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4 Ways the Gospel Creates Unity in the Church

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

4 Ways the Gospel Creates Unity in the Church

Once we begin to understand how the gospel creates peace, mocks our vain claims to self-importance, and teaches us to live as agents of joy and delight in the world, how will these truths begin to create unity among the bickering factions of Christianity?

Let me propose four ways the gospel creates unity in the church.

First, the gospel teaches us that truth is only true if carried out in love.

church unityWhile we can agree that there is no love without truth, it is essential for doctrinally-minded Christians to remember that there also is no truth without love. True truth will always express itself in love.

If you are warring and fighting with your brother, especially over doctrine, it is probably a good indication that you have misunderstood the truth of that doctrine. True doctrine and theology leads always and only to love (1 Cor 13).

Second, the gospel brings peace to the various sides of the “works vs. faith” debate.

The debate has raged over whether or not the gospel requires works as a way to earn, keep, or prove one’s eternal life.

Yet this debate comes from a simple categorical mistake of confusing a small part of the gospel with its entirety. If two people are arguing about what qualifies as true “fruit” and one has apples in mind and the other has oranges, but they keep using the world “fruit” the argument quickly becomes quite messy.

Gospel debates are like that. The gospel is a wide-ranging message about what God has done for the entire world through the life, teachings, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It not only contains truths about how a person can go to heaven when they die, but also about how a follower of Jesus can live here on earth.

So if one person is thinking only about the parts of the gospel that tell a person how to go to heaven when they die or receive eternal life (faith alone in Christ alone), while another person is thinking about the parts of the gospel which tell followers of Jesus how to live on this earth (discipleship, obedience, faithful living), but both persons keep using the term “gospel,” the argument quickly becomes quite messy. But when we understand that the gospel contains both truths, about how to receive eternal life and properly live this life, then we can stop arguing about the role of faith and works in the gospel and see that both have their proper place with proper results.

Third, the gospel is about learning more about Jesus AND doing more with Jesus

unity of the Body of ChristWhen we see that the gospel contains a whole host of truths and doctrines to believe and teach and also a broad spectrum of behaviors to practice and obey, those who believe Christians should be listening to more sermons and attending more Bible studies can nod and smile toward those who prefer to be out feeding the poor and tending the sick, and vice versa.

Both sides recognize that if they are truly following the gospel, there will come a time when their roles must reverse, or at least become more balanced.

There is a time to study, and a time to serve; a time to learn, and a time to love.

The gospel reminds us that we are all one family

Ultimately, the gospel teaches us that no matter what, we are all one family. And just like any family, there will be internal disagreements, struggles, and arguments. There may need to be some discipline that takes place, some separations that must occur.

But when these arguments and breakups happen, the gospel reminds us that we are still family, and that despite our hurt feelings, theological disagreements, and interfamily strife, the goal of the gospel is reconciliation and redemption, not just of each of us to one another, but ultimately and eventually, the redemption and reconciliation of all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

But church unity is not easy

None of this means that the development of unity is easy. In fact, unity is a bit like humility: both vanish the moment you think you’ve achieved it. Unity, like humility, can never be our goal. Unity is a byproduct of living within the gospel.

Unity occurs naturally as a result of following Jesus as He leads us into peace with God and each other, into a gentle mocking of our own pride and ambition, and into a full-fledged delight at the beauty and wonder of life in this world.

When viewed this way, the gospel is a truth that binds us all together in unity, whether we are high church or low church, mega church or house church, or some mixture in between. The gospel is not something that divides, but unites, and brings us together into the unity of the faith.

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God is Redeeming Life, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: biblical living, church unity, following Jesus, good news, gospel, unity

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Christian Unity and the Church

By Jeremy Myers
15 Comments

Christian Unity and the Church

So-Called ChristianI recently read a book titled So-Called Christian by Jim Turner. This book is part confession, part exhortation. In it, Jim Turner confesses to his own sins of pride, jealousy, and discord, and explain how he came to see that such behavior is not only damaging to himself and his relationships, but also to the church at large and the church’s witness to the world.

