I want to say that the church is the most unlikely institution to survive. Why? It is made up of so many voices. It is made up of so many ages and eras. Since the industrial revolution our country (and many others I’m sure) has faced the formation of many ‘cultural eras’ within the church. Coffee with a dear friend the other day opened my eyes to this fact like they’ve never been opened before.
We have in our church alone (population about 120) a span of years from infant/toddler to those in their 90’s. These folks have lived very different lives between them due to Progress. There is a plaque on the church wall from around 1860-ish recognizing a congregant. That’s over 150 years ago! If we figure a generation to be about 40 years we have about 4 generations of folks within the walls. Each of those generations has had significant changes in their lifetime in accordance to how they live, including where they work, where their families are geographically, and how they spend their leisure time. I would say the most significant change though is in how they learned to relate to one another.
Even 50 years ago you simply said what was on your mind. If you weren’t interested in saying what was on your mind to the person on your mind you took it to someone else and exchanged gossip. Simplistic, but I think you get the point.
Today if you have something on your mind (the information in this blog for instance) you can just say what is on your mind but there are those on Facebook who might say you’re a dolt (1950s means ‘idiot’) and unfriend you or send you other blogs about how they are right and you are wrong. Again, very simplistic but I think you get it.
My friend helped me see what should be obvious: there is a large difference between the ‘cultural eras’ in how we display our hearts in society today. These differences have created communication chasms between the generations, causing disunity to sneak up on the church. Years ago you kept most things inside your four walls and if you didn’t you were known as a gossip. (Simplistically speaking). Now, we want our voices and more often than not, our secrets to be shouted from the hilltops. This makes our older generations, to say the least, uncomfortable. Although there are differing types of differences between these ‘cultural eras,’ we can’t ignore that this difference causes at least angst if not bitterness within the church. This in turn causes disunity to slide in – not intentionally on the part of the church – but in a fleshy kind of Romans 7 way.
As Christians we are called to unity in Christ and not merely belief in Him. The demons believe, and they will fall…divided. We must have our focus on Him and be unified about it. (See that preached here by pastor Ben Stuart from Philippians 1.27-30). We are also commanded to live out our belief and unity in the context of community called the church (see The Bible).
Acts 1.14 says of the first church: “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers [and sisters]” and 2.46-47 “…with glad and generous hearts, praising God…” This is how to do church. This is Living in Unity 101.
O how our ‘cultural eras’ want to prohibit us from being unified in Christ! O how we want to be unified! We know it is needed but these communication chasms become so great that, overwhelmed, we give up. We think belief in Christ is enough – it is for justification. Once we are justified though, we begin a lifetime of sanctification. Sanctification provides us the opportunity to live out our faith struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within [us] (see Colossians 1.26-29). This happens in community – striving for unity just as we have it displayed for us in the mysterious community of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
God’s word provides the fodder for us to learn and grow in community. It’s good and right that we need God’s word to teach us how to be unified (2 Timothy 3.16-17). Its understood that we will struggle with it (Philippians 4.2-3). We can see how the early church struggled to be unified – read Philippians. God’s word teaches us to be unified by being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. This ongoing process of bearing with one another also requires putting to death gossip, repenting of bitterness, trying to live life unified – not grieving the Holy Spirit because we are justified (Ephesians 4.30-32). We’re not perfect but we are called to imitate Perfection, walking in love (Ephesians 5.1-2). We must, with prayer and petition, seek unity.
I want to say that the church is the most unlikely institution to survive. It is unlikely because of the propensity of man to be divisive (Genesis 3). But God being rich in mercy showed us His grace so that we will survive doing good for His glory by the grace of Christ within us. That is the beauty of the Church. The battle is won! It’s not about man’s ability to be unified or dis-unified – it’s living and breathing The Glories of Calvary…