Prizing and Protecting Our Unity
Do you possess something that you hold very dear? Perhaps it’s an heirloom a now-deceased family member gave you. Maybe it’s a new car that you meticulously detail every week. It could be a handmade gift from a friend. Or perhaps it’s a business that you built from the ground up. You get the idea. We all have a few precious possessions in our life.
How do you treat such items? Do you put them into the hands of toddlers or leave them in vulnerable locations? I’m sure you don’t. You care for them, tend to them, and maintain them. You protect them at all costs.
With that thought in mind, let’s turn to I Corinthians. One of the Corinthian church’s most significant struggles was keeping on the path of unity. They struggled to cherish it like they should have.
Listen to Paul’s exhortation in the first few words of this epistle and note the words and phrases I have underscored, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.” (I Corinthians 1:10-11, ESV)
Can you see what’s happening here? Paul heard credible reports about church dysfunction, so he addressed it head-on. Their bickering was becoming a stain on Christ’s reputation. It’s a simple fact: the church of Jesus loses its effectiveness and weakens its witness when it suffers from division, infighting, and silly disputes.
But the opposite is also true. The Bride of Christ is a force to be reckoned with when there is harmony, alignment with Jesus’ mission for us (the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20), and personal deference toward one another. Jesus prayed for just this thing in John 17:21 when he said, “that they may all be one…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
Church unity. If Jesus prayed for it, then we should prize it. And if we are responsible for it, we should also protect it.
In a culture of never-ending factions and a church with a new Lead Pastor, will you recommit with me to prize and protect our unity? The question is worth repeating: will you recommit with me to prize and protect the unity of Ingleside? If you will, I know our witness will be strengthened, and God will be greatly glorified!
In Christ,
