Unity in Christ is theologically demanded.

In fact, it could be argued that working to the point of pain and discomfort for the sake of unity in Christ may be theologically demanded by the gospel. Let’s look at a famous passage in Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. – Philippians 2:1-7 (NIV)

In Philippi, things were not all polite potlucks and coffee-fueled hymn-sings. Just ask Euodia and Syntyche, the two female leaders who had worked alongside Paul and Clement but now were not getting along (Phil 4:1-3). Ask those worried sick about Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25-30). Ask those who were disagreeing with Paul (Phil 3:15) or those complaining and grumbling (Phil 2:14,15). Ask those who are going to get the privilege of suffering for their faith (Phil 1:29). The city of Philippi had a church filled with regular humans living in common circumstances experiencing everyday conflict, harmony, and community making. In the passage above, Paul seems to say, that if we are unified with Jesus (or “born again” as some prefer to say), that to make Paul’s joy complete they should be “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” This also is not a call to a cult-like uniformity of thought on all topics or an abandonment of personal opinion or choice. It is specifically that they would be unified in their position of humility and their posture of putting others interest ahead of their own. This unity is a theological mandate because in our relationships with our sisters and brothers we are to imitate our master’s mindset who put our desperate need ahead of his own well being.

Over the last couple of decades I have been in two churches that have sister churches and ministries that rent or share facilities. This has never been easy, but it is always rewarding. In every situation, it is always clearest what our own preferences and needs are. My needs always seem reasonable (to me). My preferences often feel more like the only rational possibility until I meet the knuckle-head who cleaned the kitchen WRONG AGAIN! (Emphasis only in my head, I promise.) When four different languages are singing praises to God every Sunday in a church building people tell me, “It’s just like the banquet table in John’s Apocalypse (Rev 19:18). But when multiple accents, a dozen cultures, scores of personalities, and multitude of preferences share bathrooms, toiletries, kitchens, sanctuaries, parking lots, and (I hesitate to even say it) sound systems, it can feel more like being caught in the middle of Armageddon (Rev 16:16-18). Ok, perhaps I exaggerate. But whenever groups of people who are striving to be unified in Christ are actually spending time in shared space for significant time, they must all sacrifice. I’ll even say they must feel like they are sacrificing beyond the others. This is necessarily the case because we cannot possibly see all the sacrifice of the other groups, but we are painfully aware of our own. And this is theologically required of us. This is slowly making our attitude Christ-like. Over time, as we love each other deeply, with effort and exhausting patience, we start to notice that our sisters and brothers are also laboring hard to put up with us. They don’t prefer our preferences any more than we prefer theirs. They don’t like learning that evidently there are more ways of putting away chairs or managing a nursery space than made sense to them any more than we do. But they have been trying hard (much harder than you realize) to “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” It turns out, it’s really hard to become more like Jesus, but theologically, it’s required. To follow Jesus, you have to actually, you know, follow. (Mark 8:34,35)

Introductory Chapter (by Samuel Wells)

Quote from p.5: “Look at what happens in the story of Jesus: the Gospel (of Luke) begins with the tearing of the heavens and the ends with the tearing of the temple curtain.”
– I liked this image.  The thunder from the baptism as the tearing of heavens.  He had referred earlier to the Father’s voice identifying both Jesus as Son and the Father as being well pleased.

Quote from p.8: “companion – literally, one who shares bread”
– Simple observation, but profound to sit with.

Quote from p.10: “Michael Ramsey once called priests to be “with God, with people on your hearts.”
– While this strikes me as a bit sentimental (negatively), I think the beauty of the idea is in the best possible sentiment of lift up people we care for toward God, in prayer, through encouragement, using liturgy, officiating sacrifice, in moments that connect heaven and earth in tangible shared experiences and moments of compassion (shared suffering).

