Unity and community

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”  (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

Last week, we explored the boldness inherent in living a Jeremiah 29:4-7 type life. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3) “Make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 14:19) “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy”. (Hebrews 12:14) Pretty simply, our unity as followers of Jesus seems to be a key concern for God, as we are three times urged to “make every effort” to create peace and unity within the body of Christ.

Today, we will explore unity from the perspective of shared and commonly held belief. Notice the injunction to “marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters” is located pretty much right in the middle of the passage. Though we’ll talk a fair bit about marriage in this sermon, the principles we’ll pull out are equally applicable to those of you not yet married.

In ancient times, marriage was a far more communal act; it was less private and personalized than is our concept of marriage Marriage in ancient times was far more about the collective act of joining two families or two communities.

To the ancient Jew, marriage was about community building and culture making. Marriage in the ancient world often served a utilitarian function. Though romance was certainly a part of the ancient marriages, they were often much more about strengthening families and communities. The aim, then, of the marriage command in Jeremiah 29:4-7 is that through these marriages a unique community within the larger Babylonian community would develop.

Keller’s three ways of engaging culture: assimilation, separation or selfless love. One of the core requirements for God of His people was that they would marry only those who were servants of God Most High. Because the aim of marriage was to create a distinct culture, than nothing is more possibly damaging to a culture than a matter of religious division at its core.

The most intimate of human relationships – that of husband and wife – ought to have at its very core equal allegiance to God from both members of that marriage. If this were to occur, then the outcome of that union – children, families, and, by extension, an entire culture – would likewise have God at its core. Assimilation results in a weakened overall “God culture”. Separation results in a strong “God culture” with little relevance and interaction between others. Selfless love then would allow Israel to create a strong “God culture” all the while allowing them to maintain relevance and interaction with the greater culture around them.

So what do we see occurring within the nation of Israel during the exile? Over the 70 year period of the exile, the people of Israel seemed to adhere to the command to “marry” given them in Jeremiah 29, but there was a little problem in how they followed the command. Ezra and Nehemiah record that many of the Israelites had intermarried with their Babylonian captors, and as a result, their generation showed little to no knowledge or understanding of God. The religious division inherent in these marriages prevented the creation of not only strong and stable families centred on God, but also a strong and stable counter culture.

In the New Testament, we see a very similar approach to marriage – followers of Christ are to marry other followers of Christ. The aim of the Christian marriage is to develop a home where God is central. Strongly Christ centered marriages lead to strongly Christ-centered families, which leads to the development of a strongly Christ-centered counter culture – the church as it ought to be. Just as we are to model unified faith in our marriages and homes and thereby make a God centred culture in the home, as churches, we too are to model a unified faith developing a more pervasive God-centered culture in our community.

TWO QUESTIONS Are we prepared to set aside our own personal biases in favour of the unity of the church? Can unified belief exist among us? Are we willing to be a counter–culture that radically impacts and serves the greater culture? Are we willing to stand up for those things that enable us to be a counterculture that radically impacts and serves the greater culture around us or will we become a people that falls for anything?

WORKING BACKWARDS A culture centered on Christ is only as strong as the families that comprise it. A family centered on Christ is only wholly possible when a marriage is Christ centered. A marriage can only be Christ centered if the individuals that make up that marriage have at their core the desire to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. (Mark 12:30). Can this can be boiled down to individual belief and conviction?

One person does not a counter culture make. We must approach our community in a unified manner and as a distinctive counter culture. If we allow division to exist at our core, then we will not receive the support, encouragement and emboldening that we require and not only will the welfare of our community suffer, so too will our welfare suffer. Over this next seven days, take some time to explore this idea of unified faith.

My prayer is that we would be a church that puts the “unity” in “community”.