Unity in Christ

W. Carl Ketcherside

     It is a privilege to greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to present this opening message in the forum on fellowship which you sponsor every year at this time. I commend the congregation at Hartford for arranging these meetings in which men from the Disciples of Christ, Independent Christian Churches, and several segments of the non-instrument Churches of Christ can meet and share their views. In all the years that I have been participating I have never seen a single untoward incident occur. Every speech and the public dialogues between speakers and audience have demonstrated the genuine love and concern which temper our approach to controversial issues.

     This year our themes are all drawn from the first two chapters of Ephesians and all of the speakers have been requested to use the New English Bible New Testament as the basic text. My theme is "Unity in Christ." My passage for exposition is Ephesians 1:3-11.

     Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . In Christ he chose us before the world was founded, to be dedicated, to be without blemish in his sight, to be full of love; and he destined us--such was his will and pleasure--to be accepted as his sons through Jesus Christ, that the glory of his gracious gift, so graciously bestowed on us in his Beloved, might redound to his praise. For in Christ our release is secured and our sins are forgiven through the shedding of his blood. Therein lies the richness of God's free grace lavished upon us, imparting full wisdom and insight. He has made known lo us his hidden purpose--such was his will and pleasure determined beforehand in Christ--to be put into effect when the time was ripe: namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ.

     This provides us the foundation for the whole epistle. It summarizes our relationship with the divine. All we have, all we are, and all we ever hope to be, is found in Christ. The term "in Christ" occurs seven times, the word "us" six times, the word "our" four times.

          In Christ we have every spiritual blessing.
          In Christ we are chosen. 
          In Christ we are dedicated. 
          In Christ we are cleansed from every blemish.
          In Christ we are filled with love. 
          In Christ our release is secured. 
          In Christ our sins are forgiven.
          In Christ our share of the heritage is given.

     Christ is the center and circumference of the entire Christian economy. He is the center, and whatever does not propel us toward him has no validity. He is the circumference, and whatever does not proceed from him has no authority. He draws us together by the magnetic power of his divine Sonship; he holds us to-

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gether by the majestic power of his divine Lordship.

     He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He is the author and finisher of our faith, the pioneer and perfecter of our hope. All who ever went before him, all who ever came after him, if truly important, are important only because of their relationship unto him.

     Adam, who was of the earth earthy, is important because of the second man Adam, who is the Lord from heaven. And our own worth is not because we have borne the image of the earthy, but because we shall bear the image of the heavenly.

     Abraham is important to the world, because when summoned by divine call from his Chaldean home, it was revealed that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. And "it was not to 'seeds' in a plural form, but in the singular, 'and to your seed,' and the seed referred to is Christ" (Galatians 3:16).

     Moses is important because it was revealed to him that God would raise up a prophet like himself from among the people, and that prophet would speak with such authority that one who refused to hear him would be cut off from among the people.

     David is important because of the promise that while he slumbered in his sepulcher, God would raise up one to sit on his throne and would establish that throne through the ages.

     John the immerser is important because he could point to Jesus and say, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

     Paul, who came from Tarsus, is important only because he was willing to cast his intellectual attainments, his social prestige and his national privileges, into the garbage can, in order to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

     Unity in Christ! This is the purpose of God and one who works for such unity will help fulfill the purpose of God.

     Unity in Christ! This is the will of God and one who works for such unity will labor in harmony with the divine will.

     Unity in Christ! This is the pleasure of God and one who works for such unity will certainly please God.

     Unity in Christ! This is the design of God and one who labors for such unity will be a factor in the divine program of the ages.

     Unity will come because it must come. The divine purpose cannot be frustrated, the divine will cannot be a failure, the divine pleasure cannot be mere fancy, the divine design cannot be a fallacy. I think that the certainty of unity can be predicated upon either rationalization, philosophy, or faith, although I take my stand firmly on the latter as the basis of my sheer and rugged confidence. If it be argued that there is no difference in the first two, I affirm that there is. One may rationalize without a goal in mind. All of us have heard of wandering thoughts and vagaries of mind. But the philosopher has a goal. Reasoning is simply the method of clearing the path leading to his destination. Let us examine how these three may lead us to conclude that unity will triumph over division and the party spirit in the universal program or design.

     1. Rationally. To one who accepts the new covenant scriptures as authentic, it is given that the party spirit is a work of the flesh, while unity is the fruit of the

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Holy Spirit. We may reason that the Spirit is as superior to the flesh as the divine nature is to the lower. The flesh is perishable. All that is produced by it, or is an outgrowth of it, is destined to perish. It will decay and pass away. But the Spirit is imperishable. That which is a fruit of the Spirit will outlast and survive. The unity which belongs to the Spirit will as certainly triumph over the flesh as Jesus became victor over death, being raised from the dead through that same Spirit. Division is doomed!

     2. Philosophically. Life can be sustained only by unity. Death results from disunity. This is true in the vegetable, animal and spiritual worlds, those three areas in which we are acquainted with life. If a plant or tree is dismembered and the process of division continues long enough the plant will be killed. If an animal continues to be fragmented by removal of limbs and organs, death will result. If we bite and devour one another we will be consumed one of another.

     Death is not a thing which displaces life. It is simply absence of life. The body without the spirit is dead. Life is positive. Death is negative. It is mere absence of animation. Darkness is simply absence of light. It is negative. It is not a negative force because it is not a force at all. When a light is turned on darkness simply recedes because light is a power or force which is positive. Division is simply absence of the unifying principle. It is negative. The unifying principle is love. Love will abide when all else departs. It is a positive force, the most powerful in the universe. Some day it will overcome because it must do so!

