The Challenge of Unity

When I was a kid my dad always said there were two kinds of people in this world. There were Ford people and there were Chevy people. There was no mistake about it – you had to be one or the other. In our house, we were Chevy people. If it wasn’t made by General Motors, you wouldn’t find it in our driveway. If you owned a Ford, my dad just thought you suffered from “auto ignorance.”

It’s funny how we create divisions in our society. However, as funny as it is, it’s true. We divide ourselves by color, by income, by age, by sex, by politics, by where we live, by what we wear, by our school, by what we watch on TV, by what sports team we follow and even, heaven forbid, by denomination. We’ve been bisected, dissected and intersected.

And there seems to be no way around most of the division. I mean, please, don’t expect me to raise my children to cheer for the New York Yankees. After all, people who cheer for the Yankees obviously suffer from “baseball ignorance.” ;-)

So how should we handle division? Is it important to even be concerned about? I personally believe it’s extremely important.

In Matthew, we find that Jesus was driving out demons and the Pharisees accuse him of being a demon himself. And Jesus responds with truth and logic.

Matthew 12:
25Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?"

Jesus made it very clear that a house divided can not stand. So division in the household, in the city or in the kingdom spells ruin. Paul also warns about division:

1 Corinthians 1:
10I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Division has been a real problem since the beginnings of the church. Paul appeals, or pleads with the church to be united.

The Bible seems pretty clear on division, doesn’t it? I mean, shouldn’t we all be completely united, totally bonded as one? Well, some people would lead us to believe that very thing. While there is danger in division, there is also danger in unity.

Luke 12:
51"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

OK. So now I’m really confused. I need to seek unity, but I also need to expect division? The Prince of Peace came to divide us?

So it seems. To be honest there is a need for division and there is a need for unity. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. I believe the key is this: We need unity in the Spirit, but not unity in the world.

Ephesians 4:
1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

I believe this lack of unity of the Spirit has plagued the church and the body of Christ since the early beginnings. And I believe one of the reasons we see this lack of unity is because we do not understand what it truly means.

The problem we’ve had with understanding unity of the Spirit is that we’ve lead ourselves to believe that God desires for your spirit to be unified with my spirit and my spirit with the rest of the body of Christ. We should all be unified with one another. That paints a pretty picture of the body of Christ, however it also paints a difficult picture. Why? Because it’s an impossible task because I’m carnal and you’re carnal (we have a sin nature). For us all to simply be unified with one another’s spirits is impossible.

Impossible yes, but as we know, all things are possible through God. And unity of the Spirit is the key to the impossible.

The clue to this problem is in the capital “S”.

You see, when God calls each of us to unity of the Spirit, He’s not calling us to be unified with each other’s spirit – He’s calling us to be unified with His own Spirit. When I become united, become one with the Spirit of God, I have unity of the Spirit.

Likewise, when you become united with the Spirit of God, you have unity of the Spirit.

And when each individual, each member of the body of Christ (the church) becomes united with the Spirit of God, it’s only then that we can realize true unity with one another. It’s the perfect common denominator of the Holy Spirit that brings unity to the body.

Imagine with me that the Spirit of God sits in the center of a massive room and all of us (the body) are scattered throughout the room. As hard as we try to unit with one another, it’s impossible for the entire room to be united. However, if every individual began to unit with the Spirit of God, then every individual would be drawn to the center of the room.

As each of us draws closer to the Spirit, each of us draws closer to one another. Our focus becomes fixed on Him and not us.

When that happens, there is unity. Anything else just creates more division.

I encourage each of you to seek unity with God’s Spirit and seek to lead others to unify with God's Spirit. The song reminds us that, “We are one in the bond of God.” It’s only through His leadership that we are unified.

Article Source: http://youth-ministry-resources.com

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