“What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’  Is Christ divided?  Was Paul crucified for you?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Unity is a hard thing to establish in the church.  The reason is fairly simple: Sin causes divisions.  One of the fundamental consequences of sin is that it divides us from one another.  This was the case right from the start.  When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, the first thing they did was to hide from one another.  Division.  

Well, even though we are followers of Jesus who have been cleansed from all sin, we still have that old sinful nature lingering inside of us, and it still comes out from time to time.  When it does, divisions and disunity are not going to be far behind.

In other words, the first thing that needs to happen if we are going to preserve unity in the church is that we’ve got to get out all the sin.  Now, this does not at all mean the church needs to become hostile to sinners.  We must welcome them in with open arms.  What this means is that for those folks who have committed themselves to following Jesus in the church, we must together work to help each other in the direction of righteousness.  The more focused on Christ we become, the less we will have to contend with the disunity that comes from sin keeping us from our mission.

The church should be a place where all people are welcomed exactly as they are, but where no one is ever left there.  Instead, they are moved intentionally in the direction of Jesus and come to more fully reflect His character.  In other words, the church should make disciples.  That sounds awfully familiar…almost like it’s a part of our charter.  Oh wait…it is!  When the church gets being the church right, unity will always be the result.