Tag Archives: unity

It’s all about unity

Pastor's Desk

Dear Family,

From the very beginning of human activity on our planet, the solitary ploy of the enemy has been to disturb unity. It does not take much mental exercise to realize that if unity can be disrupted, then everything else simply falls apart at the seams. God’s plan: perfect unity in the Trinity in perfect unity with His creation, man being the crown of all creation.

Unfortunately we know the story:- the unity which Adam and Eve enjoyed with the Creator was disrupted. The unity in the first family was further damaged by the murder of a brother by a brother. Disunity then snowballed until God determined to start again with a righteous man and his family after the world wide flood. And even with a new start, it did not take long before that too produced what we have until today. Even unity in creation started unraveling after disunity took effect. We learned recently how some of the teeny tiny bacteria became rogue and continue to plaque man.

Jesus is all about unity. Jesus is all about reconciling man to God – back to unity. The Second Coming and the consummation of the ages is all about restoring unity by the destruction of the final enemy, death, which arrived through disunity! Think a bit in our terms. What happens when disunity enters a family, a marriage, a business, a church, a sport club, or anything else? Death and destruction which lasts for many generations! On the other hand, think about the pictures we have in the Bible where God emphasizes unity, for example, the Oneness of God; marriage; God and His bride, the church; the Scriptures of promised blessing upon unity.

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3-6: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

“Every effort” implies that we must do whatever we can, whatever it takes, at whatever cost or personal expense, to ensure that division is not allowed to find a comforting corner in the halls of our humanity. You see, once the unity is breached, the walls always come tumbling down. So, will you commit to “every effort” to keep in line with the Father?

Paul

Battle Over

Bible Study, , ,

BATTLE OVER

“And so off they went to Antioch. On arrival, they gathered the church and read the letter. The people were greatly relieved and pleased. Judas and Silas, good preachers both of them, strengthened their new friends with many words of courage and hope. Then it was time to go home. They were sent off by their new friends with laughter and embraces all around to report back to those who had sent them there.

“Paul and Barnabas stayed on in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of God. But they weren’t alone. There were a number of teachers and preachers at that time in Antioch.” Acts15:30-35 (The Message).

A happy conclusion to a critical time! Satisfaction for the leaders and relief for the non-Jewish believers who could so easily have been burdened with the load the Jews themselves were unable to carry had the decision gone the other way! Mission accomplished, Judas and Silas returned to home base while Paul and Barnabas stayed on in their familiar territory to continue their work of grounding the church in the faith.

Everything settled back into a normal routine, but there was another storm brewing, not a matter of doctrine this time but a personal issue which was to split the team and create a rift which would take many years to heal.

As we have journeyed through Acts, one factor has appeared and reappeared – the apostles and church leaders’ efforts to preserve the unity of the Body. They had been called on many times to make critical decisions which would affect the whole church, probably the most crucial and difficult being the relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers.

Theoretically, the age-old rift between them had been healed through the cross but it was up to them to thrash out the practical issues that arose as they implemented the effects of the cross in their everyday lives. Their prejudice ran very deep, centuries of conditioning passed down from generation to generation, and needed a paradigm shift to bring the two groups together in a strong bond of loyalty and brotherhood which would wipe out the old feelings of antagonism and replace them with acceptance and love.

For the church of the Lord Jesus today, the issue may not be Jew and Gentile but we are still faced with prejudices that criss-cross the entire world. Without the official ruling of the early church leaders, those who were advocating that circumcision be imposed on Gentile believers would have been free to propagate their teaching and unnecessarily enslave naive Christians wherever they went.

The decision of the first church council in Jerusalem laid the foundation for the experience of unity in the body of Christ from then on. In his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul enlarged on this aspect of Jesus’ death, reuniting all people by destroying the reason for their alienation.

“For He Himself is our peace, who made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility.” Ephesians 2:14-16 (NIV).

“Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.” Colossians3:11 (NIV).

We are a new creation, a new race and a new culture and all the old ones fall away.

What Price Unity?

Christian Life, , ,

WHAT PRICE UNITY?

