Toward Unity in the Church
The Following is the Transcript for this Animated Video:
Jesus says it during the “last supper.” He says it after Judas had left the table. “You,” he says to the remaining eleven, “will be scattered.” Moments later, Jesus looks toward heaven and prays what many call his “farewell prayer.” As the Good Shepherd, Jesus knows the danger of a scattered flock.
So what request does he make for these soon-to-be-scattered disciples? “That they may be one, as we are one.” Later, in the same prayer, Jesus prays for us—we who follow him because of the words of those first disciples. And what does he ask for us—scattered as we are? “That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
These beautiful words raise a practical question: What would the answer to Jesus’s prayer actually look like in his Church? Is Jesus too idealistic? He asks that ALL of us be one. In time, we will be too many to count. How can we all be one?
Let’s begin by exploring some examples of what cannot produce unity in the church:
Merging denominations can never produce the unity Jesus prays for. Merely bringing all Christians into the same organizational chart won’t do it.
Unity is not based on adopting one Bible translation or on having identical interpretations. Using just one version of the Bible and taking all it says in the same way will not bring about the unity Jesus prays for.
Unity is not based on similar musical tastes. Even if all Christians were to agree on a single musical style, it would not produce the unity Jesus is looking for.
Unity is not based on compatibility. The unity Jesus prays will not eliminate personality differences.
Unity is not based on shared ethnic origins. The unity Jesus prays for rises far above ethnicity and race.
What, then, is that unifying force? Jesus gives us a clue in John 10:16 when he speaks of his “other sheep,” who “will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” What unifies the scattered sheep? Hearing and following the voice of that single Shepherd. Just as in the beginning, when the Word turned chaos into order, the Shepherd’s word brings order and unity into his flock. But Jesus returned to his Father in heaven. How can we hear his voice today?
Jesus said he would keep on speaking. “The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.” So the message goes from Jesus to the Spirit and from the Spirit to us. Today, we can read what the Holy Spirit spoke to the Bible writers. But to rightly understand and apply what Scripture says, we need to hear what the Spirit is still saying. Seven times Revelation chapters 2 and 3 say: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
On our own, we sheep are going our separate ways. Unity flows from the Good Shepherd and what he is saying through the Holy Spirit. As the variegated flock hears and follows the single voice of the one Shepherd, we will walk in his way—and in unity. This picture of sheep, though, might leave an incomplete impression. Unity in the body of Christ is not uniformity.
The unity is more like that of an orchestra. Not everyone plays the same part. Piercing notes from the trumpets sound nothing like the thudding from the drums. The oboist and cellist each contribute their own distinct tones. The musicians, then, express their unity as delightful harmony.
Think of the score the created by composer as the “voice” of the orchestra’s shepherd. As they follow that voice, the orchestra produces a unified, harmonious performance. We who belong to the Good Shepherd need to learn how to hear and follow his unifying voice in two settings.
When we are assembled.
And when we are dispersed.
We need to hear and follow his unifying voice when we are assembled. Scripture points out not only our need to meet but what our meetings should include. For example, Hebrews 10:24 and 25 warn us not to neglect meeting together. And, as we meet, we are to “motivate one another to acts of love and good works,” and to “encourage one another.” We need to spend wisely every moment we are assembled, using the “instruments” of our various Spirit-given gifts to build up, strengthen, and encourage each other.
I Corinthians 14:26 reinforces this need for mutual one-anothering. “When you meet together . . .” takes it for granted that Christians will gather. And when we do, one will contribute this, another will weigh in with that, and yet another will add something else. “Everything that is done must strengthen all.” Like members of an orchestra, each one has received a gift from God’s Spirit to use for the benefit of everyone else. We need to help each other hear the Shepherd’s unifying voice. Because most of the time, we will be . . .
Dispersed. This setting includes our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, where we play, and spend our time. Out here, we are surrounded by people who do not share—and often oppose—our faith. Here, the distracting voices make it more challenging to hear the Shepherd’s voice. In these environments, we need to seek out and find fellow believers. How can we, together with them, display heaven’s unity in these spheres?
Whether we are assembled or dispersed, the unity Jesus prays for makes itself visible in reciprocating agape love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” So this loving unity is not merely an absence of rivalry or conflict. It is a sacrificial spending of ourselves for each other. A lifestyle of mutually giving away our lives.
Jesus’s new command to love one another as he has loved us triggered dozens of one-another commands in the rest of the New Testament. Taken together, they amplify the Shepherd’s call to one-anothering, detailing what unity in Christ’s body looks like. Here are some of them:
Encourage, pray for, build up, submit to, teach, accept, confess faults to, forgive, admonish, comfort, care for, exhort, and serve. And here they are again. . . .
The unity Jesus prayed for is our best witness. When we live out this unity, outsiders—recognizing that it cannot grow from anything in this world—will see our oneness as evidence that God really did send Jesus to do what he did. Our living this way, as we hear and follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, provides a foretaste of heaven’s unity right here on earth.
Jesus knew the immense power of unity in his body: “that all of them may be one so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” This unity provides the basis for our witness: “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.”
On the mountain, God the Father told Peter, James, and John the secret to church unity. Speaking of the Good Shepherd. He said: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.”
