"The Battling Baptists" ... that’s the reputation Baptists have, according to Walter Shurden. Baptists are born fighters because they were born fighting. Early Baptists were known as law-breakers. Shurden writes, "They broke the laws in England and they broke the laws in America. And they broke the laws because they felt them to be unjust laws. They broke them because they felt that there was a law which transcended civil law; it was the law of Scripture."
Explaining these religious radicals, Shurden adds: They did not buck the establishment ... culture, society, church, and state .... just for the sake of raw, red-blooded rebellion. Theirs was no adolescent kicking of the traces just to hear the clanging and banging. They rebelled because they had a vision of something worth saving. They rebelled against the concept of a ’parish’ church because they believed the idea of a ’gathered’ church was worth saving. They rebelled against state enforced religion because they thought the freedom of the human spirit was worth saving. They rebelled against the priority of ecclesiastical institutionalism because they believed that the priority of the individual was worth saving.
Not only have Baptists spent much of their history fighting outsiders, but they have consumed much energy fighting among themselves. The result has been a reduced credibility, an impoverished witness, and a fragmented church.
While Baptists have both heard and acted on the message of salvation in terms of personal conversion and world-wide missions, they have not acted on the message calling for Christian unity, if they have heard it. Yet, the Bible that proclaims the message of salvation is also the one that also proclaims the message about unity.
In Ephesians 4:1-6, Paul makes a passionate plea for a united church. We need to hear these words again.
First Paul offers....
The Incentives for Unity
Why seek unity? Why not feud and fight? The "oneness" of the Christian experience...calls on Christians to cease fighting. Paul reminds the church of seven essentials that call for unity. We dare not ignore them.
1. One Spirit.
Is the Holy Spirit divided within into various contentious groups? Does the Spirit engage in a spiritual tug of war? Of course not. The Spirit is one, only one, not two, not three, but one.
2. One faith.
Is our faith a splintered faith? No! It is only one faith, namely, "Jesus Christ is Lord."
3. One hope.
Is Christian hope cut into many pieces?
No! There is only one hope of our calling, namely to be committed Christians who incarnate the church God calls us to be, knowing we are his hope for a lost world.
4. One baptism.
While baptism may take different expressions today (sprinkling, immersion), disagreement on this matter did not exist in Paul’s day. The mode of baptism was not a bone of contention among Paul’s churches. Furthermore, even today most Christians agree that baptism is important though they may disagree about its expression and even its meaning. So, is baptism fractured and broken? No! Though greater unity existed on this matter in Paul’s day, still we believe in and practice baptism. Let there be no doubt, in this church baptism is by immersion and is essential to church membership.
5. One Lord.
Is Christ divided? Is He torn by competing natures and warring factions? No! Not Christ. Christ is one. He was and is the Prince of Peace. And he offers peace to us. A conflicted, divided person would not fit the profile of Christ.
6. One God.
Is God fragmented? Is He a divided house? Absolutely not! He is the one true living God who reigns over all of His creation.
7. One body.
In view of the "oneness" or unity of the Christian experience, should there not be one body, the church? Of course!
To have one Spirit, one faith, one hope, one baptism, one Lord, one God, and then to have a divided, weakened, and contentious church is to be guilty of spiritual hypocrisy. These elements of unity call us to oneness and unity ourselves as a church. The oneness of the body is not simply an attribute of the church; it is the very essence of the church.
The meaning of "oneness" "Oneness" does not mean uniformity, as if Christians were clones of only one thinker in the church. "Oneness" does not mean the suppression of thoughts and feelings relative to certain issues in church life.
"Oneness does not refer to the superficial silence of those who blindly and blandly go along in order not to rock the boat.
Christian unity is a gift of the Spirit. We cannot create it. The Spirit does. But we have the responsibility to guard it and maintain it. While we cannot create the unity, we can do much to destroy it.
Paul said that we need to urgently, zealously guard the oneness or unity of the Spirit (4:3). This word "guard" was used to refer to the monitoring of a prisoner. Paul was a prisoner in a Roman jail. Likely, his every movement was monitored as he ate, slept, talked, wrote, and lived as a prisoner. Paul says that equal attention needs to be given to preserving the unity of the church.
It is Christ’s church, not ours. He wants the body to be one, to be whole and healthy. Being united, experiencing oneness, is the only way the church to be vital and to grow.
Next, Paul offers.....
The Imperatives For Unity
Paul urges the church: "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat [Greek: call beside, call to, summon, beg] you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (4:1). The word, "worthy," in the Greek means "bringing up the other beam of the scales, bringing into equilibrium."
