E Pluribus Unum
Dear Friends,
As we plunge into another round of Covid-19 lock-downs, mask-ups and vaccination drives, I began considering how we, as a church, might preserve our unity and common purpose. Divisiveness is a tactic of Satan to steal away the church’s effectiveness. The Deceiver knows that if he can distract believers away from their primary mission with other seemingly righteous pursuits, he can remove us from the cosmic battle for eternal souls. Better yet, he knows that if he can turn us against each other, dividing the church against itself, we actually become agents of darkness whom we are meant to do battle against!
In 1776, the Continental Congress of the thirteen original states declared independence from Great Britain. After they adopted and sent the Declaration of Independence to King George, they set about crafting a unified country out of the very diverse colonies and peoples that stretched from Hew Hampshire to Georgia. They knew that in order to stand against the might of Great Britain they had to stand united. Along with the flag, one of the symbols they created to announce that unity and to rally around, was the great seal with our national motto, E Pluribus Unum, “Out of many, one.”
In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul compared the church to a body. Our bodies have many parts with different functions but there is only one body. Likewise, the church is made of many diverse parts (people), who are very different and perform various functions but they all come together in unity to form one church. E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. From diversity, unity.
This is such an important concept in our day and age. Our country is divided as never before. Those divisions (political, social, racial, intellectual, even geographical) run very deep. Trust and compassion are rare commodities. We cannot allow this divisiveness to infect the church, our church. As with anywhere else, there are as many opinions as there are people. These opinions often come in conflict with others that we are close to. Sometimes, there can be healthy, non-judgmental, unifying debate between parties but more often than not, one party or another will take offense and division occurs.
Unity in our church, our body, must center around the person and message of Jesus. We are not called to be Democrats or Republicans. We are not called to be liberal or conservative. We are not called to be vaxxers or anti-vaxxers. We are called to be sons and daughters of God and ambassadors for His kingdom of light, working together in unity to bring the good news of the gospel to the lost who now live in darkness. I am convinced that anything else is a distraction and will lead to division. Division in the body, which is the church, cannot be godly under the headship of Christ. He has brought us together out of our diverse backgrounds to fulfill His purposes, unified as His church. E Pluribus Unum.
“I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”
1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)
I am so thankful to be part of such a loving, unified church!
Only by Grace!
Pastor Mike