Practical Approaches to Greater Unity Among Us
By Harold Key
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In regard to finding a solution to our tensions and disunity, I do not know of any magic formula nor any quick and easy way out. Our problem is one which is so complex and of long duration, involving divergent concepts of God and of the Bible, that it is highly charged with emotion. The solution hinges upon our coming to a right appreciation of our relation to Christ. When this takes place, our relationship with one another will fall into place.
A radical conversion to the living Christ is sufficient to release to believers the integrating, unifying force of the Holy Spirit who transcends all differences, utilizing such differences as have utility and dissolving such differences which hinder. This was what took place in ancient Jerusalem on that memorable Pentecost when Jesus Christ as the living Lord of all reality confronted those "devout men from every nation under heaven." The greatest miracle that day was not the audible and visible phenomena of tongues and fire, but the new creation of the Spirit in those who experienced vital personal union with the Christ whom God raised from the dead. Lost in Him they realized such unity that they "had all things in common," even selling their individual possessions and distributing to all as any had need. However, such a radical conversion to Christ seldom occurs so immediately today, but is the result of long growth. Hence, the necessity of patience and forbearance in order to give the Spirit time and opportunity to achieve His new creation in the hearts of us all.
One thing which we can do in a practical way toward reducing tensions among brethren is to continually emphasize the fact that we are brothers. We are not warring aliens but brothers behaving in an unbrotherly manner. In his first epistle to the factious church at Corinth, Paul deliberately reminded them twenty-eight times in sixteen chapters that they were brothers. He would help them look at all their problems in the right perspective of brotherhood. We need to he reminded constantly of a relationship which takes precedence over preferences. The Holy Spirit simply will not consent to brethren callously disregarding their kinship to one another. When brethren refer to each other as "Mister," no matter what their intention to avoid seeming endorsement,
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A second practical means for reducing tensions between brethren is the use of prayer--simply beseeching God to help us keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Jesus recognized the value of prayer just here for the greatest burden in His own high priestly prayer was for the harmony of His disciples, and not "for these only, but also for those who are to believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one: even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:20,21). When we come to share the passion of our Lord for such harmony among us that it moves our hearts to anguish and dissolves our eyes to tears and forces us down on our knees before the throne of our Heavenly Father, then God will be able to use us in the granting of our own prayers.
Still another suggestion is kindly association. Association and discussion make it more difficult to callously disregard one another. As brethren we simply must not ignore and quarantine one another. We must provide some honorable occasions on which we may come together to affirm the kinship which exists in spite of certain differences. We must want to love one another. We must want to extend hands instead of swinging fists. We must have discussions on a level higher than debate. Too often in the past when we have come together at all, it has been as proud antagonists in all-out slugging matches which only intensified differences and furthered alienations. Men thought they were upholding the honor of God by attacking and abusing one another, not realizing that in the eyes of the world God is dishonored most when His children fight among themselves.
In whatever meetings we have, we must be careful not to ask anyone to violate any conviction which he has, no matter how trivial or distorted it may seem to us. It is for the "strong" to "bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves" (Rom. 15:1). It is an act of brotherly charity to forego the exercise of one's own freedom out of concern for a weaker brother's welfare. Such a feeling of compassion which is careful not to break a bruised reed or to quench a smoking flax is the essence of the spirit of the cross. And it is precisely this regard for our brother which is produced in us by the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
In our discussion across party lines, we must try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. Instead of trying like Balaam to see others in the worst possible light, brotherly kindness would attribute to them as much sincerity and love for the Lord as we want them to attribute to us. We should never ascribe to another a position which he himself denies. If he rejects our statement of his position, that indicates we have not yet understood what he is trying to say. Unless, and until, we have so stated his position so that he agrees that we have stated it correctly, we still do not understand him. It is so sad to realize that in the past we have not really tried to understand one another. And this lack of concern with its misrepresentations as a consequence has taken an awful toll which we are still paying.
To summarize, our problem is not the creating of unity, but as brothers maintaining in the bond of peace the unity which we have as brothers. But before we can do this, our hearts must so truly desire such harmony that it becomes the unceasing burden of our prayers. Then we must have association as brothers instead of isolation as aliens; we must come to each other extending hands instead of swinging fists; we must discuss instead of debate; we must attribute as much sincerity and love for the Lord to each other
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