Together, Unbreakable

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." - Ephesians 4:2-3 (NKJV)

What is the opposite of love? Most people say hatred. They are wrong. The opposite of love is not hatred. It is indifference. Apathy. Hatred, as wrong and destructive as it is, at least acknowledges the other person exists and matters enough to provoke a strong emotion. Indifference says, I do not even think about you. Your pain does not register with me. Your needs do not concern me. Imagine a church completely indifferent to the hurts and struggles of its own people. That is no church at all.

Bearing with one another in love means bearing with each other's individual preferences. There are doctrinal gray areas where the Bible isn't clear, and where good, Bible-believing Christians can disagree.

Some doctrines are non-negotiable. The full authority of Scripture. The deity of Jesus Christ (fully God and fully man). The virgin birth of Christ. His atoning death and bodily resurrection. Salvation by grace through faith alone. These are essentials. But underneath the essentials, there are secondary issues where Christians have disagreed throughout church history. Spiritual gifts. Charismatic practices. Church government systems. How and when to baptize.

There's a funny story about a Methodist and a Baptist having a discussion about water baptism. Methodists will often pour water on the head as their baptism, while Baptists will immerse fully in water. The Methodist asked, "Could you be baptized waist-high?" "Absolutely not," said the Baptist. "Chest-high?" "No." "Shoulder-high?" "No." "So it is the full dunking of the head that matters?" "Yes." And the Methodist said, "So it is really the water on the head that is the important thing?" The Baptist didn't know how to respond.

Now, that's a silly story, but those disagreements are meaningful. However, Christians should be able to disagree without being disagreeable. Good, sincere, Bible-loving people have landed on different sides of that question for centuries. We will all worship around the throne in heaven one day, but Christians usually have a difficult time worshipping together in the same church when they disagree over secondary issues.

In a local church, there will be issues that are not even secondary. We may believe strongly about them, but we should be able to still worship together in the same church. Worship styles. What translation of the Bible to use. Dress code. Dietary convictions. End-time convictions.

Paul gave an overarching principle for a local church disagreement (not doctrinal heresy or orthodoxy). He said in Romans 14:4, "Who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls." A few verses later, it states, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind."

This verse is specifically highlighting that Christians disagreed with how to observe the Sabbath Old Testament laws. Some Christians came from a Jewish background and felt they still wanted to honor those laws by not working on Saturday (the Sabbath). Some Christians did not come from a Jewish background and felt that wasn't necessary. Shouldn't every day be holy? Paul's statement was that each person should simply be convinced for themselves because both groups were trying to honor the Lord. A healthy church is one that can bear with one another in those individual convictions.

Notice what Paul says in verse three. We are to endeavor to "keep" the unity of the Spirit, not to create it. The unity is already there. The Spirit has placed us into one body together. Our job is to protect it.

A father once gave his son a bundle of sticks wound tightly together and told him to break it. The boy tried everything and could not do it. Then the father untied the bundle and broke each stick one at a time. Easily. He said, "That is you and your brothers and sisters. Separately, the enemy has no problem with any one of you. Together, you are unbreakable."

The same applies to a local church. Believers need to feel our strength in our unity. Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, "Two are better than one." We were made for community in the local church. We may have individual convictions and preferences, but we are stronger together. Satan wants to divide us, but when we stay unified as a church, on mission for Jesus Christ, we can do everything God has called us to do.

Reflection Question: Where are you allowing a difference of opinion to divide you from someone who shares the essentials of the faith with you?

Dear Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have let minor disagreements divide me from other Christians who love You just as much as I do. Help me hold firmly to what is essential. Help me be understanding when there are minor differences between my brothers and sisters in Christ. Help me do my part to keep the unity in my local church. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Check out: "What Makes a Great Church" (Ephesians 4:1-3): https://www.joshfranklin.org/media/hkkjzjx/13-what-makes-a-great-church-eph-4-1-3