Ask any pastor about the things he would most like to see in his church, and somewhere at the top of the list is going to be unity. “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). It is good and our churches do become more pleasant when they are marked by unity.
And so faithful church members must pursue unity. The Bible calls us to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3, NIV).
But ironically enough, in our pursuit of biblical unity, we can become overly self-focused. We can think of the call to unity as just being about our own individual relationships with other Christians. “Do I have any interpersonal conflicts that need to be addressed?” “Am I gracious and charitable toward those with differing opinions on secondary and tertiary issues?” “Am I joyfully submitting myself to the leadership of the church?” Those are great questions that we should ask ourselves in order that we might, so far as it depends on us, live peaceably with all. But the Scriptural call to unity goes deeper and wider. That is, the Bible sets a higher bar for us than simply not being in conflict
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