A Bag of Marbles or a Bag of Grapes

Ephesians 4:2-3: "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."

There's a book called Up with Worship by Anne Ortlund, and she described the average church as too much like a bag of marbles. Marbles scratch against each other and make a little noise, but they don't impact one another. She said the church ought to be like a bag of grapes that mush together and make sweet-tasting juice through interaction, refreshing to those who drink it. We ought to have that kind of impact on one another. Instead, a lot of churches just rub against each other and make noise. That's what a divided church looks like.

Unity is not unison. When you hear an incredible choir, none of them are singing the same note. If they all sang the same note, it might be good, but it would be bland. It wouldn't reflect the strengths of every person standing up there. Go to a symphony, and you don't hear just one note. The same thing should exist in a local church. Unity doesn't mean we all sound exactly the same.

Unity is not union, either. Sometimes we say we just need to get together. Well, that's a union. But as one pastor put it, you can tie two tomcats' tails together and throw them over a clothesline, and you will have union, but that isn't unity. Union is putting people in a room together. Unity is something on the inside that brings us together.

Unity is not uniformity, either. At a private school where everybody wears the same uniform and carries themselves a certain way, you have uniformity. In the military you have uniformity, but you may not have unity.

God's desire for the church is that we be unified, together in heart, not necessarily in identical expression. He wants us to be brothers and sisters, but we do not have to be twins. God made us diverse. He gave us different strengths to contribute to the whole body. My hand is not like my foot, and my foot's not like my leg or my neck. We are one body, unified but diverse.

Paul urges us to preserve our unity as a church family through humility, gentleness, patience, and love. He doesn't say we should "create" the unity of the Spirit, but he says we must "maintain" it. Unity doesn't happen by accident, and "endeavoring" shows that it requires effort.

So, are you a marble in your church? Do you just make noise, scraping up against other brothers or sisters in Christ? Do you find yourself arguing over things that have nothing to do with anybody's salvation? Most of those differences are preferences, not doctrinal convictions. Learn to tolerate them and be flexible. Recognize that we can be brothers and sisters in Christ, without being twins. We can have unity, even if we all don't look and talk exactly the same way as others. Let the Holy Spirit press you together with the people He put you next to, and enjoy being part of what He is doing through your church.

Reflection Question: Are you acting like a marble that scrapes and makes noise, or like a grape that presses together with your brothers and sisters?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the diversity and unity in the church You have led me to be part of. Help me grow in humility, gentleness, and longsuffering with the people You have placed around me. Help me keep the unity Your Spirit already gave us. In Jesus' Name, amen.

Check out: The Seven Pillars of Christian Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6): https://www.joshfranklin.org/media/gcssrmc/14-seven-pillars-for-christian-unity-eph-4-4-6