Until Unity

Francis Chan

• Publisher: David C Cook
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780830782734
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Église chrétienne

New York Times -bestselling author Francis Chan calls for believers and churches everywhere to align our hearts with God and start taking seriously His commands to unify. It's clear from Scripture that God desires unity for His Church. If unity is so important to the heart of God, why is the Church one of the most divided groups on earth? Chan argues that the problem is the shallowness of our love for each other—rooted in a shallowness in our understanding of the gospel. Until Unity shows us:

• God grieves the division in the Church, so we can't remain indifferent
• Unity demands a level of humility only possible by the Spirit
• The power and witness of the Church hinges on our oneness
• Unity comes at a cost, but it commands a blessing

We must come together as a Christ's Bride. God desires His people to love one another radically and become the Church He has called us to be. For further individual or small-group study, check out Until Unity Study Guide, an eight-session interactive workbook that serves as a companion to Until Unity, along with a free online video series.

Chapter 1

It’s What the Trinity Wants

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

What comes to mind when you read those words from Genesis 1:26? Have you ever meditated on this? It is one of those verses I had known for years but never really explored. As a result, I never thought about what an outrageous honor it is to be created in the likeness of God! I spent many hours fixated on my own sin and weaknesses, but I never took time to marvel at being made like Him.

Most Bible teachers agree that “us” and “our” are used because God is speaking as a Trinity. Genesis 1:2 explains that the Spirit was present at creation. John 1:1–3 tells us that Jesus was active in creating all things. In a sacred moment, God says, “Let us make man in our image.” I would encourage you to literally spend hours just meditating on this single phrase. Even now, I strongly urge you to spend a few minutes meditating on it after begging Him to enlighten you. The rest of the book can wait. In fact, the rest of this book will make much more sense if you allow the Holy Spirit to take you into a deep meditation of this verse.

When was the last time you heard someone express fascination over being created in His image? James warns us to be careful how we speak to the people around us because those people are made in God’s image: “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:8–10).

We are made in the image of God! Most people know that it’s true but don’t realize that it’s sacred. Thinking only in the physical, they might picture God looking like a larger version of themselves. That’s what the Greeks did with their gods and demigods. Is that really what the Bible is talking about here? I think we would all agree that it goes far deeper than physical appearance. Jesus explained to a woman from Samaria that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). What does it mean to be made in the image of a God who is spirit? While being created in His image may involve something physical, it seems more likely that being His image bearers has more to do with things we cannot see.

Created in the Image of the Trinity

Assuming you believe in the Trinity, have you ever thought about the implications of being created in the image of one God who exists as three Persons? We have a God who exists eternally in perfect relationship. What does that mean for us as people made in His image? We want to be careful not to speculate about something so sacred, but Jesus gives us quite a bit of insight in John 14–17. It seems we were created in such a way that we are capable of attaining oneness with God and each other.

Jesus explains to Philip that anyone who has seen Him has seen His Father (14:9). This is one of the most confusing claims in history. It’s a concept with no earthly parallel, so it sounds contradictory. To confuse matters even more, Jesus tells the disciples that He will send another Counselor who will actually reside “in” them (vv. 16–17). This whole discourse from Jesus stretches our minds and forces us to see ourselves as more than just physical beings. In verse 23, He tells us that He and the Father will make Their home in us. In 15:4, Jesus tells us to live in Him and He will live in us. In John 17:20–23, He says the following:

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

In some real way, I am currently in Jesus, the Spirit is in me, and the Father and Son make Their home in me. Did you take that in? It’s an insane statement that would be blasphemous if it didn’t come from God’s own words! In addition to that, Jesus’ prayer is that every believer will join in this same perfect oneness that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have enjoyed for all eternity. We were created in His image, so we can join in this unity.

We need to spend more time meditating on mysteries like this. It is true that God “dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16), and yet we can live in Him as He lives in us. Somehow we can be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19), and “become partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). These statements do not come from a human desire to make ourselves like God—these are God’s statements about us! Sit in silence and ask God to give you a glimpse of what He means in those verses.

We are invited into something deeper than what the Israelites experienced (Ex. 19:16–20). They stood at the base of the mountain and watched Moses ascend into the presence of God. Moses had the honor of speaking to God and hearing God answer him in thunder. As mind-blowing as that scene is, we are invited into something deeper. We are not just standing on the outside and staring at a Person in adoration. He calls us to actually enter Him, be filled with Him, and partake of Him. We were created in such a way that this is possible. Belief in the atoning death of Christ recreates us to make this a reality (2 Cor. 5:17). His desire is to be perfectly one with you, but not just you. The prayer of Christ is that His creation would enjoy what they were created for—a perfect unity between Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and all whom Jesus saved.

We worship a God who desires unity with His children and between His children.

The Father Who Hates Division

He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.

—James 4:5

This is another one of those verses that requires deep prayer and meditation to comprehend. It takes tremendous faith to believe that Almighty God could have such a strong desire for us. Do you believe that you have a heavenly Father who “yearns jealously” for you? He created Adam and Eve to walk with Him in the garden, and He created us to not only walk with Him but in Him. He yearns jealously for this.

