"¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." -- Ephesians 2:14-18

Last time we were "together", we spoke of unity. One of Jesus' prayers from the garden was that all His people would be one. In Christ, we are one. We share one Spirit; we are one body of Believers. We need to shift our focus from our individual preferences over to Christ Himself. That will bring about unity. However, that concept, unity, can be somewhat abstract in and of itself. How can we take this concept and make it more real, more practical? Not too long ago, I was talking with my pastor and he asked me point blank, "what does this mean in a practical sense?"

What does it mean? How can we shift that focus from our preferences to our Lord and Savior? What must we do? The simple answer is to be like Jesus. However that still may seem a little abstract to some. Fortunately for us, we have what amounts to a guidebook on unity. In the New Testament, unity is mentioned more than anything else, even Heaven and Hell. It is important to God, and it is important to us. Last time, we saw how important it was to be unified as one body. We also saw that, through Jesus and with Jesus, unity is possible. This time, let's take a look at how unity is possible.

The first and most important thing we need to do is accept that there will differences and accept our brothers and sisters who have those differences. When it comes to God's Word, there will be differences. The Bible is very complex. What we have are the thoughts of God delivered to man, and who can fathom the thoughts of God? Those very thoughts tell us just how complex they are:

" ¹³ Who has understood the mind of the LORD ,
or instructed him as his counselor?
¹⁴ Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him the right way?
Who was it that taught him knowledge
or showed him the path of understanding?"
-- Isaiah 40:13-14

"⁸'For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,'
declares the LORD.
⁹'As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"
-- Isaiah 55:8-9

"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." -- 1 Corinthians 2:11

God's thoughts are so far above ours and His ways so far above ours that no man can attain a perfect understanding of His Word. The only reason we can even understand parts of it are because of His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:12). Still, even with the Spirit of God, man will not understand everything. Not that God is incapable of showing man, but man is incapable of having a perfect understanding of God.

Before we go on, I must point out one exception to what I just stated, and that is what every Christian can agree on: The Gospel. The Gospel Message itself can be understood by anyone and everyone. It is the core of Christianity; it is what brings people to God. That being the case, God would not make the Gospel so complicated that only scholars with PhD's can be saved. No, the Gospel Message itself is simple enough that a child can understand it. Everything else though (all these "preferences" or "peripherals") is not so simple or plain. Many of these scholars who do have PhD's cannot fully explain them or agree about them! Naturally, there will be differences.

The first key to making unity a practical application in the body of believers is to accept that there will be differences. If a scholar cannot fathom the depths of God's Word, how can I? If men and women with PhD's cannot agree to certain points, how can we? We cannot, so we must accept that different people will come to different understandings on these "preferences" and then accept each other when we differ. Even the Apostles were not always in agreement! Last time, we saw how the men who got their teaching from God Himself could not always agree. What they did do, is accept and love each other, in spite of their differences.

The Apostles were not the only ones to disagree, however. Christians in Corinth and Christians in Rome were disagreeing more than they were agreeing! In Corinth, people differed over which teachers to follow (1 Corinthians 1:12). That is why need to focus on Jesus. He is our teacher. He is the one we should follow. We should make him our example, and we should strive to be like Him.

In the city of Rome, the Christians had disagreements of another sort. They differed over which teachings to follow:

"⁵One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. ⁸If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." -- Romans 14:5-8

The outcome in Rome was the same as in Corinth: discord, strife, and dysfunction. Paul wrote to them and showed them how to overcome their differences:

"²One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. " -- Romans 14:2-3

"For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." -- Romans 14:9

God has accepted people on both sides of the issues! Why can't we? We all belong to the Lord. We are all co-heirs with Christ. God accepts each and every one of us the same! This is where acting like Jesus becomes practical: We, too, must accept people and their differences. Just as the Lord accepts us all, so we too must accept everyone. We need to accept that there will be differences when it comes to preferences, the "disputable matters", and then we must accept our brothers and sisters who differ from us. To do this, we take the first step toward becoming what Jesus prayed for: Being One.

Accepting our brothers and sisters in Christ means that we must not cast judgment upon them. One of the biggest obstacles to unity is people's pride, and in that pride, they usurp the throne of judgment from Christ Himself! They see themselves as having sole truth and everyone else as being in error. Then they cast judgment on those who differ. The Romans were doing this as well, and Paul called them on it: "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand" (Romans 14:4).

