Unity in a church is not just agreeing on things.
The Scriptures give us pictures of unity, and they all display the same concept. That concept is what I’ll call “many-in-oneness.” It’s highest form is seen in the communal nature of God. That nature was hardwired into mankind.
There’s a popular prayer by Jesus recorded in John 17. Here’s a little part of it…
…that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Jesus is praying for His followers. He’s praying that they would be one in same way that the Three Persons of God are one.
What we see here is oneness is determined by location. The word “in” is used in Jesus’ prayer many times. What determines their unity is their location.
My wife and I could make a decision together. If we make it together, it means we agree. But we may not be one in the decision. One of us could have something in our hearts that wasn’t quite right with the decision. Or one of us could feel contempt for the other person wanting to do that thing. There was agreement, but there wasn’t unity.
When we talk about unity, we’re talking about a closeness or “in-ness” that determines oneness. Your physical body is unified because the parts are connected, working together and discerning together the messages from the Head about how to function. If different parts were operating by different instructions, your body would be perpetually injured as it would be working against itself.
We must be built together
What we find in Scripture is God has always built things to dwell in – the ark of the covenant, the tabernacle, the temple. They’re all pictures of mankind, who was supposed to be the reality of what God was to dwell in.
But here’s the thing…we must be built together in a very practical way for God to dwell in us as a community. To image God by His life living in and through us, we have to be built together.
Peter talked about this…
…you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house… (1 Peter 2:5)
Stones need to be built together to be a house, or else they’re just a pile of stones.
What a church is built on
This picture of oneness came directly from Jesus. Most Christians are familiar with this…
…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church… (Matthew 16:18)
But most Christians aren’t familiar with what Jesus means. He was saying this in response to Peter saying “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Peter’s response was to Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter had come to the realization that God was an eternal community of Love. He wasn’t just identifying Jesus as the Messiah. The phrase “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” contains the understanding that Jesus was God, who is a community. The “Christ” is the anointed one (the Holy Spirit), and the Son shares the same Life as the Father.
What Peter is getting at is that Jesus, along with the Holy Spirit and the Father, is God.
When Jesus calls him “Peter,” that word in Greek is petros, which literally means a stone (like a small one you would pick up and throw). The word Jesus uses for “rock” is petra, which means a massive rock, such as a peak or mountain.
Stones are little pieces of detached rock. So the picture Jesus is painting here is that He is the mountain which we’ve been “cut from.” The rest of the New Testament talks about how we each have a part of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27). This is a picture of that idea.
What’s the purpose of all of us living stones? To be built together into a spiritual house for God to dwell in by His Spirit.
Here’s the point: Until we’re built together, we’re just a pile of stones.
Individual pursuit of the Lord is not a bad thing. But until we’re built together, we’re just a pile of stones.
How a church is built together
Those stones being built together means they need to “fit in” to one another. You don’t want cracks and holes in the wall. That takes chipping and filing away at the edges. That’s a process, and that process only takes place in environments where it’s enabled to.
To be a healthy church, it takes being built together.
We get the misconception that this can happen with new teachings, doctrines, traditions, church models, church structures, agendas, etc. We need an “it” that will be the magic pill. They never are. The way we are built together is by relating to one another the way the Persons in God relate to one another.
Jesus didn’t say the world will know by how much they agree. It’s by the love they have for one another. True, deep love is seen where people are built together, not just a pile of living stones.
Michael Fleming
Mike Fleming is the creator of Finding Healthy Church. Over 20 years ago, he was sparked by the frustration of failing to experience what the biblical story claimed a healthy church was like. He caught a vision and passion for seeing local churches be what they were designed by God to be. He shares what he's learning along the way so the health of local churches around the world are improved. He’s currently working on an eye-opening book that will help better understand what it means for a church to be healthy.