Ephesians 4:3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
According to this Scripture “every effort” must be made to keep “the unity”. What is unity? The greek word “henotēs”, which is translated as such in the NIV denotes unity but also unanimity and agreement. The websters dictionary simply defines unity as: “the quality or state of not being multiple”. Whenever we are studying the bible, we need to get into the sandals of the first century church and understand what they mean by unity; not its modern interpretation. Let’s look at a Scripture that not only prescribes unity but gives an example of it:
Acts 4: 32-34 “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”
This passage is like finding a fossil of a dinosaur that unlocks all kinds of secrets about how that dinosaur lived. This Scripture tells us that the Church operated like the tribes that the disciples were formerly part of before joining the “Church” or “The Way” as they called it. Billions of people in the world still live and die in tribes much like the first century disciples yet it’s extremely hard for the average Westerner who was born steeped in individualism, division and rebellion to grasp this passage and the level of closeness and interdependence that they first century church took for granted. (More on this in a future article)
It’s incredible to be part of a unified group. The bible describes the church as a loving, caring, supportive community and although there were certain junctures where that peace was disturbed the ideal of unity is clearly prescribed. Infighting, discord, dissensions, factions, and evil suspicions were always looked on as sin and the trail signs of false teachers. Indeed Jesus himself prayed for unity between the believers and saw the unity of the church as one of the greatest tools of world evangelism.
How do we build an maintain unity? As Paul says in Romans 15:5 “Romans 15:5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus…” Unity is a gift from God graciously given as we follow Jesus together. Without the deep and committed desire to follow Christ no unity is possible. No amount of good intentioned will and desire can weather the storm. Unity in Christ surpasses cultural, linguistic, racial, socioeconomic, ideological and geographical boundaries and is stronger than death.
John 17:20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
An amazing part of this passage is how Jesus described the believers as needing to be “brought” to complete unity. This presupposes that there will be disunity that will need to be addressed and rectified. There is no way to over emphasize that this is a major part of your work as a leader. If your group is not unified then what are you baptizing people into? However if a group is unified, even if it is financially poor and ill trained or ill equipped, it will whether the storms and grow! It takes an enormous amount of effort and focus to build a unified group however the benefits are incredible.
Being committed to the unity of the group is one of the most basic demands of leadership. Differences in doctrine on debatable matters (Romans 9, 14), character differences (1 Cor 12:12-26), differences of opinion on goals and direction in the ministry (Heb 13:17), and anything else that can hurt the unity need to be brought to terms and set at the foot of the cross. Unity that is strong comes from imitating Christ together and calling everyone to this same commitment.
The bad news is that when there is no unity people automatically blame the leadership. Disunity hurts the weaker members and the younger members first and affects the decision makers who are generally stronger later. If you operate a disunified group no one will have any fond memories of your leadership and chances are… neither will you. You will be regarded as a poor leader and in truth you will be because you are not calling people to be like Jesus.
It takes enormous bravery to wade into the battle against the evil and the entropy which seeks to tear the church apart. However the consequences of disunity are too severe and the benefits to awesome for us to fail to put everything we have into making our churches a place of protection, healing, joy and love. Let’s take hold of the dream of a spotless church, unified in Christ, and advance to make it a daily reality.