Diversity through design, Unity through God

Last night I attended church at Grace Bible Church in College Station. The head pastor, Brian Fisher, gave the message at the Saturday night service. I really enjoy the Saturday service because it is a smaller group in a smaller venue. It is easy to get lost in the hundreds of people there on a Sunday morning, so it is nice to meet with a small group to worship with.

Ross King led worship. Ross was very popular with the youth group I attended in high school, so I was very familiar with him, though I hadn't heard him in several years. He was leading praise music so I didn't hear the songs of his I knew, but still enjoyed his leadership and music.

The message of the sermon was about the Church being one body. This semester, Grace has focused a lot on this topic as they built a new campus this year and are focusing being on one church with two locations. The text was taken from 1st Corinthians chapter 12, and Ephesians chapter 4 along with a few other various verses. This post will be taken from Brian Fisher's sermon.

First, unity in the church is to reflect unity in God. God is made up of three unique individual parts, that are all equally God and all one. The church is to reflect that.

Unity isn't uniformaty. Just becuase we call ourselves Christians doesn't mean that we all dress alike and act alike. We are all different. In 1st Corinthians, Paull writes about the Spirit of God giving each believer receiving gifts from God as the spirit chooses. In the psalms, which Paul quotes from in a different letter on the same subject, God gives gifts to all people, even nonbelievers, as he sees fit. God gives all of us gifts. We are to use those gifts for His kingdom, though we often do not.

Though unity isn't uniformaty, we must have certain similarities. In Christianity, our similarities are what are commonly referred to as essentials. These are the most basic beliefs in Christianity. These are often found in various creeds and belief statements. They define who God is and how we come to a relationship with him. These must be the same for all Christians. God is One, he is not Many. If we have different core beliefs about God, we are making him Many, not the One he is. All of us are following One Way, though we are Different people. One God, One Spirit, One Jesus, One Way.

If we do not have the same shared truth, we will not be united. I think a good example is the USA. In the United States, we are united with the goal of Democracy. By having the same goal, we have been able to overcome huge obstacles, such as the British in the 1770's, slavery in the 1860's, Nazism in the 1940's, discrimination in the 1960's. However, today, our goal is often 'unity and diversity.' This is often met with staunch resistance. I believe that if we as a country maintain our goal of democracy, unity will occur dispite our diversity. When we make divisions our goal though, we will reap what we desire.

Though it is imperative that we have unity and uniformity in essentials, our relationship with God will look different for each person. Some may find certain types of music styles help them worship more than others. Some may prefer wearing specific clothing to church in order to convey a sense of humbleness before God. Some may find it better to stand or sit or kneel throughout worship. This is OK! In non-essentials, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist faith, says that we have freedom. However, with our freedom comes tolerance. Tolerance means to put up with others. Though we may not like certain things about various Christians, we must still get along with them. We cannot let minor things (non essentials) cause division. This has happened and continues to happen, resulting in the hundreds, if not thousands, and denominations in the Christian church. Oh for the day when unity results in all worship the One together!

Why we must tolerate each other is because of the creativity and soverignty of God. God has made each of us unique, in His image, and the way we are to be. He has distributed gifts upon us as he wills. We must use our gifts to His glory. But none of us have all of the gifts necessary in the Body of Christ. Just as a body cannot survive with just a head or just a foot or just a heart, neither can the Body of Christ function with just certain gifts. It takes all of us combined to form the Body. We must respect each other because God made each of us.

This is something that I need to work on. It is easy for me to say, "that person is so annoying, I cannot stand them." This is certainly not respecting the person. Do I need to become best friends with them? Certainly not, there are some people I get along with some people I do not. However, I can at least respect the person for who God made them. I can still see the value that they bring to the Body.

This unity is the result of Love. John Wesley said that we must have unity in essentials, freedom in non-essentials, charity in all things. Paul mentions, after discussing the gifts that the spririt gives, that he will show us yet a greater way, Love. Paul also writes of fath, hope, and love, love will always remain. Our faith will become sight, our hope will become reality, but love will remain for eternity.

So with this knowledge, how is a Christian to respond? First, be content with how God made you. At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about contentment. Be OK with who God made you. However, do not become complacent. Continue to push farther! God made us how he wanted us, but rarely do we use his gifts and abilities to their fullest. Continue to strive for perfection in Christ and the person God made you to be. And most important, learn to live with one another by love.

Worship One, Love All, Together!