What do you stand for?
Regardless of your answer, as a Christian, your heart is for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Your responsibility is bound to the body of Christ and to love fellow believers. But what happens when the troubles of the world become issues that divide Christians? What happens when relationships between Christians begin to fracture?
The tragedy we see today: people are at odds with one another. Everyone is as eager to applaud one movement as they are to protest another. It is not my goal to address the matters of race and bigotry afflicting humanity. Men and women labor in this effort every day, and I applaud them for it. Instead, I want to charge Christians with the duty that Jesus Christ gave us: to love one another.
What is the state of Christianity today?
Consider this question through the lenses of history. Since 1517 when Martin Luther completed his Ninety-Five Theses—condemning the Catholic church for their unbiblical customs and practices—Christian denominations began to number the globe, each one cleaving themselves away from each other, eager to proclaim their allegiance to a specific saint or interpretation.
“one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
This is the hope in Ephesians, a spiritual reality still attainable, but merely an afterthought to many believers as divisions in faith and traditions continue to widen. What story does history tell of Christianity today? It tells a tale of a disunited and scattered complex, each part vaguely similar to the next. We see each division zealous to proclaim the authority of their beliefs, the divinity of their interpretation, the reality of the life within them.
Where is the love for fellow Christians?
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12)
"These things I command you, so that you will love one another." (John 15:17)
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (1 John 3:23)
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)
Do you have a love for all Christians?
We are one body, with one Spirit, loved by one Lord, with one faith, following one baptism, under one God and Father of all. Our testimony should be of one body. I understand the tension that is caused by social and political differences between saints in the church. But even though these differences exist in the world, we should not let them affect us as the church. So how can we, as Christians, love each other even with our differences?
If a member of the body cares about a matter that affects them, then the whole body should also concern themselves with that burden. If one member of the body is affected, all the members are affected. But just as each member holds a different function in the body, each member also has a different role to play. Each member acts in their own capacity, pursuing what they are able to and loving the saints who can do what they cannot. We are one body made of many members.
"so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another" (Romans 12:5)
Wow. Great utterance Sam! “A spiritual reality still attainable, but merely an afterthought to many believers as divisions in faith and traditions continue to widen.”
It’s true. Many of us agree to that objective truth, that we are all one, but are we living in such a way that matches that truth? This article has given me a lot to think about regarding the church striving to be one and to walk in that reality. Your right, love is the only thing that can help us live in such a united way.
I also thought of that verse in Ephesians 4, “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit…” We have a oneness objectively, but we need to love one another to preserve and keep this oneness.
Thanks Sam!