"That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
John 17:21The last recorded prayer of Jesus before His arrest was not for Himself. It was not for the disciples. It was for us. For every person who would ever believe in Him through the apostles' message. And what did He pray for? Not comfort. Not success. Not even protection. Unity.
So that the world may believe. Jesus tied the credibility of the gospel to the unity of His followers. Not to the quality of our preaching. Not to the size of our buildings. Not to the orthodoxy of our statements. To our unity. The world will know Jesus by how we treat each other. Not by how well we defend our theology.
The Scandal of Division
The greatest scandal in Christianity is not a pastor's moral failure. It is our division. We are the most divided religious movement in human history. Forty-five thousand denominations. Forty-five thousand versions of the same gospel. And we wonder why the world does not take us seriously.
Paul was horrified by division in the church. The Corinthians were splitting into factions. "I follow Paul." "I follow Apollos." "I follow Cephas." And Paul wrote back: "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?" The question is still relevant. Is your denomination crucified for you? Is your pastor? Is your worship style? No. Christ was. And He is not divided.
Unity vs. Uniformity
Unity does not mean uniformity. The body has many parts. Different gifts. Different expressions. Different traditions. That is not division. That is diversity. Division is when those differences become walls instead of windows. When we refuse to share a table with believers who disagree with us on secondary issues. When we treat our preferences as doctrines and our doctrines as idols.
Here is the hard truth. Most church division is not about theology. It is about power. About control. About the need to be right and the inability to be humble. We split over worship styles, leadership structures, political alignments, and cultural preferences. And then we dress it up in theological language to make it sound spiritual.
Jesus prayed for unity. Not organizational unity. Relational unity. The kind of oneness that reflects the relationship between the Father and the Son. The kind that makes the world stop and say "something is different about these people." The kind that says "we may disagree, but we will not divide."
That kind of unity requires something most of us are not willing to give. Humility. The willingness to say "I might be wrong." The willingness to sit at a table with someone who worships differently, prays differently, and interprets Scripture differently, and still call them brother. Still call them sister. Still call them family.
Pray for Someone You Disagree With
Who is a believer you have written off because they disagree with you? Not on salvation. On something secondary. A worship style. A political issue. A theological preference.
Write their name down. And then pray for them. Not to change. To bless. That is the first step toward the unity Jesus prayed for.
- What is the difference between unity and uniformity?
- What has most church division actually been about?
- Who do you need to bless instead of write off?
- What would it look like to say "we may disagree, but we will not divide"?
- How is humility the foundation of unity?
Lord, I confess I have divided where I should have united. Help me to hold my convictions with humility and my relationships with tenacity. Teach me to bless those I disagree with and to choose the relationship over the argument. In Jesus' name, Amen.
The world will not believe the gospel because of our arguments. It will believe because of our love. And love does not divide. Love unites. Even when it is hard. Especially when it is hard.
With honesty and hope, Claire