How important is Christian unity?

G’day everyone, Dave Deane here, and our question for the week is: How important is Christian unity?

Everyone has an opinion. It’s part of what makes us unique and interesting. But opinions invite different opinions, and different opinions often lead to disagreements, and disagreements to divisions.

Well, within the church, divisions are as old as the Church! We read about them in the NT, and the peaks of historical theology are flagged with the greatest of these divisions that have led to much suffering and bloodshed over the centuries. But just as friction can spark a bushfire, so a bushfire can seed new life and in Church history it is almost always the case that theological divisions rejuvenate the spiritual life of the Church as they force us to dig deeper into the Scriptures with a ready willingness to turn the soil on our own convictions by correction from the word of God (if not our theological opponents).

And here is a liberating truth for Christians: we are united together in Jesus, and we see his worth, the bible, as authoritative. So in effect, we have everything we need to navigate our differences in a loving manner that is uncompromising in the pursuit of truth.

But this isn’t always the cause, is it? I mean, Christians are divided on all sorts of things – that’s why we have denominations and debates! With the liberty comes responsibility. You know, not long before his trial and crucifixion, Jesus prayed to the Father that we “may be perfected in unity” just as he and the Father are united in the Godhead (John 17:23), that we may witness to the world the love of the Father in sending Jesus.

That’s quite a prayer! I mean, how important is Christian unity? Well, the Son of God prays for it on our behalf, so important may be an understatement. But more than that, we see why it’s important: Christian unity – getting along as God’s people saved by Jesus despite our differences – that, Jesus says, reflects in some mysterious way the unity that Jesus has with God the Father and, as a result, gives witness to the world of the Triune God we worship!

Christian unity is testament to the world about the nature of God; it is a witness to the world of who we worship. Or to say that negatively, if we are divided and at war with one another, we are bearing FALSE witness about God to the world of people God has called us to minister.

In a more general sense in Romans 15:5–6 – “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV). In other words, Christian unity is as important as God’s glory.

And just to clarify: this isn’t unity for unity’s sake…. It’s unity for God’s sake. Being united as Christians doesn’t mean we accept everything simply for the sake of inclusion. It is God – his truth, his goodness and his beauty – that unites us… not whatever we think is true, or good, or beautiful.

You know, that’s a very different message to our present day. We live in an age of diversity which has many wonderful benefits and blessings… I love that I can eat pretty much whatever cuisine I wish right here in our city… But as a social phenomenon, pluralism has led to this peculiar cultural moment where what divides us is often greater than what unites us. It’s part of the reason why our culture has a victimhood mentality: we have lost the art of how to hold different opinions because we have confused acceptance with love and disagreement with hate. This is the complete opposite picture of how the Church is suppose to be. In 1 Corinthians 12:12–27 the Church is described as a living body – not a dead dismembered body – a living body, with Jesus Christ as our head moving us as the arms and legs.

I mean, check this out: 1 Corinthians 12 “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body… Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many… Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body… The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’”

Isn’t that beautiful?! The church is one body with diverse members, under one head – Jesus.

Walk into any church and you will see all sorts of different people – different looks, different ages, different homes, different jobs, different cultural backgrounds, different languages, different tastes in food, different opinions on COVID vaccines – we all have differences, but for Christians we are united in something – SOMEONE – far greater than our differences… Jesus Christ.

This is one of those remarkably liberating truths of the gospel: what is required of us is already true of us. Jesus prays that we will be united, and we can be united because in Him we already ARE united.

So ‘How important is Christian unity?’ Well, it is essential: to be a Christian is to be united to Christ. And this unity does not erase diversity; when a person is found in Christ they don’t cease to be who they are with all of their opinions and idiosyncrasies… they grow into the fullness of who they were always supposed to be. It is a union of communion, we life to the full in His.