Stephen Baldwin
OT: Jeremiah 1.4-10
NT: 1 Cor 12.12-27
Unity vs Uniformity
Paul is really
working towards something in this passage.
Why do I say that? Because he
makes the same point at least ten times.
Sure, he says it a little bit differently each time, but he’s making the
same point over and over. And if he’s
not trying to annoy us, then he must be making a hard point. .
Since he’s talking in circles, let me
just cut to the chase. I believe he’s saying
that there’s a difference between unity and uniformity. A
group of people that show uniformity think alike, talk alike look alike, act
alike, pray alike, sin alike. They are
uniform. Paul says that’s not how a
human body works. A human body is made
of all sorts of different parts, and only when those different parts work
together can a body do what it was created to do. And that’s how he wants the body of Christ—the
church—to work as well.
If uniformity means sameness, unity
means oneness. A body with unity
recognizes the difference between the head and the heart, the hand and the
foot, appreciates that difference, and is able to work together as one
precisely because it has different parts for different purposes.
I don’t know about you, but I have
absolutely zero interest in being part of a church held together by
uniformity. If we all looked alike, thought
alike, and acted alike, we would never learn a single new thing! We’d never be challenged. We’d never grow. That’s not the kind of church I want to be
part of.
I want to be part of a church where
people grew up differently, where people read the Bible differently, where
people have different skills they’re willing to share with the body for the
good of being one!
Paul makes a point of saying the parts
of the body we consider weak are often those most necessary. You see, in the Corinthian church, which this
letter was written to, they were kicking out people they considered weak. Paul talks about it in chapter eleven if you
want to read further. He says
differences among people in the church are not only good, but they are God’s doing! God made us that way. Therefore, diversity within the church isn’t
just something to be tolerated or allowed on paper or regrettable reality…it is
something to be received as a gift from God!
Do you know how many Christian
denominations there are in the US today?
Over 30,000. We’ve split so many
times over so many petty, little disagreements I fear we’ve lost our sense of
oneness in Christ. We’ve confused unity
for uniformity, thinking we have to all be exactly alike to be Christians
together.
I was talking to a gentleman not too
long ago who was thinking about leaving his church. “What has you so upset you would consider
leaving the church you’ve called home for decades?” I asked him.
“Well, because I disagree with some of
their views on things.”
If you don’t disagree with each other
and with me and with your denomination on some issues, then you’re not paying
attention. But we’re not called to sameness. We’re not called to agree on everything. We’re called to oneness in Christ.
Today we welcome new officers who offer
their gifts for the body of Christ. They
are not uniform; they are unique individuals with unique gifts to offer the
body of Christ. We thank Leah, Larry,
Sandy, Rodger, and Mike for serving the body of the church.
In a few minutes, we’ll gather around
them in prayer. As we do so, I ask that
you remember that you gather around them not out of an obligation to
uniformity, but out of a conviction of unity.
Beside each other will be rich and poor,
Republican and Democrat, right-handed and left-handed, young and old, single
and married, saint and sinner, disabled and athletic. And still, together, we are the body of
Christ. We find our unity in a diversity
of gifts and a common commitment to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Let God’s unified people say, Amen.
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