Unity in the Battle

Philippians 1:27 (ESV) "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,"

Imagine you are a soldier on the battlefield. Your commander has given you a task, a mission. You and the men in your company are to take a particular piece of ground. It’s a strategic piece of ground. The fate of the entire battle rests on the men of your company taking and occupying it. The battle is raging. Bombs are exploding all around you. Bullets are flying overhead. You are in your fox-hole with two other members of your company and suddenly you hear one say to the other, “Yesterday you mentioned that you believe in a mid-tribulation rapture. Is that really what you believe? You do? Well that’s just wrong. I can’t fight with you anymore. Go find another fox-hole”. Not too far from you there is another conversation taking place. One man says to another, “You dress very strange when we are not in uniform. Your pants have holes in them and your t-shirts are ragged. You don’t look like me and I don’t want to fight with you anymore. Get someone else to watch your back.” Behind another barricade someone says, “I don’t like your music or style of worship. It’s just too ……… so I‘m leaving to find another fighting partner”. I can tell you, with relative certainty, that these soldiers will not be able to accomplish their mission.

It’s altogether obvious how ineffective a company of soldiers would be if there were these kinds of ridiculous, petty things taking place in the middle of an all important battle. Yet it happens with regularity in the middle of the most important battle of all, the battle for the souls of men. Churches and Christians all over this country fight and bicker and separate completely over points of doctrine, styles of worship and outward appearances. In the midst of our arguing and focusing on these relatively trivial issues we often forget why we are here. We spend so much time and energy on extraneous things we are ineffective in accomplishing the mission our Commander has set out for us. We have a mission. We are to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel. We are to make disciples. We are to build-up Christians for the work of the ministry. We are to provide a place where Christians can come together for fellowship and corporate worship. The mission should be our focus. Not the style of someone’s worship, or how they dress or what they believe in every single point of doctrine. These things are important to us as individuals but they are never more important than the Mission given to us by our Commander.

I am not advocating an “Ecumenical” gathering where we compromise everything we believe to be true and right for the sake of peace across widely diverse denominational lines. I am talking about a Biblical unity that brings us together for the Cause of Christ, for His Mission. I am talking about the kind of unity Paul wanted for the Philippian believers when he wrote in Philippians 1:27 “…that you are standing fast in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the Gospel.”

God, help us to unite around your Mission. May we be willing and able to look beyond the minor differences between us and “strive side by side for the Gospel“. Help us to move forward as the mighty army of God and take the ground for your sake. Amen!