Multiplication by Division

I find myself tonight in a nice little suite on the outskirts of Birmingham. It has been a long day of travel that has taken me from Ontario, California to Nashville, Tennessee where I picked up a van and drove down through a lot of rain to Birmingham. So yeah, I'm pretty exhausted so that gives me free reign to write a disjointed post if I feel like it :)

I want to talk a bit about unity in Christianity (or the lack there of). I won't end up doing this topic justice with the time allotted but I have seen this as a consistent issue among Christians for as long as I have been one myself.

I am a big fan of the book of John. Closely followed by Matthew, it is my favorite of the Gospels. Jesus' deity and compassion really seems to pour forth from the book. I love John's description of Jesus in Chapter One of the Divine Logos who tabernacled Himself in flesh and dwelt among men. John 15 is incredible as Jesus breaks down that relationship of us as wild grapevines grafted into the taproot of Jesus. However, lately (the past few years) I have been intrigued by John 17, which happens to contain the longest prayers of Jesus. He begins by praying for Himself and then His disciples. However, I want us to look at the portion where He prays for all other believers:

"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. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." (John 17:20-26)

Can we possibly fathom the significance of the statement in bold? Jesus is stating that our unity as believers is evidence to the world about His claim as Messiah. No wonder Christianity (especially in America) is marginalized at best. Whether or not it is a fair assumption (and I think it is), we are known more for what we oppose than what we are actually for or are supposed to be about. It is actually too much to attempt to write a post that includes all the thing that we oppose.

If you doubt this, let's do a little critical thinking. Is America being transformed by our unity and love for one another? I would say no. As Christians, do we spend more money and energy complaining about situations than actually being the hands and feet of Christ? How about we look at it like this - on any given day why are there more Christians sitting around drinking coffee and griping about how many people are sapping the country dry on welfare than there are Christians tirelessly working at soup kitchens and salvation army's to clothe and feed the poor? I'm not trying to be so down on this, but I think we need to see the problem here.

There isn't enough space here to track the disjunction and fracturing of Christendom, but it seems to be happening exponentially. Ever since the Protestant Reformation (which I believe was a very necessary schism), we consistently divide over just about any issue we can.

High Church vs. Low Church... we must divide.

Reformed vs. Arminianism... we must divide.

Premillenialism vs. Amillenialism... we must divide.

Closed Communion vs. Open Communion... we must divide.

Convention allegiance vs. Local Autonomy... we must divide.

"Traditional" hymns vs. "Contemporary" worship... we must divide.

Blue carpet vs. Green Carpet... we must divide.

Chairs vs. Pews... you get the point...

At some point we find ourselves alienated from the Body and alone... The (C)hurch then becomes a box of isolated and useless spare parts that are unable to convince the World that it all fits together and makes sense. I have heard too many Christians here lately say that they have no problem disfellowshipping with other believers over minor tertiary issues. Perhaps I am naive, but I find this to be quite sad. Perhaps in another post we can discuss how wide we can safely go as believers.

I think it is easy to look at the situation of disunity in the Body and feel pretty hopeless. However, John 17:26 brings me great hope: (Caution: Reformed theology at work here) "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." So, in the end, I rest in the fact that while are doing a horrible job at bonding together with the love of Christ, it is still Christ that compels people to believe so that His love can grow within each of us. Praise be to God who saves!

Well, time to finally go to bed so I can get up and head to Mobile in the morning. I love you all so very much...