In the last four years, many things have happened bringing to the surface feelings and positions that reveal a divided Church. A global medical challenge, another contentious election, opinions regarding human sexuality, and other issues have revealed that we are not on the same page regarding these issues.
In all the chatter on social media and in private conversations, it is easy to ask, “Is that person saved” as they voice their opinion. We can too easily forget our salvation is based on our acceptance of Jesus, not our agreement on an issue. We stand before the world appearing divided as a Church, not united. While the issues have importance, they are not what unites us.
For the last few weeks, I have been reading through Jeremiah. If a reader can hang in there and continue through the first half of the book, they will arrive at some of the most beautiful promises recorded in all of Scripture. Some readers bail on Jeremiah prematurely thinking it is just a depressing record of human failure and its consequences. For those who continue reading, they will encounter profound promises. Those promises bring the reader back to God who alone has the power to unite a divided people. The same is true for us today when so many people are vying for our support. The words of promise listed in Jeremiah are important for us to consider if we are going to represent the Kingdom of God in a diverse Church.
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself” (Jeremiah 31:3). It is the Lord, not the issues, that will unite us.
“There is hope for your future” (vs. 17). When division seems the most severe, hope is in our future. Only hope in God can lead us to that place.
“For the Lord will cause something new to happen” (vs. 22). When division is on the increase, the Lord has something else planned – a new and unexpected newness of our faith that we could not imagine in the depths of our division if the issues were our main focus.
None of these promises will happen because we all arrive on the same page about each issue in our culture and within the Church. They can only happen when we have faith in Jesus even when we are not in complete agreement on all things.
“The day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife, says the Lord” (vs. 31-32). The new covenant in which we now live is where God has affirmed His love in Jesus Christ based on His forgiveness and the promise to restore all things.
In that new covenant, “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (vs. 33).
We have been given a gift that will reorder the condition of our hearts and redefine our purpose for life. It can only happen if our primary focus is on the Lord, not on the issues of life. “I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and the good of all their descendants” (Jeremiah 32: 39).
We can be divided in our opinions yet stand as one if Jesus is our hope. The first disciples were called from a diverse representation within their society and were able to move past their differences to worship Jesus. That choice would change the world. It is now our choice to make in this generation of our faith.
Human nature seems to favor peace-time dissent (no common cause), and war-time unity (a common enemy). Likewise, persecution moves believers past disagreement into common cause and common faith as a survival necessity.
May we develop such bonds of love and mutual respect (Golden Rule) before the next wave of persecution hits!