We need to overcome that pride in ourselves, and that is tough to do. Unity is a tough concept, but it is an extremely important one. Overcoming our pride and refraining from judging each other is equally as important. Even if we were to leave out the unity part, casting judgment on others was forbidden by Jesus Himself:

"¹Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." -- Matthew 7:1-5

None of us has any right to Judge anyone else. We all have things that we need to look at in ourselves, but in our pride, we are blind to what is wrong with us and only see what is wrong with others. That pride leads to arrogance, and then judgment. Anyone who believes anything different than us, anyone who has studied God's Word and come to different conclusions is in error, because they do not see things exactly as we do. We believe that we ourselves only know the truth and cast judgment upon those who differ. We need to get past that. That is what acceptance is about. We must accept our brothers and sisters in Christ, even when they differ from us.

Yes, we should stand for the truth, but we saw what the truth is, the Gospel! These "disputable matters" are in the eye of the beholder. People are going to differ on those, they have since the very beginning of Christianity, and I am quite sure they will until Christ returns. One thing is certain, though, and that is Christ. He is the TRUTH (John 14:6), and if we focus on Him and act like Him, than we can put our pride aside and not judge our brothers and sisters based on their "preferences".

Sadly, many choose judgment over acceptance. It is not only arrogance, that leads to this, but ignorance as well. Often, Christians do not even try to see where their brothers are sisters are coming from. They either assume to know what the other believes, or they refuse to hear. Because they are not acquainted with all the facts, they judge their brothers and sisters and believe they are correct. The Bible is clear though, there is only one Judge. James, who did not believe in his own brother at first, clearly acknowledges this when writing to the Church: "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor" (James 4:12)?

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, that is Jesus Christ. Who is man to try and usurp the thrown from God? David, who though he started as a lowly shepherd boy, rose to rule all of God's people and he still felt insignificant compared to God: "what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him" (Psalm 8:4)? Why is it that today, people who are nowhere near as great as David was have no problem playing God and dishing out judgment on everyone who differs from them? Pride, arrogance, and ignorance.

God hates pride. Pride has no place in His Kingdom, and should have no place among His people. There are so many passages in scripture that deal with pride. We took a good look at it last time, but I would like to show you two more that I believe are crucial:

"¹⁶ There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." -- Proverbs 6:16-19

"To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech." -- Proverbs 8:13

Notice what is at the top of each list? Pride. Pride is detrimental to the Body of Christ. Why do you think God hates it so much? Leroy Eims, in his book Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be tells us, "Is it just some meaningless guideline that the Lord issues? No, of course not. As with everything else in the Scriptures, when the Lord tries to get us to conform to His standards, it is for our own wellbeing. The way to a full and happy life is to get our eyes off ourselves and live for others." Get our eyes off ourselves and live for others. Therein lies the key to acceptance. Not thinking we are better than them, not judging them, but living for them.

As I am writing this, I have just stumbled upon something. Pretty much what I am trying to say in this whole article, but for some reason it is just at this moment, that I was open enough to the Lord that He could show me. Quite often, and I am talking at myself here (a hard realization, and why it took until now for me to realize it), but quite often we get the attitude that it is not us, but "the other guy". He is the one full of pride. He is the one who is not accepting us. He is the one who thinks he is better than us. He has the pride, not me! I am trying to do all this, but he is rejecting me!

Guess what? That's pride too. We are actually casting judgment on them. I do it much more than I would like, certainly more than I care to admit, especially to myself. However, when you get right down to it, that is something we need to cut right out of our hearts. It is something we need to give up to the Lord. Are there people who will judge us? yea. Will we get rejected by some? sure. The key is to not mirror their attitude, but to mirror Jesus' attitude. They will reject us, but we must not reject them. Paul was rejected by the Jews when he was at Corinth (Act 18:6). He got so frustrated that he moved on to the Gentiles, but did he reject the Jews? No! Look at Romans 11:28-30, or better yet, the whole chapter. Paul was a Jew and he longed for all them to be saved, he longed to be one with his fellow Jews.

Likewise, we should long to be one with our fellow Christians. We will be rejected by some, but we must not reject them. Like Paul, we simply move on. We keep extending our hand. There were people who accepted Paul in Corinth, and there are people who will accept us. When people do reject us, what should we do? ACCEPT THEM!! It may seem like a funny answer, but it is possible to accept even those who reject us. We must not cast judgment on them for their attitudes. Instead, we must still treat them like brothers and sisters in Christ! We must treat those who reject us with love and patience. They very well may be proud, arrogant and even ignorant, but so are we. We must overcome that in ourselves and love them.

It is imperative that we cast all that aside and accept one another in Christ. That goes for EVERYONE, even those who reject us. Christ accepts all of us, just as we are. We should follow His example, put away our pride, stop judging people just because they "don't eat meat", or because they have rejected us, and accept them for who they are: co-heirs along with Christ. Christ alone is the Judge, "therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way" (Romans 14:13).

