This week’s post in our Gospel Jump-Start Series focuses on how the Gospel brings a beautiful otherworldly unity within the church. In a fractured world fraught with divisions, the Gospel is good news and it’s fruit is a sight to behold. Brett McCracken wrote on the beauty of unity within the church:
A unified church is one of the strongest evidences of the truth of the gospel. This is especially true in a world as fragmented and divisive as ours, where countercultural unity among diverse people stands out. When the rest of the world can’t seem to agree on anything or bear to be around people who are different, a church where natural enemies become siblings in Christ is a powerful alternative. Unity is a critical manifestation of a Spirit-empowered church. That’s why Paul told the Ephesian Christians to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3)…Where division might normally reign, unity should instead lead to an uncommon love, where believers listen to and bear with one another. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples,” said Jesus, “if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). (Uncomfortable, pgs. 166-7, emphasis mine)
Written by Matt Baker