7/20/13- Not Breaking the Bond of Peace

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord,one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:2-6) 

Thoughts: Verse 3 speaks of a "bond of peace" we have in the Church, and we are to make every effort to keep it.  In fact the whole chapter is about forgiving one another, limiting anger (not letting the sun set on it), in order to stay together.  So much of the Bible is about the things that would draw us together- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Spirit, love, grace, forgiveness.  Yet so much of history is about the church falling and splitting apart.  Neither Luther nor Calvin intended to split the church- but to reform it.  Splits often come because the church falls into sin- and some in the church want to keep themselves pure; or the powers that be in the church want to eliminate the opposition who are bothering them.  Neither way is best.
      Two passages are often used very loosely to rationalize splitting the church when it embraces a "sinful" doctrine.  One is "Come out from among them and be ye separate" (2 Corinthians 6;17) which speaks of unbelievers not being yoked to believers in marriage.  It could be used vaguely of the church of faith separating itself from the world of unfaith- but it is not a justification for schism in the church.  In our day of American consumerism that filters down to church shopping, we feel we can easily break covenants, promises, and affiliations in order to have the illusion that we are pure.  But reality is the church does not believe perfectly, or act perfectly- no church.  The idea that some are better than others is no justification for dividing the body of Christ that destroys the witness to the world of our patience, humility, and love.  Another passage says, "expel the immoral brother."  But this is an imperative to discipline within the church, not a command to split the church when it has immorality.  Too often in America, we break covenants, promises, and affiliations as easy as we break our marriage vows- neither is the ideal.  Too often in an effort to biblically righteous about morals or theology we forget what the Bible says about being one, united, and what the church is to be.  Truth is- that some need to be more biblical about morals, and others need to be more biblical about the unity of the church. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells two parable about not separating the holy from the unholy here on this earth.  One was the parable of the wheat and tares (weeds), that are to grow up together and should not be separated until the angels come.  The other was the parable of the net and fishes   Christ prayed that "they (the church) would be one- even as we (the godhead) are one.  

Prayer: Christ send the Spirit of unity to us that we may be one as you are one- Father-Son- and Holy Ghost.  Forgive our pettiness, our pride, our hurt, our sin.