One Body? (1)

 

In John Chapter 17, Jesus prays, “That they may be one even as We are one…even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may be in Us…that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” 

Paul writes, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4–6).

If we understood, in some measure, the Incarnation, we would see the truth, the beauty, and the tragedy of these passages. We would see the truth because this is the Word of God made Flesh, we would see the beauty because we would see Jesus Christ in His Body, and we would see the tragedy because we would recognize that we practice self-mutilation.

I have often told the story of two churches in my hometown of Rockville, Maryland who had revival services in the same week; one was Assembly of God, the other was Bible Baptist.  I had relationships with both pastors and churches, I had deep affection for both congregations. I was young, idealistic, believed the Bible, and naive. 

When I realized that they were having their special services in the same week, I went to both pastors and told them that the other church was also having revival services and suggested that it would be great if the churches would pray for each other. After all, wouldn't it be a wonderful testimony to the city, wouldn’t it be intercession, wouldn’t it be expanding our desire for revival from individual congregations to the greater Body of Christ? 

Of course it didn’t happen, and I’ve never forgotten that.

This is the way we practice church. Why does no one seem to care? Why do we put our ways ahead of the Way of Jesus Christ, as particularly expressed in John Chapter 17?

Lately I’ve pondered a fundamental contradiction that occurs when we primarily identify with a tradition, a movement, a denomination, or what we consider to be the true expression of the “Church.” (This includes so-called nondenominational groups and individual congregations).

The contradiction is that if we really think we have something that others don’t, something which is the true truth, or closer to the truth, or a better practice of the truth – then we ought to have a clearer vision of the Body Christ than others and we ought to serve our brethren. Rather than distinguish ourselves from others we ought to identify with others just as Jesus identifies with us. In other words, rather than build walls we ought to build bridges. 

Also, there is no better way to teach our congregations about the Body of Christ, as expressed in John 17 and Ephesians 4, than to model it - and that means having koinonia with pastors and congregations both within and without our traditions and movements and perspectives. Otherwise, aren’t we really hypocrites? 

Another way to put this, is that when Pentecostals stop thinking of themselves as Pentecostals, and the Reformed stop thinking of themselves as Reformed, and Wesleyans stop thinking of themselves as Wesleyan, and Baptists stop thinking of themselves as Baptists…and so forth…and start thinking of themselves as members of Christ’s Body (as opposed to their parochial groups), then perhaps we will be closer to growing up to “a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). 

It also seems to me that this is a measure of the validation of our particular perspectives of the Gospel – validation must rest on the prayer of Jesus that we all be one as the Trinity is one, and that we love one another as Jesus loves us; indeed, that we lay our lives down for one another. 

How can a movement, a denomination, a group, be Biblically validated if it is not laying itself down for the universal Body of Christ? 

Otherwise, we have a picture of Haggai Chapter One, in which our traditions and denominations and movements are self-centered groups building their own houses while the House of God lies desolate. What is the point of looking back to Luther or Calvin or Wesley or Azusa Street or Aquinas or Athanasius or Augustine if we have turned their contributions into a gated and walled community, while the House of God lies desolate? 

And here is another element of the tragedy, when we live in our walled-off houses, we fail to learn from the very people we venerate, such as Luther and Calvin and Augustine and Edwards. For these men (and women) were on pilgrimage, they were learning and growing in Christ until the day they left this earth, they never stopped learning and growing and exploring – and yet we insist on petrifying their teachings and freezing them, and thereby sucking the life of Christ from them.

I am thinking about this because I am thinking of Advent, of the Incarnation. The Bible teaches us that the Incarnation continues in the Body of Christ, the People of God. Yet, how can we possibly see this if we live insist on practicing fragmented Christianity? If our vision of the Body is not transcendent, how can we possibly live as Christ on this earth? How can we serve as Christ? How can we function as His Body?

I had a long and fruitful career in property management, which included the honor of serving as the president of the industry’s state trade association in Virginia. I experienced more unity in the property management industry, on a local, state, and national level, than I have within the professing church – it isn’t even close. 

My competitors and I joined together to establish industry standards and best practices, we worked together to establish educational offerings and certifications, we cooperated on providing better housing for folks of all economic, social, and ethnic backgrounds. If I needed advice on a problem, I could call on friends and colleagues in the industry for the benefit of their perspectives. One of my colleagues had a large property which suffered a fire one evening, before the night was over people who worked for competitors were showing up with supplies for the displaced residents and offers of temporary housing. 

Yes, there were companies that chose not to participate in working for the general welfare, they were happy to reap the benefits of our work, including the benefits of the annual dues we paid and they didn’t…that was their loss and a loss for their people who would have benefited from cross pollination. 

Our employees did not lose the identity they had in working for our respective companies, but they did grow in an appreciation for how our industry contributes to society and the importance of professionalism and constantly learning and improving. The synergy in such environments is encouraging and stimulating and challenging. 

Here is the thing dear friends, we can follow Jesus or we can follow the crowd. Do you not think it is better to follow Jesus, even if it is only you, or only your congregation, than to follow a religious way of life that glosses over the heart’s desire of our Lord Jesus Christ as expressed to His Father in John Chapter 17? Do we know better than Jesus?

Do we really understand the Incarnation? 

Are we living in the Incarnation and is the Incarnation living in us?

To be continued…