“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”I Corinthians 1:10 NKJV
The Importance of Unity
What does unity mean to you? In a chaotic and divided world, sometimes the word “unity” can sound like something irrelevant, something that just can’t work in the broken world we live in. Division is nothing new. In fact, it was a challenge very early in church history and something the apostle Paul addressed head-on.
In 1 Corinthians 1, we see that Paul had received reports that believers in Corinth were segmenting themselves based on who shared the gospel with them. They said things like, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or, “I am of Christ.” Rather than being united as one body of Christ, they were dividing themselves into smaller groups and factions.
Paul was very moved by this. In 1 Corinthians 1:13 he asks them these simple questions: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” Paul didn’t want the believers of Corinth to get lost in comparisons and separations. He wanted them united under Christ: one King, one Gospel.
Paul brought them back to the only thing that matters: salvation is from Christ alone. Without Christ, there is no unity. But under Christ, we can be united in a way that the world has never seen or understood.
In a world of fighting and division, the body of Christ gets to show the power of the Gospel. We are united, focused on Christ and only Christ.
Note after sharing the devotional: It’s impossible to be in unity regarding everything that exists in this world, but it is important to be in unity regarding the things that actually matter: that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died on a cross for our sins, that He rose again and conquered death for our sakes in the process, and that, as long as we are truly repentant of sin and earnestly seeking Him and His righteousness in all our ways as possible, those things we should always try to be in unity about.
But as the current wave of the conservative movement has stated, we cannot be necessarily in unity with absolutely everyone willynilly. For example, in terms of national unity, across states and across party lines, unity cannot occur with certain individuals that want to kill fellow citizens.
Then what about professed believers and/or family members who are toxic and abusive? Should one be in unity with them? Can one be in unity with such?
To answer that, below is one of my now-favorite passages in all of Scripture:
“Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.””I Corinthians 15:33 NKJV
OK, well that typically has meant to refer to non-believers or perhaps very immature believers. But what about brothers and/or sisters in the faith where there is abuse? What does the Bible have to say about them?
““Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”Matthew 18:15-17 NKJV
I’ve done a deep dive on the above passage in a previous post, but for today’s topic on unity, I’ll say that it doesn’t say that you absolutely must stay in unity with your abuser. In fact, if they don’t listen, repent, and make efforts to repair the relationship, you have permission from the Son of God Himself, and I would argue an obligation to yourself, to move on from that person, to “let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” Although there is an obligation to at least try to sort it out, no such obligation exists to continue enduring abuse in the hopes that the other person will change… unless you really want to, of course.
My stab at understanding the spirit of unity is that the Church (i.e. the bride of Christ or the body of Christ), already having truly received Jesus as their King and Savior and surrendered their lives to Him, would also have been transformed by Him and are well on their way to being conformed to His image… such persons should be in unity with one another because they have commonly experienced His grace, presence, and power in their lives. That common experience with Christ must trump all other potential differences that they may share. But, as I continue reading through different parts of Scripture, I see conditional verses that provide important context:
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”Romans 8:9 NKJV
- “if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” (from Romans 8:9 above)
- “If [your brother who sinned] hears you” (from Matthew 18:15 shared earlier)
What strikes me is that both Jesus and Paul recognize that not everyone will actually be saved. Yes, we still have an obligation to warn them of their sin and how it’s affecting their eternal status:
“but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.”Jude 1:23 NKJV
Story time. A ministry at my previous church for which I was on the leadership team had several recurring themes that served as part of its foundation: for the group on the whole, peacemaking (it’s where I was baptized by fire regarding Jesus’s instructions for addressing the sins of fellow believers, as outlined in Matthew 18:15-17); and for the leadership team specifically, unity. On paper, these principles were great, as well as often in practice. But as a very inexperienced leader (aside from a praise/worship ministry for which I also was a co-leader), and as a white male in a woke, feminist, liberal environment, I was at a greater disadvantage. Being in unity means sacrificing oneself for the greater good, in this case, the health of the leadership team which would then translate into the health of the ministry on the whole. However, looking back, because I was still very inexperienced in life, let alone leadership, I think I gave away sway that was more than necessary. It wasn’t that my co-leader didn’t allow me to have a voice (at least, not by word). But far too often when I did speak up, I was shut down, often when my co-leader was triggered emotionally, and I hadn’t yet learned in life (let alone in this ministry specifically) how to stand up to that.
So I stepped down. I tried hard to be in unity with someone who by their words said that I had a right to an opinion but by their reactions I didn’t, and ultimately that wore me down over time. I can’t be in unity like that. In my marriage, both my wife and I throw our weights around. She gets to speak and be heard, and so do I. When we do this, we both find ways to come to agreement. That’s unity. When I left the ministry for the second and final time (I had taken a sabbatical for a year the first time I stepped down, and that was because I was in such a bad place that I knew I couldn’t be the leader I knew I needed to be), my co-leader tried to persuade me to stay by telling me that oftentimes it’s the enemy telling us to step down to discourage the ministry from taking off, and that this was “absolutely” the case here as well. As it turned out, God was telling me it was finally time to leave this church and move on to another one. Plus COVID was on the way. Then the riotous anger espoused by that church after a druggie in Minneapolis died from a drug overdose while he was being arrested. No, it wasn’t the enemy telling me to step down; it was God telling me it was time to move on entirely.
Now, at my current church, the call for unity still stands. Not because my pastor has preached it in a Sunday morning sermon (in the 5 1/2 years that I’ve been attending, I don’t believe that I’ve ever heard him preach on that topic even once), but because the Bible says so.
Now, at my current church, the call for unity still stands. Not because my pastor has preached it in a Sunday morning sermon (in the 5 1/2 years that I’ve been attending, I don’t believe that I’ve ever heard him preach on that topic even once), but because the Bible says so.
“fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”Philippians 2:2 NKJV
What my pastor has said in sermons to model for us and encourage us to adopt as part Christian living and Christian unity, has been along the lines of: “we may disagree on such and such a topic, but I still love and respect you.” The more I hear it, the more I love that. (I think I didn’t quite understand it at first, but over time, I’ve been able to and to appreciate it as much.) I think, more than anything, that this is the true picture of unity. It allows for a diversity of opinions, and the freedom to hold and express them as afforded by our first amendment, while in other sermons our pastor may preach that we maintain unity and like-mindedness regarding the things that truly count, like what I mentioned earlier in this note.
But sometimes it’s OK (and not only OK, but commanded) to back off if a person refuses to be corrected (and especially if they throw it back in your face). Treat them like a heathen and a tax collector. Forgive them and don’t hate them, but you are free to put some distance between yourself and them so they don’t cause you to sin.
Meanwhile, allow God to highlight who in your life He wants you to fellowship with and push for unity. Facts and arguments don’t change the hearts of those who are in their sins, but examples do. Find people with whom you can be in unity and who will help the light of Christ in you shine. That will be your testimony and your example to the world.
Prayer: God, You know how much division there is in this world. I pray Your Church will be an example of the unity only Your love can bring. Help me to foster unity in every environment I step into, seeking to understand and keeping my focus on Christ. In Jesus’s name, Amen.