Division

“If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”  – Jesus, as recorded in Mark 3:25. 

This theme is picked up by Abraham Lincoln, who, in June of 1858 delivered his famous “House Divided” speech before those who had just nominated him to be the Republican candidate for the US Senate at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, IL.   He spoke these words at a time when the country was greatly divided on account of slavery. 

Marks of this division are shown in multiple national Christian denominations splitting over issues surrounding slavery.  My own denomination, American Baptist Churches, USA, for example, split by North and South in 1845 when the Southern Baptist Convention was formed.  This era likely held the greatest level of divisiveness that Christians in the USA have ever seen.  I’m worried that we may now be in the second most divisive time for Christians in America.

While Christians in this country have never been a monolith, from my perspective of being involved in church life for all my nearly 45 years on this earth, I cannot recount a time when Christians have been more divided and, troublingly, more divisive than we are in this age now.  When we have a disagreement today, we so often jump to vilifying and even demonizing, drawing such harsh lines between us.  Even when we pick up hints that someone has a different opinion, on what we deem a crucial matter, we can begin putting them down in our minds and start finding all sorts of ways their life is bad and wrong.  I know this because I’ve sadly had some of these thoughts in my own mind and must catch myself when I do. 

Our wider culture seems increasingly divided, and those fractures spill into the church and Christianity.  Perhaps some of the marks of division have been around for decades, even centuries.  Some shaped from old wounds and scars from the racial divisions for as long as this country has existed, or perhaps the religious in-fighting over a myriad of issues over the years is rearing it’s ugly head again now.  Regardless, we do seem to be in a unique time of Christian history in this country where there is a strong emphasis on Christians taking, and wielding, political power to advance what many believe are Christian ideals.  This forcefulness and aggressiveness have become what many see as synonymous with being a Christian in this country today.

Now, in the abstract, some of this thinking makes sense.  We should try to positively influence others for Christ, sharing our faith.  And we do want others to operate with the morals that we think and believe are right.  But the reality is, this forcefulness does not bring about flourishing to our lives, others’ lives, or God’s Kingdom because the pursuit and wielding of power itself always damages something in us.  It goes against the way that even God himself operates.  God does not force any of us to believe and follow Him, yet, as His followers, we pursue making laws that people have to follow our morals. 

We simply are not meant to use power over people.  God’s power humbles itself and lifts others up.  Jesus came with all the power and authority of God, but as Philippians 2 poetically points out: he “did not consider equality with God as something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”  Further, when two of Jesus’ disciples wanted the places of honor with Jesus he told them this, found in Matthew 20:  “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

Jesus’ example and his call and challenge to his disciples is also a call down to us today.  We are not to be the kind of people who rule over others and seek to forcefully change them to the way we want them to be, even if we have a deeply held conviction about something.  There is another way.

Unity

So, what is this other way?  How are we supposed to live well with other believers as well as our non-believing neighbors?  In John 17 we get a unique glimpse into Jesus’ heart.  In the gospels we have heard much about Jesus going off to pray, but here we have recorded for us this prayer of Jesus to His Father, and it is a treasure.  Jesus prays for himself, that God’s glory would shine in Him that people would know “the only true God.”  He prays for his disciples, sharing gratitude about them and praying for their protection from the evil one.  He then prays for all of “those who will believe” in Him through the disciples’ message.  This includes all of us who claim to believe in Christ today.  Jesus prayed for you and for me.  So what is that prayer?  His prayer is for unity: “that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

What does unity in Christ mean?  Before we try to begin to answer that, I want to express that I fear we are so divided and divisive that we not only can’t imagine what unity looks like, we don’t actually even want it.

What I believe unity in Christ, at least begins to mean, is that any allegiance and aspect about us is displaced by our allegiance to Christ and love for Him first.  This means that any national, racial, political, family, class, etc. distinction that we might have about ourselves must never come before our identity as a human being created in the image of God and deeply loved by our Father.  That is what we must find common ground on first, and then seek to work together from there.  Disagreement we have about dealing with sin and right and wrong are ever-present and important, but we might come together as humans on the same level first.

Jesus modeled this for us in the very makeup of his own closest disciples.  With this group of 12, which was a re-forming and reconstituting of the 12 tribes of Israel in himself, Jesus put together some who had very similar backgrounds and stories, but some who did not.  Most strikingly are Matthew, who was a tax collector, and Simon, who was a Zealot.  What this meant was Matthew was working for the Roman Empire, those who are holding power over the Jewish people.  And Simon, was a part of a militant group within Judaism who sought to use any means necessary to oppose Roman rule.  Jesus puts Matthew and Simon together in this group and they have to figure out not only how to get along, but how to see each other beyond those divisions and work together for the unity that Jesus prayed for.  This may just be the kind of perspective we need now to begin this crucial work of unity in Christ in our own day.

Building a Heart and Vision for God’s Kingdom

Even as I lament our divisions as believers, I have hope that we can come together in Christ.  I read stories like the parable of the prodigal son, where we see the father’s immense love and compassion for his son who wished him dead to get the father’s money.  I see Jesus, knowing that Jerusalem would shortly be the place of his arrest, trial, and crucifixion, loving them and longing to gather them in, “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” And, of course, some of his final words before his death were words of forgiveness to the very ones killing him.  This is the love of God that can propel us to see each other as fellow humans first.  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.”  We fellow humans were not meant to be the enemy.  When we are, that is the long stain and effects of sin.  In Christ, in His church, among His followers, our love for Him and our love for one another must be what comes first, no matter what other divisions may exist.

May God build in us a vision to see one another as he sees us. 

May we be strengthened in such a way that we can love an “enemy” without feeling like we’re losing. 

May we stand on God’s truth, stand against injustice, but never stand above our fellow humans. 

May Jesus’ strength and courage, but also his love and humility be what marks us as His followers. 

May God forgive us for our disdain and vitriol towards one another. 

May our house not be divided. 

May we be a part of the new creation life that God is building here and now and fulfilled in eternity.