliver copies of this decision to the churches. 

And verse 3 tells us that Paul had Timothy circumcised because of the Jews who lived in that area!!

Paul hated circumcision and knew it wasn’t’ necessary – he was delivering letters that said Christians didn’t need to be circumcised.  So why did he have Timothy circumcised? 

Apparently, sometimes, Paul compromised on non-essential things so that he could save more people.  He explained it this way:

I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  (1 Corinthians 9:19-20 NIV)

We denominational churches should take Paul’s wisdom to heart.  Keep the main thing the main thing, and don’t worry about the rest.  Maybe then we will see Jesus’s prayer fulfilled.

I once did a study of some of the most prominent revivalists to see what their secret was.  The evangelists who burned brightly for a while but faded were the ones who got distracted by the critics.  They started to focus on differences of opinion such as of tongues, Oneness, manifestations, and emotionalism.

The evangelists who burned brightly for years, like John Wesley, George Whitefield and Charles Finney had one goal – saving souls.  They preached and taught on things that are fundamental for salvation, like the Cross, the blood of Jesus, justification, sanctification, Hell, Heaven, sin, and repentance.

Of course they had critics, bad press, divisions, and differences of opinion in their meetings, but they simply didn’t focus on those things. 

Like Paul, they kept the main thing the main thing and the main thing was Jesus.  The fruit of such teaching is souls.

One important thing to remember, though…

Although Paul compromised on differences in opinion regarding the law, there’s one thing Paul never compromised on, and that’s sin:

…People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness buy denying its power.  Have nothing to do with such people.  ( 2 Timothy 3:2-6 NIV)

 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people… (Romans 16:17,18 NIV)

 Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned.  (Titus 3:10,11 NIV) 

  … you are not to keep company with anyone who claims to be a brother Christian but indulges in sexual sins, or is greedy, or is a swindler, or worships idols, or is a drunkard, or abusive. Don’t even eat lunch with such a person… (1 Corinthians 5:11 NIV)

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly… (2 Thessalonians 3:6 KJV)

So, in matters of the law, Paul compromised, but when it came to sin, Paul drew the line.

 

 

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.  Who are you to judge someone else's servant?  Tom their own master, servants stand or fall.  An they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.  One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind…

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat…

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died…  For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. (Romans 14:1-22 NIV)

 

 

If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God — even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:27-33 NIV)

 

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