The idea is about establishing balance. In essence, Paul exhorts the church to balance the scales of its Christian calling and its conduct. Paul exhorts them: Live up to your name!
A few years ago a television commercial stated this motto for a certain product (Zenith): "The quality goes in before the name goes on." Perhaps we should rephrase that motto for the church in light of Paul’s exhortation, like this:
"The unity goes in before the name "church" goes on."
How can a church realize unity? How can the members relate to one another to achieve unity?
Paul gives three requirements for unity.
1. A spirit of humility
The quality of humility had negative press in Greek literature. In Greek literature, humility was a quality for the weak, the poor, the insignificant.
Humility was typical of the compliant slave. But the life and teaching of Jesus caused a reappraisal of humility as a virtue. As one scholar has noted, humility received special mention in the New Testament when the unity of the church was threatened.
Biblically, humility is the awareness that other people in the body are equally important and the willingness to take seriously their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and indeed themselves as persons. Humility is the recognition of our commonality in Christ. Humility is the desire to treat each person fairly and kindly. Humility is the opposite of self-seeking, self-glory, and selfishness.
Humility is the attitude that the church .... the corporate body as a whole .... is primary and that though I am one member I am only one member.
2. A spirit of meekness
Some translations of 4:2 use "gentleness" in stead of "meekness." But the Greek word is the same one used in Matt. 5:5 when Jesus announced: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (NRSV). Meekness rejects violence and harshness in pursuing success. Meekness is strength under control. Aristotle defined meekness as the mean, the balance, between being too angry and never being angry at all. The meek person is one who is angry at the right time and for the right reason. Such a person is able to control his or her emotions.
3. A spirit of patience
The word "patience" often is used to describe a person’s reaction to another person who has mistreated them. It speaks of the self-restraint that does not hastily retaliate against a wrong. A pastor of a church in our city put it plainly in speaking about this subject: "The patient person is a person with a long fuse." Such patience is not passive. It bears or, as the Greek suggests, holds up one another in love (4:2). It provides support, encouragement, and affirmation.
Paul had no rosy image that the church was composed only of perfect people.
A seminary professor observed concerning this idea, "Paul contended with the haughty fractiousness of the Corinthian enthusiasts, the rigid orthodoxism of the Jerusalem hard-liners, the unexpected gullibility of the Galatians, and the slipshod morality of the Gentiles in general." Paul certainly had no illusions about the church.
Why these three virtues?
Paul insisted on these three virtues ... humility, meekness, patience... because the unity of the church cannot be realized without them. In the corporate world, a secular culture promotes the very opposite of these qualities to generate growth and success.
For example, sales people are told to be aggressive, move in, give the sales pitch, overcome buyer resistance, and quickly make the sale. If you pause at any point, you may blow the deal and miss a lucrative sale.
Tony Campolo is a Baptist professor and preacher who has the gall to insist that we look at things, even sacred cows, from a truly Christian perspective. He’s a compelling motivational speaker who speaks to many kinds of audiences. He once was invited to speak at a sales conference sponsored by a large insurance company. The executives of the company had brought in an array of top-flight speakers to teach the sales force the most successful techniques for selling their products. One by one the speakers got up and told how to "set up" clients, push the right emotional buttons, and close the deal. The presentations were clever and up-to-date.
Campolo was the wrap-up hitter, the final speaker, for the event. His motivational speech was expected to spark the salespeople to practice the concepts they had learned during the day.
Campolo stepped up to the speaker’s mike, faced his audience, and shocked them all when he said: "Everything you’ve heard today is wrong!" You can imagine how stunned the audience looked. They could not believe what they heard. Then Campolo explained: "People are not things to be manipulated with the right techniques. They are not Pavlovian dogs. We do not have a right to set them up to respond to the "proper" stimuli in order to elicit the "proper" response.
They are not creatures to be used to further our own economic self-interest.
People are sacred. Each of them is an infinitely precious person in whom the eternal God has chosen to make His home. And all of them deserve to be treated with reverent respect."
He’s right! Such values ought to be practiced everywhere. Certainly Christians ought to practice them everywhere. At the very least, we should practice such human values in church, shouldn’t we? We should honor and respect all people.
We should be gentle and kind, not pushy and selfish. We should remember that we are the family of God. Unity is an imperative, not an option. The unity goes in before the name "church" goes on. Remember?
Finally, we examine ....
