This article, originally published on May 1, 1977, still speaks to the church of today.
Note: Jimmy Owens, with his wife Carol, composed the musical If My People, based on 2 Chronicles 7:14. They performed this striking composition in over 40 cities across the U.S. in 1976. Their travels gave them first-hand experience with the condition of the Body of Christ, and out of their observations grew this message, delivered at the National Prayer Congress last October, on the essential need for unity among Christians. The message has been shortened and edited with the author’s permission for publication in the IFA Newsletter. Jimmy Owens is a trustee of IFA and frequently contributes valuable information.
I want to talk to you about something I feel the Lord is saying to the Church today. The Holy Spirit has never ceased to speak to the Church, and He is saying many things to us today as He molds us into the image of Christ — into that glorious bride for whom the Lord Jesus will come. I believe one of the most important things that the Spirit of God is saying to the Church today is, “Repent.”
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There are some who questioned that: “Why do I need to repent? I repented when I accepted Christ, didn’t I?” But to at least four of the seven churches in the book of Revelation the Lord Jesus said, “Repent.” In each case, He pointed out something for which they needed to repent, and I believe He is showing us something today for which the Church at large needs to repent.
When I think of all the sins in the catalog of our corporate sins against the Body of Christ, surely division among Christians must rank among the highest, if not highest. The more I consider it, and the more I speak about it, the more I see the heinousness of the crime of division in the Church. I want to refer you to a very familiar passage in John 17 where the Lord Jesus prays for us.
“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, are 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, I in them and Thou in me 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” (John 17:20–23).
Three times in that brief passage, Jesus prayed that we “may be one,” and twice He said, “that the world may believe.”
Why should the world believe when we who believe are not one? The unity of the Body of Christ was foremost then and, I believe, is foremost today in the heart of God. We have become very aware in recent days of 2 Chronicles 7:14, in which God lays down conditions for the healing of the land. I don’t believe we accidently picked that verse out of a “promise box”; after all, God is bringing that word to the attention of the Church all over the world. That’s what I mean when I say the Spirit of God is speaking to the Church. That verse suddenly rose from relative obscurity into worldwide prominence among the Church in a very short period of time because that’s what the Spirit of God is saying to us today. He is renewing that promise, and He’s also reiterating those conditions — one of which is that we turn from our wicked ways. And surely the most wicked must be that we have studded wounds into the Body of Christ by the way we have abused one another over our differences — doctrinal, cultural, racial and social — and all the while, Jesus’ prayer was that “we might be one.”
I would like to read you an excerpt from a message given by the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, a great Presbyterian Bible teacher. Dr. Barnhouse was a very strong evangelical; in fact, for a long time he didn’t have a whole lot to do with others who were not exactly of the same doctrinal camp. But the Lord engineered him into a position later in his career of ministering together for a week with some leaders of the Assemblies of God. After that, Dr. Barnhouse preached a message called “One Church.” In that message he said: “I learned something about the Pentecostals. In 95% of our doctrine, we are in total agreement, 2% total disagreement, 3% what you might call a shaded area. But I will gladly give 5% to any brother who will do the same for me.”
He went on to say: “I say to you in the Name of God Almighty that if the life of Christ is in you, that you have no right to be separated from any other person in whom is the life of Christ. If any man truly believes that Jesus Christ is Lord and the Savior of the world, then I must have fellowship with him. I have no grounds for being separated from him because I don’t like him personally or because I think he has some queer doctrines. It is most important that we agree to disagree in the things that are not essential. God has warned us that He will judge us if we separate the Body of Christ. To separate one member of the Body from another, we say, God, move over, let me sit in judgment here. I have decided that this man does not meet all the thirty-seven points of complete orthodoxy. Can you see that any man who criticizes another is usurping the function of the throne of God?” Those are the words of Dr. Barnhouse.
Satan knows and fears the power of a united Church. He knows that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church when it is one as Jesus envisioned and intended. But he also knows that any kingdom or house divided against itself is brought to desolation and cannot stand. So, Satan has always tried to divide the Church of Jesus Christ, and up to this time he has been very successful. However, he can only do it with our cooperation. If he tries to divide us from the outside, it will drive us closer to one another; so, he does it from the inside. And the tool he uses most often is our own undisciplined mouths.
All the rumors about a certain movement or problems or splits in this denomination or organization aren’t being fostered by the world; these rumors are spread by Christians. They usually start with some seed of truth, usually innocently stated, and then they grow all out of proportion.
