“Synergism?” “What does that mean?” That’s what my wife said when she read the title of this article. She may not know the meaning of the word, but she probably understands the concept behind it. I hope there is synergy in our marriage. I pray that there is synergy in the church. I know that synergism is something that we can work toward as the body of Christ.

I once read of a contest held in Canada where horses were tested to see how much weight they could pull. On at least one occasion, one horse pulled 8,000 pounds while another pulled 9,000. When teamed together, you might expect them to pull about 18,000 pounds. However, they actually pulled a whopping 30,000 pounds! This is a great example of synergism.

“Merriam-Webster Online” defines synergism as “agents...or conditions such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects.”¹ In other words, the sum is greater than the parts. Isn’t this true with marriage? Isn’t this true with the church? We can accomplish so much more when we work together.

A successful organization of people must be unified. Jesus said, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25). He knew that His disciples would become afraid and separate from one another at the time of His arrest, so He prophesied, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered’” (Matthew 26:31). Our Lord is concerned about the unity of His church, and we should be concerned as well.

In John 17 we read that Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father about the unity of His disciples. He said that His desire was, “that they may have My joy made full in themselves” (John 17:13). Notice three important points about unity found in this heartfelt prayer. The standard for unity is the truth. The Savior prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth” (v. 17). Also, the scope of unity includes all men. His prayer continued, “...that they may all be one…” (v. 21). Finally, the success of unity is “that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me” (v. 23). Unity can make our lonely little light glow like the Son in all His glory. That is why Matthew records the Savior as saying, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14).

If we want to help win souls for Christ, we must be the singular, unified, body of Christ! First, we must be unified in love. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Secondly, we must be united in leadership. Christ is the Head of the body, and the elders exercise oversight of the church (Ephesians 5:23; Hebrews 13:17). Finally, we must be united in language. Our manner of speech must be pure (Ephesians 4:29; 1 Corinthians 1:10). Our doctrine must be from God alone (1 Peter 4:11).

God is glorified when we operate as one. Jesus prayed for it. We can do it. Let’s do what we can to make the church that which God wants her to be.

¹ www.m-w.com/dictionary/synergism
Adapted from The Visitor, Adamsville, AL

Syndicated columnist Sydney J. Harris made the following keen observations: “Men may be divided almost any way we please, but I have found the most useful distinction to be made between those who devote their lives to conjugating the verb ‘to be,’ and those who spend their lives conjugating the verb ‘to have.’”

It is a necessity of life, I suppose, that we must spend a certain amount of time “conjugating the verb ‘to have.’” Could it be possible, however, that our focus becomes blurred when we forget that it is much more important who we are than what we have? The Master said, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). He followed those words with the story of the “rich fool,” who had not time for God. “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (12:21).

There is, however, more to the observation of Mr. Harris, I believe. “Conjugating the verb ‘to be’” is really our life work. We are, certain things -parents, sons, daughters, Americans. We are most importantly Christians, children of God. But beyond what we are, there is something even more important. What we must remember is that we all are always in the process of becoming. We are becoming more faithful or less faithful, more Christ-like or less Christ-like, more godly or more ungodly. Life is not static, and neither are we. We are always becoming. We ask the child, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The questions for us are always, “What do we want to be?” “What are we becoming?” and most importantly, “Who are we becoming?”

Paul told the Romans, “I beseech you therefore, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). The reason we should not be conformed to the world is that God has something better in mind for us. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren” (Rom. 8:28,29).

Hamlet began his soliloquy with the words, “To be or not to be, that is the question.” He then mused about whether it was better to struggle on or just prepare for the time when “we have shuffled off this mortal coil.” The time will come when we will “not be” on this earth. How well we can live with ourselves now and later, depends on whether we devote more time to who we are, and are becoming, than on what we have.

Copied from the bulletin of
the Church of Christ in
New Albany, Ohio

Jeff Foxworthy introduced us to some “redneck” phrases such as “aw-rite” (all right), “djeetyet” (did you eat yet), “yonetu?” (do you want to?), etc. He has us pegged with our lazy language. Another familiar expression we hear often in terms of church members is the title of this article “ustabe” (use to be). “He ustabe a member, but not anymore.” “They ustabe there every time the doors were opened…” or “they ustabe so active…” etc. “Ustabe” is a sad expression when it refers to those who once were faithful servants of God, but have become nonchalant, lukewarm, or otherwise disinterested.

Ephesus ustabe a great church, but they left their first love (Rev. 2:4-5). Sardis ustabe an alive church, but they died (Rev. 3:1), some of the Galatians ustabe running the Christian race well, but they fell from grace (Gal. 5:4-8). “Ustabe” introduces us to the idea of falling, backsliding, and losing our grip on what should be the most important element of the Christian life—our loving servant relationship with our Heavenly Father.

If you can look back to a time when you prayed more, read your Bible more, attended more, gave more sacrificially, and/or were more involved in committed Christian service—-then you need to get back to what you “ustabe.” You have lost something precious to yourself, to the church, and to God. Make the effort to turn it around. “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Rev. 2:5).