By Pastor Lem Niere
Psalm 133
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”
In this Peanuts cartoon Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?” Amazing things happen when we function as a unit; when we act in harmony and in unity.
The church is a community rooted in relationship. We are all brothers and sisters—coming through the womb of the cross. The glue that binds members together is the common love for Jesus. The magnet that attracts us to each other is Christ. Without Jesus, there is no church. Christ is the basis of our fellowship. We are a family in Christ.
No Christian is an only child. We cannot exist in isolation. We were created for fellowship. We need to see our identity in the Body of Christ. As Christians, we are supposed to form in visible shape the oneness that God in Trinity is like. Remember that the glory of the church is the unity of its believers. This was the burden of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, on the night of His betrayal. John 17:22 says, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them—that they may be one just as We are one.”
When believers come together in unity something supernatural happens. Did Jesus not promise in Matthew 18:20 that, “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am with them”? Often we interpret this text to mean attendance rather than unity.
Years ago, Leslie Flynn published a book called, Great Church Fights. In it he chronicled the way people in different churches would go after each other—and fight—all in the name of Jesus Christ. In one example, a young father heard a commotion out in his backyard. He looked outside and saw his daughter with several playmates—in a heated quarrel. When he intervened, his daughter called back, “Dad, we’re just playing church!” Watch out older folks. Our kids imitate our behavior in church! I can cite more examples that we can perhaps add to the book by Leslie Flynn.
Perhaps you know of fighting saints—who instead of contending for the faith—fight over the color of church carpets, quarrel over parking space or the change of a church name, or battle over the participation of women and children in church programs.
Soon we shall be moving into our new church building. Let me just warn you that this can be fertile ground for fighting—that’s why we should pray more and praise each other less. A certain congregation who was about to erect a new church. The building committee, in consecutive meetings passed the following resolutions: [I’d like for you to find what’s wrong with it!]
1. We shall build a new church.
2. The new building is to be located on the site of the old one.
3. The material in the old building is to be used in the new one.
4. We shall continue to use the old building until the new one is completed.
Eugene Peterson observes that, “the church is composed of two equal parts—mystery and mess.” God is the mystery, and we are the mess! As the saying goes, “To dwell above with saints we love, oh that will be glory! To dwell below with saints we know—that’s another story.” If ever we resist the call to unity or community, it’s because of sin. Sin separates. Sin divides. Sin is like a repellent that seek to drive away others who we like to think of as mosquitoes. But to remain divided in sinful. One is not in Christ who cannot be reconciled. That should not be the case with the church. The moment we become Christians, we become part of a body of believers, the Body of Christ.