I’ll give you an example. A friend of mine, a pastor of a large church on the West Coast, told me that he has just recently heard that a pastor of a church on the East Coast, a mutual friend of ours, would have nothing more to do with a certain women’s organization. He said, “I couldn’t believe that, because I know that brother, and I know that women’s organization, and it just doesn’t make sense.” So, he called him long distance and said: “Brother this is what I’ve heard. What’s going on? What’s the story?” Now that’s a wise thing to do. More of us should do that. Go right to the source; don’t believe the rumors, because Satan likes to spread rumors and stir things to keep us divided. So, when he said, “What’s going on?” our friend answered: “That couldn’t be further from the truth.” He had simply made a casual remark about having some reservations concerning women coming on as strong as some of them did. But by the time it got from one coast to the other, it had been blown up into a major division between a respected man of God and a respected women’s organization. He said, “I have a lot of women in my church who attend that organization, and I encourage them to, because it’s good work.”
You see, “an enemy hath done this.” But who actually spread the rumor? Who blew it up from an inadvertent remark into a full-blown story of division? Christians did. The world hardly knew that the story was going on. We must be very alert to never allow ourselves to be used by the kingdom of darkness as an instrument to bring division in the Body of Christ. In fact, we need to go one step further. Not only should we not participate in sowing division ourselves, but when we see it happening, when we hear a rumor about someone, we should attempt to either go right to the source personally, or send a delegation to both sides or bring them together in a central location to iron things out. Often, we would find when the two sides are brought together that much of the division was caused by rumor and misunderstanding; many times, when “disagreeing factions” get together, they find that they are saying much the same things, but in different terms. They discovered the supposed point of contention had been exaggerated into something they never meant in the first place. It’s a device of Satan to keep us divided.
The most powerful method for evangelism today is the church united in a given locale — working, moving and sharing together as a community of love. It seems we’ve ignored that vital statement in John 17 about the world believing in Jesus when the Church gets united. We’ve tried every gimmick and procedure imaginable for evangelism, and yet God’s method for reaching a city remans a united Church.
Listen, the church building and congregation down the street is not the enemy. The kingdom of darkness is the enemy! We’re not to be competitors; we are to be co-laborers in the building of His Kingdom. We have weakened our witness to the world. We have shown them an ugly, fragmented picture of Christ. We’ve brought confusion. We’ve weakened our warfare against the united kingdom of darkness that wages strategic warfare against us on the marching order and strategic battle orders of their commander in chief. We have competed with one another for the souls of men — over the same neighborhoods — while leaving other parts of the world virtually untouched.
Recently, a young child got lost in one of the great wheat fields in the Midwest. The child wandered into the expansive field and very soon was lost because the wheat was taller than the child. As nightfall approached, the parents became distraught and called the townspeople together. They all searched through the night. They combed the fields with flashlights, calling out as they walked through the wheat, but they didn’t find the child. They searched all the next day to no avail. That night the father prayed all night, and the next morning he called the people together and said, “I believe the Lord has shown me that we must join hands and go through the field in a line.” So, they tried that and found the child’s body within 15 minutes; but it was too late.
The point I am making is this: How long will it be before we stop beating the same bushes over and over, competing with each other in the same territory, leaving other parts of the field untouched? When are we going to join hands and go out together into the world, united to win the world and the war against darkness? God is calling us as never before to come together in Jesus’ name to agree to disagree on the 5% of doctrine — but most of all, to agree on what we agree on, as we gather around the person of the Lord Jesus. He is our unity. It’s a family relationship — a blood relationship. Because of the blood of Jesus, we are one. Not because we agree on every secondary point of doctrine.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Some doctrine is important. I am not talking about the kind of ecumenism where we all come together, leaving behind our doctrine, believing nothing, agreeing on the lowest common denominator. I don’t mean that. I mean that unity of the Spirit, that unity of purpose, that love that allows us to overlook our differences. As we come together and establish a love relationship, we will find that once the relationship is established, we can discuss even the most explosive doctrinal differences with no harm being done because we love one another. It can only make us broader, better-rounded Christians.
I want to close with a proposal. In September of 1975, there was a conference of Christian leaders who met in Chicago. This Summit Conference of Church Leaders in America unanimously called the first Friday of each month to be designated as a day of fasting and prayer for the nation. It has been observed by thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, and growing rapidly. I just want to propose to you in addition to fasting and praying on the first Friday of each month, that the pastors, God’s leaders of the Church in each city, come together with one another and share with each other. Begin to establish a flowing love relationship to break down the barriers, the differences. Let’s seek to cross the lines that have traditionally separated us. I believe the Father desires to see all kinds of Christians who acknowledge Jesus as Lord coming together, purposely crossing the lines and saying, “Brother, we may differ doctrinally, but I see Jesus in you, and therefore I trust you.” “Will you pray for me? I’ll pray for your congregation.” Establish relationships; seek God together as the leaders of the Church in the same city for His plan to touch our city.
In the evenings on those Fridays, the leaders can all come back together, bringing their people together into a central place, to pray for the nation and for the Church. This movement is already growing into a network of Christians all across the country praying by the thousands, and I believe it will grow into the hundreds of thousands each first Friday night. I submit it to you to pray about; to do with in your city as God leads you.
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(Photo Credit: Farrinni on Unsplash)