The Incarnation of Unity
How can we flesh out, live out, the meaning of church unity? What practical steps can we take to make unity a reality? Paul urged the church to seek the "bond of peace" (4:3).
Paul was a prisoner, bound by chains. He was in what we might call an involuntary relationship to the Roman government. In Ephesians 4:1, Paul uses the Greek word to describe his bound state. Then, in 4:3 he uses a word that has the same root, to appeal to Christians to be bonded to each other in a voluntary relationship of love and trust.
What a powerful play on words!
Thus, the bond that binds us as Christians in the church should be as strong (if not stronger), as visible, and as convincing as the physical chains of a prisoner. That’s a powerful ideal. But, how can it be accomplished?
For example, people often slip in and out of a church’s worship services each Sunday. Most people in the church do not know them. They have not become bonded to the church. These may be people who have officially "joined the church" ... as well as people who are simply "visitors."
Let me offer a few suggestions for how people can bond to and with a church.
These suggestions apply to people who think of themselves as already having "bonded" and also to those who think of themselves as being "on the outside wanting in."
Taking the initiative
Many people, who have been part of a church for a considerable time and who feel "bonded" to it, fail to realize how quickly the church can become closed to "outsiders." They think of themselves as "friendly." And they may be. But, perhaps they’re really only friendly to their circle of friends.
To the rest, to newcomers, they are merely cordial. After all, they have all the friends they need and have time for.
The responsibility for taking the initiative in creating strong bonds within the church rests first and heaviest on veteran members. A handshake and a "How do you do?" on Sunday is not enough. Actually learning about new people and doing the same kind of things with them that you do with current friends is what is needed .... like visiting together, eating together, and learning about family, work, good times, and hardships.
Becoming friends with at least two other people in the church
What about people who feel "outside" and who want to bond with the church? They need to seek to become friends with at least two other people in the church besides their family. If such friendship is limited to only one other person, that’s a start, but it’s not enough. Friendship with at least two other people is needed to experience the dynamics of a group. Join a Bible class, a men’s or ladies group, or the choir. Exercise some initiative. Introduce yourself to others.
Broadening of contacts
Christians who want to bond with the church should also broaden their contacts.
Don’t settle for just two friends. Expand your friendship circle. Extend a warm handshake and inviting smile to others. Believe that you have something to give to others and something to receive from them.
Christians who’ve already bonded ought to broaden their contacts, too. Is there not room in the circle for anyone other than those who’re already there? In many if not most churches, the answer evidently is No in spite of what they say about wanting to reach other people and in spite of the fact that they profess to be a friendly church.
Investing in the church
People who want to bond with a church need to claim that church as their spiritual home. Claiming a local church as "home" means attending regularly, contributing ideas, accepting responsibility, and supporting the church financially.
Speaking good about the church
Identifying with a church means becoming a member of the family. Putting down the church means, in a sense, putting down yourself, for you’re a part of it. I love to say good things about our church. I love to talk about the loving and caring spirit of the people, their mission-minded commitment, and their healthy pride in performing projects in a first-class manner.
Think About This
Failing to bond to the church means that we and others remain strangers. Church has little, if any, meaning through such a distant relationship.
Every week, I drive into the drive-in at my bank. I hear the courteous voice and see the image of the teller behind the bullet-proof glass window. For almost nine years, I have been doing business in this manner. I often don’t even know the name of the teller waiting on me. At best, it is only an impersonal, service-based relationship.
Who is to blame? I am. I cannot blame the bank. It’s my fault not to enter the bank and identify myself and give them the opportunity to make friends.
But suppose I went into the bank to make friends and no one said anything to me, no one welcomed me. Suppose I was greeted in a manner that let me know this was going to be all there was to the relationship .... just a greeting. Suppose it was obvious that the relationship was going nowhere and that maybe I’d made a mistake in coming in if I expected more than a greeting.
Of course, that might not matter so much to the bank. Building a warm, friendly relationship in order to take care of business transactions may not be necessary. Still, that experience just might lead me to look for another bank, one that demonstrated that they appreciated me.
Such a surface relationship does little, if anything, to promote deep caring and authentic unity in a church. Also, I believe with all my heart, that God is not going to bless a church with new members if they are not going to be the kind of church that is open, welcome and makes people feel like they are truly at home.
Home is where the folks are, not where people are treated like strangers. Why would God go to all the trouble to draw people to Himself and then turn them over to a group that is not going to accept them, make them feel a part of the church and help them to grow into what God saved them for in the first place. If we want God’s blessing, we must get out of our comfort zone, and act like the church God intends for us to be.
