Are there fellow Christians in your life whom you’ve written off because of a disagreement or difference?
Even if it hasn’t escalated into a full-blown conflict or physical separation, maybe your affection has grown cold for them, or you’ve avoided including them in spaces or withheld respect.
You may think it’s easier. It is.
You may believe it’s better this way. It’s not.
Every follower of Jesus has different opinions and perspectives, as well as personality quirks you may not get along with. But when you let it become an occasion for division, you dismember the very body that Christ died for.
Paul considers division among Christians a significant issue, so much so that he publicly addresses it in a letter by calling out two leaders from the Philippian church who are in conflict (Philippians 4:2). He grounds his call for unity in Christ and their shared salvation, mentioning that both women have their names written in the book of life (Philippians 4:3).
Notably, he doesn’t even mention what the disagreement is over.
Are you withholding love from a fellow believer for something they’ve done or said? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even matter if you’re right. Jesus was right in all He saw in us, and yet He moved forward in forgiveness and compassion.
It only matters that division now exists.
There are times when division is necessary, but it’s only justified when a believer is blatantly unrepentant of sin and disobeying God’s Word, and the division should be done not in righteousness and pride but in humility and tears.
This is because unity in the church is everything. Without unity, our apologetic to the world about who Jesus is falls apart. Sin will always exist in the church, but unity in Christ holds us together. At a baseline, we’re not a right-living people but a repentant and forgiving people.
So, how do we pursue this unity? By agreeing with Christ.
The starting point is no longer my interest or their interest. It is Christ’s interest—and His interest is for you to pursue unity and forgiveness. Every conflict in the church is a fresh invitation to move to the foot of the cross for a better perspective.
At the cross, the playing field levels. It’s no longer that I’m wrong and you’re right, or you’re wrong and I’m right. It’s that we’re all wrong, Jesus is right, and we are saved by God’s grace. At the cross, we lose all grounds to justify withholding forgiveness from a fellow believer.
When you come to the cross, you take in afresh the grace you’ve received in Jesus and the humility of knowing your sin yet receiving unconditional love from God. You remember that Jesus had every right to insist on His own way, grab for power over others, be proud in His conduct, and withhold forgiveness toward a people so unworthy of His grace. But instead of doing any of these things, He moved toward sinners with grace and kindness, He surrendered His life to a death undeserved, and He earned forgiveness for those who put Him on the cross in the first place.
Yes, the church is messy, but Jesus died for her.
Yes, believers are sinners, but Christ’s blood covers them.
So, go and forgive, because Christ forgave you.
Want to dive deeper? Check out our sermon series guide on the book of Philippians, or watch the most recent sermon from our Philippians sermon series.
