Radical Unity
Scripture: Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV)
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Devotion:
Today’s scripture proclaims one of the unrealized promises of the Christian faith. Paul is declaring a radical unity that should exist within the body of Christ. Unity seems to be the most elusive goal that the church in any age has sought to embody. The problem of disunity, in fact, seems to be getting worse not better as time passes. It seems that sometimes there are as many different beliefs as there are individual believers. My friends this simply should not be the case. Paul has set a high bar and there is no doubt we are failing to meet that standard.
We seem more than willing to divide over truly secondary and sometimes even trivial things. While some division should be expected in the church. We do live in a fallen, sinful world after all. The extent of division in the church is way beyond anything that could be considered reasonable. I am just an observer here; I admit that I have no magic formula to heal all the wounds that the church has inflicted on itself. So, the question is what does scripture say about division in the church body?
The apostle Paul did write to churches that were divided even back in the first century. What is the scriptural advice he gave? An example is found in the book of Titus 3:10-11 “10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.” Paul addresses the way the church is to treat the person or persons who stir up division. Essentially, he is saying that warn the person once or twice and after that it is ok to have nothing more to do with him or her.
Paul is saying here that we should be proactive in dealing with people who sow division in the body of Christ. Make a small split now to avoid a disaster once the wound has begun to fester. Another helpful piece of advice found repeatedly in the scripture is for all church members to practice love for your fellow church goers. It says somewhere in scripture that “love covers a multitude of sins.” Everybody is not going to agree on every point of doctrine or practice in the church. If we can just be charitable toward one another many church splits could be avoided entirely. Let us pray that God will heal his church from its division and discord.
Prayer:
Lord, we come to you as a broken church in a broken world. Forgive us our divisive ways and heal us so that we may be the healing for the nations you call us to be. Heavenly Father, pour out your Holy Spirit on your church today. May we be united in the essentials of faith. And full of charity in matters that are not central to the faith. Increase our love for one another so that we can see past our differences and unite to be a healing force in this broken world. Amen.
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