In Psalm 133, the word says that God commands his blessing
when brothers dwell together in unity.
The commanded blessing is, frankly, nothing less than resurrection
life. It is not a small thing. This is part of the heritage of the
church. It is core to everything the
church seeks to experience in her pursuit of the prize. Jesus was the first born among many brethren,
and he has come to lead many sons to glory.
Our belief is that the prize is attainable and that, before it is all
said and done, Jesus will have a church that will access all that He
accomplished for us.
Jesus Died for Unity
One of the things Jesus died for is a unified body. In the same way that He became poor that we
might be made rich, so also His body became disjointed that the church might be
unified. Through the years I have heard many people say that there will never
be complete unity until we get to heaven.
Perhaps they are correct but what is troublesome is the tendency to
accept the status quo as inevitable. Those who take this attitude are basing their
convictions on their disappointments with man, not their experience with
God.
Apostolic Expectation
Clearly, the apostles not only
expected the church to walk in unity but they assumed it was already a reality
created by the pattern and accomplishment of Jesus Christ. It was not something to be obtained, but
maintained. How ironic that the Apostles
were urging the church to maintain unity in its infancy and now, 2000 years
later many have declared that it will never happen. It seems that we have matured out of unity
instead of growing into it.
There is one reason for this disintegration of Christian
unity and that is because the church has tried to have a life and purpose of
its own while being disconnected from the head. Worldwide the church has attempted to be
unified but it has neglected its one and
only remedy for its disjointed condition- reconnecting with the Head, Jesus
Christ.
One means to Unity
Unity is a possibility but only by one means. We will find and express our unity when we
get connected to the life source. To the extent that the church seeks to have
life in itself, it will be incapable of being unified. True unity is based on the extension of the
life of Christ expressed through His corporate body. We share in God’s life as a community and
therein we are unified. So called
“unity” based on any other reality is doomed to disintegrate because it is
based on man’s achievements and agreements but not God’s. Even religious agreements about God, i.e.
doctrinal creeds, will not hold the church together.
Jesus said, “…apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.
As a body cannot function without
a head, neither can the church function without Christ. But in the modern era, the church acts as if
this were not so. When the church seeks
to live and direct itself through its own power, it ceases to live. When the church comes together under any
other vision, banner, or distinctive other than expressing the life of God in
Christ, it becomes self-promotional and sews the seeds of its own demise.
Legitimacy apart from…
Pursuing Jesus as the head means seeking him as Lord. The Church talks a lot about the need for
unity. But then it turns around and
seeks its own agenda to cause it to stand out from the rest. This
is a primary source of the church’s problem.
The church is more intent on establishing its legitimacy than being an expression of Jesus. God is not looking to be impressed. Jesus did not come into the world to show off
or to try to impress God the Father. He
came to do the will of the one who sent Him.
He said that apart from the Father He (Jesus) could do nothing. In order for the church to come into genuine
unity with itself, it must first begin to connect with the Head- Jesus
Christ. In order for the church to
experience Jesus as its functioning head, it must die to its own
self-importance.
The need to be
special
Every person is born with the desire and even the need to be
special. Every person has a desire to
fulfill His or her destiny. But these
pursuits create diversions from the Lord when they become ends in
themselves. The pursuit of self-fulfillment
is actually the first temptation offered to man. As people are led astray from their life in
Christ into a pursuit of self-actualization, they move away from the one who
would give them life. Jesus said, “If any
man wishes to be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and
follow me.” When we ignore the course
the Lord sets for us by pursuing our own will, we move into the survival of the
fittest, which is simply another name for “the law of sin and death.” This is the root of competition and the
search for legitimacy that plagues the Body of Christ and causes it to
disintegrate into so much division and brokenness.
The Root of Competition
One of the reasons that unity is so difficult to attain is
because there is such a deep root of competition in the Body. Everyone has a legitimate need and desire to
be significant. Every person is unique
and distinct, but people make a mistake when they measure their significance against
someone else’s contribution. It is
interesting that some of the most gifted people are often tormented over this
issue of significance. It they can’t be
the best then they won’t even play.
This scenario is often played out in the church. Distinctions are coveted and fought
over. Who has the best worship
team? Who has the best preacher? Who has the nicest building or coolest
décor? Who is bringing in the next great
speaker or concert? Who’s got real
revival going in their church? Where is
the place to be this week? This kind of
competitive spirit exists because people still are insecure about their
position in Christ. People want to be
distinguished for something more than being in Christ. People are looking for endorsement based in
their own merit. At the core of the
fallen condition is a lust for approval.
Are you a Superstar?
The church’s search for legitimacy is also exposed by its
creation of and addiction to superstars.
