Unity in Christ: The Great Equalizer

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Ephesians 2:14

 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh,

(CSB)

President Obama may go down in history as one that missed the greatest opportunity of any President in the History of the United States.  I am not talking about a legacy of the one who made healthcare affordable and available for all because Obamacare has been a failure.  (1)  Obama’s policies were also a failure internationally with the U.S. losing influence on the world stage as relations with allies frayed.  (2)  The missed opportunity I am talking about is the opportunity to bring unity to a divided nation as the first African American president. 

While the disunity in the world is alarming and dangerous, it is nothing new.  The church in Ephesus experienced disunity between the Jewish and non-Jewish believers (Ephesians 2:11).  Jesus prayed for unity in his prayer at the last supper (John 17:11).  The unifying factor for the church in Ephesus was Jesus Christ whose death on the cross broke down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles.  This wall of hostility references the wall separating Jews from Gentiles in the court of the Temple.  However, when the veil in the Temple was torn after Jesus said, “it is finished” there is now no separation between Jews and Gentiles with everyone now able to enter the Most Holy Place in Christ.

This unity however is a unity in Christ and not a call for the church to get along with the sin prevalent in the world.  Romans 12:2 reminds believers in Jesus Christ that the goal is transformation, not conformity.  Even Jesus Himself said he did not come to bring peace to the world but a sword, indicating continued disunity of God with the sin in the world. 

Jesus work on the cross was not a compromising unity of God with sin in the world but instead a bridge one can choose to cross over, moving from a life dominated by sin to a new life in Christ (Romans 6).  Jesus prayer for unity is a prayer that those choosing new life in Christ would be unified.  Unfortunately, this has not occurred throughout the church age and one reason why the world does not see the love of Christ in the church (John 13:34-35).  If you are interested in crossing the bridge of the cross from a life dominated by sin to a new life in Christ, please pray with me now,

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23).  I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).  I believe you died, went to the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.

Most of the disunity in the church stems from disagreements in interpretation of portions of scripture.  One such disagreement is belief that one must speak in tongues as a sign of receiving the Holy Spirit.  With only three times recorded in scripture where speaking in tongues is demonstrated when one receives the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6) and Jesus promising the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Him (John 14:15-26), this is not an issue that should result in church division.  A disunified world needs an example of unity it can follow, and the church is the only organization on earth equipped to be such an example.  I pray the church would unite around the Gospel and the mission of making disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and stop the damaging disunifying and petty disagreements in scriptural interpretations. 

1. Thiessen, Marc A. www.washingtonpost.com. Obamacare disaster will be Obama’s enduring domestic legacy. [Online] The Washington Post, April 25, 2016. [Cited: September 16, 2018.] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamacare-disaster-will-be-obamas-enduring-domestic-legacy/2016/04/25/a8c09b38-0ae4-11e6-8ab8-9ad050f76d7d_story.html?utm_term=.5d4b739962c2.

2. Boyer, Dave. www.washingtontimes.com. Under Obama, U.S. lost influence on world stage as relations with allies frayed. [Online] The Washington Times, January 15, 2017. [Cited: September 16, 2018.] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/15/president-obama-foreign-policy-widely-seen-as-fail/.