I am pretty sure that I have blogged about this idea before, but it's one that I believe is well worth us thinking about. It's also one that has a lot to do with some of the topics I am preaching on during the month of January.
As Christians, we find ourselves living in a dual kind of reality. Okay, what do I mean by that? Let's use being united in the Body of Christ as the example today, since that is the topic I am on this Epiphany season. We live in one reality in which we are part of the Body of Christ because of what Jesus has done for us, in His life, death, and resurrection. Our faith clings to His work, and in that, we are united together in a way that only God truly sees and knows.
Now, if that were the only reality, easy enough. But when we read through the Bible, we find that God is constantly calling His people to live together in peace and unity. This reveals to us the second reality in which we live. We are united in the Body of Christ in this world. The thing is, it is much more difficult to see that unity within this reality.
As we look around the Christian landscape, we see multiple Christian churches and denominations, and even those who claim not be a denomination, which are really a denomination of themselves. We see churches where conflict and struggle are the norm, rather than peace and unity. And if we aren't careful, what we see in this reality can cause us to question the other reality, that we really are joined together and unified in the Body of Christ.
In the first reality, the work is fully God's. God has redeemed us in Jesus, and He has even planted the gift of faith in our beings. We don't do any of that; God does it all. But in the second reality, the work of unity falls into our hands. Yes, we are led by the Spirit, but we are the ones who have to work to remain connected and unified together. We talk about how we may read various portions of the Scriptures differently. We discuss how to act toward one another, and we determine the words that we use when we talk to and about one another. In that way, unity is something that we have to work toward, even as we live in the greater, unseen reality, that we belong to God fully because of what Jesus has done.
What you often find, though, is that we as humans have a difficult time holding to the tension of those two realities. We invariably slip more toward one than the other, rather than seeing that both hold equally upon us. God fully establishes unity among us, and we have to work at unity. Both are described in God's Word, and really, we see the truth of that every time we have two or three gather in God's name (where four or five opinions reside!).
As Christians, we find ourselves living in a dual kind of reality. Okay, what do I mean by that? Let's use being united in the Body of Christ as the example today, since that is the topic I am on this Epiphany season. We live in one reality in which we are part of the Body of Christ because of what Jesus has done for us, in His life, death, and resurrection. Our faith clings to His work, and in that, we are united together in a way that only God truly sees and knows.
Now, if that were the only reality, easy enough. But when we read through the Bible, we find that God is constantly calling His people to live together in peace and unity. This reveals to us the second reality in which we live. We are united in the Body of Christ in this world. The thing is, it is much more difficult to see that unity within this reality.
As we look around the Christian landscape, we see multiple Christian churches and denominations, and even those who claim not be a denomination, which are really a denomination of themselves. We see churches where conflict and struggle are the norm, rather than peace and unity. And if we aren't careful, what we see in this reality can cause us to question the other reality, that we really are joined together and unified in the Body of Christ.
In the first reality, the work is fully God's. God has redeemed us in Jesus, and He has even planted the gift of faith in our beings. We don't do any of that; God does it all. But in the second reality, the work of unity falls into our hands. Yes, we are led by the Spirit, but we are the ones who have to work to remain connected and unified together. We talk about how we may read various portions of the Scriptures differently. We discuss how to act toward one another, and we determine the words that we use when we talk to and about one another. In that way, unity is something that we have to work toward, even as we live in the greater, unseen reality, that we belong to God fully because of what Jesus has done.
What you often find, though, is that we as humans have a difficult time holding to the tension of those two realities. We invariably slip more toward one than the other, rather than seeing that both hold equally upon us. God fully establishes unity among us, and we have to work at unity. Both are described in God's Word, and really, we see the truth of that every time we have two or three gather in God's name (where four or five opinions reside!).
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