The first 2/7 of unity
I believe Christ followers are called to unite in seven spheres:
With Jesus
With spouse (if applicable)
With family
With church family
With the City Church
With believers in their nation
With believers around the world
What we learn in one sphere regularly helps us grow in others. Each area has characteristics that are intended to shape the others. And while J17 Ministries is primarily called to work in the last three, this article will focus on the first two.
United in Christ
I’ve shared several times in this space how often John 17 refers to us being in Christ, and Christ being in us. Everything in the Christian life begins with our life in Christ. Whether we’ve crossed the line of faith decades ago or only just crossed it yesterday, we have infinite room to grow in our union with Jesus. We’ll never reach the end of that journey!
The New Testament’s favorite analogy for the Church is the Body of Christ. That imagery also seems to provide endless insight. In a healthy Body, literally millions of wildly diverse parts operate in unity simply out of their relationship with the head. The head sends messages constantly, and the resulting collaboration of the parts is beyond comprehension.
What this tells us is that growing in our capacity to hear from God - not only individually but corporately - might be the single most important step we can take to grow in greater unity with one another.
Marital union
An abundance of ministries locally, nationally, and internationally focus on the health of marriages, as they should. Our role in J17 Ministries is to bless, pray for, support, and refer people. Marital unity isn’t our strength, our lane. Nevertheless, the nature of marital unity is incredibly instructive for the three areas that are our focus: city, nation, and world.
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear someone espouse their theory of uniting like this: “We need to focus on what we have in common and let the rest go.” That’s how dating relationships start… but that hardly works in a marrage. If all we ever achieve in a marriage is the capacity to overlook our differences, we aren’t much more than roommates.
As a friend likes to say, the purpose of marriage is to kill you. In other words, marriage is perhaps the best place to learn at highly practical levels, “It’s not about me.” Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ is the dance of marriage. And when we do that, we begin to arrive at this beautiful harmony where we see the ways that our differences complement one another. The whole in marriage can actually be greater than the sum of the parts. But that happens only when the distinct strengths and perspectives each partner brings move through the initial friction and tension into mutual appreciation. Discovering differences can turn into a treasure hunt when the right attitudes are firmly held.
Imagine how healthy congregations and City Church relationships could be if they anticipated the same level of commitment, confrontation, confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation that mark every healthy and mature marriage!
