One thing on my mind these days is Christian unity. If we were together on even the major issues of faith and Christian living, we would have a remarkable impact on this world.
This world does not have much unity; that’s a no-brainer. Every nation has its own agenda, and individuals are the same. I might be jaded by news reports, but most of what I see is conflict—from a ruckus over whether we should wear white poppies on Remembrance Day to how to stop North Korea from using nuclear weapons. Peace? Not likely.
John 17 records a long prayer that Jesus prayed. Most of it is about the oneness He desired in the lives of His followers. While His redemptions actually makes us one with Him; He deeply desires that we display it. In John 13, He said that our love for one another (certainly expressed, among other things, by unity) would show the world that we truly belong to Him.
Sadly, Christians can fight about almost anything. Doctrine probably tops the list, but not just that. Galatians 5 exhorts us to walk in the Spirit, not allowing the flesh to have its way. The flesh is a biblical term for the attitude and actions of unredeemed, sinful human beings. Because we so easily drop into fleshy living and neglect being filled with and following the Holy Spirit, we wind up just as carnal and sinful as anyone else, just as prone to bickering and fighting to get our own way. We can scrap over window coverings in the Sunday school rooms, how much money to send to Ethiopia, or whether the pastor’s last sermon has any merit. We can pick sides over the silliest things, and because of this fleshiness, churches have quarreled to the point of splitting, all because we are not listening to and obeying Jesus.
The obvious solution is that we repent and yield to the Holy Spirit. He will never cause divisions among us. However, before the Holy Spirit came to fill the first believers in the first congregation in the New Testament, they had unity anyway! It says so in Acts 1:14: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. . . .”
One of my commentaries says, “With one mind (accord) expresses the spiritual unity that characterized the early fellowship. Continually devoting is a strong expression, denoting persistence in prayer . . .”
From this verse, I can see that Christian unity requires prayer, and praying brings us to unity. When pray about an issue that seems to me to be His will, even though it conflicts with the ideas of other Christians, He will show them if I am right, and me if I am wrong. We have to give up our “I wants” and surrender to His will. That will only happen if we take off our gloves, get out of our respective corners, and drop to our knees.
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