“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11).
A girl about five years of age asked her mother if she could attend church with a friend who lived in the neighborhood. “No,” replied the mother in no uncertain terms. “And why can’t you visit my church with me?” asked the little friend. Confusing the word, “abomination” with the word “denomination”, the small child explained, “Because Mommy says you belong to a different abomination.”
Question: Do you remember when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane under the old, gnarled olive trees? He prostrated Himself before the Father, sweating, as it were, great drops of blood, and prayed, “that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22). What did He mean? Does one mean one of a kind? Or a oneness which comes because we are family and have the same Father in heaven?
Paul used different analogies in instructing the early church. In his letter to the Corinthians he likened the church to the human body. “The body is a unit,” he wrote, “though it is made up of many parts; and though its parts are many, they form one body. So is it with Christ,” (1 Corinthians 12:12) he said. He then elaborates pointing out that your ear has no right to assert independence of the eye, nor your hand over your foot. Your body is a whole—all of the components are related to each other.
Earlier in the same letter he rebuked the carnal or immature men and women because some followed Peter, some followed Apollos (a gifted orator and Bible teacher), some followed Paul, and some–perhaps with self-piety–said, “Oh, we follow Christ!” He then asked a question, which, frankly, we need to ask ourselves today, “Is Christ divided?”
Some thirty times the New Testament speaks of the Church as the body of Christ. When he wrote to the Ephesians in a kind of model letter which he wanted other churches to follow, he said there is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). No wonder he charged, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the body of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).
“Divide and conquer” is the adage of warfare. It is still one of Satan’s most useful tools, turning husbands against wives, parents against children, dividing churches and groups over petty, trivial issues, and keeping God’s children from loving and embracing each other.
When John Nobel was thrown into a Russian prison during the Soviet days of repression, he began to discover that he could pray with Catholics and Orthodox believers along with others whom he would never have recognized as brothers, but the persecution broke down the walls of separation as they reached out to their Heavenly Father.
No, growing up I didn’t always agree with my siblings, but we would have fought to our deaths for each other because we were family—blood bound us together. Sometimes I am asked, “Why are you helping us? You don’t belong to our denomination.” And my reply, “because you are family and you have a need.” It breaks down the barrier. If you are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you were baptized into that mysterious body called the Church, and whether those whom you scrutinize glorify the Father the same way you do or not, remember the decision to give them birth was not yours, but it was that of a Sovereign God who adopts and brings into His family those whom He chooses. Remember, He is the Father, and you are the child. Don’t forget it—and He in turn, will recognize and love His own. It’s well worth remembering.
Resource reading: Ephesians 4:1-16.
