10/2/13:

TFTD: “There is one body and one spirit- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” –Ephesians 4:4-7

Even though baseball season for me is over, I want to use one last analogy from it today. As I reflect on the Minnesota Twins’ season I saw many things that were positive and some that were not so positive. Throughout the season, there were many instances where the team pulled together and played as a unit, all doing their part in order to compete. Unfortunately, there were many times that the team seemed to be playing as 9 individuals instead of as one unit. This along with many other things brought the team down and the season to a very disappointing close. There is not much that can be done in a team centered sport when the team isn’t playing together.

            The same can be said for Christianity. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4 that we are all on the same team. We have been called to one hope, and there is one body, Spirit, Lord, faith, baptism, God and Father. It may say there is only one of all of these things but they are all similar. There aren’t thousands of Gods, or bodies, or spirits that we can pick and choose to believe in or come back a second time as. It is very evident that there is one and only one collection of beliefs and understandings that unite us as a team. Christianity today doesn’t recognize this in a lot of cases. There are so many arguments over petty things like carpet and worship styles that all outsiders see are all for themselfers trying to get their agenda past because they are forgetting about the team, aka hypocrites. It is by far the biggest turn off for unchurched people. Unity in the church is so important because we only have one message to give: You have been saved by grace through faith, not because of what you have done but because of what Christ has done. So let’s get on the same page as a team and spread that message as ones united in Christ.

“Where there is unity there is always victory.” -Publilius Syrus