“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself … For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:2-7)
From Cacophony to Symphony
Have you ever heard an orchestra tuning before they start playing? It sounds chaotic as they prepare to play together. But then the conductor taps a baton, and the music begins, with dozens of individual instruments in sync. Paul told a church they should be “united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). Like musicians getting ready to play, the word “united” means adjusting ourselves to harmonize. Have you prepared your thoughts and actions for unity? You may know of churches that sound more like that pre-show cacophony than the symphonic music, but one of the driving goals of the New Testament epistles is to help us get over ourselves and create harmony (e.g., Rom. 12:3-15:17; 1 Cor. 1-4; Gal. 5:13ff; Eph. 4:1-16; Phil. 4:2-3; Philem.).
Perfect Harmony
Some voices sound like they belong together when they sing. When I hear Crosby, Stills, and Nash singing harmony in “Helplessly Hoping,” their three voices become one. Sometimes, our singing in the church sounds that way, as each part fits together and blends into a lovely whole that’s more than the sum of its parts. That’s the kind of unity Paul prays for, “to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:5-6). It’s easy to get our singing out of sync if we:
Sing in a different pitch.
From differing sheet music.
Everyone wants to set the pace.
On the other hand, we can create heavenly harmony if we 1) do everything in love, 2) seek God’s will together, and 3) follow our leaders.
In the life of the church, love is our signature key.
Our Signature Key
You’ve probably noticed that many song leaders blow a note on a pitch pipe before we begin singing and then often sing some strange words, like “do,” “mi,” and “sol.” The note they blow is usually the key the song is written in — the “do” — and everyone can get their notes from that pitch. If we all tune our voices to that key, we can harmonize from the very first syllable of the song. In the life of the church, love is our signature key. Jesus has set our tone, and if we can align our words and actions with his, we’ll glorify God with one voice. What’s the defining attribute of mature disciples? We might think it’s knowledge of the right doctrine. But Paul explicitly corrects that notion, saying, “‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1). We might want to fight for our right to engage in Christian liberties. But just because it’s your right doesn’t make it right. The Bible says love yields those freedoms to bless our brothers and sisters (1 Cor. 8; Rom. 14).
Singing from the Same Hymnal
Sometimes, when we sing at someone’s house, we don’t have enough of the same hymnbook, and we try to use different books to sing the same song. They’re usually pretty close, but sometimes one will add an extra verse or change a lyric. It can throw you off a little! But imagine the havoc if we all used different books in our worship. You’d announce a number and sing, only to find a third of the church starting “Amazing Grace” while others jumped into “Alleluia.” But how can we — as a church — all get “on the same page”? We have to look to the same standard. In our text, Paul specifies the standard: Jesus Christ (Rom. 15:3) and the Scriptures (Rom. 15:4). If we all share that commitment to try to follow what’s written— even acknowledging we’ll never see every issue identically — directing our lives from the same book will unite us. We read from the same sheet music.
Follow the Leader
Ever wonder why we even have a song leader? What’s the value of someone beating time? And who are they to decide the way to sing? Maybe I like to sing Marching to Zion slow and quiet rather than upbeat. Is their opinion somehow better than yours or mine? Perhaps not, but without a leader, we’ll all do our own thing, and — though we all might share the same hymnal — we can still get out of sync. Likewise, God gives the church leaders to help us stay in step. They’re not the songwriters; they don’t change the words or the notes, but they make some judgment calls. And if we want to sing together, we must pay attention to their leadership.
If the good news tears God’s people apart, we’re doing Christianity wrong.
There’s a lot to decide about what we do together as a church that Scripture doesn’t spell out. We could argue about those issues, but God says to trust and follow our leaders (Heb. 13:17).
Gospel People
Perfect agreement on everything is an ideal we’ll never achieve here. Still, even imperfect unity — harmonizing rather than clashing — is challenging. We’ll need endurance. We can find strength from Scripture, Christ’s example, and prayer. The book of Romans reaches its focal point in Romans 12-16, as Paul explains the kind of family created by the good news the first two-thirds of the book laid out. If the good news tears God’s people apart, we’re doing Christianity wrong. Some may not like the gospel, but if Christ’s sacrificial, victorious love leads us to destroy each other, we must learn to read our music better, tuning our hearts to Christ.