Communion

Let’s be honest, Christians can be really good at talking about what makes us different. How many of us have been asked a question that sounds like: “What makes your church different than the other church down the street?” Or “What makes the Brethren different than the Mennonites”

And let’s be honest- there are certainly differences, and we are not doing anyone any favors by acting like there are not. Some of the differences are deeply theological- they relate to sensitive matters like baptism, or beliefs about salvation.

For example, on of the biggest differences between the CoB and Presbyterians is the practice of a infant baptism.

Other

Other differences are more about tradition. Some call this differentiation High Church and Low Church. A High church would be a church that places emphasis on liturgy and rituals in the life of the church like Catholics, whereas the Mennonites would be low church, they do not have such an emphasis on these things.

And some others are about context, they are related to the particular church- like whether or not people wear ties, if there is a choir or a praise team, if the Scriptures are read from NIV or KJV

Here’s the thing, sometimes these differences are blessings, they keep us in love with our church, or tradition, or our denomination. These things are important and become meaningful ways that we live out our faith.

The Bible is clear, we need to be united as Christians. But that can give us pause- because there is certainly a lot in church that can cause us want to distance ourselves. So, today before we share in World Communion Sunday with so many other Christians around the world, I want to spend just a few moments discussing Biblical Unity.

The Bible calls us to be unified by Christ before anything else- . When Jesus prayed for his followers to be united it was directly after he instituted communion. Think about that, it was not after he gave a sermon, or a lesson, not after he healed someone or raised a dead person- it was after he told them that his body would be broken and his blood would be spilt.

Here is the reality we must deal with, friends. If we are looking to anything other than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to bring us together, we will fall short.

If we rally around anything besides Jesus we many have union, and we may have unanimity, but we will never have unity.

IN REGARDS TO UNITY, AUTHOR, CHUCK SWINDOLL, WROTE THAT “UNION HAS AN AFFILIATION WITH OTHERS BUT NO COMMON BOND THAT MAKES THEM ONE IN HEART. UNIFORMITY HAS EVERYONE LOOKING AND THINKING ALIKE. UNANIMITY IS COMPLETE AGREEMENT ACROSS THE BOARD. UNITY, HOWEVER, REFERS TO A ONENESS OF HEART, A SIMILARITY OF PURPOSE, AND AN AGREEMENT ON MAJOR POINTS OF DOCTRINE.”

You see, when we have a similar purpose and a united heart, we can do the things Christ has called us to do. Contrary to what some people think, the church was not created to make cookie-cutter Christians, or to stamp everyone into the same mold. Instead, the purpose of the church is called to empower people to be the particular people God created them to be, and work towards a common goal.