The Case for Unity in a Divided Church World*

     Four Great Awakenings, or spiritual revivals, have happened in America throughout its history. These revivals began in the same Spirit as 2 Chron. 7:14, which is repentance: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Just such a humble prayer of repentance by a black one-eyed preacher named William Seymour began the Azusa Street Revival in the early 1900's that spread across this nation and the world.

     However, the spiritual outpourings have never continued to their fulness. Divisions among believers based upon many several issues developed, including the racism that attacked the Azusa Street Revival, that prevented the continuance of revival to its fullest degree. The Church or Ekklesia (the called-out assembly of God's people) continues to be divided, but this is not the will of God. God is not a God of division, but of Unity and Oneness.

      Jesus prayed to His Father in heaven on behalf of His disciples, those who believed, and for those who would believe in Him in the future because of the preaching of His disciples. In part, He prayed: "Sanctify them (the disciples) through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one...that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (Jn. 17:1-22, excerpt).

     The oneness of the believers in Christ and in the Father testifies that God did indeed send Jesus into the world. Jesus was sending His disciples into the world in this oneness to proclaim the Gospel that Jesus died for the sins of the world. This oneness with Christ and the Father and with each other also brings the same glory and perfection to the Church of believers as Jesus has with the Father.

     As the LORD commanded His people, Israel, to obey His commandments, statutes and judgments that prolong the days of a person's life (Deut. 6:1-3), the LORD also made this proclamation about His unity: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children...And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." (v. 4-9). The oneness of the LORD is to be on our lips and taught.

     Jesus answered His challengers with these very same words from Deuteronomy above, when asked which commandment was the first and most important, also adding from the Law of Moses: "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

     Jesus also corrected the understanding of the Sadducees who considered themselves experts in the scriptures but did not believe in resurrection, saying: "Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?...He (God) is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err." (Mk. 12:18-34, excerpt). Many divisions arise from error caused by not knowing the scriptures, as Jesus pointed out above.

     As Paul wrote to a worldly church at Corinth, he wrote to those who "...are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours...That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So shall ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (1 Cor. 1:1-7, excerpt).  Although there are cults that also claim a relationship with the name of Christ, there is something powerful that happens when in unity the believing saints from every place call upon the name of Jesus. The saints are enriched by Him. The gifts of the Spirit given to us confirm the testimony of Christ in us. The gifts are especially manifested in the saints as they wait in unity for the coming of Jesus Christ.

     However, Paul further wrote to this church at Corinth that he had received reports that there were contentions among the believers. Paul wrote: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (v. 10).  The divisions came as some of that church said that they followed Paul, while others said that they were followers of various other spiritual leaders. Paul asked the question: "Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (v. 12-13). These same kinds of divisions and others broke the movements of the spiritual awakenings in America as people preferred one leader to another, especially based upon race.

     Paul wrote again to the church at Corinth that he feared the conditions that he would find if he should visit them: "For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would...lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed." (2 Cor. 12:20-21). Unrepented sin fractures both the Church and the relationship of the believer to God.

     The prophet Zechariah brought the word of the LORD to those who had come to the priests and prophets with questions about fasting, seeking knowledge of the ways of the LORD. They asked if they should weep and fast as they had customarily done at certain times of the year? (see Zech. 7:1-3). The church today also has been divided over customary and traditional practices, often done to fulfil religious obligations handed down to them through generations. The oneness with the Lord is not found in this kind of habitual practice. Zechariah told the people that the word of the LORD was to bring them greater knowledge. The LORD said to Zechariah: "Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years (of Babylonian captivity), did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat and drink for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity...Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart." (v. 4-10). These are the true things that bring unity between men and between men and God.

     The LORD said to Zechariah that the people refused to hearken and stopped their ears that they should not hear. They made their hearts as stone so that they would not hear the words of the Law and the words sent by the Spirit to the former prophets. Because of this, great wrath came from the LORD. The people did not hear God, and God did not hear the people: "...so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts." (v. 11-13). It is great division rather than oneness created between God and man that causes the LORD not hear their cries.

     We can see what the Word of God says about oneness, divisions and strife or any kind of discord among the brethren. In Proverbs 6:16-19, written within the seven things that are an abomination to the LORD or hated by Him, is included: "...and he that soweth discord among brethren."

     Press in to find the purpose of God in the unity of the Body of Christ.

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 4/26/26 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on the Facebook page of Kenneth E. Stevenson Jr. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at the Kenneth Stevenson channel. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, which is evidence of Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook. Also the book NAZAH: White Linen and the Blood of Sprinkling, written by Dr. Stevenson, is available on Amazon.