By sharing personal stories and biblical insights, Jim Turner calls the church to restore unity and love within the Body of Christ.

Ironically, or maybe not surprisingly, I don’t agree completely agree with all the theology or biblical interpretations shared by Jim in his book. However—and here is the point—I am in full agreement (and unity) with Jim in his call for Christian to live in unity despite our differences. That’s the key. We will never all act the same way, dress alike, or believe the same things. But we can choose to get along in love and unity, knowing that others may see things differently than we do, but in Christ we are all one.

Jim shows that when we disagree with each other, we can practice unity by being kind, gentle, loving, and patient with others in our disagreements.

And yet, unity is much easier to write and talk about than to actually achieve. For example, in a short chapter about where to draw the line on unity, Jim Turner points to many texts which seem to teach that Christians should separate from those who stray from apostolic teaching (p. 121). But that is exactly the problem, isn’t it? What one person thinks of as a “fringe opinion” may be included in other person’s list of critical “apostolic teachings.”

Of course, Jim recognizes this tension, and spends a couple chapters at the end of the book saying that while this tension exists, we can still move toward unity by focusing not on doctrines and dogmas, but on Jesus Christ and the grace of God. When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and remember the grace that God has shown us, it becomes much easier to live in unity with others.

To check out the book for yourself, get a copy on Amazon: So-Called Christian

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Books I'm Reading, unity

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Unity vs Uniformity in the Church

By Jeremy Myers
46 Comments

Unity vs Uniformity in the Church

unity vs uniformityThere has been a huge push toward unity in the church over the past 40 years or so. People are tired of the numerous divisions and splits that seem to occur with increasing frequency within the church. And while some of our divisions involve important issues, such as whether or not Jesus was truly divine (He is) and whether or not God loves gays (He does, of course), a lot of church division seems to occur over stupid stuff, like what kind of music to play on Sunday morning, whether or not there should be donuts in the foyer, and what color the new carpet should be.

Personally, I don’t think all church splits are a bad thing. I don’t think that deciding to leave one group of people so that you can join with a different group is always bad. To some degree, this is just the way life is, and sometimes, these sorts of reorganizations are simply one way of keeping the peace. When we view all different denominations and types of churches as parts of the universal Body of Christ, we begin to see that we are not in competition with one another, but are simply different parts of the same Body working in unison toward a common goal. I’ve written about this before in my post: The Church is Broken? Nope.

Of course, there does not always seem to be a whole lot “unison toward a common goal.” Instead, there is a lot of name calling, finger pointing, back stabbing, and heretic burning. I fully admit that I have engaged in a fair bit of this myself over the years. And I sometimes still do. I’m guilty too.

But here is what I am trying to come to recognize: Unity is not the same thing as uniformity.

I believe we can have unity within the church without uniformity. In fact, since there can never be true uniformity in all things, the only way to achieve unity is to recognize, accept, and celebrate our diversity.

Maybe some quick definitions are in order.

Unity vs Uniformity

Unity is when we are one. We are of one mind, spirit, purpose, mission, and goal.

Uniformity is when we all believe the same thing and practice the same thing. We are uniform in our beliefs and behaviors.

I think that in general, all Christians everywhere are in unity. We have one Spirit, the Spirit of God. We have one purpose, to glorify God. We have one mission, to spread the good news about Jesus Christ. We have one goal, to lift up the name of Jesus and live like Him in this world.

Yet despite this unity, there is no uniformity whatsoever on how to do these things, what it looks like, or where and when to do these things.

Just take the “gospel” we are supposedly in unity about. Regarding the gospel, we cannot agree on the the definition and message of the gospel we are to proclaim! We cannot agree on who gets to proclaim it, or to whom it should be proclaimed, or what should happen after we proclaim it. There is even disagreement in some circles on what we should wear when we proclaim the gospel and what Bible translation we should use. Let’s be honest: It gets quite ridiculous.

