Lesson 87 · Unit 13 · The Body of Christ
Unity, Not Uniformity
People who differ with you on this are still your brothers and sisters.
Open
In your first year of faith you learned to draw lines.
That day you asked the sister who led you to Christ, "That church across the street - are they one of us? I hear they pray a bit differently... they're all right, aren't they?" She paused, and asked you back: "This 'us' and 'them' of yours - where did you learn it?"
You had no answer. Nobody had formally taught you, and yet you already knew: this church is sound, that one is suspect; this camp is spiritual, that camp is not. And the interesting thing is that in the last prayer Jesus prayed before the cross, what he asked for was that those very lines be rubbed out.
Scripture
First hear him praying for us, and then hear Paul settle a family argument of this kind. (John 17:20-23; Romans 14:1-6, WEB)
20“Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,
21that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.
22The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one,
23I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.
1Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
2One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
3Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.
5One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.
6He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.
See
This is what his last prayer asked for
John 17 is the last prayer Jesus prayed before he suffered. He prays for his disciples, and then the camera suddenly pulls back: "for those also who will believe in me through their word" (17:20) - you and I, reading this two thousand years later, are inside that sentence. What does he ask for us? Not a smooth and comfortable life, but "that they may all be one." The standard is frighteningly high: "even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you" - unity patterned on the mutual indwelling of the Trinity. And the purpose is more surprising still: "that the world may believe that you sent me" (17:21). So unity is evangelistic power: when the world does not believe what the church says, it is often because it cannot see love inside the church. A divided witness pulls the scaffolding out from under the gospel.
Truth has tiers: first, second, third
Unity does not mean everybody gives a little ground on everything. Truth comes in weights. The first tier is creedal bedrock: the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, the atonement of the cross, the resurrection of the body, justification by faith - these cannot be conceded, because conceding them means it is no longer the gospel. The second tier is where churches faithful to Scripture practise differently. How the gifts of the Spirit (tongues, healing, prophecy) operate today - on this question, Christians who are faithful to Scripture have come to different understandings; people who differ with you on this are still your brothers and sisters. How a church should be governed and who should lead it - on this question, Christians who are faithful to Scripture have come to different understandings; people who differ with you on this are still your brothers and sisters. The serving roles of women in the church - faithful churches through the centuries have arranged this differently; take the passages and ask the pastors of the church you belong to, and people who differ with you on this are still your brothers and sisters. The third tier is liberty: the style of worship, which instruments, which translation. Muddle the tiers and you will excommunicate somebody over a third-tier matter, or shrug at a first-tier one with "everyone has their own understanding" - and both ends are a disaster.
The two prohibitions of Romans 14
The church at Rome was fighting over meat offered to idols and the keeping of days. Paul strikes both sides. The one who eats must "not despise" the one who does not - the stronger party easily looks down from a height. The one who does not eat must "not judge" the one who does - the stricter party easily pronounces spiritual death sentences. The reason is one sentence: "for God has accepted him" (Rom 14:3). Who are you to judge another's servant (14:4)? Nor does Paul urge anybody into mush: "Let each man be fully assured in his own mind" (14:5) - you may hold your conviction, you may not use it to strike a brother off the roll. Two red lines: unity does not mean conceding a first-tier truth (Gal 1:8), and it does not mean silence about sin and abuse - that is not unity, that is a cover-up.
Deeper
The pattern of unity (John 17:21)
modelled on the mutual indwelling of the Trinity; not a tidy formation, but loving one another until you are hard to tell apart.
The purpose of unity (John 17:21, 23)
"that the world may believe"; the unity of the church is the gospel's single largest exhibit.
Two prohibitions (Rom 14:3)
the strong must not despise, the strict must not judge; one blow to each side, one cure for each disease.
Fully assured (Rom 14:5)
unity does not cancel conviction; certain without condemning, settled without sneering - the two can live together.
The nail sentence
people who differ with you on this are still your brothers and sisters.
Story
In the English Great Awakening of the eighteenth century, George Whitefield and John Wesley were comrades shoulder to shoulder - and the most famous pair of disputants of their day: one held to predestination, the other argued for free will, sermons and pamphlets flew back and forth, and their followers were close to irreconcilable.
Someone tried to get him to put the boot in: "Shall we see Mr Wesley in heaven?" He answered, "I fear not - he will be so near the throne, and we at such a distance." When Whitefield died in 1770, his will named one man to preach at his funeral: John Wesley. That day Wesley stood beside his old opponent's coffin and preached on the Lord they shared.
Neither man ever convinced the other. And both were certain of this: people who differ with you on this are still your brothers.
(Historical; see Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, 1970. Details condensed.)
Respond
Reflect — alone, or talk it through together
1"That the world may believe" - unity is joined to evangelism. What have the unbelievers around you seen in the church?
2Think of something you once argued about with a brother or sister: is it first, second or third tier? Once you have placed it, how should your attitude change?
3"Do not despise" and "do not judge" - which prohibition is more often addressed to you? Why?
Saved on this device only — visible to no one but you.
Pray together
Lord Jesus, who on the night before you suffered prayed for the unity of those who would believe: my name was in that prayer, and yet I keep slicing your body into "us" and "them" by accent, by camp, by position. Forgive me for wearing a first-tier face over a second-tier matter. Make me certain without condemning, settled without sneering; give no ground on the truth and no airs in front of a brother. Let what you asked for at the end be fulfilled an inch further among us - that the world may believe. Amen.
Walk
This week's actionabout 15 min
Think of a brother or sister who differs from you on a second-tier question, pray for them three times this week, and then do one small thing that says you accept them - a greeting, an invitation to tea, praying for something hard in their life. Acceptance only, no debating.
Mark it when it happens — this week, at your pace.
Spiritual practice
When a disagreement comes up, ask three questions first: which tier is this? Am I holding a conviction right now, or looking down on someone? Has God accepted him?
Memory verse · John 17:21
thattheymayallbeone...thattheworldmaybelievethatyousentme.
Walk further
Whitefield and Wesley, who fought and still claimed each other, the precedent of the Jerusalem council, the hymn to love written into the seam of an argument about gifts, lesson 20 on forgiveness and repair, and a prayer for unity in the body.