That realization leads us to probably the most important part of dealing with our difference, and accepting those who differ. Loving them. When Jesus was with His disciples in the upper room, He gave them this command: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34). We need to show love and consideration for our brothers and sisters. They will differ from us certain things, but we must move past that and love them as they are.

Again, we must follow Christ's example. He told us so! "As I have loved you..." We need to do what Jesus did, Love!! "WWJD?" was quite the rage not to long ago, it was on bracelets, bumper stickers, license place holders, bookmarks, it was all over, but it is a very simple truth. What Would Jesus Do? We should ask ourselves that very question when dealing with others. Like everything else, the Bible has the answer:

"⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
    ⁶Who, being in very nature God,
       did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
    ⁷but made himself nothing,
       taking the very nature of a servant,
       being made in human likeness.
    ⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
       he humbled himself
       and became obedient to death--
          even death on a cross!"
                  -- Philippians 2:4-8

We must raise others above ourselves. We must stop looking at ourselves and start looking at others. In the very next paragraph of his book, Mr. Eims tells us, "When you are looking at yourself, you become insensitive to the needs of other people. You find yourself going through life hurting other, offending them, using them and abusing them without even knowing." (ibid). That goes 180 degrees from what Christ would do! That is why we must not solely look to ourselves, but to others! In verse 3 of the above chapter Paul tells, "in humility consider others better than yourselves." When we do that, we are acting like Jesus. WWDJ? Consider others better than himself, and so must we.

So what does this mean in a practical sense? When it comes to differences we need to not only accept them and accept those who differ, we need to be considerate of them and patient with them. In his final instructions to the Thessalonians, Paul tells us:

"¹²Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

We are to live in peace with each other. That means being considerate of our brothers and sisters, it means being patient them, it means we should LOVE! Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13), does that mean we need to go out and die? No, but we should be willing to, and if we should love our brothers and sisters so much that we should be willing to die for them, than we certainly should not be a stumbling block to them in their walk. We are free in Christ (Galatians 5:1), but some people have not fully realized their freedom. Part of accepting them, part of loving them, is to guide them without causing them to stumble. We should never let our freedom be the cause of others' fall:

"¹³Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. ¹⁴As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. ¹⁵If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died." -- Romans 14:13-15

"⁹Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹²When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall." -- 1 Corinthians 8:9-13

Part of accepting our brothers and sisters in Christ, part of being the one Body we are called to be, is refraining from those things that would cause people to stumble and fall. Sometimes, we must "take one for the team" and sacrifice those specific items. Does this mean we sacrifice our freedom? NO! We merely temporarily give up some of these "preferences" until our brothers and sisters more fully realize their freedom in Christ. Jesus Christ gave up His LIFE for us! Surely we can give up some preferences for our brothers and sisters. Just as Jesus' death was not permanant, our "sacrifice" will not be permanant either. As Christians mature, they will fully realize this freedom, and our actions will not longer be a stumbling block to them.

Before we finish up here, there are two really important things we must cover in regards to our freedom: 1) God's Grace is not a sin license (Romans 6:1). We are free from the law, free to do what we would want, but that freedom is not a blank check or permission slip (1 Corinthians 6:12). 2) We should never let anyone hold us or our freedom hostage by claiming to be a "weaker brother". We can and should sacrifice some of our preferences for the sake of unity, but if these brothers and sisters repeated claim that we are going to be a stumbling block to them, than they are the ones standing in the way of unity and we must move on. This is a tough thing, a very fine line, but if we make Jesus our focus, if we are tuned in to our Lord and Savior, following His lead and His guidance, He will show us what we need to do. The Lord will guide us, lead us, and take care of us, and we will truly be one Body of Believers.

Unity among Christians is no easy task, for anyone. It requires a lot of tough choices. It requires sacrifice. It requires a LOT of hard work. What it all boils down to, is this: Do we want to do what the Lord wants or what we want? The Lord would have us be united in one body. As Christians, we should be. In a practical sense, we do not need to all meet in one gigantic stadium each week, but our goals should all be the same. Our practices can and will be different, but our mission should be the same. Our preferences on many things will differ, but OUR LORD IS THE SAME!! Christ is not divided, and neither should His followers be. As Christians we need to be one. This means accepting that there will be differences and than accepting those who differ. We cannot judge those who differ. There is far too much at stake right now to be bickering amongst ourselves. Instead we need to be like Jesus. We need to do what Jesus would do. We need to love and accept all who follow Him. We need, to be one in the Spirit, one in the Lord Jesus Christ. By focusing on Him, following His example and doing our best to act, think and be like Him, we truly can be united. We can be what He wants us to be, one.