Unity in the Church – A Sure Path

There is no question that our Lord desires the Church to be unified. However, achieving unity in the church is difficult. We are sinful creatures who are driven by our individual passions, and those passions conflict. As a result, we choose to avoid each other, or we openly fight with each other. In either case, we are not in unity.

The question is, “can we obtain unity”? James says, “yes, you can, but you have to understand why you lack unity and what it takes to achieve unity.” He begins by asking some questions to which he gives the answer.

”What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” James 4:1-3

It is all about personal pleasure. We are guided by our passions, and when our passions are fueled by the motive of personal pleasure, we come into conflict with each other.

It is interesting that James’ answer does not primarily involve changing our passions but changing our activity along with our passions. His instruction to us is to pray; ask God for the things that we want. “You fight with each other because you don’t have what you want, but did you ask for it?” So, one of the reasons we fail to achieve unity in the church is because we don’t ask God to give us what we want; we don’t pray.

However, it does not stop there. Some of us ask but still, we don’t receive. This is where our passions come into play. When our passions are driven by selfish motives (personal pleasure), then our prayers are not answered. Our motives too, must change (Spiritual pleasure must win out). Our motives must be driven by the will of God. “You quarrel with one another and commit murder in your heart, because you do not seek the will of God.”

To achieve unity in the church, the people of the church must pray, asking God for the things they desire in accordance with the will of God. We must be Spirit lead people and people of prayer. This is a sure path to unity.

Heavenly Petitions

Is it ever wrong to ask God for something? I think most of us wonder about this from time to time. We think to ourselves, "my problem/need/desire can't be important enough to bother the creator and ruler of the world over." In fact, I think there is a strong tendency in the human heart to abstain from prayers of petition because such prayers seem to reflect a weakness on our part. Well, what about that? In fact that is the point of prayers of petition; they do indeed reflect our weakness, because we are weak. Without him we can do nothing. He holds all things together. These are biblical truths that we give lip service to, but our pride in not taking our petitions to God exposes the lie in our affirmation of these truths.

What about the idea that God's too big and my petition is too small? Does that carry weight? Well, let's see: he's the God who clothes the lilies of the field which are here today and gone tomorrow; he's the God who knows when a single sparrow falls from the sky; he's the God who's interested enough in you to count the exact number of the hairs on your head. No, I don't think the "God's too big, my petitions are too small" argument carries any weight.

But, if you are still hesitant to take all your cares to the throne of God, let me give you one care that you should have no doubt about your need for help in addressing and God's interest in hearing and responding to it. That care is the condition of your heart. You are powerless to improve it, you are prone to do harm to it, and only God can repair and keep it. What is more, God wants to repair and keep it. So, if you are remiss to take your petitions to God, leave this one out of your list of "I'll take care of that myself", and rush to his throne, and lay it at his, and by the power of Christ's shed blood he will heal your heart and keep it always fixed upon him. At least cast that care on him.