In a few minutes we're going to sing "One in the Spirit, One in the Lord".  I love that song.  It has a simple yet precious message we appreciate and long for - unity among Christians.  It's a basic human need to get along, to be united.  Most people want a common direction and purpose, to feel loved and accepted because we agree on things.  Few of us want disharmony.

          Unity in the church is God's will.  Jesus prayed in John 17 that His people would be one, even as He and the Father are one (John 17: 22).  Strife and struggle consume energy.  They divert us from more important things.  How much more productive the Body of Christ would be if it was united and all its parts got along.  But complete unity will always be just outside our grasp, until we're all in the eternal kingdom with God in heaven.

          God's will is that His people get along and His will is not complicated.  He wants His people with Him in heaven, and to help get them there, He brings us together in the Church.  Yet we cannot achieve unity, let alone publicly declare it, when true unity is not present.  To have unity, we must look to Jesus Christ, to Him only.  We must make Him the center of our unity.  Any other basis for unity is empty and false.

          I tune pianos - not very well, but well enough for me to play.  One day it occurred to me that a hundred pianos all tuned to the same pitch are automatically tuned to each other.  They are not tuned to each other, but to another standard which each one must individually follow.  So then a hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking to Jesus Christ in faith, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to try to be united by any other way.  Our unity can only be achieved in Christ, the Divine Standard to which we all must look for salvation.

          God wants us one with Himself by faith in Christ, and one with each other, if at all possible.  He wants us "One in the Spirit, One in the Lord."  Today's Bible text tells us, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts;  and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body..."

          The Body mentioned here is the Church and the parts are the believers, no matter what we are called.  It's a principle of church fellowship that we have unity on as many essentials as possible before we declare public unity with another church body.  Not everything we believe is of equal value.  Some think we must be unified on everything, but sin makes that impossible.  But I believe we can achieve some kind of unity if we follow a threefold principle of Christian fellowship:  (1) In essentials, unity;  (2) In non-essentials, harmony;  (3) In all else, charity.

          Jesus Christ as Lord and His Word as true and inspired are the main essentials.  To be one, we must be "One in the Spirit."  Actually, we can be one only because of the Spirit.  The Spirit brings us to faith in Jesus.  We can't be believers without the Spirit's power.  The Bible says, "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3)   The Spirit opens our hearts to Jesus, and then He unites all believers in the Holy Christian Church.  He also reunites those who have been separated by sin.

          We are "One in the Spirit" because we are "One in the Lord".  The object of our faith in not unity itself, but Jesus Christ, the one who gives unity in this life and in the next.  Jesus is the One who brings us together.  The cross is a symbol, but the Savior who hung there is our unity.  He's the focus of all things, as St. Paul said, "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)

          People were not created to nitpick, but to glorify God.  Adam and Eve were perfect together in the Garden until their unity was destroyed by sin.  God has sent us a Savior who brings us back together.  The Body is held together when its parts trust in the same Savior.  He died and rose to forgive us, and He unites us to Himself and to each other.

          Christian unity does not mean we must agree with each other on everything, but on essentials.  We are all different, created with unique qualities and differences.  I like vanilla but you like chocolate.  I drive a Chevy and you drive a Honda.  I like this kind of music and you like that kind.  You may be more liberal and I am more conservative.  God didn't stamp out exact copies as His church members.  He gave each of us our own abilities and talents.  But our differences need not keep us apart.  We can still have unity in Jesus Christ, despite all our lesser important differences.

          Christians today seem especially disunited from others of faith.  Conservatives distrust liberals.  Some are afraid of change and others welcome it.  Democrats hate Republicans and Moslems hate Jews.  Arabs hate Americans and Christians are suspicious of Christians different from themselves.  Satan loves to keep us apart and he's a master at doing it.

          During World War II, Hitler commanded all religious groups to unite, for the purpose of controlling them.  Among some of the church bodies, half the members complied and half refused.  Those who went along with Hitler's order had a much easier time.  Among those who did not, almost every family had someone die in a concentration camp.  When the war was over, feelings of bitterness ran deep between these groups.  Finally one of the churches decided that the situation had to be healed.  Leaders from each group met at a quiet retreat and for several days, each one spent hours in prayer and self-examination, asking only for healing.  Then they came together.  "What did you do then?" one was asked.  "We became one," he replied.  "As we confessed our hostility and bitterness to God and yielded to His control, the Holy Spirit created a spirit of unity among us.  God's love dissolved our hatred."

          Oh, that this could happen among more Christian bodies.  When people yield to God, miracles happen.  But we must be willing to be healed and be open to God's direction, or else any solution will be only partial and temporary.  When we surrender our will to God, we can be brought together, regardless of our differences or even of our sins.

          Sin separates us.  We all need to realize that we choose to sin.  No one forces us to lie or covet or lust.  God shows us the right way in His commandments, but we choose our own way.  We can make all the excuses we want.  We can always find someone else to blame -- an abusive father, an unloving mother, a church that offended us, or just a bum rap in life.  But none of that gives us the right to sin.  We choose to sin, and we can choose to stop - we just can't stop all by ourselves.  We need God's help.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit.

          A few weeks ago I spoke God's judgment on shepherds who lead people astray.  In the following days, someone asked me if it's possible for a practicing gay person to be Christian.  It may surprise you to know that yes, I believe it is!  There are all kinds of practicing sinners who are still believers in Christ.  True, some kinds of sin seem worse because they can destroy faith in God.  God never approves of sin, no matter what it is.  But He still loves us sinners, and so should we.  God judges sin, but we must be very careful in pronouncing judgment on each other.

          Today's Bible text is about the Body valuing all its parts.  The Body can't reject certain parts because they are different.  All parts are needed to make the Body run, even the weak ones, those we think unimportant.  But each part is in the Body if that part has faith in Jesus Christ.  It will be interesting one day to find out who's in heaven.  Some folks there may be a total surprise!

          God knows our weaknesses.  He knows we can't make it on our own and He doesn't want us in hell.  He gave us a remedy.  "The wages of sin is death, but God's free gift is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23)   Salvation comes through faith in Christ.  Some people struggle with certain sins their whole lives, but if they trust Christ, they are forgiven and are part of the Body.  Yielding to sin will never make sin right, but when there's repentance and faith, there is forgiveness.  We all need to remember that self-righteous pride will damn more people than any other sin.

          Jesus wants us reconciled.  He once said, "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go;  first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift."

          I've had to ask for forgiveness a lot in my life and work, and I will have to do it in the future.  It's no good being separated because we're not willing to be united.  I once saw two sets of locked deer antlers mounted on a wall, mounted together because they were found that way.  Two deer fought until they were locked together and died.  What a shame for us to die with locked horns because we're too proud to repent or to forgive.

          It isn't easy to say "I'm sorry", but God can help us.  No matter if you are the cause of the problem or the other person is, it doesn't really matter.  Life is too short to get caught up in finger pointing.  Go to your brother or sister and try to be reconciled.  Don't look at who's to blame -- we're all to blame, we all deserve to die.  But Christ forgave us, so let's forgive each other.

          "We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord."  Maybe not always, but some of the time.  And with the Spirit's help, maybe it'll be more.  Unity and fellowship -- that's God wants for us.  May He fill our hearts with His forgiveness and love and unity, amen!

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.