Our Lord’s desire for His people was total unity. He prayed, “I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me” (John 17:20-21). We are all a part of this prayer because we have come to know Christ through the words of His apostles. In their writing, we can know the mystery of grace given to the Gentiles (Ephesians 3:1-10). Their words carry the authority of Christ Himself (2 Peter 3:2) and their work serves as the foundation of the “household of God” (Ephesians 2:19-20), Christ Himself being the chief corner stone in that structure. We are unified as one household, one building. We are not many buildings, since Christ is the corner stone of His church only. The basis of our unity is found in the words of Ephesians 4:1-6:

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

This passage is not mere sentiment, either. Rather than seeing unity as a vague concept, God expects it to penetrate every aspect of our lives in a practical way. Our quest for unity should come with a hefty dose of patience and humility – often lacking in much of the debating that happens between brothers and sisters in Christ. We are usually more interested in winning an argument than being truly right about a subject. There is to be diligence in our preservation of unity because it is so easily lost when personal allegiance or ambition interfere. Unity takes work and genuine compromise (not the compromise of the world, however, that dumbs down the gospel to the lowest common denominator). Our bond? Peace. The object of our faith? The one and only God. Notice also that there are not many bodies making up the church, but one body. There are not many hopes, but one hope. There are not many ways to get baptized, but one.

According to the above passage, true Biblical unity cannot be achieved through inclusion of all ideas and paths, but through exclusion of all that is outside of God’s one will. “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father…If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light (practice the truth) as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another…” (1 John 1:3-7). Our willingness to practice truth is the basis of both fellowship with God and each other!

Is It Possible?

Many scoff at the idea of church unity because it seems totally impractical today. “There are too many differing ideas about the Bible,” some say. “We do not have inspired men and women today to answer all of our tough question,” others add. Still others seem to like the mess that has been made of Christianity. The endless fracturing gives everybody a chance to find a group that meets their own peculiar needs. Not satisfied with a church? Then just drive 30 seconds down the road and try something else. We have divided, divided, and divided some more over practically every subject from the Bible. With denominationalism everywhere we turn, it is no surprise that believers and unbelievers alike have become either disturbed or disturbingly comfortable with the religious scenery of our time. So we must ask if it is even possible to have true unity in the body of Christ!

“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they were selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47).

If only such a scene could be observed today! In those first, awesome days of the kingdom, we can read about a congregation of believers who really knew something about church unity. Notice a few things about the way their congregation functioned:

·  They emphasized the right things in their activities. They praised God constantly, put a premium on time spent with each other outside of their regular worship facility (and made hospitality a daily occurrence), never missed a chance to practice benevolence to other believers, and devoted themselves to the apostles’ doctrine. Where in this description of church life is the isolation, the sectarianism, and the distrust of religion today? Where in this description of church life is the empty entertainment, the lust for emotional satisfaction, or the pageantry of showy, superficial experience-driven worship? Where is the million-dollar praise palace? Where is the gluttonous need for the latest innovations and fads? Where is the church bureaucracy managing every outsourced good deed?

·  Devotion to the apostles’ doctrine should never be marginalized. It is through their words that we come to know Christ (John 17:20, 1 John 4:6, 1 Thessalonians 2:13). Their words are not words of mere men, but the words of God Himself (Galatians 1:11-12, 1 Corinthians 14:37, 2 Peter 3:2). If our unity does not start with sound doctrine, then we are building upon shaky ground.

·  They had a “sense of awe” because of the work being done in their congregation. Do you ever feel a little underwhelmed by your level of participation?

·  They were “together” and were “one mind” which meant that there were not competing worldviews, a struggle of “old vs. new”, or resentment because some were producers and others were consumers. Both rich and poor, educated and illiterate were coming together “with one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32-35).

·  They had “favor with all the people” because their group was a phenomenon. They stood out from those around them and left a powerful impression. This is also described in Acts 5:12-14. Their uniqueness and distinctive identity was a glue that bound them together. Have we become just another church in the crowd, just one of the many options on the religious cafeteria line? Denominationalism and division turn off many potential converts because those things are ugly. Christianity is “out of favor” with many people for the simple fact that it is fractured beyond reason!

Why Do Churches Split?

More often than not, division happens because of pride, envy, prejudice, and allegiance to a person rather than God. There are probably congregations out there dividing almost every day, just as denominations have divided for centuries. For some causes of division, we only need to look at the New Testament. The apostles certainly had their hands full almost from the start fending off the wolves from the fledgling body of believers (Acts 20:28-30). So what causes churches to split?

Personal Ambition – Consider the disaster that Diotrophes made of his congregation in 3 John 9-11. He was literally running the church like a dictator, scaring people off, and acting like he was “first among them” because of personal ambition. Even worse, it is often the least-qualified people who want to take the church to the worst places (1 Timothy 1:3-7). Have we forgotten the words of Christ in Matthew 20:25-28?

Prejudice – Time does not allow us to delve into the problems addressed in Romans or Galatians, but it is abundantly clear from these as well as many other scriptures that prejudice was a real problem in the first century churches. In particular, it was the prejudice that existed between Jews and Gentiles. This even manifested itself in the lives of some of the apostles (Galatians 2:11-21). To a lesser degree, though, churches faced division over economic differences as well. James very pointedly describes such a problem in James 2:1-9. Paul briefly addresses it as well in 1 Timothy 6. It is hard not to read Philemon without seeing the way the caste system in Rome reared its ugly head in church life.

Allegiance – That is, allegiance to a person rather than Jesus Christ. No passage better explains this problem than 1 Corinthians 1:10-15 – a passage which might as well be talking about denominationalism today! This may also manifest itself in the form of “preacheritis”, wherein church members have more affection and devotion to the preacher than the church itself. They will hop from church to church until they find a preacher they like, rather than finding a church that promotes truth.

Potpourri Of Ridiculous Things – Why else do churches split? Name the reason! They split because of carpeting, paint color, class material, “style”, song choice, the smell of the soap in the bathroom – whatever they want! They split because some in the congregation want to have their ears tickled with doctrine that confirms what they already believe (2 Timothy 4:1-4). They split because somebody has a peculiar doctrine that he just cannot leave alone – a strange idea about the resurrection (2 Timothy 2:18), a meaningless or obscure word that is given more weight than it should (Titus 3:9, 2 Timothy 2:14), an obsession with the spirit world, a quirky belief about elders, or an axe to grind with the preacher. I wonder if any of these things is worth the destruction of church unity? Is it worth it to divide, when division is such an abominable, reprehensible thing to God? How can anybody be okay with trying to destroy the house that God is building? We should all read Romans 14:15-20 more often. The food of the first century was a contentious issue, whether because of its association with idol worship or because it was symbolic of economic differences between brethren. But food is a non-issue with God. It is immaterial to the work He is accomplishing in the body of Christ. How many of our “issues” are just as immaterial? Every time we put something ahead of the unity that Christ prayed about, we are failing Him – embarrassingly so!