Unity in Submission by Stephen Davey

Unity in Submission
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one, even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20-21 I saved an article from Newsweek back in 1993, which read: “The mightiest Protestants are running out of money, members and meaning.” The author went on to reveal that the lack of theological integrity based on Scripture is the fundamental reason mainline denominations are losing ground. He’s right. Today, we have thousands of meetings, conferences, and rallies, but it hasn’t increased our unity. Why? Because unity starts by adhering to the Word of God. If we as Christians are not unified in our submission to the Scriptures, we won’t be unified in matters of morality, politics, social responsibility, missions, money, and so on.    Look at our culture today. After decades of evolutionary theory, marriage and monogamy have lost their sanctity. Gender has gone out the window as well, and distinctions between male and female have become as arbitrary as the color of one’s hair. But that is not the saddest part. The tragedy is that American churches, for the sake of “relevance” and “harmony,” have followed suit. Ask any group of Christians across America these controversial questions and I guarantee you’ll get a wide range of answers: Is there really a God-created distinction between man and woman/male and female?  Is marriage really that important to God?  Is homosexuality an affront to God’s created order?  Does everyone get to heaven?  Did God really create the earth?  The list goes on. I firmly believe that the American church will never be unified in Christ until we realize that our relevance to any culture is based on our adherence to His truth.  It is Scripture alone that teaches us to love all men and women with equality (Galatians 3:28). That’s why Jewish believers in the first century were able to welcome Gentile believers into their flock as equals.  It is Scripture alone that teaches us to forgive each other even as Christ forgave us (Ephesians 4:32). That’s why Holocaust survivors, like Corrie Ten Boom, were able to worship next to converted German guards who had once tortured them in a concentration camp.  It is Scripture alone that teaches us to accept one another and not be judgmental toward those who share differing convictions (Romans 14). That’s why missionaries like Hudson Taylor conformed his appearance and language to the Chinese culture, rather than trying to westernize the people he was seeking to win.  It is Scripture alone that teaches us to consider others as more important than ourselves and to serve one another in humility (Philippians 2:3). That’s why Sunday services can and should be filled with joy, because every believer gets to serve one another in hundreds of various ways. Living out the Scriptures is the only path to lasting, undeniable unity. Only when we submit ourselves to God’s Word and to the working of the Holy Spirit will we be able to model the kind of unity Jesus prayed for in John 17.  May we today, along with our families and churches, fulfill that noble request given by our Savior all those years ago.