Divided and Conquered - Part 1

 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." - Jesus (John 13:34-35)

 
I find it rather interesting what Jesus says about his followers loving one another, namely that it's how others know that we are Jesus' followers in the first place. He says nothing about taking bold stands, wearing 'Christian' apparel, jewelry, or trinkets, parading about for this cause or that, or even talking publicly about one's faith. No, what he said was that by loving one another they are showing others that they are indeed Jesus' disciples, his followers. 

  In light of Jesus' own words, it's no wonder why so many people outside the church think we're full of crap when we talk about Jesus' love, considering just how little love between his followers they actually see. In fact, when we're not making loud noises for this moral/political/cultural cause or that, we're often busy taking potshots at each other, both within our own churches (I'll even go so far as to say that gossip is pretty much the same, especially negative, judgmental gossip), and between different churches and groups. If it's not Catholics and Protestants trading barbs, it's Fundamentalists and Progressives (and 'Emergents'), or Baptists and Pentecostal/Charismatics, or Mainstreams and Evangelicals, and what seems like a million other types of barb trading within what is supposed to be the 'body of Christ'. We're divided philosophically, politically, in the ways we approach the Bible, in our own traditions and ideas that aren't even centered in Jesus in the first place, in hurt feelings and power struggles and ambitions and views of the 'end' and big personalities and big egos and big ambitions, and about a billion other things. And sadly enough, so many churches pride themselves on the fact that they aren't like 'this' group or 'that' group, all of whom call Jesus Christ Lord, and whom on the whole strive to follow him. 

But the reality is that part of 'following Jesus' is following his teachings, and the above-mentioned teaching is a particularly difficult one to swallow in our present day.

Luther and Co.

One of the reasons why this is such a hard concept to grasp in today's day and age for the church is because we are all, in some shape or form, children of the Protestant Reformation. (Yes, even Catholics, who have plenty of divisions and factions of their own, have been influenced by it.) Back during Martin Luther and company's time, opposing the church leadership, which was most certainly corrupt, was no easy task. As more and more people had access to the Bible and were able to read for themselves, cracks began to form in what the 'church' was teaching and what was actually taught in the Bible by Jesus and his earliest followers. Eventually these groups broke with the Catholic Church and formed their own 'churches' (just as the church had already been divided between Catholicism and Orthodoxy). This was different from 'The Great Schism' of centuries before, because unlike the previous division, it ignited a completely new phenomenon: Christians dividing themselves up into even smaller and smaller groups based on their own views of what the Bible says - which often included rejecting and alienating anyone else who wasn't 'with them' and didn't believe exactly like they did. This divisive heritage has only spread more and more like wildfire through the centuries since, until now we have millions of different and very diverse groups who claim Jesus as Lord, but who often reject others who don't believe the same way or similarly as they do. And I can't help but think that we have the Protestant Reformation to thank in some part for that.

Sure, reformation was definitely needed during that time, for the church hierarchy had indeed become corrupt, self-seeking, and greedy, but I wonder how different things might be today if the Reformation leaders had been more relentless in pursuing reform within the church, willing to lay down their lives to help fix the church, rather than breaking away to create their own bodies. Bloodshed might have still happened, but if church leadership started shedding the blood of its own, it would have revealed the true nature of their hearts and likely led to their own downfall. Instead, a number of smaller groups were formed, which multiplied and divided even more, leading to great animosity, sometimes bloodshed, and left the 'body of Jesus Christ' in far worse shape than anything the Romans did to Jesus' physical body. They might have flogged, beat, and crucified him, but his own followers have certainly done a good job of hacking his body to pieces.

So this is our unfortunate heritage, a common practice that those with whom we disagree with on matters of faith - or even politics, leadership, or a number of other issues - we should separate ourselves from and only surround ourselves with people who are like us, acting like us, believing like us, voting like us, even praying and singing like us. It's become such a common idea that the majority of the billion-plus people who call themselves followers of Jesus (or at least identify with the title 'Christian') actually think that this practice and mentality is right. And sadly, even with all the changes that have been taking place in the church, and how so many are starting to learn and relearn just how important love is to following Christ, we still keep dividing.

As much as I want to keep going, I have been told that I really need to watch my length, so I will use this as a stopping point for the moment - but when I return I will dig far deeper than just our relatively recent history to probe at why we divide ourselves so much like we do, and why we refuse to obey Jesus on this all-important matter of loving one another. 


But even more importantly, I plan on getting into ways in which we can overcome all that we have stacked against us so that we can finally start following and obeying him again more honestly and fully, loving one another and in doing so, showing the world that we actually do follow Jesus and that we're not just full of feces, as our words and actions about/toward one another too often seem to show.

Take time to reflect on this yourself, probe your own heart, see where you lack love for your fellow followers of Jesus, and ask him to help you overcome all that stands in your way in loving one another.

If we can't be bold in our love for one another, and if what Jesus says is true, then we're not fooling anyone with our bold proclamations of faith.