When we disagree

I am so excited that we will be having on site worship services soon! If you haven’t heard we will be opening up our services on campus on June 14^th. (You can watch a video that details how we will be doing this by following this link: https://youtu.be/BzhQs6ox0J4.) One of the things that we all can’t help but notice these days is that we all have different opinions on everything! 

We have different opinions about COVID 19 and how we should respond. Some say masks, some say no masks. Some say lock down some say open everything back up. We have varying opinions on the current political climate and on the racial situation in our country and what ought to be done in these areas. We even have different opinions on how we think Jesus would have us respond to these times! 

One of the things I notice when I read about the early church was her unity. In Acts 2:44 says that “they had everything in common” and Acts 4:32 says, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul”. And then we receive dire warnings about division in the church. In John 13:35 Jesus famously says, “This is how they will know you are my disciples, by your love for one another.” If they know that you’re Christians by your love for each other, than the opposite is also true – they are driven away by silly divisions! Paul spends much of his writings preaching against silly divisions. In fact, in Galatians 5 Paul gives a list of what he calls “the works of the flesh” which includes “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 

²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” 

So, the big question at this point is how??? How did they do it in Acts? Surely, they had differing opinions and how are we supposed to do it today? There is a lot we can say to this point but I would like to look at a single passage that I think is the best place to start, Philippians 2:1-11.

So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, (does any of this describe you?) ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. (Paul says if you have any encouragement from Christ and His love fight for unity! And then he tells us how, ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, (examine your motives constantly) but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (what matters more to you, your interests, or others?) ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (Here Paul encourages us to have a mind like Christ’s and then he explains,) ⁶ who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, (Jesus has the equality with God but chose to, disciplined Himself for 33 years to not use that equality! Ever!) ⁷ but emptied Himself, (How?) by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus emptied Himself by denying His God power and coming to us and humbling Himself, forsaking His rights, His power, His very life to save us. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t voice your opinion or even have healthy disagreements. It does mean that we all care most about Jesus and His agenda and this allows us to see the mountains from the mole hills, allows us to let things go that don’t matter, allows us to empathize and hear the other person, and allows us to love each other and work together in spite of differences of opinion!