Friday: Further Thought – Unity in Christ
Daily Lesson for Friday 17th of July 2026
Further Thought:
Read Ellen G. White, “The Training of the Twelve,” Pages 17–24, in The Acts of the Apostles.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“The oneness and unity of God’s truth-believing remnant people carries powerful conviction to the world that they have the truth, and are the peculiar, chosen people of God. This oneness and unity disconcerts the enemy, and he is determined that it shall not exist. The present truth, believed in the heart and exemplified in the life, makes God’s people one, and gives them a powerful influence.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 327.
“God is leading out a people to stand in perfect unity upon the platform of eternal truth. Christ gave Himself to the world that He might ‘purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ This refining process is designed to purge the church from all unrighteousness and the spirit of discord and contention, that they may build up instead of tear down, and concentrate their energies on the great work before them. God designs that His people should all come into the unity of the faith. The prayer of Christ just prior to His crucifixion was that His disciples might be one, even as He was one with the Father, that the world might believe that the Father had sent Him. This most touching and wonderful prayer reaches down the ages, even to our day; for His words were: ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.’ ”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 17.
Discussion Questions
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I love watching steam engines at work. Part of the enjoyment stems from the fact that most of the working is visible in plain sight. Unlike a modern motorcar where the engine and gear train are hidden under the bonnet and floor, a steam engine wears its pistons and valve gear on the outside. You can see the piston rods moving back and forth. The con-rods connect to the main drive wheels, and the Walschaert’s valve gear can be seen doing its magic dance, opening and shutting the valves to admit and release the steam. At the right angle, you catch a glimpse of the firebox with its door open burning its way through tonne after tonne of coal. And all this mechanical marvel is under the control of the driver who knows how it all works and how to control it. The marvel is that it all works. And when you see a big C38 flying down the tracks at 100 km per hour, belching steam, smoke and coal cinders while pulling 10 carriages, one is impressed that fire, water, and steel work together so well.
A church is a bit like a steam engine. It is complicated and has lots of parts. Keeping all the parts working together is not easy. Unlike a steam engine each of the parts has a will of its own, and getting those wills to work together is not easy.
Is it worth having a church, or should we simply ignore the church and look after our own salvation? A steam engine where the parts do not work together is not going anywhere. And likewise, a church where the parts do not work together is not going anywhere either. Essentially a church is the matrix where our relationship with God and each other plays out. And that means that our connectedness must remain even when we differ. That is why Paul makes such a bit deal about love. It is the connectedness.
A Seventh-day Adventist church faced a very big issue and they split into two factions. They asked the Union Conference to intervene, who in turn asked the Division Conference to make a ruling. It did, but that did not change peoples’ minds. Then someone in the church died and the two sides put aside their differences and comforted one another. They shared their love for one another.
We need to remember that someone died for us too, and it is time to put aside our differences and look after one another.
The world—and by extension, the church—appears more divided today than ever before. Yet history reveals that humanity has always been prone to division. Ever since the fall of mankind, people have separated themselves into smaller groups, creating an “us versus them” mentality. The defining question has always been, Which group am I in? But Jesus Christ came to put an end to these divisions within His people. Through His death on the cross, He tore down the walls that separated us and reconciled us to God and to one another. As Paul writes, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14, NIV). Christ accomplished this by abolishing the hostility between us, “that He might create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace” (Ephesians 2:15-16). In Christ, there is no room for rival cliques or competing identities, for “there is neither Jew nor Gentile… for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
The reality remains that as long as we believe the next election will eliminate crime and establish perfect justice, another scientific breakthrough will ultimately save the environment, or the next pay raise will remove our anxiety and usher us into lasting peace, we have misplaced our hope. These things have their place, but they can never accomplish what only Christ can do. Scripture reminds us, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save” (Psalm 146:3). Likewise, Jesus warns us, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). We must grow weary of the world’s endless cycle of division, false promises, and misplaced hope. Instead, we must cultivate a deep hunger for the unity that is found only in Christ, “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). For our true citizenship is not found in any earthly kingdom but in heaven (Philippians 3:20), where Christ reigns as King over one united people redeemed by His blood.
“The oneness and unity of God’s truth-believing remnant people carries powerful conviction to the world that they have the truth, and are the peculiar, chosen people of God. This oneness and unity disconcerts the enemy, and he is determined that it shall not exist. The present truth, believed in the heart and exemplified in the life, makes God’s people one, and gives them a powerful influence.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 327.
“God is leading out a people to stand in perfect unity upon the platform of eternal truth. Christ gave Himself to the world that He might ‘purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ This refining process is designed to purge the church from all unrighteousness and the spirit of discord and contention, that they may build up instead of tear down, and concentrate their energies on the great work before them. God designs that His people should all come into the unity of the faith. The prayer of Christ just prior to His crucifixion was that His disciples might be one, even as He was one with the Father, that the world might believe that the Father had sent Him. This most touching and wonderful prayer reaches down the ages, even to our day; for His words were: ‘Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word.’ ”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 17.
What a powerful way to end this all-engaging lesson.
