After Unity What?

By Vernon W. Hurst

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     The flickering yellow glow from the gas jet threw a pale light over the scene in the mountain cabin. The cold winds of autumn sighed around the unpainted weatherboarding outside. Inside, at a hand-made table covered with red and white checked oilcloth, sat a woman with her sunburned and weather-roughened face bent over the pages of a Bible. Beside her, a small boy amused himself with a collection of simple toys. As he moved one of them close to the open book, he noticed that the pages were spotted where drops of water had fallen. Looking up into his mother's face he saw that her eyes were red from weeping and tears were streaming down her troubled face. In a voluntary display of childish sympathy he pressed himself to her side and felt her arms draw him close.

     This scene, perhaps altered some by the passing of years, has remained in the mind of that boy, now grown to manhood and well down the road leading into the lengthening shadows. He did not know at the time that the little mountain valley was being torn asunder by bitter strife among the only group of Christians meeting there. He was unaware that his mother's heart was being broken because her family ties were being severed. Most of her generation have long since passed on to the other side. They went with many of the scars of that religious strife unhealed. Although the boy had no part in creating the disgraceful situation he felt the lash of its consequences years later when he had grown to manhood. Such was his introduction to the terrible havoc which inevitably results when Satan is able to convince God's children that the sin of division may be justified as a solution to their problems.

     Tremendous changes have taken place since that night so many years ago. At that time it was the honest conviction of most religious people that division from those who questioned the generally accepted pattern was the only road to purity. Sectism was defended as a necessary, even desirable expression of God's will for man. The desires of Jesus on other matters may have been carefully heeded, but his prayer for oneness among his followers was unknown or ignored. Denominational rivalry was the order of the day, and so widely accepted that to question its validity was to subject one to the scorn of the "learned ones." Today it is different.

     Scholars of unquestioned integrity indict religious division as being one of the greatest barriers to the accomplishment of God's will among men. The Roman Catholic Church has for centuries been the unchallenged champion of religious exclusivism. Today her scholars from all over the world are convened in the "Eternal City" for an "ecumenical council." Among them powerful voices are being raised to insist that they begin an exploration of the uncharted areas of Christian unity. In this they but express an awareness of a problem recognized in virtually every segment of Christendom. It has been declared that "A divided Christendom cannot survive in an atomic age." It has been boldly stated that "We can no longer afford the luxury of religious division."

     It would be superfluous for me to attempt to set forth the evils of division or the desirability of unity in this journal. The editor has covered the field too efficiently to allow room for adding anything of importance. In the beginning I did not want to accept what was being said. My background was too deeply rooted in the legalistic quagmire of exclusive thinking. I came to accept, not because of a personal inclination to do so, but for the simple reason that intellectual honesty left me no choice. It is now my conviction that unity among God's people is an indispensable requisite to the fulfillment of God's plan for man on this earth. On the other

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hand I do not believe that unity per se is the complete fulfillment of that plan. If every believer were joined to him and to each other in an unbroken bond of fellowship this would not of itself represent achievement of the ultimate goal. It would only indicate that the children had at last reached the level from which they might launch a sustained march toward that goal with reasonable hope of reaching it. Think carefully about this. Unity alone is not the goal toward which God's people must set their faces.

     My design is to state God's purpose for man and then to demonstrate that unity among the followers of Christ is just one step toward final accomplishment of that goal. Unless we are able to achieve such an understanding the noble battle now being waged against religious division must inevitably end in disappointment. As has been said in another area of life, "We are in danger of winning the war but of losing the peace." I do not mean to play down the importance of unity or to express doubt that it may be attained--even in our time. I believe it is absolutely essential and that it may be closer than any of us realize. Granting that it is an attainable goal and that it may be virtually within our grasp, I submit this is all the more reason for asking ourselves what we would make of it if we had it. After unity--what?

