Unity matters
Some people want to take the easy way out, and say the differences between all the different Christian denominations are just peripheral lifestyle variations. That all major denominations share the same core beliefs. That if you're happy in your denomination, then everything's fine. I first touched on this, on the flock page. There I talked about how you find your way in a divided world. But here I want to consider simply what Jesus must think about the current state of affairs?
It mattered then
When Jesus was in the garden just before His arrest, He was at one of the most critical moments in His entire life. He was about to die in a drawn out and tortured way, and He knew it. The apprehension He experienced was itself an agony. The Bible says sweat ran from Him in 'great drops'. So at this time of extreme anxiety, what was uppermost in His mind?
The Gospel of John tells us Jesus prayed for unity:
John 17:11 '..that they may be one..'
All His apostles were nearby in a couple of huddles, exactly as He'd left them. So why the concern about unity?
One of the reasons was that unity is an essential aspect of life in heaven. He wanted us to experience the Kingdom of God already here, on earth. We can't all be at-one with God, yet divided among ourselves!
"What would be the effect of having witnesses if they all gave different accounts?"
But I think that another pressing reason for this concern, was that the Apostles were to be Jesus' witnesses, to the ends of the earth. What would be the effect of having those witnesses preaching about Jesus, if they all gave different accounts? If they all said He taught different things? And that these things had different meanings and applications, depending on what you wanted them to mean?
There was no point in dying on the cross, if no one could ever know for sure, what Jesus had been about. Having a reliable and singular witness from all His followers, was crucial to Jesus' mission. They had to convey a single teaching about things like repentance, avoiding sin, being saved, and living a Christian life. Jesus prayed feverishly that unity would be preserved, and the Evangelist wrote it down, so we'd know it mattered.
If it mattered in Jesus' day, what about in ours? Does the world need an authentic witness to Jesus today? Does it get it?
It matters now
If we Christians are seen to argue about what's a core belief and what's peripheral, what are outsiders to make of it? All that should be clear.
Sometimes we might all say the same creed, but mean different things by the same words. It won't do. Jesus didn't pray that we'd appear to have unity, He wanted the real thing!
Delivering the goods
The fact that Jesus prayed for unity, means it's there on offer, just like salvation. We Christians so often presume to have the salvation part out of Jesus' prayer, so what about the unity part? We must pray more to go about it the right way. It's not just something for leaders and committees, we must all do our part:
- let's pray that God helps us share our faith with one another, and to do so in a positive and constructive way, ready to listen to neighbour and to God,
- let's also pray that God will show us where we're adding our own ideas to His truth, and presumptions over what He wants us to do. This applies to all of us, whatever our denomination.
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