Don't Quarrel Over Opinions But Welcome One Another

One way to maintain unity would be to eject the minority who think differently. That would leave a very united congregation! But it would be the artificial unity of the cults, where everyone has to think the same on every issue. Gospel unity looks very different—that’s where we bear patiently with one another, love one another and strive to think the very best of one another.

These are critical days for our churches. The Devil is always prowling around like a hungry lion, looking for opportunities to sow division between the people of God. He has been doing this since the beginning and is very very good at it. We shouldn’t underestimate our Enemy. The covid pandemic has provided him with a perfect storm of circumstances that he is surely trying to exploit to his full advantage.In light of that, I’d like to encourage us to make Paul’s prayer in Romans 15.5-6 our daily prayer for our churches in these days: May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.It’s so important to realise that unity in the church is something we’re commanded to strive for, maintain, and practise. It’s up to us, by the grace of God, to preserve it. When issues arise in our churches that threaten unity, that’s our opportunity to put these commands into practice. It’s a bit like patience: the only time you can really show patience is when something (or someone) is testing your patience, making you want to tear your hair out! Whether you are submissive to those in authority is only really tested when you are told to do something you don’t agree with. A child given $100 by his father and told to spend it in his favourite store is not going to say, “OK dad, I submit!”

So too our commitment to unity is only really put to the test when something comes up that we have different and strong opinions about. One way to maintain unity would be to eject the minority who think differently. That would leave a very united congregation! But it would be the artificial unity of the cults, where everyone has to think the same on every issue. Gospel unity looks very different – that’s where we bear patiently with one another, love one another and strive to think the very best of one another.

Paul’s prayer for unity comes at the end of a long discussion dealing with exactly this kind of situation. He’s been dealing with serious tensions between two groups in the church. They were all Christians, but one group was mostly Gentiles who didn’t have any of the scruples the Jewish Christians in the church had about food laws or respecting Jewish holy days. Why should they? They never kept them in the past, and now Christ’s death meant they weren’t needed any longer. But Jewish Christians found it hard to reconcile themselves to eating food they’d been taught all their life was unclean. They knew they didn’t need to keep the Jewish feasts, but they always had and they loved them.

Don’t Quarrel Over Opinions But Welcome One Another

How many "opinions" do Christians today quarrel over instead of welcoming one another?

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