We Three Preachers

In Unity, Missouri, there were three churches Unity Christian Church, Unity Church of Christ, and Unity Bible Church. The town welcomed their newest family, the Waymakers, and the three preachers were about to meet with them at the local coffee shop.

“Mommy, which church family will we be involved with?” asked Emily looking at her mom.

“I don’t know, honey, but I’m sure these preachers that we will meet with? Will tell us about all the ministry that their churches do,” comforted Mrs. Waymaker as she and her daughter walked into the coffee shop.

“Hello, are you the preachers we’re supposed to meet with?” continued Mrs. Waymaker.

“Yup, my name is Pastor Smith, and I am the preacher at Unity Christian Church,” answered Pastor Smith.

“Yup, my name is Pastor Zimo, and I am the preacher at Unity Church of Christ,” said Pastor Zimo.

“Yup, my name is Pastor Banner, and I am the preacher at Unity Bible Church,” said Pastor Banner.

“We are united in all we do, hence the name of our town,” laughed Pastor Smith.

“Well, that’s good to know,” laughed Mrs. Waymaker and Emily at the same time.

The three preachers and Mrs. Waymaker talked for a while when Emily asked an interesting question as she tugged on Pastor Zimo’s shirt: “Mr. Preacher, what do you feed to the homeless?” asked Emily.

“Well, we feed them cheeseburgers,” smiled Pastor Zimo, looking at Emily.

“No, you knucklehead, we’re supposed to feed them catfish!!!” snarled Pastor Banner, punching Pastor Zimo in the gut.

“You are both wrong. You good for nothing fartbrains!!! You feed the homeless chicken wings!!!” growled Pastor Smith. “We already talked about this,” roared Pastor Smith kicking the other two preachers to the ground.

The preachers started fighting each other. Punching each other and kicked each other until one of them got the upper hand.

But before any of the preachers got the upper hand. Mrs. Waymaker had enough of the fighting. "Stop right now before I grab my steel chair and whack you guys with it!" she shouted in her mom voice.

"What?" said all three preachers at the same time.

"We are the church. We are on the same team. Yet you guys are arguing with each other over something stupid. All three are good options to feed the homeless. It would help if you guys were working together. One church can prepare the food. The other can distribute the food, and the third church can ensure that no one goes without food. You guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves. If you look outside the window, you guys were so busy arguing about this, that there are homeless people who are still hungry. You guys aren't united, you divided!" yelled Mrs. Waymaker.

"Amen, you preach it, momma," chanted Emily repeatedly.

"We're sorry," apologized all three preachers at the same time.

The moral of the story is not to let silly things divide the church. 1 Corinthians 12:24-26 says, “(24) while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, (25) so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. (26) If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

God calls us to unite in Christ in order to better His kingdom. We work hard for God’s kingdom, yet we have disagreements with others about irrelevant things. We get so caught up with these irrelevant non salvation topics that sometimes we don’t do what God calls us to do. It is okay to disagree about things. What’s not okay is not doing what Christ commanded us to do. One time when Jesus was preaching, he got asked an interesting question what is the greatest commandment? Jesus answered by saying, “love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s that simple if we genuinely love God, we will work with others in doing his will. And his will is for us to work as a unified body as a light among the nations. Not to be arguing with each other over the color of the church carpet. Not to be arguing with each other about acapella worship vs. instrumental worship. Not to be arguing with each other over if we should have a kitchen in the church building. Rather, His will is for us to work together in leading others to Christ. What if the churches had this type of attitude? What if one church led a spectacular day school program? What if one church concentrated on visiting people who were sick? What if one church focused on feeding the homeless? What if Lutherans were able to work with Baptists? What if Presbyterians were able to work with Methodists? What if Christian Churches were able to work with the Churches of Christ? What if Catholics were able to work with Pentecostals? What if everybody worked together instead of against each other? Imagine how much good the church could do if we realized we were all on the same team and not against each other.

Original Illustration: https://lestark1.wordpress.com/2019/12/07/the-parable-of-unity/