     3. Faith. This is the foundation for my unconquerable optimism. It stems from the very nature of God as revealed unto mankind. I have faith in what I call the divine imperative. Let me define or spell out for you what I mean.

     That which the infinite mind can conceive, the infinite power can complete.

     What God projects as a design of divine purpose, he will perfect as a sign of the divine pleasure.

     This is but another way of saying that the Artist will not leave his picture with even one brush stroke lacking. The Architect will not desert his building with one stone missing. The divine purpose, will, pleasure and design, will be accomplished. It will become Reality.

     Does God will the fulfillment of law? "Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I did not come to abolish but to complete, I tell you this: so long as heaven and earth endure, not a letter, not a stroke, will disappear from the Law until all that must happen has happened" (Matthew 5:17, 18). Ponder that last statement. "All that must happen has happened." This is the divine imperative. What must be done will be done.

     Does God will the birth of a nation? "Shall a nation be born in one day...Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord; shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb? says your God" (Isaiah 66: 9). What docs this mean? It simply means that God allows no abortion of his plans. There will be no miscarriage of his ultimate design.

     Does God will eternal joy for the faithful? "Of one thing I am certain; the One who started the good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of the Lord Jesus" (Phil. 1:6). The One who started will bring it to completion. This is the divine imperative.

     When someone, filled with doubt or dismay, asks me if we shall ever have unity in Christ, my reply is also in question form. Is unity in Christ the purpose of God? Is it God's will? Is it God's pleasure? Is it God's design? Then we shall have it. The good work has already started and the One who started it will bring it to completion. The devil cannot stop it. The demons cannot do so. Even the brethren cannot do so, although some are frantically trying to do it, under the mistaken notion that the best way to work for God's purpose

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is by thwarting it, and the way to please him is to work contrary to his pleasure.

     Then how shall we be saved from our division and disunity? Of course, this is the Lord's work through his Spirit and I am hesitant to suggest a "how" as if I would limit the Holy Spirit. History is rife with examples of those who drew up a well defined code of how God was going to act, or must act, and when he did not follow their code they rebelled against God. Most of them quoted Scripture to prove that God would act in a certain way, but he that sat in the heavens "laughed at them." I do not want God laughing at me. I would prefer that he smiled upon me.

     It is hardly so presumptuous for me to tell you how I think we will not be saved from our disunity. I do not think unity can be achieved by creeds, concordats or conventions. If a national convention were to be called to convene at Indianapolis, Cincinnati, or Nashville, for purpose of drawing up an agreement to structure our unity I would be conspicuous by my absence. I will not attend a national debate to argue ourselves into oneness, or a national convention to try and agree ourselves into unity.

     These are the horses and chariots of modern Egypt in which the modern Israel of God trusts. We will not be delivered from our bondage of corruption, expressed in disunity, by such means. "But I will have pity on the house of Judah and I will deliver them by the Lord their God; I will not deliver them by bow, nor by sword, nor by war, nor by horses, nor by horsemen" (Hosea 1:7). I do not anticipate victory from convention chariots nor from forensic horsemen. "Some boast of chariots and some of horses, but we boast of the name of our God" (Psalm 20:7). "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 4:6).

     The unity we seek is the unity of the Spirit. It is produced by the Spirit. There is every evidence that the Spirit is very active in the hearts of many who sigh and cry for Jerusalem in our day. Attitudes are changing all over the earth. This is true among our brethren. The heirs of the restoration movement stand upon the threshold of their greatest witness for Jesus since the first division descended as a curse upon us almost a century ago. In this forum we meet in love and in a sense of brotherhood which transcends all of our unfortunate differences. On this program are men from Churches of Christ with four different original factional backgrounds. Here is a man from the Disciples of Christ and one from the Independent Christian Churches. We meet in this building where no instrument is used by invitation of the saints who worship here regularly, and we listen to one another and question one another. We pray together and sometimes we weep together!

     This is not an isolated phenomenon. On many mission fields brethren are now able to congregate and strengthen each other in the one faith. Some of them can meet together in Africa and South America who could not do so at home. But in every section of our own great land there is a thawing and melting of men's hearts under the warmth of the genial rays of the Spirit. Of course there are still areas of bitter isolationism, sections where cold orthodoxy still prevails. The snow does not melt as quickly in the shadows. But the prophets of the party spirit are lifting up their cries at the altars of their gods with lessening influence. The Holy Spirit is working in hearts that have grown tired of conversion by cliche and devotion by dogma.

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     Unity is coming! Lift up your heads. Breathe the fresh winds of freedom that are blowing across the river of life. Unity in Christ--the purpose of God, the will of God, the pleasure of God, the design of God. "He has made known to us his hidden purpose...namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ." Unity must come! Unity will come! Unity is coming!

     And fierce though the fiends may fight, 
          And long though the angels hide, 
     I know that Truth and Right,
          Have the universe on their side; 
     And that somewhere beyond the stars.
          Is a Love that is better than fate; 
     When the night unlocks her bars
          I shall see Him, and I will wait.

     (This is the fourth of a series of messages called "Deep Roots" and these will continue throughout this year, after which they will be gathered into a 192 page volume under the same title. Advance orders are being taken for delivery of this book on March 1, 1967, at $2.49 per copy. We urge you to reserve yours now and pay on delivery).