Quote from p. 16: “Aristotle calls this right balance the mean. … If they’re struggling with lust, the answer isn’t simply to shut down physically or sensually but to discover forms of touch that aren’t sexual and forms of sexuality that aren’t all about touch. If they’re struggling with doubt, the answer isn’t to leap into fanaticism but to try to practice something in between called faith.”
– I don’t know what to think about this entirely. I remember feeling so clear about a distinction between Platonic and Aristotelian frame works and how important that distinction was to one’s philosophy.  Those days have long since past. Is the “mean” or average a better focal point than the ideal in matters of human experience?  Is neither helpful in understanding God’s referent? Or is God’s vantage point none of our business and our best hope is to find his desire for our times in his trajectory in past revelation relative to its ancient audience.

Quote from p. 19: “(Stanley) believes kindness is ‘the very character of God.’ … ‘The greatest threat to our being virtuous usually comes not from vice but from dispositions that are similar to virtue. The great enemy of kindness, for example, is sentimentality.‘”
– AMEN. Sentimentality is a dirty word.  It abuses many more than realize it’s great offense.

Unity in Christ is real (or Unity in Christ is near) – Ephesians 4:1-7 (NIV) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

This is no well-padded marketing sell. Paul strongly urges (calls) the church in Ephesus to live a life (walk in a manner) worthy of their calling. These are exceptional traits he lists that are rarely demanded in our world. Humility. Gentleness. Patience. Bearing with each other in love. I always laugh when people act like these are easy, fluffy, comfort words. Notice that these are only expressed under tension and with adversity. The only time you’ll hear a bartender urging for patience and gentleness is to slow a brewing bar fight. A friend of mine in college once said, “the Christian life, like a car in neutral, is only coasting if it’s going downhill.” This effort to keep unity isn’t moving forward if you are coasting downhill. If unity is a beautiful effort, it is the dirt, sweat and blood washed down the sink after worn and weary hands wash off the evidence of an important project that has been hard fought for.  Paul asks for exertion. Hard work to keep a unity that has already been won by the Holy Spirit using a bond we already possess. The bond of peace is granted to all Christ-followers when we each receive Christ’s life.  His peace with the Father is gifted and the war in our soul is decided, even if far from over. This peace with God is what demands love with each other (see most of 1st John or worse, read Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18:21-35). 

Of course this actual unity is not at all uniformity.  It does not demand personalities to diminish, for cultures to be set aside, for our experiential backgrounds to be abandoned.  Paul imagines this one body to be made of many parts working together.  Some of his references to the diversity of bodily functions in the church is tied to spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12).  They also are tied to the richness of ethnic and cultural diversity in the body that displays the enormous breadth, depth and width of the Father’s love, from whom every family derives it’s name (Eph 4:14-19). We need to experience this diversity in order to be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”. In addition to a diversity of gifting, culture, experience, we should add age, gender and theological perspective.  That both women and men, young and old, are important for the church to function well shouldn’t be of any controversy, although there is much to say about the details elsewhere.  But many don’t see an importance of the diversity of theological view points within the unity of the church. If Paul claims there exists one Lord, one faith, one baptism, then shouldn’t we all conform to the same doctrinal positions?  No. Paul spills much ink to the churches of Corinth and Galatia warning about unfruitful theological debates, or debates handled unfruitfully. Clearly there can not be complete theological apathy or confusion, so individual churches and associations of churches gather around central doctrinal documents, confessions, or their equivalent to help them form and articulate their understanding of the core tenants of our shared faith.  It shouldn’t be argued that what we believe about God, his Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit and their self-revelation is unimportant.  But as Paul implores, recognizing in humility, that Jesus belongs to no single group of Christians in our age or ages past. There certainly are people who are not united with us in our faith, whom Jesus will say sadly, “I did not know you.” (REF).  But Jesus also seems to teach that perhaps even the disciples might be surprised with whom they share a fellowship table in eternity (REF).  

