Bottom-up Unity

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:11-13)

So if there are unity problems in your church (or churches), maybe it’s related to not doing this well enough!

We know Paul is serious about unity in the church (Eph 4:3). If we took a guess at his top three priorities, based on his activity, they could well be:

1. Preach the gospel.
2. Plant Churches.
3. Keep said churches unified. 

In this passage he lays out a blue-print for achieving goal #3. Christ has given people with teaching gifts to the church to equip the people in those churches. This activity  builds up the body until it becomes unified and mature. (Eph 4:11-13)

What this means is that unity must be built from the bottom-up, not from the top-down. If the people aren’t taught properly it is impossible for unity to exist. The primary role the leaders have is to do the equipping. They can have unity meetings with other leaders for sure, but there will be no actual unity without it existing throughout the membership of the whole church.

We have all seen and heard the rancour that can occur in the political world. Disunity in the electorate is often-times a completely desirable goal for some political operators. 

Features include having no universally accepted standard of acceptable debate. People vilifying and slandering one another. No standard of truthfulness is required – say whatever you want in the moment, true or not – the news cycle moves on much more quickly than the fact checkers. People speculate about the motivations of others. It can seem difficult to get politicians to face the spotlight in a serious media interview. Straw-man arguments, bare-faced denials, lies and distraction are the tools of the day. Concepts of honour, decency and equal time seem quaint. The market place of ideas looks more like a pawn-shop for alternative facts.

Why the political illustration? Because it shows what you can get if your people aren’t equipped with godly motivations or godly rules of engagement. The passage itself paints a picture of what can happen if you’re not careful. You will be: tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (Eph 4:14)

The image is a frightening one. Hapless sail-boat in a violent storm, taking in water, miles from land and starting to sink. And the protagonists are scary people too – cunning, crafty, deceitful,…and motivated.

So, how to avoid all of this? By placing an intentional focus on equipping the church to be able to defend themselves and advance the quest for unity at an individual level. This type of equipping does not come from a one-shot seminar series. It’s an open-ended, ongoing process with an end-goal of the whole church attaining to the measure of the fullness of Christ. I think that’s Paul way of saying that this work never stops.

What should be the subject matter of this teaching then? The first thing the passage mentions is “knowledge of the son of God”. An ever-increasing and deepening acquaintance with the person of Jesus Christ – his heart, his character, his teaching, his way of life, how he dealt with different kinds of people, his strength, his compassion, his love, his courage. 

Tactics: Speaking the truth in love. This does not come that naturally to many people, particularly given that matters of faith and identity are involved. We might even need a few role-plays to teach this one out. What does it look like and sound like to speak the truth in love? Again, familiarity with Jesus will help (Jn 4:1-42, Lk 7:40-50, Mk 10:17-22). How can someone know when to use both barrels (Mt 12:34) or when to walk away instead (Mt 15:14)? This kind of situational assessment ability is not gained in a day. 

Ongoing:  we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Every respect. What would it take for everyone in your local church to become in every respect like Jesus? I think about this a lot in my own life, and I know I have a fair way to go yet! My question at this point is, is this even an agenda item in your church? If you categorised all the sermon points you have heard in a year, what proportion would overlap somehow with the “becoming like Jesus” idea I wonder?

The key to church unity is  serious and deliberate equipping of the whole congregation towards maturity in Christ. Because when this pursued, something amazing happens: From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:16)

Unity is achieved because each part can do its work. And each part can do it’s work because each part has been equipped to do so. It even becomes self-perpetuating when it reaches the “builds itself up in love” stage.

Biblical teaching and preaching should not primarily seek to be motivational. Shouldn’t be shoddy, inarticulate or boring either. But it should be an out-growth of the project to present everyone mature in Christ, and in so doing ensure the strength, unity and effectiveness of the church in its mission to be God’s partners in ministering to our broken world. The motivation will come all by itself if this path is followed.