Blog by Heather Norman Smith

Unity on "Team Jesus"

8/27/2024

On a humid day in July, I kicked up some dust while taking laps on the gravel track around a football field. My son and many other boys—and a couple of brave girls—were on the field with their respective youth league teams. From the five-year-olds learning to play flag football, to the older boys who would soon be ready for high school teams, conditioning for the fall season had begun.
My pace slowed as I neared the section of grass where my son’s team worked out. The coach instructed the kids to chant the letters of the team’s name while they exercised: T-I-T-A-N-S. The problem was, the kids had trouble staying together in the chant, and some didn’t even know how to spell Titans. So, instead of a motivating mantra or a team-building cry of reverie, the result was a jumble of noise, a stuttering of letters that didn’t make much sense. The team’s attempt was cute, and it made me chuckle, but as I began walking again, I felt a strong message in my spirit: That’s what the church sounds like sometimes.
The body of Christ is often guilty of yelling different things at different times when we’re supposed to be delivering the same message. A lost and broken world needs understandable truth, but a lack of unity in the church means the message is not communicated as clearly and powerfully as it should be.
Some cling to a tenet regarding one particular doctrine or another, to the detriment of the gospel as a whole. We might argue about things like right and wrong ways to baptize, Calvinism versus Arminianism, the roles of women in ministry, Bible translations, and use of the gifts of the Spirit.
While I understand the reasons for different interpretations on these topics, Jesus never intended for there to be denominations of believers based on interpretational differences. He prayed, “…that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” (John 17:21, 22 ESV).

An even bigger issue is the division in the church world caused by those who have veered so far from the truth of the gospel that their teaching sounds nothing like the Bible. These are like the players who don’t even know how to spell the team name.
The body of Christ needs to be unified. After all, we’re on the same team. We should shout the same message in a way that everyone can identify what we’re about. And it’s not our hermeneutics and exegesis they need to hear but the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. Romans 10:9 says, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (ESV). The world needs to hear it loud: J-E-S-U-S.
Titus 3:9 warns, “But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.” While mature Christians can discuss the doctrinal nuances of denominations between themselves, our main focus should be on the truth that binds us together—the gospel. That’s the main thing. Let’s purpose to make Christ known.
Shout it loud, in unison: J-E-S-U-S.
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 2 Corinthians 2:2 ESV

Originally published at arisedailydevos.wordpress.com.

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