“Everyone agreed: apostles, leaders, all the people. They picked Judas (nicknamed Barsabbas) and Silas — they both carried considerable weight in the church — and sent them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, with this letter:

“From the apostles and leaders, your friends, to our friends in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:
Hello!

“We heard that some men from our church went to you and said things that confused and upset you. Mind you, they had no authority from us; we didn’t send them. We have agreed unanimously to pick representatives and send them to you with our good friends, Barnabas and Paul. We picked men we knew you could trust, Judas and Silas — they’ve looked death in the face time and again for the sake of our Master Jesus Christ. We’ve sent them to confirm in a face-to-face meeting with you what we’ve written.

“It seemed to the Holy Spirit and to us that you should not be saddled with any crushing burden, but be responsible only for these bare necessities. Be careful not to get involved in activities connected with idols, avoid serving food offensive to Jewish Christians (blood for instance) and guard the morality of sex and marriage.

“These guidelines are sufficient to keep relations congenial between us. And God be with you!” Acts 15:22-29 (The Message).

What godly wisdom! It took quite a while for them to reach these conclusions but the end result is what counts, not the process. We have already examined the process by which they reached their conclusions. Now we must add one more factor to the mix.

Apart from protecting the truth of the gospel (that Jesus died as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, and that His death is sufficient to satisfy the just demands of God’s law, and to free mankind from its penalty so that all who believe in Him are forgiven and have free access to the Father in Christ), they were also protecting the unity of the body of Christ.

Doctrine is important since our lives must be anchored in the truth, but the fellowship of believers also needs to be closely guarded. The conditions contained in the letter to the Gentile churches had more to do with fellowship than faith. Idolatry and the sexual impurity that accompanied idolatry had been part of the rebellion that contributed to the exile the Jews experienced in their past history.

Apart from it being an abomination to the Lord, these things had become abhorrent to Jews. For Gentile believers it had been their way of life and contributed to the rift between Jew and Gentile as did the consumption of the non-kosher meat offered to idols, and sold in meat markets.

Gentile believers were called to distance themselves from these practices for their own sake as well as for the sake of the new culture that brought Jew and Gentile together under a new system called the kingdom of God. They could not afford to cling to the old way of life just because it was their “right”.

The early church did all in its power to preserve unity because love and unity are the hallmarks of the church, or should be. The modern church is infected with the spirit of democracy, everyone deciding for himself or herself whether to obey the leadership or not. It’s no wonder the church has, by and large, become the laughing stock of the world. Whenever someone does not “agree” with the leadership, off he goes to start another “church” or to join somewhere else until he does not “agree” there.

The unity that Jesus pleaded for is no longer a priority in the church, yet it was the core of the Hebrew creed: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD, the LORD is one..” Deuteronomy 6:4.

Where has the attitude gone that was displayed by the leaders as they faced this crisis in the church – “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” Whose church is it, anyway?

Growth Brings Its Own Opportunities

Christian Life, , ,

GROWTH BRINGS ITS OWN OPPORTUNITIES

“During this time, as the disciples were increasing in numbers by leaps and bounds, hard feelings developed among the Greek-speaking believers — “Hellenists” — toward the Hebrew-speaking believers because their widows were being discriminated against in the daily food lines. So the Twelve called a meeting of the disciples. They said, ‘It wouldn’t be right for us to abandon our responsibilities for preaching and teaching the Word of God to help with the care of the poor. So, friends, choose seven men from among you whom everyone trusts, men full of the Holy Spirit and good sense, and we’ll assign them this task. Meanwhile we’ll stick to our assigned tasks of prayer and speaking God’s Word.’

“The congregation thought that was a great idea.” Acts 6:1-6a (The Message).

It had to happen sometime! However idyllic the early church appeared to be, the people were still ordinary people, with evidences of their “humanness” coming through now and then. How this “racist” attitude crept in we do not know. Perhaps there was another “rotten apple” in the box who deliberately side-lined the Hellenistic widows; perhaps it was a simple oversight; perhaps it was an administrative omission. Who knows?

However it happened, it caused ill-will which had to be corrected quickly before their unity was compromised. What a lesson for us! Protect unity which is a fundamental characteristic of a Spirit-led church and the Holy Spirit is free to move in the church and in the community.

