What is unity?

"One hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship."
A. W. Tozer

This morning in my devotional time, I read the following statement:
'It ought to be the goal of every believer to do that which directly and deliberately brings glory to our God and Father.'

I then read John 15:8-10 and Romans 15:5-7 and thought about practical ways God can be glorified in our lives based on these scriptures.

The scriptures are very clear about how we are to bring glory to God.
8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love." John 15:8-10

According to this scripture, we are to bring glory to God by:
1. Bearing much fruit (vs 8)
2. Remaining in His love (vs 9)
3. Obeying His commands (vs 10)

"5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." Romans 15:5-7on

According to this scripture, we are to glorify God by being a body of believers with:
1. One heart
2. One mouth
and we are to:
3. Accept one another as Christ accepted us

So, in my reflection this morning, I felt true conviction. I totally get the bearing much fruit part, the remaining in His love and the obeying His commands. Those things I am far from perfecting, but I get that and I have those things as my goal...

(Do you hear that: "I get it," "my goal" those things are dependent on me...no one else)

But what stopped me in my tracks this morning is this: that we are called to a spirit of unity in order to bring glory to Christ. So much so that we are to "accept one another, then, as Christ accepted you."

OUCH...

I know who I am. I know the thoughts I carry- that no one else knows, except Christ himself. Only He knows the parts of my heart still black with sin. He knew me, loved me, and saved me when I was dirty, dirty, dirty with sin and so far away from Him I could only be restored through Him.

He accepted me when I was in the worst possible state, with open arms, without hesitation, with no strings attached. There was no contract that I had to sign assuring my performance, stipulating my rewards if I completed certain things.

He loved me and saved me and that was that.

And now, I have the privilege of bringing glory to His name by bearing much fruit for Him, remaining in His love, obeying Him, and living in unity with His body by having one heart and one mouth and accepting other believers as Christ has accepted me.

See, what is difficult for me is this whole 'acceptance of others' thing. Because, ya know, if we are truly honest, acceptance of others is a really messy thing.

It makes me wonder,

"What is unity?"

The quote at the beginning of this post by Tozer gives me the picture of one hundred people in a large conference room or sanctuary or wherever...in a large circle, backs to the center. All of them are focused on their God, basking in His presence, listening for His voice, totally pointed towards their King, yet, at the same time, deeply connected to those around them, through the Holy Spirit.

The latter description in the quote brings to mind a vastly different picture. I picture these same hundred believers seated at large tables throughout the room, each with their pencils and paper or perhaps dry erase boards, forming a strategy for becoming more united in their faith. Brainstorming for Jesus...or perhaps, all are gathered together, lots of food, lots of conversation, music streaming freely in the background. All in hopes of building relationships with the body of Christ. In this situation, all the people can very well form connections, some very good ones. But the problem here is that no one is calling upon the Lord. Everyone looks to each other, or to themselves, for the solution to unity and fellowship.

Have you ever been in either of these situations. I have more often than not, been in the second scenario. What I have seen happen, is that instead of experiencing koinania (true fellowship), we have a good time, yet fail to edify our Lord because our selfishness and pride get in the way. Often, it may seem that we are "accepting" others because we are there together with "them." We learn more about others and ultimately we form opinions of them.

And then we go home and talk about them to our spouse, nit-picking every little detail of the evening and what we liked and especially highlighting what we did not like.

Sound familiar? (Just being real, here... not trying to step on any toes)

It seems to me, God is not saying here, "Yeah, just be cool with those other guys, wave to them on the street, hang with them from time to time, but ya know...to each his own."

NO!

God wants us to have complete unity- the same mouth, the same heart! Accept others as Christ accepted us- when we were covered in our own filth...

To be perfectly honest, this is a task for which I feel extremely inadequate, because I am a prideful person. I puff myself up and look down on others for their weakness. I am a horrible example of a disciple of Christ at times. I fail Him daily. Yet, He continues to accept me, without reservations. He continues to use me, despite my certain embarrassing faults.

And so, I now am supposed to accept others in that same way?

I am supposed to accept others in that same way.

And that is how God will be glorified in my life?

That is how God will be glorified in my life.

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity." Psalms 133:1

I'm interested to hear our thoughts...