     It is sobering to contemplate that unity may be within our reach, from which level we may find ourselves within striking distance of the final goal. However, I have evaded coming directly to grips with the basic problem involved in this as long as I can prudently do so. All that has been said, together with all that I may yet say, will be as nothing unless we can reach a clear understanding of the ultimate purpose for which man was created. Just what does God expect from man, and when may he be said to have fulfilled that expectation? Any unity achieved which fails to recognize this as the goal toward which it strives will fall short of justifying the effort necessary to having attained it.

     I am under the impression that most people entertain the belief that God's purpose, throughout the ages, was the establishment of an organization. Perhaps this is based upon a misunderstanding of the Master's words as recorded in Matthew 16:18, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it."

     This statement has given rise to some rather weird conceptions. From it has come the idea that the church is an objject of glory, and that to this purpose man must devote his energies. It is, very simply, an expedient devised by God to enable the individual Christian to achieve the highest level possible in devotion and service. I seriously question whether the church, thinking of it in an organizational sense, has any other function than this. Let me refer to a passage which seems to make this clear. "And these were his gifts: some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip God's people for work in his service, to build up the body of Christ. So shall we all at last attain to the unity inherent in our faith and our knowledge of the Son of God--to mature manhood, measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-13).

     It would appear to me that the writer makes clear that the body of Christ is built up when each of God's children ("we all") is able to be measured by comparison with Christ, or becomes Christ-like in his nature. I think this may be said to sum up the ultimate purpose of any organization. He wanted to make men exactly like himself. To facilitate this he sent an exact likeness of himself into the world. Men are able to imitate him and in doing so they show the characteristics of their Father. The ultimate objective toward which God's plan was designed to lead those who respond to his love was their demonstration of the new nature with which the new birth has endowed them.

     We have now reached the point that we must begin to look beyond unity. Unless we start to think seriously and prayer-

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fully of the objective which would logically follow the attainment of oneness among those who believe in Christ, we shall leave our children and grandchildren a legacy which will lead only to strife in their day as we have known little but strife in ours. As long as men remain on the level of purely human intellect and until a revolutionary change takes place in their nature, the future can only conform to the pattern of the past. To change the pattern of man's conduct, the nature that produces that pattern of conduct must be changed. This means that we must begin to seriously concern ourselves with reaching that state of "mature manhood, measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ." Any accomplishment in the direction of unity which does not lead to this will produce only disappointruent.

     I am not unmindful that mounting such an offensive as I suggest would require a greater demonstration of surrender and devotion than the world has witnessed since the first generation of Christians "departed to be with the Lord." It would necessitate forsaking any pie in the sky" concept of religion. It would require going beyond that which is made possible by belief in a historical Christ. Such a step is attainable only for those willing to release their grip on this material world to the point where they can say with Paul, "Now I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).

     Such an intimate relationship as Paul suggests could not have been achieved during the brief encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus. It would be possible only for one who lived with Christ as a daily reality in all of life's experiences. This might be accurately described as a step beyond faith--a step which Paul took and which is possible for us. Whether or not we meet the requirements of God in our lives depends upon our taking it. Dare we take such a step?

     After unity an era when Jesus would live again in the lives of men--an era when men and women could live in his presence now. There may be those who will be inclined to conclude that I am suggesting we bypass the church in our efforts to glorify God. I am persuaded that I am pleading for the only situation under which Paul's earnest entreaty--"to him be glory in the church"--can ever become a reality.

     I have never written under deeper compulsion. Without this plea I would be afraid to face the judgment. Having written it, I will unceasingly pray that I may live to see the beginning of the march toward the ultimate goal toward which God has set man's face, although I recognize that such may not be the case. If not, may I see my grandchildren enlisted in the victory-bound army headed onward and upward to where "Christ-likeness" will become a reality in the lives of men--an era when the presence of Christ will be multiplied by the number of those who believe in Him. Having lived to see such a day, I feel that I can enter the deepening shadows without reluctance or regret.