Jesus set a great deal of store on unity. It was the zenith of His high priestly prayer in John 17. “‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.'” John 17:20-21 NIV).

Why is oneness so important to God? God is one; He created us in His image to be one with Him and with one another. Unity of this nature is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit but it is our responsibility to guard and maintain unity in the Body. “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3 (NIV).

A simple plan to delegate solved their problem and set the church back on course to be a witness to the unbelieving world that Jesus had come from the Father and that the Father loved them as He loved Him – (John 17:23).

The early church was a genuine product of “evolution” — not an organisation with a set structure but a living organism that developed as it grew. Its function determined its leaders, and the gifts of individuals and the needs they met determined their ministries.

It is heartening to see how the apostles knew and protected their ministry from “needs” that could easily have crowded out their calling. Here was godly wisdom in operation. They knew what they had to do and were not so high-minded that they took on everything themselves instead of sharing the load with suitable people.

How many spiritual leaders fall into this trap! Pastors and ministers can be so insecure that they are afraid to delegate in case someone overshadows them and threatens their ministry. It is the person secure in God and in his or her calling and gifting that can develop a team of people who minster effectively because:

1. They do what they are called and gifted to do.
2. They are not doing what they don’t like doing and are uncomfortable in.
3. They are able to develop their gifts and skills doing what brings them joy and fulfilment.
4. Many more people benefit from the wider ministry of the team.
5. The church experiences the power and blessing of unity.

The church is a not a game with most of the members sitting on the grandstand watching the experts play. It is a family in which everyone takes part in family life so that they can all grow up together.

An Explosion of God-Signs

Bible Study, , ,

AN EXPLOSION OF GOD-SIGNS

“Through the work of the apostles, many God-signs were set up among the people, many wonderful things done. They all met regularly and in remarkable harmony in the Temple porch named after Solomon. But even though people admired them a lot, outsiders were wary about joining them. On the other hand, those who put their trust in the Master were added right and left, both men and women. They even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on stretchers and bedrolls, hoping they would be touched by Peter’s shadow when he walked by. They came from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, throngs of them, bringing the sick and bedevilled. And they all were healed.” Acts 5:12-16 (The Message).

This seems like a story from another world, doesn’t it? What made it possible for the power of God to flow so freely in a community no different from our own?

This was no longer a small and insignificant religious movement in Jerusalem. The church had grown to thousands – the initial harvest on the day of Pentecost was three thousand new believers and another five thousand after the healing of the crippled beggar. In spite of the shocking death of Ananias and Sapphire, more believers were added to the church. Almost every chapter of Luke’s record comments on the explosive growth of the church.

No doubt there were many from outside Jerusalem who put their faith in Jesus and carried the message back to their homes. People were flocking to the city from the villages and towns around the capital city to have a share in this mass healing that was happening in the city. With every attack on the apostles came a new wave of believers. Persecution did not slow down the growth of the church but it certainly sifted out those who wanted to be in it for the ride.

Satan’s initial strategy was to try to destroy the church from without. He unleashed a bitter attack from two quarters, religion and politics. The Jewish Sanhedrin tried to flex its muscles against the leaders of the church but that did not work. It only drove the people closer together and kept out the hangers-on like Ananias and Sapphira.

As the church spilled over into the rest of the Roman Empire, it fell foul of the Emperors whose claim to being God was challenged and disproved. Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, and His Lordship was confirmed wherever the church spread by the lives of the believers and the power of God working through them.

The early church functioned under strong leadership and accurate teaching. The apostles were there to guide the ship. It was not a free-for-all. This was not a democracy. Jesus was head of His church and He had appointed leaders who would hear Him and be accountable to Him. The apostles had learned to be followers before they could be leaders. The unity of the church was maintained by humble submission to leadership and by the purging effect of persecution.

Are there some lessons in the history of the early church for us today? There sure are! There are too many self-appointed and self-taught leaders in the church who gather people around themselves instead of connecting them to Jesus.

Perhaps if local churches went back to Jesus’ original call, “Follow me,” and committed themselves to the model of the early church, “…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians 2:20, 21 – NIV), we might once again see the power of God fill a pure church and transform communities as He did in the beginning.