We Aspire to Deepen our Unity in Christ
Joshua reminds us that Christ died and rose so that we could be united to both God and others in the Church, and exhorts us to deepen our unity in Christ.
One of the interesting things about my time as a university student was that each semester our timetables would constantly change. Some semesters I would have to go in every day from Monday to Friday, while during a good semester, I would only need to go into school two days a week. Lectures for certain subjects would often have random times and occasionally I would have lectures or tutorials which would end quite late.
I remember one particular semester I would finish class at 6pm every week. I know it’s not that late for Singaporeans, but in Australia my family would all be home by 6pm because we would always have dinner at 630pm.
That particular semester I would receive calls from my mum at 6pm most weeks urging me to hurry up to come home for dinner. No matter how late or how busy our day was, my family would always make an effort to come home by 630pm for dinner.
It was important for us to have dinner together as a family because it was a way we see one another and update each other on how our lives are. For my family, it was a way to deepen our unity as a family. Our family were united over our daily 630pm dinners.
The Lord’s Supper
Paul also talks about unity in the Church through a meal – in this case the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthian church had many problems, one of which being the disunity of the church. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 that there were divisions in the Corinthian church which affects the way they partake in the Lord’s Supper. Each member seemed to be taking the Lord’s Supper on their own without considering anyone else in the church. Some were overindulging while others went hungry.
They were definitely not united when they sat together to partake in the Lord’s Supper. The problem with the Corinthian church was that they had forgotten the gospel. They had forgotten that Jesus Christ died and rose again so that Christians could be united to both God and others in the church. This is why Paul reminds them about what Jesus did during the Passover (1 Cor 11:23-26). Part of the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remind the disciples of their unity in Christ. It is only through Jesus Christ’s body and blood that Christians can be a part of one another. Therefore, during the Lord’s Supper one of the most important things to keep in mind is the consideration of one another in the church.
Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Cor 11:28-29)
Christ unites us
How often are we like the Corinthians forgetting our unity in Christ? This always affects how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. I personally know how easy it is to forget the riches of the gospel and how Jesus has made wicked, ugly sinners like you and me completely clean and righteous. Us equally unworthy sinners come in all shapes and forms, but God has made us holy and adopted us as His children. Therefore, our differences in culture, race, age, preferences etc. are vastly insignificant in comparison to our new identity as children of God.
That he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace (Eph 2:15b)
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:27-29)
One of our aspirations for Grace Baptist Church in 2022 is to deepen our unity in Christ. If you’re not sure exactly what this looks like, here are a few things you can consider:
If you haven’t already done so, make every effort to come back to meet physically at service, especially the first services of the month where we take the Lord’s Supper in church. By partaking together, this is how we declare our unity in Christ.
Reach out to members of the church who are different from you and try to meet with them e.g. others in different life stages, or even perhaps people who have very different family structures to yourself. We don’t need an excuse to meet with our family members, why would church family be any different?
If you are not on good terms or are harbouring some ill feelings towards a brother or sister in the church, pray about it, seek to forgive and take active steps to reconcile as mentioned in Matthew 18.
My hope would be that as our church deepens in our unity in Christ, that we would be able to demonstrate the gospel to those looking, both inwardly and outwardly. For our youths in particular who have not yet decided to follow Christ, my prayer is that the church’s unity will be a desirable thing that they would want to be a part of, knowing that they are accepted in Christ regardless of how different they feel they are.
Brothers and Sisters, let’s not look at our worldly differences, but rather let us focus on the common things we share in Christ. Let us be united by Christ and seek to deepen our unity.
Unity: We aspire to deepen our spiritual unity, which transcends congregations, language, culture, ethnicity, age, etc., and to display the gospel's transforming power through our unity in diversity.
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