Disunity Must Go!!
Mark 13:1-13
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
1 As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, behold 1what wonderful stones and 1what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.” 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 6 “Many will come in My name, saying, ‘aI am He!’ and will mislead many. 7 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. 8 “For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. 10 “The Gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 “aWhen they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
Unfortunately for us today, the world’s people do not seem to want to work together. Strife and tension seem to have become a part of society. Even within countries, the signs of strife are evident. Sometimes it is difficult to see the LORD’s love among His people. The Holy Spirit works in the world to bring us together. This method seems not to be working. Of course, since we were given free will, humanity can do whatever it wants to do. In the recent past, people of differing views discussed their differences and worked out compromises. Now people view people with different opinions as an enemy and, in some cases, a combative enemy. The message of the Gospel is being lost. A good question for the church to tackle is “will the Gospel survive?” The church needs to stand up and preach the original Gospel.
Saying that the church must stand up and preach the Gospel is problematic. First is the problem that the church is divided within itself. How can the church preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the church does not agree on that message? The result of over one thousand separate Christian denominations makes that clear. The world will probably never come together as one through the Gospel of Jesus Christ until the church of Jesus Christ does the same thing. The church has to come to grips with its original mission. She needs to return to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its original form.
Let us stop for a moment and ask the question about unity among the followers of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are clear that Yeshua wanted all of His followers to work together and live together to better the Kingdom of Heaven. Actually, the Kingdom of Heaven cannot exist when people are not united. Perhaps this is the reason that Jesus has not returned. The requirement of unity has not been reached yet. The beginning of the Jesus movement, which we now call the church, was full of discontent, politics, and power pushes. The book of Acts is the early history of the church that we have today. The stoning of Stephen is a clear example that politics came into the church right at the start. The members of that early Christian group had difficulties getting along. Some of them did not like Stephen as the leader of the group of seven. So, what did they do? They got him stoned in the same manner that the Temple leaders got Jesus crucified.
The Council of 48 CE was a time of disunity. Peter and Paul were against each other. Paul agreed with Peter on some issues, left the council, and decided to ignore everything that he agreed to. Again, disunity was the action of that day. This act was 100% against the call of the Gospel for unity. How can we expect today’s churches to work together when Christian history and its DNA is disunity.
The story of Stephen’s death can be seen in churches today! Being a clergyman for 24 years, I have seen this, and I have been Stephen. The United Methodist Church espouses that the pastors are assigned based on the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us say that is true. Then when a pastor is assigned to a church, it is God who sent that pastor. You would think that the church’s people would accept their gift from God. Sometimes yes, but many times no! The leaders of the church are the ones who decide what will happen. If the leaders decide that they do not like the pastor sent to them, they do whatever they can to destroy the pastor and have the pastor replaced. The disunity shows up in the church because there are always people who want the pastor to stay and those who want the pastor to leave. Such disunity within the congregation shows the cracks in it.
Disunity works inside denominations. I tried to unite United Methodist churches at the same time to work together three times. One time, over 90% of the church’s members actually passed the unity plan. Within one year, the disunity was evident, and the parish fell apart. In each case, there were people in each church that were either relatives or friends. However, they said they would work together but did not. The United Methodist system is supposedly set up as a connectional ministry. Experience says that is not the case. Every church wants to remain autonomous even though mergers and unions would have them stronger. The parish unity I spoke of broke apart, and within one year, one of the churches closed its doors. They decided that they would rather die than work with another church. This is a regrettable epitaph for the church.
Suppose the people in the church believe their proclamations of following Jesus, then why is there such division and sometimes hatred between churches. Following Jesus means unity! This is a characteristic that the church never had. Outsiders see the disunity struggles of the church. Frankly, they do not want to get involved with an organization that is failing. More importantly, the church does not follow Jesus Christ! The infighting of churches becomes known to the general public.
The loss of members and disciples has been happening since 1958. The reason is disunity and the way church people treat each other. Too many people say they follow Jesus, but they never show it. So, if the churches want to reverse the death spiral they are on, then they need to follow the ways of Jesus. Inside each local church, the people need to be kind and loving. Then within the denomination, the local churches need to love each other. Then the denominations need to come together and show love, peace, and grace.
Yeah, that sounds like a lot and may never happen. However, at the local level, a church could do it. Start inside the church and start loving each other. Show that love out into your community. That would be a great start.
