All summer long, we have been studying the book of Ephesians during our Sunday morning youth group. Jamey (the youth minister) and I switch between teaching middle school and high school each week. The last two weeks, I have been teaching on Ephesians 4:1-16. I wish I had Charlie here to corroborate with me in writing this, because he loves Ephesians 4. For you Worthy Prisoners fans out there, their name even comes from Ephesians 4:1. In this passage, one of the major themes is unity in the church, so it's a topic that has been bouncing around in my head for the past couple weeks, so I thought I would use a few posts to work out some of those thoughts and use some of the material from my lesson.
When I think about whether or not the church today is unified, it makes me very sad. When I taught my lesson, I started by using a technique I learned from Kevin Greer in which I read a series of statements, and for each one the students go to one side of the room if they agree with the statement and to the other side if they disagree. One of my statements was, "Unity in the church is a big deal," and everyone both weeks agreed with that statement. Another of the statements was "The church today is pretty unified." And everyone disagreed. Every single person. We all know that the church is meant to be unified, but we also know that we're not there. In fact, as time goes by, we seem to be moving the wrong direction. Instead of becoming more unified, we become more fractured and splintered. And it's sad.
Jesus seems to have thought that church unity was pretty important, too. On his last night before being crucified, just hours before he is arrested, he prays for future believers: "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you [...] 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" (Jn. 17:20, 23). That's a pretty high standard for unity. Jesus says that he wants the unity of the church to look like the unity in the Trinity. Believers are to be one as Jesus and the Father are one. We don't even understand that sort of oneness. That's why we have such a difficult time comprehending the Trinity. And yet, somehow, that's what the church is supposed to look like.
The problem, of course, is that there are just so many things to argue about. The church has mastered the art of disagreement. If there is something to become disunited over, we're all over it. And when we've covered all of them, we make up new issues to argue about. Worship, leadership, money, baptism, eschatology, church structure. The list goes on and on. The result is that we do not see a united church, but one that is splintered into innumerable denominations, factions, and groups.
Ephesians 4:4-6 says, "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." There is a word that jumps out of these verses. One. Even though we might disagree on a lot of things, we are following the same one God. We believe in the same one Christ. We have the same one Spirit living in us. So often, I approach and interact with other Christians only in terms of how they are different than me. When I think of a specific person, my first thought isn't, "Man, that's a great guy who sure loves and serves Jesus!" It's bound to be more along the lines of, "Ugh, there's that punk that only takes communion once a quarter." Instead of focusing on how we're different, maybe things would be better if we remembered our similarities. All of the "ones." (Granted, the passage says we have "one baptism." I'm not totally sure what to do with that.)
As strange as it sounds, there are some who may be against church unity. They think that a united church only tries to control people. Its goal is to make cookie-cutter replicas of the same person. This a misunderstanding of unity, however. Unity does not mean uniformity. God wants the church to be one, but he does not want everyone in the church to be the same. Not only would that be counterproductive, it would be boring. Ephesians 4:7 says, "But [in spite of the fact that we have one Lord, God, etc.] to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." God gives different people different gifts and abilities so that the church may grow and be built up (Eph. 4:16). In 1 Corinthians 12, the church is likened to a body in which each body part has an important role, and all of them are necessary for the health of the body. No body part can give up on its task without weakening the body. Each part is different for a purpose. And it's the same in the church. Fortunately for everyone, every person in the church is not like me. We are different. But we are also to be united. Many people, with many background, personalities, gifts, and perspectives, working together as one body for the purpose of making Jesus famous. That's the church.
The next time I write, I'll write about why the church is so important and why we need it. So check it out. Same Heffren time, same Heffren channel.
I went bowling last week for the first time in a couple months. It felt good. Speaking of that, I am potentially in the market for some new bowling friends this next semester. You get to hang out with me every week, and sometimes Connor. Is there a better way to spend your Monday evenings?
You should still come anyway.
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