God’s Heart for Unity
Reconciliation
Worship leaders, God desires to put His desire for unity and reconciliation on a horizontal plane into our hearts. Yes, we are to catch His heart for reconciliation, so that people might experience intimacy with Him.
But He wants to reveal to us the heart for reconciliation of all of His people so that the bewildering variety of musical instruments might be reclaimed, restored, rebuilt, united and given a beautiful score where together they can worship and play.
In the third chapter of Ephesians we read that God, after He reclaims all these different instruments and unites them together, will display them not only to the world, but to the entire universe. All will hear that reclaimed orchestra as a witness of the marvelous intention of His heart, and a tangible invitation to a relationship with the Father, together with all those who are reclaimed and restored.
Do we dare say, “God, will You give me Your heart for unity? Would You reveal that part of Your love that wants to restore the whole world to Yourself?” If we do, the walls will come down. Nine times out of ten, the walls will come down on your head.
Jesus first broke down the walls of hostility with His own death. As we see what He died for released and acted out, it will kill us. But when you begin praying, “Father, tear down the walls that exist within the church!” where is He going to start? He is going to start with the walls that are around you and me. We usually see those walls as everybody else’s fault. Wouldn’t church unity be easy if everybody recognized how right we are? Unity would be no problem if everyone did it our way.
But the only way those walls come down is if we are willing to take the loss. If we are willing to say, “Lord, I don’t care if I’m right or wrong. By Your grace, Lord, I’ll lay down all my anxieties, insecurities, and unforgiveness. I’ll die to all that Lord—but I must see those walls that are dividing the church come down.” If we resist what God is now revealing to us about His desire for unity, we do so at tremendous cost. Over time, if we say no to true unity, we say no to true worship. It is the death sentence of our intimacy with God.
When we discover that God loves us, we think, “Isn’t that wonderful! I’ll take all of that!” At first we do not even know that God loves anyone else in the whole world. Then we find out that He has some other people that He cares about. But we convince ourselves, not as much as me. I’m His favorite.
Category: Ministry, Summer 2001
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