River Of Grace
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
BASIC UNITY IN CHRIST
In the Jesus Movement early 1970 I was apart of a fellowship that was exclusive. Later on I became apart of a fellowship of believer that practice unity and working with and among other believers. We were given the basic truth of Jesus' passionate prayer in John 17, "that we would be one as the Father and Jesus are one" and it became apart of our lives. We were stoked to work with the other parts of the body of Christ. It didn't take long to discover not all the church had the same conviction about working together. We had the blessing of receiving revelation of this basic truth and thought this was a common reality in the church. I had a rude awakening. But never the less this was truth and I never gave up on this reality, "unity among the believers," it was birth in my heart by the Holy Spirit.
Basic spiritual truth is; "no one person, or group, has all of the truth." What we have must be joined to what the Lord gives to the rest of His body, (the church) if we are to have the whole truth. Jesus stated this in His prayer the night before He was crucified:
"And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the would may know that You have sent Me, and You love them, even as You love Me" (John 17:22-23).
The word that is translated "PERFECTED" in the scripture could have been translated "COMPLETED." Either way, the Lord has established that the only way that we can fulfill our purpose is to be properly joined to the whole body of Christ. This is why Paul did not write that "I have the mind of Christ", but rather, "...we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthian 2:16b). No one person can contain His mind, It takes the coming together of the whole body for us to have His mind, or to reveal His ways.
Because of this, when the church comes into unity, the world will know that He was indeed sent from the Father. We will not be able to come into such a unity without Him. Without revelation and patience practice of this powerful truth it will just be another nice teaching from Jesus filed away in our doctrine folder. However, we will not come into this unity by seeking unity, but by seeking Him, seeking His Face. Unity as a goal in itself can be a false god, a place of pride, a stumbling block to both the mind of Christ and true unity. Unity will never be built on compromise, but through revelation from the Holy Spirit and understanding the Scripture.
When He is revealed, all of the things that now divide us from one another will be seen as petty and vain as they are.
Let's pray
Father give me understanding and revelation according to your Word about UNITY in the Body of Christ. In Jesus name. Amen
Quote of the Day
We should never attempt to bear more than one kind of trouble at once. Some people bear three kinds - all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.
- Edward Everett Hale
Scripture of the Day
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres...
-NIV 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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