By David Ryser
I was visiting a small-town
Pentecostal church on a Sunday morning, and I was trapped in worship hell. I was convinced that if this song service
went on much longer, my head would explode.
The words of the songs were a disgrace; I was embarrassed to offer them
up to God. The singing was lackluster
and totally passionless. I promised God
that if He would have mercy upon me and put an end to this agony, I’d do
anything--I’d even join a convent and become a nun.
I had no idea that I was mere
moments away from having a serious case of theological disconnect.
At the end of the worship time
(yes, the worship service finally came to an end; and no, I did not become a
nun), the pastor got up before the small congregation and uttered three words I
never thought I’d hear in that place:
“God is here.” I wanted to shout
“Where?” and look around to find Him. I
know when the presence of God is in manifestation; not because I am so spiritual,
but because I have experienced it enough to know when He is present and when He
is not. The pastor continued, “God is
here because we are in unity.” Now my
head was spinning because these people were indeed in unity. I had observed them before the service, and I
would get another opportunity to watch them at lunch. They loved each other, and there was no
strife among them.
The pastor continued, “Where the
people of God are in unity, God is in their midst.”
I thought about what this pastor had
said for the next two weeks. I could not
deny that the people of his church were in unity. And God blesses unity in His Church with His presence,
doesn’t He? So why wasn’t He in that
service? (He wasn’t in the evening
service, either. That service was even worse
than the morning service.) I had a
serious case of spiritual vertigo from thinking about this, and I needed an
answer to my questions.
Finally God spoke one day while I
was worshiping Him and thinking about the relationship between unity among His
people and the manifestation of His presence in their midst. He spoke into my heart and said, “They were
in unity at Laodicea,
too.”
And so they were. The whole church at Laodicea was lukewarm toward God and in
danger of being vomited out of Jesus’ mouth (Revelation 3:15, 16).
I was not accustomed to thinking of
unity in a negative way. The pastor of
every church I had ever attended taught the virtues of unity among God’s people
and warned against disunity, quoting verses such as Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10. Disunity was a sign that God was not present
in the church. I was taught that Jesus
always brought unity wherever He was.
Did He?
Not according to the Bible. In Matthew 10:34, Jesus said He did not come
to bring peace to the earth, but rather a sword. And in the following verses (35-37), He
described the kind of division He would bring even within families. According to Luke 4:16-29, Jesus couldn’t
even go to church (ok, synagogue) without stirring people up so badly that they
wanted to kill Him. So which is it? Does Jesus cause unity or disunity?
The answer is, “Yes!”
You see, unity among people is a
powerful thing. And this unity is
powerful whether people are unified for good and righteous purposes or with
harmful and evil intentions. Examples of
negative unity abound in the Bible. The
case of Laodicea
was mentioned earlier. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah
were unified in their sin. The people of
Noah’s day were united in their wickedness.
The inhabitants of the earth got together for a building project at Babel. Even old enemies, the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, put aside their differences long enough to murder Jesus.
God’s reaction to these instances
of unity was varied (vomiting, fire & brimstone, a flood, confusion &
dispersion, and etc.), but always disapproving.
When Jesus came to the earth, He
was sent specifically to the people of God--the Jews. He challenged the community of faith to love
and obey God with pure hearts. He
exposed their hypocrisy, their sin, and their failure to honor God in their
worship and in their lives. He contended
with their religious leaders. At times
this conflict would even degenerate into name calling (Matthew 23:15; Matthew
23:24; Matthew 23:33--among others).
Jesus stirred up controversy wherever He went, but only among those
whose hearts were far from God. Others
came to Him with open hearts, received His ministry with joy, and were gathered
into the Kingdom
of God.
It was not the sinners, but the
religious people who tended to reject Him.
It complicates matters that
religion plays by its own set of rules.
In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus heals a woman in church, and the leader objects
because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
Where in the Bible is healing on the Sabbath forbidden? Jesus illustrates the hypocrisy of religion
by noting they are unable to rejoice at the mighty working of God because of
their religious rules. He also points
out that everyone in the place worked on the Sabbath by tending to their donkeys.
(Proving, among other things, that
not all of the asses in town lived in barns.).
Not that religion has any problems
with violating Scripture…so long as it doesn’t break the religious rules. When Jesus makes a mess in the foyer of the Temple (where the books,
tapes, and other religious paraphernalia are sold to this day), He quotes the
Bible as justification for His actions (Matthew 21:12, 13). The people who needed ministry began to come
and receive help (Matthew 21:14), but the religious leaders reacted by plotting
to kill Jesus (Mark 11:18).
A true move of God always causes
consternation among the religious.
Throughout the Book of Acts, the
preaching of the Gospel was often met with hostility and persecution. In the vast majority of these cases, this
opposition was instigated by religious people.
Even church history teaches us that there is no such thing as a move of
God that does not stir up controversy and division. No spiritual awakening, revival, or renewal
movement has been wildly welcomed by the current religious system.
Furthermore, those who were touched by the last move of God were usually
the ones who most strongly opposed the next move of God. (For example, Pentecostals were the strongest
opponents of the Charismatic Movement, even though this outpouring was what
Pentecostals had said the entire Church needed.)
Are we supposed to stop loving God
and embracing what He is doing on the earth simply because some church people
don’t like it and strive against it?
The good news is that unity among
God’s people has the potential to work just as powerfully in a positive way. When believers unify in love for God, love
for one another, worship of God in spirit and in truth, and for the advancement
of the Kingdom of God; God manifests Himself powerfully in their midst and
dwells among them.
This occurs repeatedly throughout
the Bible and church History.
I invite you to take another look
at the scriptures that discourage disunity and strife in the church. I believe you will find these scriptures are
always in the context of a faith community where people love God and are
worshiping and serving Him with sincere hearts.
Unity among believers should
facilitate the life and work of God in the church, not serve as a cover for
lukewarmness and sin in the members and leaders.
Of course, no church is
perfect. If God has planted you in a
church, love Him with all of your heart and pour out His love on His people. (Loving Jesus is a virus best spread by
contact.) Be a blessing to your pastor
and other leaders. Support them, love
them, and pray for them.
If there is any division in your
church, let it be caused by God showing up and overturning the spiritual tables
in the place.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
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