The Only Church in Town
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4–6 ESV Read More
One time I was struggling over a bunch of topics in Christianity. What church should look like, what baptism meant, what kinds of songs were the right songs, how important confession was to other brothers vs. privately and directly to Jesus, etc. Big stuff! After a conversation with a mentor, I discovered a few things about my controversies. I wasn’t trying to figure out the truth about those topics, I was trying to justify ways to separate myself from other people.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians that we’ve been given a “Ministry of Reconciliation.” We are part of God’s plan to reconnect Him and His fallen creation. Finding differences for the point of division might help our pride of knowing all the ‘truth’ about what communion means, but it isn’t likely to help us down the path of reconciliation.
The helpful thing that my mentor told me to do was to write down every possible nuance of Christianity on a separate notecard. Infant baptism, confession, electric guitar worship music, tongues, tardiness, church attendance, you name it, I listed it. Then I went through the Bible and wrote on the back of those notecards all of the Bible verses I could find on each topic. Some of them were easier than others!
At the end of a few years of work (and it was in several documents on my computer now, not note cards) my mentor said, “Ok, now decide which of these is worth dying over. Which of these is worth dividing up the Body of Christ?”
We, as Christians, are part of one Lord, one Body, with one Father. Just like kids are different in a family, we are different. That doesn’t mean we have different dads or that crazy brother isn’t in the same family. When we find things to divide over, do it carefully. Do it without demonizing or criticizing. As we mature in our faith, we often discover that we are the ones that are the crazy kid in the family that needs extra grace!
The other encouraging thing about one body and one Spirit is that when we hear stories of great heroes of the faith, missionaries, servants, pastors, whatever, we can’t get down on ourselves and think God would never do anything like that with us. We are all part of the same body being used by God to save the world. Every one of us is an important part, no matter how bold, or mature, or Bible-smart.
God is at work in His body. He rules over us and guides us toward the common goal of us being with Him forever.
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