E Pluribus Unum
I don’t know or speak Latin but I do know what this phrase means; “out of the many, one.” It’s written on our currency, on the seal of our country, and seems to be an ideal that our founding Fathers envisioned for our fledgling country. Sadly, if you look out at our world today it seems as though this ideal is far from being realized. Perhaps, the furthest it’s ever been from being realized.
This ideal has its origins in scripture. As I’ve been preaching through Ephesians, I’m seeing that this is the vision that Christ has for His Church globally and our church locally. Paul has explained that Christ has torn down the hostilities between people and united us under His headship and our faith in Him! But the real beauty of it is, in uniting us under Him, He still maintains our individuality and uniqueness and uses it for His glory and mission!
But we look out at our nation and see a great fracturing. There are so many different movements, political parties, and cultures trying to vie for power and influence. Things come to blows when opposing ideologies clash for the same space of influence. We sit back and wonder why we can’t just all get along. But as great an ideal cast by our founding fathers that “e pluribus unum” is, it should be noted what the missing ingredient is…Jesus’ headship & authority. But this begs the question, how does this change things in the realm of unity? Let’s dive in.
Jesus Prayed for It
Did you know that if you are a believer, you are actually in the Bible? Sounds crazy right? “How can I be in a book that was written over 2000 years ago?” Well, look with me in John 17:20-23:
“I pray not only for these but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”
What has always moved me about this passage, besides the fact that this is a direct reference from Christ to the modern family of God, is the fact that it occurs just prior to Christ going to the cross. Just before Jesus died for the sins of the world, He thought directly of you and me. What is more, at the top of Jesus’ priority list was that we are united with Him and with each other!
We also see in this scripture, why our unity with Him and each other is so important. It glorified God! It shows that only through Christ, this ideal of unity even amongst people so different from one another is attainable if those people are submitted to Christ. It is a display of the true power of the gospel in this world of pain and alienation.
Jesus Exemplified What it Takes
At the source of Jesus’ unity with the Father, was His submission to the Father. This is another reason why our modern society is a far cry from unity. The idea and practice of submission is a dirty word! In a world where self-love is promoted as the ultimate good, submission to another person is completely antithetical to this idea.
Please don’t misunderstand me. Loving yourself and caring for yourself are important. Each person needs to realize that they have intrinsic value because God loves them and created them in His image. Likewise, God sent Jesus to die for us. If we had no value, God would not have done any of this.
But the reason God did these things was to show us another way. Philippians 2:5-8 encompasses how Jesus submitted Himself, not only to the Father but to us:
“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:5-8 CSB
Christ’s entire ministry on earth (and consequently God’s) was defined by His servanthood and submission. First, Jesus submitted to the Father’s will by obediently carrying out God’s saving plan for humanity. Paul says, He emptied Himself and humbly became like us. Second, He submitted to man. Jesus says in John 10 that “no one takes it (Jesus’ life) from me, but I lay it down on my own.” (John 10:18 CSB). Though Christ, being the fullness of God (Col. 2:9) had every right to hold us accountable for our sins, instead, He submitted Himself to our deserved punishment and mercifully offers us His glory and righteousness! It is through Christ’s submission to the Father and to the evil will of men, that He can offer us a new type of unity with God and with each other.
As I alluded to earlier, don’t miss how counter-cultural this is! Our culture encourages us to seek after, hold onto, and exploit what power we can attain. And in this mad rat race for power and authority, the end justifies the means. If it means we have to shut out, step on, or destroy others different than us, so be it. It’s for the greater good of loving myself and my tribe. So long as we continue to strive for such worldly power, we will continually experience disunity and conflict.
The Church: A Different Way
Now we return to Ephesians. Paul tells us in this incredible book that God’s plan is to create a new humanity that begins to act and look like Christ. And this new humanity is going to be a multiethnic, multicultural family with all walls of hostility torn down by the new life offered in Christ. God’s purpose in this is to have His Spirit dwell with humanity through His Church (aka Christ’s Body).
If this is going to be achieved, as we see in Eph. 4, the church must be united in our faith and mutual submission to one another. We must exercise our unique individualness for the building up of each other. Paul echoes this sentiment earlier in Philippians 2 when he says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interest of others,” (Phil. 2:3-4).
When the church does this well, we show the world that unification with those different from us can be achieved through faith and obedience to Christ. This is why Paul emphatically writes in Ephesians 4:1 for the people of God to “walk worthy” of our calling as God’s children. Our unity as a body corresponds to the gospel we proclaim.
Now, you may say, “Trenton, this is all well and good, but what happens when we inevitably come up against disagreements with others?” Sadly, in our flesh, these problems still arise. But this is why lovingly seeking restoration and reconciliation with one another is so vital. The source of most conflict within the church is when one or more of our faith siblings disregard this encouragement by Paul to seek the welfare of others above our own. When this happens, the whole church should grieve and “make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit,” Eph. 4:3.
This usually involves humbly and lovingly approaching the offending party in order to point them to Christ. It should involve reflections on our own motives and apologizing when those motives are out of line with Scripture. We should also strive to show the other person that below the layer of the very real and serious contention, lies a foundation of mutual love and respect for one another.
Think of how counter this response is to the world’s as well. What does the world seek to do when another person makes a mistake? There is a desire to “cancel” said person and publically shame them to the utmost extent. If the church is not careful, this approach easily seeps into our own ranks and we cease to look like Christ’s Body and we begin to reflect the world.
Final Thoughts
The perfect example of this takes place within the context of marriage. When Brittany and I were getting married, our pastor, Dr. Franklin, who was a missionary for 30+ years, and our missions professor, told us that marriage was a clashing of two different cultures developed in two different families. When you marry someone, you take on all of their cultural mores that their family engrained into them.
This was certainly the case with Brittany and me. I came from a country family that grew our own garden, raised animals, ate what my in-laws consider roadkill, and had to be resourceful with all sorts of different things. (Yes Mom, I am talking about you destroying my trust by constantly storing leftovers in the Country Crock butter tubs!) Then I married Brittany who grew up in the heart of the big city (DFW). Though they wouldn’t consider themselves wealthy, her family enjoyed more convenience and amenities than mine did. Some of the things I did were backward to her and her family.
Then, when we came together in marriage, Brit and I had to learn to figure out how to do things together despite growing up with vastly different family cultures. We had to learn to show a lot of grace and repentance toward one another in order to make this relationship work.
It’s no surprise then that Paul gives us the example of marriage in Ephesians 5, to drive home the point of maintaining unity. And he points out two important aspects that are vital to the health of marriage and the church alike; submission and self-sacrificial love.
So, church, let us cherish and strive for unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, first to your local body and then to the rest of God’s children. Learn to serve in the local body. Learn to be equipped in the local body. Learn to use your unique gifts in the body to glorify God. And learn to appreciate your faith siblings’ unique giftedness to serve you!
To God be the glory,
Pastor Trenton
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