So Paul urges us to take great pains to leverage the bond we share with other Christians, the bond of peace, the person of Christ.  This is not an off-topic trail, for nearly every conflict born from cultural difference I have experiences, even those which begin with dinning habits, ultimately are blamed on theological difference or deficiency.  This is a lazy mistake. I take great umbrage with people who make up theological issues to leave churches that actually only offended their sense of power or preference.  Church leaders should be even more careful to dig deeper into why cultural conflict occurs rather than quickly dismiss groups or individual for “theological” misgivings.  In order to live in a worthy manner, we must focus on the central unity by which we share our communion with the Father, the person of Jesus.  His bound of peace is real and tangible, allowing us to be saved!  So also we can fight hard to  restore relationships.  It will take mighty patience, exhausting gentleness, strenuous humility, and a strength in love that will grow spiritual and relational muscles we didn’t think we had. Uniformity is cubic zirconia. Unity is the real deal.

Preamble:
Pursuing unity among churches and ministries has proven some of the most challenging work I’ve been involved in while in ministry. Building trust and working as a diplomat between differing view points takes a lot of time and energy.  If I’m honest, there have been many times that I have given up hope and expected relationships to collapse, churches to break up, ministries to pack up and move on.  Please, before you read another word, please don’t utter those terrible words: “if the church were just …” or “if Christians were just …”.  Please. Hear me out.  Because I think you may have left your casserole dish in the church kitchen, uncleaned no less.  Or perhaps it was your Bible left behind in the fellowship room.  You left the lid off, left the copier jammed, didn’t pick up after your event, or you forgot to lock the…. You and I, and a few other Jesus followers, are “the church” and so the church is messy and hard, just like my family is, just like your family is.  And that’s what the Bible tells us we should expect until Jesus returns. Please know this is not an excuse for criminal negligence, abuse, or gross incompetence. When those happen in church contexts Christians need to address them clearly, assertively, and with victims’ needs closely in mind. Here I’m speaking of regular and common human peculiarities, cultural insensitivity, selfishnesses, forgetfulness, inconsiderateness, lack of communication, etc. This is real life in the church and it is a common source of disunity. But unity is worth a fight. True unity inside the church and across churches is very much worth fighting for.  I see at least three reasons that this day-to-day, operational, ground-level unity is important for us as Christians to understand, embrace, and work hard for.  I believe: 1. Unity in Christ is Real. 2. Unity in Christ is Theologically Demanded. 3. Unity in Christ is Worth Fighting For. 4. Unity in Christ Reflects the Trinity.

October 25, 2020
Unity in Christ is real (or Unity in Christ is near) – Ephesians 4:1-7 (NIV) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1-7 Benediction Reading: ‭‭Psalm‬ ‭67:1-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

November 1, 2020
Unity in Christ is theologically demanded (or Unity in Christ is here) – Philippians 2:1-7 (NIV) In fact, it could be argued that working to the point of pain and discomfort for the sake of unity in Christ may be theologically demanded by the gospel.  Let’s look at Paul’s famous passage to the Philippians.
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:1-7 Benediction Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-11

November 8, 2020
Unity in Christ is worth fighting for (Unity in Christ is coming) – Galatians 3:15-4:7 (3:24-29 quoted, NIV) So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Scripture Reading: Galatians 3:15 – 4:7 Benediction Reading: Hebrews 12:1,2

November 15, 2020
Unity in Christ reflects the unity in the Godhead – John 17 Great Command – Father Great Commission – Son Great Community – Spirit
Scripture Reading: ??  Benediction Reading: ??

POSSIBLE PROBLEM: This doesn’t yet really adequately get to one important point I want to talk about. I believe the Bible supports a unity that demands diversity (of peoples, gifting, backgrounds, economic and social histories, etc), so a unity without uniformity. I’m not sure which of these sermons would intersect well with that. I think Galatians was were I was going to emphasize it. Are Romans 12 and 1 Cor 12 brought into the Galatians passage? What about James 2? What about men and women? What about race today?

