(This column originally appeared in The Town Talk on Sunday, June 3, 2018.)
Last month’s National Day of Prayer events that were
held nationwide carried a one-word theme: “Unity.” Several million people
gathered in thousands of events, large and small, across this land to pray for
our nation. Their prayer was sparked by Jesus’ last prayer on the earth. The
night before He was crucified He prayed these words:
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for
those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even
as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that
the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I
have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You
in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You
sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23 NASB)
Jesus prayed that the believers through the ages
would “be perfected in unity.” And the purpose of this unity was so that the
world would know that Jesus was indeed sent from God because He loved the world
that much!
Unfortunately it seems that we Christians have
demonstrated everything except unity. The witness we have given the world has
not been one of unity but rather of infighting, political posturing and selfish
ambition. Church splits have been the norm and Christians can’t seem to agree
on anything.
Or can we? While there are many things that we may
not agree on completely, there is much more unity in the Body of Christ than
you might imagine. Sure, we all have different styles of worship and various
preferences when it comes to the songs we sing, the instruments we use (or
don’t use), and many other external things.
But when it comes to the essentials, there is
tremendous agreement among all believers. When Paul described the Gospel
message that he preached, he described what ALL Christian believers believe:
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what
I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the
Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve.” (1 Cor 15:3-4 NASB)
When you break that down, we all agree
wholeheartedly that Jesus died for our sins, that He was buried and then rose
on the third day and then appeared with many convincing proofs to hundreds of
eye-witnesses. That is the essence of Christian unity! Everything else is a
side-issue from this core message of the Gospel.
There are still many areas of disagreement in
church-life today. But when we focus on what Paul said was “of first
importance” we all agree. We experience unity.
I’ve been blessed to be part of a weekly breakfast
gathering of pastors from many different denominations that has met for 30
years. We are Assembly of God, Baptist, Church of Christ, Church of God,
Methodist, Nazarene, Non-denominational, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and
just about every stripe in between. And while we have many different worship
styles, practices and beliefs, we agree that Jesus died for our sins, was
buried, rose from the dead on the 3rd day and appeared to many
witnesses! And because of that, we have unity!
There’s another wonderful expression of unity that
God is raising up across denominational and racial lines. Pastors are
recognizing the need to demonstrate that there is no room for racial prejudice in the Body of Christ. So we are
joining forces to create conversation and dialog through a series of bi-monthly
Men’s Unity Breakfasts.
The first one will be on Saturday, June 16 at 7:30AM
at Family of Grace Church, 4200 S. MacArthur Dr in Alexandria. Pastor Bryant
Sanders of Miracle Temple Ministries and Pastor Brad Webb of Family of Grace
Church are combining forces for this first one, and every other month two more
churches will cooperate to host these events. The goal is to break bread
together and build friendships – not in an attempt to create unity, but to
demonstrate the unity we already have in Jesus!
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More information about the Cenla Men's Unity Breakfast is available on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/413049612503798/.
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