God's Gracious Unity

Division is the easiest thing in the world to achieve. Just toss a box of toothpicks onto the ground and see what happens. It's easy to tear things about, that can happen naturally, but putting things together is a gracious gift of God.

 

There are those who would try to unite Christianity on something less than the divine revelation of God’s heart. Instead of seeking God's love, some seek the gods of the modern age, tolerance, individualism, and relativism. They seek not just the lowest common denominator but essentially declare there is no denominator at all. It’s the “me” generation of anything goes.

This is too depersonalizing, however. It denies the image of God in humanity. The apostle Paul, guided by the Spirit of God, unveils Christian belief in Ephesians chapters 1-3, then in chapter 4 issues the high calling of God to which Christians aspire. Hear this challenge.

      I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.  Eph 4:1-6 (NKJV)

But how? How can we walk worthy of the calling with which we were called? How can we be lowly, gentle, and longsuffering?  How can we bear with one another, loving one another and keeping the unity of the Spirit? On what grounds can we lay claim to this miraculous call of unity? 

Verse four reveals not one, or two, or even three, but seven bonds that bind us together in gracious unity.

Here's the first bond. It is the bond of being one body.

                   

What is the “one body?” With the proliferation of individual churches and denominations are there not many “bodies” within Christianity? Quite simply, no. There is “one body,” the one body of Christ. 

The body of Christ is a metaphor for the church. It is one of many such as the church as the bride of Christ, or the family of God, or the temple of the Holy Spirit. But I believe "the body" is an extremely powerful description.Why? Because we all have a body and so we can relate very easily.

If you are a human being, living and breathing, then you have a body. The union of your body and soul comprise what you are as a person created in the image of God, male and female.

As such a being how many bodies do you have? You have only one. You don’t have multiple bodies like suits of clothes hanging in the closet. You have this one, yet it is comprised of many parts. Under normal circumstances you have hands, feet, legs, arms, a stomach, a head, and etc. All of these parts have a function and are necessary for their particular function. They are all important in their own way and when one is hurt or missing then the entire body suffers. 

The eye with all of its wonderful complexity cannot say to the ear, I do not need you, for without the ear the body cannot hear. Without the feet we cannot walk. Without the tongue we cannot test. And on and on.

This is a great way to describe the unity of the church, for that is what we are, an organism, a body comprised of interdependent parts. Notice I did NOT say independent. I said "interdependent." That means we need one another.  

The church is not a machine. If it were, we would not function at all because in a machine if a part breaks or is missing the entire system stops. A body can continue, although imperfectly, it can go on. A machine is an essentially fixed quantity. It doesn’t grow, it is fixed by design, but the body as an organism can grow and adapt to its circumstances and surroundings. It matures with age and changes according to its need.

                   

So what?

We don’t have to try to hard to see how this applies to us in the church. 

Each of us is a part of the body. 

Each of us is important. 

Each of us is different. 

Each of us fulfills a vital function and when one of us is missing it affects all the rest. 

When one of us is hurting all the rest suffer together. 

When one celebrates all the rest rejoice and are blessed.

We are joined together as the one body of Christ that has lived for over 2,000 years and will continue its life as long as Christ lives. This is the bond of unity of being in the body.

Jesus is the Great Dividing Line of Humanity

Acts 17

2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”

⁴ And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. ⁵ But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

There are two paths to take, two ways to live and die.

The first is the path everyone at some time finds themselves on. It is the path that leads to a temporary and selfish life on this earth and an eternal death separated from God forever. It is a life and death without Christ. Jesus calls this the broad gate that leads to destruction and many will go by it (Matt. 7:13).

But there is another path. It is the path that leads to death with Christ and eternal life in glorious worship of God forever. This is the narrow gate and few will go thereby (Matt 7:14). It is the way to eternal life that Jesus came to make available to all people who will simply deny sin and receive the grace of God.

It is one way or the other. 

It cannot be both.

It is a choice we must all make.

When Paul shared the gospel in Macedonia some were persuaded and chose Christ. They entered through the narrow gate. Some were not persuaded and sought to kill the messengers of Christ.

When the sure way of salvation and hope is freely offered, why would a person possibly want to reject it?

But many do.

You and I will either die separate from Christ, lonely and without hope, or we will die in Christ, guaranteed the eternal resurrection of life.

This is the good news.

Remember what the Philippian Jailer said to Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?”

Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”

Beloved, believe on the Lord Jesus... and keep believing. Don't ever let go of your faith in Jesus.