I had a difference of opinion with someone.
No, really.
It really wasn’t about who was right at the time.
We, in our own eyes, were both right. That’s how it goes, you know, rightness depends on perception. Without wise council and objectivity, we all can spit out the harshest of rhetoric. It’s interesting, to say the least, to observe how we respond to one another in times of crisis, whether real or imagined, and how quickly we are willing to stake everything on a feeling.
One of us used the phrase, “If I be a man of God than such and such will happen.” I can’t remember if it happened or not, I don’t think I am going to try and recall it. That would be a bit risky.
Our attempt at reconciliation (we weren’t at war, but we weren’t at peace either) I think was a bit muted. The subject of “unity” was thrown on the table. Like a small bowl of day old salad, you know, with kind of that brown fringe on the lettuce and squishy tomatoes with thick chewy skin. We put it there as our “out,” as a good way to close the conversation and walk on with the Lord. How many times have we all bit our lip and/or acquiesced out of obligation to “unity” or smiled and approved by omission something we didn’t agree with?
Why bring it up? Well, if we are the body of Christ, as we claim, than we should be in unity, but what is that? If it is cliché now, it was probably a standard before.
The Psalmist said, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
Passive acceptance is not unity.
Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Philippians 2:2
It’s easy to stand next to a guy or girl that you don’t understand and smile nicely, until they step into your world, their concepts and philosophies being so different, startling you into a fight or flight mode. If we are to come into unity, we need to be in one mind, one accord, which will never happen through passive acceptance, it will require conciliation and reconciliation. What’s the difference?
Conciliation (noun)
Getting people to trust or agree. An action taken to reach agreement or restore trust, friendship, or goodwill that has been lost, especially as a deliberate process used in a dispute.
Reconciliation (noun)
Achievement of consistency or compatibility. The making of two or more apparently conflicting things consistent or compatible
Unity is an act of cooperation.
The cost of unity is conciliation, the cost of consistent unity is reconciliation. God has called us into the ministry of Reconciliation. When we make the smallest segment of our personal society at least two. It’s not about “I” it’s about us. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19
So, there has to be a conciliation first, right? The conciliation happens when we come to a place where we trust each other. Until we are willing to have the dialogue that will bring understanding we cannot have unity. We will only have a shallow, surface peace, enough for a small bug to stand on, enough to reflect the sun on, but not enough for any one but Jesus Himself to walk on.
I say this because you can go to a lot of churches that have a move of the Spirit of God and only surface unity. God only needs the surface to move on, He can walk on the water’s surface without needing the substance under it. In those cases, God is moving on the surface in spite of the substance, to fulfill His word.
“ For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:20
It is certainly nothing to build on.
You can’t build unity in water top experiences. Water will take on the shape of whatever container it’s in but will only support things that are empty. There is a distinct difference between a visitation and a habitation of the Spirit of Christ. He visits the surface and lives in the substance.
Approval by omission is not unity.
And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. 2 Samuel 13:22
Absalom kept the peace, but never made peace. He spoke neither good nor bad to his brother. This is unity by omission. There is a high price to pay for this type of “unity.” Someone has to die for the sake of maintenance. What I mean is that if the peace and unity façade is to remain intact, the two parties must never intersect. When they do, the fight or flight mechanism must be engaged, and their will be blood.
Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
2 Samuel 13:28
In a church setting the blood spilled is usually that of the children, the youth and the new convert or visitor. David’s (the father of Absalom and Amnon and the king of Israel) entire kingdom became unbalanced, unstable and was almost overthrown through this type of unity.
The problem was then perpetuated by David’s own use of unity by omission:
And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. So Absalom returned to his own house, and saw not the king's face. So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face. 1 Samuel 14:24, 28
Absalom never received reconciliation and ended up rising up in complete rebellion against his father and ultimately died, shot through the heart by one of the King’s men, out of necessity to “keep the peace.”
Unity is based on relationship.
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3
Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. 1 Peter 3:8
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14
If we are to be in unity, we don’t have to be in complete agreement. I saw an old movie about two men, a black man and a white man, who were convicts on a chain gang.
They were chained to each other on purpose, so they would never be able to escape. The thinking being that they would never be able to overcome their differences long enough to merit concern. In the end they escaped and were recaptured.
The physical bond on their ankles and wrists was broken and replaced by the bond of friendship. A bond so strong that one man gave up his chance at freedom to stay and care for the other one who was wounded.
What kind of bonds do we have? We can be in bondage to sin, to religiosity, to the law, and we know that’s a negative, but what about being in bonds to each other. “In the bond of peace” is how Paul wrote it. True peace cannot be established with out relationship, because peace is based on trusting motives. I may not be able to agree with your position but if I understand your motive, then I am willing to be vulnerable, and that, in it’s core, is the essence of peace. Vulnerability.
God was seeking reconciliation with Moses on the backside of the desert in Exodus so He could send Moses in as a deliverer of His people. God asked Moses to do a very strange thing in my opinion.
And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Exodus 3:4-5
Why? Why take off his shoes? Here’s the reason, in a nutshell, because God was drawing Moses into a deep relationship, a substance relationship, where Moses was going to have to be in unity with God. Not a unity by omission or a passive acceptance of the words of God, but a deep abiding relationship that would change the course of history. God asked Moses to make himself vulnerable, to trust His motive, to know Him in the bond of peace. No weapons, no fight or flight just pure one mind, one accord. It was “the making of two or more apparently conflicting things consistent or compatible.”
Excerpt from Smudges, As Much As I Can See So Far by Armando Heredia. Click here to purchase.
