The Right Kind of Unity
If you were to ask people what one of the big problems with the world is, they might respond “disunity” or “division”. It is not uncommon to hear someone complain about how America is a “divided” nation. Or to hear someone talk about the growing global “disunity” that is bleeding over into conflicts around the world. Likewise, the solutions offered to these issues almost always involve a call for more unity. The world needs to be more united on climate change or we need to be more united as a nation. Disunity is the problem and unity is the solution.
However, when you give it some careful consideration, the problem is not a lack of unity but unity over the wrong things. Think about it, why is there a very clear divide between red and blue in America? It is not because everyone is living in a state of chaos, but it is because groups of people have united around a cause that put them in a position of conflict with another group of people united around something else. Why are there growing concerns over wars around the globe? It is not because humanity is divided against one another, but it is because nations have found something to unite them together against other nations who also have united together for a separate cause. Take for instance nations united together around Ukraine as opposed to nations united together around Russia. Humanity is a uniting species. We are inherently tribal. We cannot help but come together for something we believe to be bigger than ourselves and fight for it, even if it means our death. Disunity is not the problem, uniting around the wrong thing is the problem.
Truthfully, this should come as no surprise to us as Christians. When we read the Bible, it is obvious why we have this tendency toward unity—even if it is around something evil. Turning to Scripture’s first pages, what we find is the creation of everything by the word of God. In that creation account we are told that God completes his grand project by forming man out of the dust (Gen 2:7). As this first human being wanders the beautiful landscape of a freshly created earth, the Lord decides that “It is not good that the man should be alone” and he makes a partner for him (Gen 2:18). In this way the creation of woman is accomplished, the first wedding takes place, and they are united together as “one flesh” (Gen 2:24). What we find at the beginning of creation, then, is the perfect uniting together of the human race.
Unfortunately, this state of blissful unity would not last. The serpent—or the Devil—deceives the first woman and the first man, they curse God by being disobedient to his word, and fall from their state of innocence. One of the consequences of the fall is that they will experience division against one another. In Genesis 3:16 we read that the woman’s “desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” The relationship of perfect unity they had experienced was shattered and a growing division would enter into the human race.
The evidence for this division can be clearly seen in the generation that comes immediately after the first man and woman. Cain and Abel, the sons of the first pair, both offer sacrifices to God. Abel’s offering is pleasing to the Lord, but Cain’s is not. In a fit of jealous rage Cain kills his brother, Abel, further entrenching division within the mind of fallen humanity (Gen 4:8). Clearly, the perfect unity that was experienced prior to the fall is lost. The first murder sets up humanity to be at odds with one another even to the point of taking life. Yet, we are also given an interesting look into the heart of Cain from this passage. The Lord comes to Cain, sees what he has done, and pronounces judgement upon him. He will be a “fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (Gen 5:12). He will no longer enjoy community, he will no longer enjoy the small scraps of genuine unity he had, but he will be cut off, alone. Cain’s response to this shows that this punishment cuts right to the heart. Cain, in genuine anguish exclaims, “My punishment is greater than I can bear” (Gen 5:13). Despite Cain’s obvious division against his brother his heart still longs for unity, for connection, to be cut off is too much for him to handle. In a fallen world we long for the unity we once had, but sin divides us.
This brings us to the last passage this post will be dealing with, Genesis 11:1-9. Here we see a classic example of people uniting together for a cause greater than themselves, but not the right cause. As the story goes the people of the world came together around a great cause. It was their desire to build a marvelous city containing a “tower with its top in the heavens” (Gen 11:4). Sadly, this is where many of us stop in the story. We think that their sin has something to do with this tower. But if we simply read a bit further, we find that this is not the case. Their sin lies in their desire to “make a name” for themselves and to not be “dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Gen 11:4). These people have united together for the purposes of attaining some little semblance of what was lost in the fall. They are united together, but their desire in this is just like their great-great grandparents, to be like God. They are united together for something bigger than themselves, but they are united in their sin. They are united, in effect, against God. Thus God, because he is a gracious God, confuses them. He divides them. Why? Because if there is one thing worse than divided humanity it is humanity united together in sin. Ever since this point humanity’s problem has not been division, but it is being united in the wrong things. Those who killed Christ were not divided when they shouted, “Crucify him!” but united in one mind to an evil end.
Hopefully, we have begun to see humanity’s dilemma. We once were united, we lost that unity and we long for it, we try to attain this unity for ourselves by gathering together around worldly things, and it is in this uniting together around the things of this world that sin increases. Our problem is not so much division, but the uniting together in sin around something worldly which brings about division. So, what are we to do? What is the solution to this dangerous predicament? If the problem is unity around the wrong things, then the solution is unity around the right thing. It is not so much even unity around the right thing as it is unity to the right person. What we will see over the next five weeks is that the solution to our unity problem is found in our being united to Jesus Christ. The solution is us being united in Christ. If we as a church want to be united together during this tumultuous time we need to be united around Jesus Christ.
In the next post we will look specifically at what it means to be united in Christ. The week after that we will look at what unity in Christ looks like from examples in Scripture. We will then examine a metaphor that Paul uses to describe Christian unity. After this, we will see that because we are united in Christ there is no longer animosity—or at least should not be animosity—between us. Finally, we will close this short series on unity with a post on the future of unity in the church and the glorious picture of unity we are given when Christ returns. It is our hope at Life Pointe Church that this series of posts will help you think wisely and well about what it means to be united in Christ over the next year. It is our hope that this series of posts will spur all of us on to be united in Christ, to love for one another, and to surrender any other allegiance we may have before the cross.