When pastors and missionaries are working through their credentialing processes for licensure and ordination they are asked many required questions. Several of these questions address important issues that impact our current situations in ministry.  Theological issues surrounding racism, cultural distinctions, and critical nature of reaching people of diverse ethnic backgrounds is not currently addressed at all. 
Will you join me in asking the EFCA districts and national office to create and use specific questions for these Credentialing Councils  engaging theological reflection on ethnic distinctions, racial constructs, and practices surrounding multicultural ministry for Pastors and Missionaries?

BACKGROUND:

After the theology conference in 2018 it seems important for the EFCA movement to consider what tangible things we can and should do to make progress in seeing our churches better reflect the gospel mandate in the area of ethnic and cultural diversity.  One small, but important step forward would be to require questions to be asked during the licensure process for EFCA pastors and missionaries that theologically engage them directly with the implications of the 8th Statement in our statement of faith as it applies to their ministry context.  If the districts are going to be strongly encouraged to include additional questions on this topic, they will need to hear from pastors and churches that it is important to us. Therefore, in February of 2018, I crafted a draft resolution for the signature of pastors and church leaders. Now, in June of 2019, I only believe more strongly that this is an important, even if small step. 

RESOLUTION CONCERNING STATEMENT 8 OF THE EFCA STATEMENT OF FAITH AND CREDENTIALING COUNCILS:

1. Whereas the Evangelical Free Church of America Theology Conference focused on justice and reconciliation issues in 2018 and clearly expounded the need for church leaders to clearly understand the central role of reconciliation in the gospel’s immediate implication for believers, specifically the uniting of people across culture and status boundaries in the body of Christ.
2. Whereas the Gospel according to Luke records Jesus’ first message delivered in his home Nazareth which focused on God‘s grace reaching across cultural and ethnic boundaries (Luke 4:14-30).
3. Whereas John’s Gospel begins by declaring that Jesus made the world, brings light into the world, and takes the sin of the world, and includes Jesus’ prayer that believers have unity and love that reflects the unity and love found in the Trinity which followers of Christ are brought into. (John 1 & 17)
4. Whereas Matthew’s gospel lists Jesus’ genealogy explicitly showing the cross cultural and diverse ethnic ancestry of Jesus and closes with Jesus’ great commission to making disciples of all nations. (Matthew 1 & 28)
5. Where as it seems clear the apostles saw that the good news about Jesus and the kingdom of heaven necessarily includes the reconciliation of peoples of all tribes and nations to each other as they are reconciled to God. (Col 3:7-14, Gal 3:26-29, Eph 2:11-22, 1 Peter 2:10, Rev 5:9-10) 
6. Whereas the Evangelical movement in the United States has been overly concerned with personal justification at the expense of corporate reconciliation.
7. Whereas the Evangelical Free Church of America has largely neglected its responsibility to engage, evangelize, disciple, involve, promote in ministry, and empower in leadership those beyond its own cultural heritage, specifically those considered not “white”.

We, undersigned pastors in Evangelical Free Churches from across America, believe that our credentialing process requires specific questions about the reconciliation of all people groups as an important part of the gospel of Jesus Christ and critical to our role in leading individual churches within the body of Christ in faithful obedience to his gospel.

Therefore, we propose the following questions, or questions more clearly articulated, be added to the list of questions asked of all those pastors and missionaries seeking licensure for ministry.

• How do you understand the gospel’s impact on social relationships beyond one’s own culture and what implications does that have for the ministry of your church? 
• Is the homogeneous unit principle congruent with Biblical church ministry? Why or why not?
  • How do you address tensions among those who only want to minister to those who are “like them”?
• How do you proactively model reconciliation in your church / ministry?

