THE ESSENTIAL NATURE OF UNITY “Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” John 17:11b (NASB) I am blessed to have Christian friends all across this great country (and some serving on foreign soil). I have correspondence with so many and one thing that I hear coming out in almost every conversation is a deep concern about the lack of unity in many a fellowship. I hear of a fractured fellowship where the pastor had intentionally covered up his theological beliefs. I hear of another where gossip is destroying the foundation of brotherhood. It makes my heart heavy. I can only imagine how it affects the heart of God. Jesus’ ‘High Priestly prayer,’ is a wonderful prayer offered by Jesus on behalf of His followers. It reveals a great deal about Himself and His desire for His followers. Imagine: Jesus prayed that His disciples would be one even as He and the Father are one. I cannot imagine Jesus arguing with His Father, nor can I envision any situation wherein they would not be in agreement—none. Yet there are those who sow disunity and divisiveness within the Body of Christ and they do so with apparent immunity. Jesus desires unity in His body in several key areas. He demands unity in DOCTRINE. Now I can already see some cringing at the suggestion but hear me well: Biblical Doctrine ALWAYS unites genuine believers. Paul told the church in Ephesus that part of the function of the ministry gifts (evangelists, pastor/teachers etc.) given the church was that: “…we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13 (NASB) The unity of the faith is a reference to a unity of essential elements of the belief system. This means that there are irreducible minimums of belief that constitute saving faith. While we may have differing viewpoints concerning the timing and details of things like the return of Christ, we are unified upon what it means to be in relationship with Christ. The church is also experience unity in Spirit. In Corinth, Paul addressed a church plagued with divisiveness. People spoke of allegiances to Paul and Apollos. In the thirteenth verse of the very first chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul puts for a challenging question: “Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (NASB). Both of these men had a unity of spirit between themselves because they understood that Jesus had commissioned them both for a work of transforming their world one person at a time. To imagine that people develop ‘parties’ around the personalities of proclaimers of the Good News is so distant to Biblical intent as to make the concept ludicrous. It is as if we were to declare our newspaper deliverer to be superior to all others. The issue is the message and not the messenger. Jesus is not divided so neither should we be so. We should also experience unity is service and the intent thereof. That intent is spelled out most eloquently in the fourth chapter of Ephesians beginning with verse thirteen: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” (NASB) Our unity in doctrine and spirit yields a unity in service which brings every believer to maturity in Jesus and expands His most wonderful kingdom. And unity in Christ—a great reward in and of itself—is made far the sweeter by mature believes who conduct themselves as does Christ and upon whose lips the message of redeeming love rises like a sweet savor in God’s nostrils. In so far as you are able, are you striving for unity in the Body of Christ? One with Father, One with the Son, one with each other. It is what Jesus desires. It is what He requires. Tom Edwards—2014
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:06:30 +0000
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