Why is it that when God punishes people in the Bible, he scatters them? God scattered Adam and Eve out of the garden. God scattered Cain to be a restless wanderer. And God scattered the people of Babel by confusing their languages. It’s because being scattered away from God and others goes directly against our design as humans. Being made in the image of God means being made for unity. Just like the Father, Son and Spirit are one, so too are humans made for communal unity.
This is why church unity is so important. The church’s purpose is simply to be a blessing upon God’s children. While evangelism is important; it is not the church’s main goal. The church’s main goal is to bless Christians, by being a place of unconditional love and acceptance.
One of the things that makes the Christian church so attractive is that the normal barriers that separate people in society are missing in the church. People from all races, genders, ages, social classes, political persuasions and cultural ideologies come together in the church for one common purpose; to worship the Lord.
It’s fascinating to note that while King David sung of church unity is Ps 133, he was not ultimately able to maintain that blessing. Divisions within his own family (e.g. Absolom) actually led to civil war, showing we need another king to bless us with church unity. The Apostle Paul tells us about that king in Philippians 2.
The main theme of Phil 2:1-11 is church unity, which was in jeopardy in Philippi (Phil 4:2). Paul outlines that church unity comes from replacing selfishness with humble service (v. 3), following the example of Christ (v. 5). Yet the power to accomplish such a monumental feat (humble service isn’t easy) is found in the gospel. As v. 1 suggests, it comes from being ‘encouraged’ in being united with Christ, ‘comforted’ in God’s love, and ‘sharing’ in the Spirit. May the gospel continue to build a sense of unity at our church.