The church gives superstar status to its most popular teachers and
worship leaders. Seminary’s hold certain
personalities high for emulation by its students. VIP status is everywhere. Many in the church either want to be a
superstar or hang out with one or at least get to sit on the front row when
they come to town. Why? Because people seem to think that if they are
seen with the right person or they get a prophecy it somehow validates them. This condition exists in the church as
chronically as in the world. Incidentally,
many people choose a church that seems exciting because they draw a certain
amount of their own identity from the church they belong to. But not even an anointed man can give what
Christ alone is anointed to give. When
people look to others for validation it leaves them impoverished and still left
looking for some way to fill the void.
When the emptiness gets acute, people leave the crowd to face their
loneliness once again.
The Source of
Identity
The church must stop and think seriously about where its identity
actually comes from. Jesus said to the
Samaritan woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God and who it was who speaks
to you… you would ask him and He would give you a drink of living water.” If the church knew the gift of God…. If we truly
began gazing on Jesus we would forget most of what we have been fighting
about. We would stop looking for man’s
approval or for our favorite prophet to tell us and everyone else that we are
legit.
Beholding Christ in
One Another
If, however, we are not vulnerable to the Spirit’s work of
revealing Christ to us and in us, we will never behold Christ in one another. John wrote, “Our fellowship is with the
Father and with His son Jesus Christ.” 1
John 1:5 Fellowship is a spiritual phenomenon.
It does not happen on a carnal level.
We cannot have direct fellowship with one another and experience what
the New Testament writers understood as fellowship. But when we know each other by the Spirit,
look past the carnal issues and see the Spirit of Christ in each other and begin
to fellowship with the person revealed to us by the spirit, then we begin to
taste what the apostle John was talking about.
So now let’s go back to the issue of competition. “But
when you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder and
evil work.” James 3:15. Competition
is based in our carnal need for recognition of our own accomplishments apart
from Christ. Competition therefore
forfeits real fellowship. When a person is trying to establish their
significance based in their own performance and then begin to compare
themselves with others, they will increasingly find themselves on the outside
looking in. Jesus said, “He who speaks
from himself seeks his own glory.” John 7:18. When one is busy seeking his or her own glory
then they can no longer receive correction.
Correction is viewed as a threat to their objective to appear approved
before men. This is nothing less than
the spirit of Cain who slew His brother because he was jealous of his brother’s
legitimacy before God. This is the
spirit of Saul who although he had been told that he had been rejected by God
still begged Samuel to honor him before man.
But there is no competition or comparisons in heaven. Neither is there any competition in Christ. Cain thought his issue was with Able. He was mistaken. It was with God. Had he fallen on his face and sought genuine
relationship with the Father, he could have found favor with the Lord just like
Able.
Jesus offended the Pharisees when He challenged their claims
as the rightful heirs of the kingdom and called into question their
interpretation of the scriptures. “Go and learn what this means”, he said, “I
desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
Matthew 9:13. He then infuriated
them by pointing out others who gained legitimacy with God not in the
conventional way of rigorously keeping the law but by simple humility and
transparency. (See Luke 18:14) In the end, the Pharisees did to Jesus what
Cain did to Able.
So where does this lead us?
Sadly the church seeking its own legitimacy apart from God loses all
favor with the Lord, disintegrates in factions, and ends up either isolated and
self-absorbed or prostituting itself to the world. Either way the church falls into a pathetic
condition of insignificance with both God and man. God holds the church under judgment; the
world holds the church in contempt.
Divine Provision for
Unity
The Church talks a lot about the need for unity, but it does
not do much to maintain unity. The
church is too busy trying to distinguish itself. It should instead seek to fulfill the prayer
of Jesus. One would think that Christ
high priestly prayer would be a priority.
The prayer of Jesus offers the solution.
“…that they all may be one, as you
Father are in Me and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world
may believe that you sent me.”
Notice that Jesus’ prayer for unity is founded on the church’s ability
to be one with the father and the Son.
Attempts to establish significance and legitimacy based on
performance and comparisons of the flesh, are rooted in one’s identity in Adam
but not in Christ. If we are of Christ,
then we are all of the same family. As
soon as we start seeking legitimacy outside of Him, it opens Pandora’s box of
evil and it reasserts every source of division that was overcome in Christ. If we
were truly fellowshipping with Christ we would not be looking at others with
carnal comparatives seeking to establish our legitimacy.
The church’s lack of unity is no longer excusable. Jesus prayed, “The glory you gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as
We are one.” This is the church’s
sufficient resource to be unified together.
If the church abides in Jesus, and partakes of His life, His glory,
there is no reason for it not to be unified.
Beloved, it is time for serious gut check. What is motivating us? Are we secure in who we are in Christ? Are we trying to out-perform one another
seeking some kind of legitimacy apart from Christ? If so, we need to repent and we must do it
now. Very soon, this issue is going to
be resolved in the church. God is going
to expose our motives. Let’s get them on
the solid rock of Christ.