The Symphony of Unity

Have you ever heard a Symphony? It can be a beautiful thing. All kinds of instruments of every shape and size playing different parts in the same piece of music. One music, many parts. That's what makes it good. If it were just the french horns playing their part or the string bass or any other section singled out, it would be incomplete. Every part is as important as the rest and just as valid. Even if you are only playing one or two notes.

In John 17, Jesus prayed that the believers be one as He and the Father are one. This is Jesus' prayer for us on the night He was arrested. Why is it so important? So that the world will know that God had sent Jesus and that He loves us as much as He loves Jesus. By our unity we validate Jesus' love and message.

By loving one another we glorify God. I'm not talking about the universal "we love our brothers in Christ" kind of talk we so often revert to after slamming one another. I'm talking real life, rubber-meets-the-road, putting aside our differences kind of love. That's how we glorify God. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that it does us no good to love the lovable. "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get. Are not the tax collectors doing  that? And if you greet only your own,what are you doing more than others. Do not even the pagans do that?" Loving people you like and get along with is easy. That's why we have friends. But loving people who we don't get on with so well-that's a struggle for even the best of us. But that's how we validate our message.

You see, hanging out with believers you agree with is normal and easy. It's called denominations. We have created safe little groups of like-minded people all coming together on a Sunday to hear teaching they agree with and sing songs they like. Sure you aren't TOTALLY in agreement with all of the members of your church but, hey, at least you aren't going to that church across the street that is not at all in alignment with your theology! Denominations are safe and comfortable. You may have friends from other churches but you just try to stay off the topic a theology so that no feathers get ruffled, and if you do stray too far, you make sure you're right.

But that's not what we're called to do. We're not called to be comfortable or safe or right. We're called to love one another. It's what sets us apart from the world. It's our identifying mark, so to speak. We can love the sinful and lost of this world til Christ returns, but we're talking out of both sides of our mouths if we can't even get along with each other! Do you want to know why we're called hypocrites by the world? It's not persecution so stop being a martyr. It's because we say that God is love and that He loves us but we can't love each other.

We are referred to as the body of Christ in the book of 1 Corinthians. We know that each part of us important. The whole body is so connected to itself that even the smallest of movements can affect it, All of our muscles are connected to each other when you move your hand or foot, muscles and tendons in you arm or leg have to work as well. When someone loses a limb, it can be very hard on the body. Suddenly, other parts have to make up and compensate for the missing part.

Just like a symphony or a body, we are all valid and important. No matter that your stance on infant baptism or music, it is valid. Maybe we separate ourselves because we are afraid of being wrong. Maybe because the idea of someone else being just as right as you are is too hard. Yes, among the believers there is a certain level of wrong teaching but by far the worst of wrong teaching is the one we have been living for the past centuries and that is incomplete unity.

How good and pleasant it is

    when God’s people live together in unity!

 It is like precious oil poured on the head,

    running down on the beard,

running down on Aaron’s beard,

    down on the collar of his robe.

 It is as if the dew of Hermon

    were falling on Mount Zion.

For there the Lord bestows his blessing,

    even life forevermore

Psalm 133

It's time to get rid of our differences. It's time to break down the walls of our denominations. Now more that ever, it is important that we radiate a love that is so unworldly that the world will know that we are of Christ. Let your differences shape each other, not separate. Rejoice in your various opinions. Praise God we're not all the same! Let our lives and our love be reflective in every way of the love that we are loved with-God's love.  Don't be bound by a certain set of doctrine. Open your minds to what may be a new way of looking at God in the context of the Bible. Let love overflow through Christ to your brothers and sisters so that the world will know that we are followers of Jesus. and how did Jesus show His love for us? He laid down His life for us. 

Shake us up, Lord!

All White

We all like being right. It's a fact. Everyone wants to be right about everything. Most of the time we think we're right about everything. For us black and white folks, there's my perspective and wrong. Not a lot of middle ground. It's weird for us to think that someone else might be right too.

I love "Fiddler on the Roof". It's a great film. One of my favorite parts is the bit where Perchik arrives in the little village with new revolutionary ideas and he and one of the villagers get at it. The man says that they shouldn't worry about the outside world. "He's right" Tevye says. "You can't close your eyes to what's going on around you" Perchik replies. "You know, he's right" says Tevye. "He's right? And he's right?" pipes in another villager, "They can't both be right". "You're right" says Tevye.

There are some things that are black and white. There is only one way to heaven, what sin is, God is the one and only God. Right and wring, good and bad. There are things that you can't chuck up to personal opinion. If someone is not a believer, they are going to hell. If you are lying, cheating and stealing, you are sinning. Allah and Budah and God aren't all the same. But then we have personal opinions and perspectives. This is where what should be all white becomes black and white.

Your opinion is valid. It is shaped by your life experiences, your upbringing, your personality and many other factors. You live your life in a certain way because of your past. The way you live is your choice. I may not agree with it but if you're not "living in sin", it's not wrong. It's different.

My opinion is valid. It too is shaped by my background, raising and past choices. I am the way I am because of God and my past. How I see God is different than you because I am different from you. It doesn't make me wrong, it makes me myself.

You see God isn't to be put in a box. You can't have one right opinion of Him other than He is God and no one else is and He is three in one and all that. I may think I'm right because of the way I've experienced Him. You see, my experience of God might be different than yours because I have a different personality than you. You may think you're right. The fact is. We're probably both right.

How does that work? We can't both be right!

Have you ever looked at a picture that someone else has looked at? What you saw in the picture maybe something different than what I saw. The picture is still the same. What we noticed or were attracted to was different. Maybe I noticed how the lighting affected the mood or feel of the picture while you noticed how the colors brought out the life in the people in the picture. The elements of the picture are constant. What we noticed changed from person to person.

God is not one-dimensional. Who He is cannot be defined by one human alone. He cannot be understood by one human. You could spend all of your life studying Him and yet there would still be something new. Our relationship with Him looks different (as it should) with each person because we are unique individuals. To say that your way is right and then proceed to look down on everyone else for not getting it right like you is just plain arrogant.

I heard a joke once that sort of illustrates my point.

A man died and went to heaven. and Peter was showing him around heaven. There were different rooms for each denomination. They passed with Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians and then came to a room with a sign that read "Quiet Please". "What's that room?" the man asked. "That" replied Peter, "is the Calvary Chapel room. We need to be quiet because they think they're the only ones here"

Actually it's true of just about everybody...not just the Calvary Chapel folks.

Shake us up Lord!