A Call for Christian Unity

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23

I was upset. There had been a death in the family, and because of an ex in-law’s making the arrangements for the type and place for a memorial service, it was in a Catholic church. Having been used to a non-denominational, evangelical church, I was shocked by the stiff formalism, the idols, the traditions that had no basis in the actual scriptures, and the fact that there was a ‘priest’ separate from the ‘laity’. (according to the scriptures, all Christians are “priests” and “saints” - 1Peter 2:9, Romans 1:7)

My focus was not where it should have been, on remembering the loss of a loved one and the importance of comforting the family. (Later, our family had its own gathering at our house in Sandy, where we shared hugs and prayers and scriptural encouragement.)

The next day, I heard a sermon that called me to repentance. It was about the most basic law that Jesus gave us, which summed up all the law of God:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

…love our neighbor as ourself, and the simple application – that everyone is our neighbor, even a Catholic priest that I had almost despised. Instead, I should love him. We are even told to love our enemies. That doesn’t mean we have to agree with them, but that we will treat them with love and leave the judging to God.

A brief history of division without much love

Martin Luther was a Catholic priest that translated the bible from Latin into German, his native tongue. Seeing the discrepancies between the actual scriptures and the practices of the church, he tried to reform the church. He was not successful. Instead, the reforms that he promoted became the basis for starting churches that broke away from the Catholic church. For that reason, they were called Protestants.

There was severe hostility between the Catholic church and the protestants, even to the point of persecution and the killing of protestants in areas where the Catholic churches had political power and control.

Protestors of any kind are not known for love. Soon there were arguments over doctrine and divisions within the reformation movement which have multiplied until today there are hundreds of different denominations.

In the 1800s, another attempt was made to unify the different denominations by agreeing to depend on the bible only for doctrine, without man-made creeds.

This was called the Restoration movement. But soon it too underwent divisions over legalistic issues.

A couple decades ago, I was hearing a lot about the “Ecumenical movement” – another attempt to unify Christendom. But the result in that case was compromise – a sure way to get to the lowest common denominator and ending up with a hollow, meaningless faith. Some say the movement was even infiltrated to some degree by communism, which gravitates to atheism – the opposite of Christianity.

In recent decades, we have an increasing number of community churches, which don’t want to be pigeon-holed by denominational names and divisions. They usually shy away from doctrinal debates and focus on the basic heart of Christianity – the love of Jesus.

today’s church problems

Meanwhile, lots of millennials are choosing not to engage with organized churches, although they do search for spiritual meaning.

Denominations are often spiritually ‘dead’, there is still almost no connection and a huge gulf between protestant churches and Catholic churches, hundreds of churches are closing every year, and there is a shortage of preachers being called to the ministry.

Existing congregations and preachers are aging.

What we have in common

As I said earlier, “everyone is our neighbor”. If we have trouble loving others who say they love Christ, how well are we going to do at loving our enemies?

It helps to think about what we have in common and what we can agree on.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims all say they believe in One God, and that Jesus was a prophet.

Catholics and Protestants both believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he raised from the dead and he’s coming back. They both have essentially the same scriptures, and the Jews have no quarrel with the Old Testament.

That’s a lot in common.

I was encouraged by what our preacher sent out yesterday:

“Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ. When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law.

When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 New Living Translation

“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” John 13:35

The need for the Holy Spirit

Overcoming our differences does not come easily or naturally. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit. He transcends our human foibles and can enable us to bond together in love. The first 3 fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, and peace.

the necessary starting point for unity

As long as the churches are led by man’s ideas, Satan will cause division. Churches need to be led by the Spirit and by agreeing on the same standard for all Christianity - absolute trust in the authority of the bible and reliance on it for doctrine.

Agreement that all scripture is inspired by God is the foundation that unity can be built on.

the need for gentle persuasion in love

Rather than dividing over creeds and doctrinal differences, let us discuss our differences with love and respect with a sincere desire to achieve unity and a willingness to love one another and focus on Jesus and His Word. The divisions could all be dissolved if we could unify on the authority of scripture rather than any man or human church leader.

Our goal is to worship in spirit and truth, and to encourage one another to unite in Christ and His word.