I recall in my youth, long, late-night discussions with friends about the brain the in jar quandary. (Yes, it was a thrilling group of friends.) One friend was always reading philosophy, and if I recall the idea closely enough, it could be stated: How do we know that our five senses are legitimate reflections of actual things rather than some stimuli that make us believe the world around us is actually there and real? How do we know that we are not just a brain in a jar with connections false stimulation? I guess one could say this is a philosophic Turing test. (I understand the updated version of this philosophic quandary involves a grand computer simulation.) It wasn’t too long after these conversations that the Matrix trilogy explored this idea at some length (and possibly depth).

Recently a friend introduced me to an article from The Atlantic : https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/02/how-generate-infinite-fake-humans/606943/ an article by Ian Bogost (or someone or something claiming to be). I really enjoyed reading the article even as the content concerned me deeply.

A great article quote: “The internet has made it worse, by evaporating physical bodies into digital phantoms and then pressing them into ever-denser slums of infinite scrolling. The sheer profusion of actors online has foreclosed their need to be real at all: the armies of bots and the Russian sockpuppets, the corporate tweeps and the AI deepfakes. One can just as easily get into a heated dispute with a bot account generating random replies, or with an automated customer-service agent matching inputs to outputs, as with a human foe who is frantically tapping words into a glass rectangle. Humankind has remedied the shock of modern life with pleasures from its reverberations.” 

Reading this article it struck me: we have created the vat, the jar, for our own brain. Our Matrix saga begins as we realize our fears by creating them. Our “social” accounts isolate and our “likes” and “views” fuel our loneliness. Our fearsome demons take shape as idols in our hands. We worship with our time even as we curse the mechanism we are tweeting, posting, and blogging on. The prophet Isaiah was right, we should know this is artificial, it was fashioned to be just that. It is only designed to be realistic enough that we can control it from our jar and still imagine ourselves as its central and only ultimate agent. But “is this thing in my right hand a lie?”

Ok, now I don’t think it’s the end of everything real or good in the world, but I do think the most important words I share are spoken in person and the most important likes, shares, and snaps are actually hugs, handshakes, and cheers. I guess if anything this article reminds me that I have to place limits on my virtuality and avoid a neo-Gnostic praxis. To live embodied, present, and awake to my physical surroundings and proximate persons is increasingly a discipline to be developed and maintained.

“The night was railing against the morning of which it was bereaved, and the cold was cursing the warmth for which it hungered.” – JRR Tolkien, TLOTR Part 1, p. 179

I watched an interesting, short documentary about the Dead Sea Scrolls recently and thought I’d share it.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/dead-sea-scroll-detectives/

Or search for “PBS Nova Dead Sea scrolls”.

Interesting to hear an update on the Dead Sea Scrolls and some of the drama that surrounds antiquities. I’ve read articles about these kinds of things but the update includes the Bible Museum and details about the trouble they had recently. I think they dealt fairly with the issue.

Don’t Go To Church
by Pastor Chris, November 2017

Don’t go to church
Be the church
Stop attending a service

Once or twice a month
Or even thrice or more
Stop attending and rather gather

Collect with the “also called”
Join in their songs and chants and prayers
Offer up your own

Bring with you Christ
And as the church reforms
Every Sunday, a great mystery you will see

God with us: proclaimed, professed, possessed.
A family of “also called” sinners becomes a radiant bride.
So don’t settle to go to church
Watching, attending, observing, critiquing

Rather be, remain, and reform weekly or more
The mysterious gathering of little Christ-ones
That reconstitute his collected body, his rebuilt temple, his restored family
The group of misfit rebels, sinners, and malcontents
That the Father called, the Son redeemed, the Holy Spirit sealed.

Come rejoice and worship. Come greet and embrace. Come expect divine engagement because the “also called” ones have reconvened.

Don’t settle for going to church this Sunday.
Jesus didn’t die for that.

But he did die for those he “also called” friends.
Even me. Even you.

I’ll see you when we gather next
together his body, his bride, his people.