Unity Without Uniformity

I think it is possible — even desirable — to have unity without uniformity. 

It is possible to have unity within the church only if we give up on uniformity. Unity is a Godly goal; uniformity is not. 

unity of the Body of ChristI can be happy that that certain members of my Christian family like Southern Gospel music even though it makes me want to cut my ears off. I don’t think that they should like my kind of music (which is pretty much no music at all) to be real Christians, and I hope they can extend the same grace toward me despite our lack of uniformity.

Similarly, though I am not a big fan of sitting in a pew on Sunday morning and calling that “church,” I know that for many people, this is an important part of the way they follow Jesus. Since this used to be essential for me as well, I understand where they are coming from, and can be in unity with them regardless of our differences in how we try our best to follow Jesus. I hope they can extend the same grace toward me despite our lack of uniformity.

I could go on and talk about my Calvinist friends, or those who think women should be silent in church, or those who vote democrat. I may disagree with these perspectives quite passionately, but in the end, I choose to put aside my differences and love others for the sake of unity in Christ, not expecting them to become a clone of me, and hoping that they do not expect me to fall into step behind them.

It is exactly this unity without diversity which best expressed the love of Jesus, and which paves the way for us to invite the world into our midst. The world, I believe, wants to follow Jesus, but they are not sure they want to become “Christians.” If we can open up our arms and say, “No problem! There is room among Jesus followers for all kinds of Christians,” this sort of loving unity would go a long way in glorifying God, spreading the good news about Jesus Christ, and living like Him in this world.

So do you want Christian unity? Begin by recognizing, encouraging, and celebrating our immense diversity.


This post was part of the April Synchroblog, where various bloggers all write on the same topic. Below is a list of the other contributors this month:

  • The Virtual Abbess – Abi and April’s Synchroblog – Bridging the Divides 
  • Caris Adel – Emotional Pacifism: Laying Down My Weapons 
  • Ty Grigg – Speak Truth 
  • Jon Huckins – Gay Marriage, World Vision, and a Unified Church? 
  • Mark Votava – Faith Presence in the Parish 
  • Mary at Lifeinthedport – let us meet in the borderlands
  • Michael Donahoe – Healing Divisions in the Body of Christ  
  • Juliet at Still Learning – A Catholics Love Letter to Evangelical Women 
  • Dago at Scripture Insights – Jesus the Divider 
  • Glenn Hager – The Lowest Common Denominator 
  • Sarah Quezada – Standing on Church Bridges 
  • Doug Webster – Truth Is Not a Process, Belief Is
  • Michelle Van Loon – Bridging the Divide 
  • Happy at Simple Felicity – are we there yet? 
  • Travis Klassen – The Church: Coming, Going, or Being 
  • Bec Cranford – Biblical Interpretation and Inerrancy: Moving beyond myopia to a grander vision of unity
  • Teresa Pasquale – Bridging the Divide: Translating Between Dialects, Culture Contexts, and Heart Stirring 
  • Miguel Labrador – I might be willing to reconsider church hierarchies, if…
  • Paul Meier – Healing the Divides Begins Within 
  • Liz Dyer – You Can’t Get There From Here 
  • K.W. Leslie – Humility 
  • Kathy Escobar – 10 ways we can build bridges instead of bomb them 
  • Loveday Anyim – The “non-Gospelized Rituals” of Pentacostalism 
  • Caedmon Michael – Bridging the Divides
  • Carly Gelsinger – “Church Shopping” at the Wrong “Mall”: A Story of Easter Sundays
  • Mallory Pickering – A Splintered People
  • Pastor Edwin Fedex – Tearing Down Fences and Building Sidewalks

 

 

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: body of Christ, church, conformity, Discipleship, synchroblog, Theology of the Church, uniformity, unity

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