What does God say about unity?

It depends who we are unifying with whether it is for good or evil. Unity with the wrong people can be harmful. "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good character'.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) The enemy's poor imitation of unity where everyone thinks and speaks alike - like puppets on a string - is no match for actual unity where everyone is free to think and act individually, yet working beautifully toward the same goal as orchestrated by the same Holy Spirit in obedience to Christ who is the head.

There are two sides of the abortion argument. Those fighting with God and those fighting against God. As Christ followers, Christ is our head. He is the decision maker. We cannot follow those being led by the devil and expect to win against the devil's schemes. We cannot win a war by inviting the enemy to provide the strategy.

We know what is right based on the perfect law of God. Those who don't surrender to Christ are going in a different direction than Christ followers. And while the two may meet in the same spot in the road in that moment, we are traveling in two very different directions.

For those who accept Christ, God calls us sons and daughters of the Most High. (John 1:12) We can come with confidence to the throne of grace and ask for anything through our great High Priest, who is Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-16), including wisdom which God specifically promises to give us liberally. (James 1:5)

As believers, we have the Holy Spirit living within us with our minds being renewed to the mind of Christ. (Romans 12) We build on the solid foundation of obedience to Christ so when the storms of life come (as they do), we are not swept away by them. (Luke 6:49)

We seek the counsel of God through obedience to Christ, the leading of the Holy Spirit, and prayerful alignment with God's Holy written Word. Through faith in Christ, we find unity with other believers who have surrendered their lives to following Christ and are also led by the Holy Spirit.

The division of the two types of people in Scripture is between those who are sealed for redemption by the Holy Spirit through rebirth by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and those who still serve God's enemy as their master and are a slave to sinning.

Jesus says as recorded in John 10:

I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me ....

Here are verses in Scripture pertaining to who we should not seek unity, and then the verses concerning unity.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD,

and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water,

yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1)

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:13-15)

There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14 and 16)

But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. (Acts 5:29)

Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1 Cor 3:18-23)

Here are verses about how those following Christ can be unified with each other because of our shared foundation in Scripture, the leading of the same Holy Spirit, and submission to the same Lordship of Christ.

Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. (Proverbs 9:10)

The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are trustworthy. They are upheld forever and ever, enacted in truth and uprightness. (Psalm 111:7)

And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part. New Life in Christ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts. (Ephesians 4)

Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. - Jesus (John 15:4)

Jesus said, "... I am saying these things while I am in the world, so that they may have My joy fulfilled within them. I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth. I am not asking on behalf of them alone, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (John 17:13-21)

What does the Bible say about disunity?

What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy? But He gives us more grace. This is why it says:

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.

Scripture is an opportunity for self-reflection. Scripture is written for the one reading it. Have you drawn near to God? Have you trusted Christ for your salvation? Are you trying to be friends with the world and get along with everyone at the expense of unity with Christ and other Christ-followers? How can you unify with other believers and resist being unified with non-believers? What would that look like for you? Where are you getting your leadership and instruction? Where are your leaders getting their instruction?

Without Christ, we fail. I look at the solutions non-believers come up with and they look absolutely foolish compared to the amazing brilliance of what God is doing. And I'm sure those who follow secular teachings look at me the same way. But that's alright. Something would be terribly wrong if we forfeit our birthright for drawing near to the throne room of grace to receive help and wisdom to instead follow the foolishness of this world.

God is calling each of us to make a choice. Will we follow the opinions and speculation of human reasoning, or will we each seek the wisdom of Christ and follow His lead? Christ was not always popular. Though many followed Him, the religious leaders of His day hated Him. And we are not greater than our Master.

In Matthew 10, Jesus says,

Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. But beware of men; for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues. On My account, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to respond or what to say. In that hour you will be given what to say. For it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved. ... A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! So do not be afraid of them. For there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”