Truth is, God is still with His church regardless of what she is going through right now. If we can be open to His appeal to shelve our differences and be one again in love and righteousness I believe we will make exploits as a church and great miracles will happen.
The devil knows that if we are united we will engage in serious evangelism, winning souls for Christ which will hasten the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is why he is tirelessly bringing dichotomy and using things irrelevant to our salvation to distract us and to keep us under his control here on earth, because he knows that as long as we are not carrying out our God-giving mandate to take the gospel to all the earth the end won’t come and we will remain stuck here with him.
The greatest force and the foundation of all evangelism to our neighbors is our unity and love in the church!!!!!!!
How does one remain united in love while disagreeing with points each side sees as important? I don’t think disengagement is the answer because we need to be ready to defend (or if you prefer to define) our position (1 Peter 3:15). Additionally, we don’t want to be tossed with every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14) – which is possible, or there would be no warning!
I’d like to suggest that immature Christians argue the wrong way – perhaps we need to grow up (I know I do), and by that, I mean get to know God much better.
Question 3.
“In 1 Corinthians 4:16, Paul urges the Corinthians to imitate him. Would you be willing to imitate human leaders? How might imitating a leader differ from exalting that leader unduly, even dangerously?”
Yes. And how? You imitate the things, and thoughts of that leader that glorifies God, is the short answer.
In partial summery and a partial answer to question 3: Now this raises the question, what is your calling? Is not Paul telling you to imitate his calling? Most of us think that a calling is reserved for missionaries and pastors. We wait for a voice that never comes and conclude we don’t have one. A calling is not obtained by sticking your finger on 120 volt alternating current, rather it is a waking up to where you are, a mother is sent to her children by the alert with a camera in their bed room, a student is sent to school, the nurse is sent to assist the surgeon or at bed side, the electrician is sent to climb the pole or wire the home. Yes, even the lower is sent to the court room often, the retiree to, help the neighbor across the fence. My calling is to be there for family, church, and neighbor as needed and to be ready to give an account of my belief. Yes, that is imitating Paul and the One he is imitating. Next week my app says we will be talking about sin in the church.
One thing should be reasonably clear – human beings don’t seem to be able to survive without arguments. However, strictly speaking there is nothing wrong with arguments. If you think about it, life without arguments would not be possible (crossing the street involves scrutinising facts – arguments).
I’d respectfully suggest that winning arguments is important – after all, Truth itself (in all dimensions, including factual, relational, experiential, etc.) is an argument FOR Truth, not against truth. However, it is NOT the arguments per se that are the issue, rather the way those arguments are conducted that matters.
A very good friend of mine, Dr. A. Leroy Moore once told me that disagreement was God’s gift to the church. I was so impressed by the thought that I wrote an article on it that was reproduced in several publications, including being translated into French. This seems to highlight the importance of the subject matter rather than the author.
If you’re interested, you can read it at: https://record.adventistchurch.com/2023/04/14/disagreement-gods-gift-to-his-church/
Thanks for the article Randall. It was very insightful.
The older I get the more I aappreciate/respect that the SDA church practices the Ordinance of Humility. Christ came down from heaven, became a servant and washed the disciples feet and He would wash ours too. Wow! I think this practice is part of the glue that holds our church together.
Leadership in the context of the church must be uniquely different from that of the world. Our Lord and Saviour powerfully dramatized this style of leadership when with a basin of water he washed the feet of His disciples. ( John 13:1-17). Some have coined the term “Servant-Leadership” to describe this form of Leadership.
As the only child of a single parent mother, I used to look with wonder at the Elders of my church and especially the Pastor. In their multiplicity of sermons I caught glimpses of who a Dad was like and also a family. Where am I going ? What is the point I am seeking to make?
The point is this : being a leader also involves getting close to people. There are some who embrace the saying – “that familiarity breeds contempt”. And while it is true that in coming close to persons, your weaknesses are more easily seen; it is also true that obscure strengths are more clearly manifested.
Suffice it to say, as a child how I longed to sit and have conversations with these men about life and so many other things. How my life story might have changed if they were just available, as leaders, and in my particular circumstance, male leaders, just to sit and talk.
As concerned Seventh-day Adventists, we should be deeply committed to defending biblical truth. But we should also be careful how we defend it.
Too often, doctrinal concerns and grievances are presented in a way that creates division instead of building up Christ’s church. We can stand firmly for truth without fostering suspicion, hostility, distrust, or promoting ideas that will harm the church globally.
Jesus prayed that His people would be one, and Ellen White reminds us that God is removing the spirit of “discord and contention” from His church. Let us defend the truth with the spirit of Christ, seeking to strengthen the church rather than fracture it. Truth and unity belong together.
Unity is a well sought after ideal in any field of human endeavor because it is the combining force/power of the individual members that moves them to their goal. I know of few to none who don’t like unity.
It is not different in the kingdom of God. God needs His children to unite in His name and in their diversity to prepare a people for His kingdom.
Unity is achieved when people are individually motivated by the same hope. Being Christ, this hope, the character unity is inevitable.