Parents might get a small taste of God’s emotions with their own children. You produce a life, knowing that the baby will one day have the freedom to ignore you and live independently if he or she chooses. Everything in you hopes this child will want to stay connected. Part of you wants to demand it because you want it so badly, but you know that isn’t love. The heartbreak parents feel when their child wants to live independent of them is a fraction of what the Creator feels. Imagine how He feels knowing that some of His children wish He didn’t exist. They’re busy and tired of trying to squeeze in a token visit as their duty. Their desire to ignore Him is so strong that they convince themselves He’s not real. Romans 1 explains that though they know He exists, they suppress the truth. That’s how badly they want freedom from Him.

We worship a God who desires unity with His children and between His children. He sent His Son to bring His children together under His care. No good father wants to see separation between his children. As a father of seven, it would crush me to see any of my children rejected and separated from the others. It would anger me to see any of my children being divisive. In God’s list of things He hates (Prov. 6:16–19), He places greatest emphasis on “one who sows discord among brothers.” He calls it an “abomination”! That should stop you dead in your tracks. You should be examining your own life right now to see if you are guilty of something that Almighty God hates so much. If you can casually read on to the next paragraph, you have a serious problem.

I am guilty of having sowed discord. Even now, as I study all these passages about division, I am embarrassed by my lack of remorse. Only a redemptive God with grace beyond comprehension could be this patient with me and still use me to teach about unity. I have spent most of my Christian life wishing that certain pockets of Christians did not exist. I even had the audacity to pray for the deaths of certain people because I thought their removal would benefit His Kingdom on earth. I was not just a run-of-the-mill arrogant person. That’s next-level stuff! Think about the pride it requires to come before an omniscient God to share that kind of idea.

I was too quick to label people as false teachers, warning believers to keep their distance from them. While there is a time to warn others about false teachers, there is also a time to do your homework. By being too quick to judge, I have made costly mistakes. I jumped on bandwagons that were popular in my theological circle, attacking men and women whom I now know to be God’s beloved children.

Proverbs paints this as more than a “mistake.” All of that was an “abomination” to Him.

Maybe I was cunning enough to refrain from openly slandering them in public, but I’m sure my heart attitude spilled out of my mouth. None of us are as good at faking love as we think. Besides, just because my statements weren’t made in public doesn’t mean God hated it less. Every unkind word spoken in private about one of His children was heard by Him. It really wasn’t private, and I doubt I would have said those things if I had been aware of their Dad’s presence in the room. Sometimes the secret conversations are the most dangerous. They seed deeper-rooted division in a person, who then passes on the slander. That’s unholy discipleship. God hates it.

Praise God for the cross! Now would be a fitting time to worship Him for His mercy. All of my abominable acts were placed on Jesus at the cross. Jesus died to pay for our divisiveness and to lead us toward unity.

The Son Who Died to Bring Us Together

How can so many of us miss the importance of unity when it’s the whole point of the cross? Jesus suffered and died to unite us with the Father and with each other. To disregard unity is to disparage the cross. In speaking about the way the Romans ate controversial foods without considering how it affected their fellow believers, Paul says that these Christians were actually “destroy[ing] the one for whom Christ died” (Rom. 14:15). He couldn’t have stated it more strongly! It draws on the same truth he explains in great detail in Ephesians:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

—Ephesians 2:13–22

Everyone in Heaven stares at Jesus in awe. Thousands of years after first believing, they continue to marvel at Him. “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 5:12). People who once hated each other are praising in unison. One sacred act brings them to their knees in adoration, where they find themselves kneeling beside those they used to dislike.

I find myself writing and deleting, writing and deleting, in this section. It’s because there’s nothing to add to Ephesians 2:13–22. There isn’t anything confusing in the passage that needs explaining. It says it all. Please read it again slowly and prayerfully. It is supernatural and should lead you into a time of deep praise and repentance.

The Spirit Who Grieves Our Divisions

Most Christians know that the Holy Spirit is a Person, but they still tend to treat Him like an impersonal force. We have a lot of discussions about what He does and does not do, lots of debates about what the Scriptures say about Him. I find that one thing is missing from most of these discussions about the Holy Spirit: fear.

Think back to the last few times you spoke about the Holy Spirit. Was there a reverence in your tone as you dared speak about a God who is far more powerful than you can imagine? Did you speak with a humility that showed that His ways were far beyond your comprehension? I am so embarrassed about having partaken in casual and even arrogant debates about Him. I have spoken about Him as though I were some kind of expert on Him. Think about the level of pride and ignorance required for a human being to think he could speak as an expert on the Holy Spirit. It’s absolutely ridiculous! Thank you, Lord, for your mercy.

From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.

—Revelation 4:5

I have no idea what it will be like the first time I see Jesus, and I’m completely clueless as to what my first encounter with the Holy Spirit will be like. To even try to imagine it feels like we are walking on holy ground. It is sacred to speak about Him.

I remember the first time I read that the Holy Spirit could be grieved (Eph. 4:30). I was confused. I was one of those people who didn’t treat the Holy Spirit as a Person, even though I knew theologically that He is. Even in the times I was fully aware of His Personhood, I assumed that His infinite power precluded Him from grie...