Philippians 3:15-16 NLT
[15] “Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. [16] But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.”
Unity in Christ’s body, as it is experienced and expressed in every local fellowship, is made up of different facets. It’s through humility, for example, that we set aside our own concerns for the sake of the whole. It’s rather like a colony of termites that functions as a unit. Each termite carries out its own function for the good of the whole. Many even die to preserve the colony.
Unity in a local fellowship has a solid foundation that supports the entire structure.
Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT
[19] “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. [20] Together, we are his house, built on the FOUNDATION of the apostles and the prophets. And the CORNERSTONE is Christ Jesus himself. [21] We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. [22] Through him, you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.”
The church is a family…a team working together for the good of the whole family. The church is also God’s house, a spiritual structure in which He lives by His Spirit. A house is a building made of different kinds of material that adhere for strength, safety, and purpose.
Jesus taught that the house must be built on bedrock so that, when storms blow in, it will stand firm. The bedrock, said Paul, is the truth about God, Jesus, and salvation, that makes the house secure, which is the foundation of what the Holy Spirit has revealed and written in the Word of God. The cornerstone of His house is Jesus, everything the Bible reveals about Jesus, which supports the entire structure so that it doesn’t fall apart.
What will happen if some “stones” in the wall decide to believe something different from the truth that holds the stones together? The walls will be weakened and eventually collapse because unity has been compromised.
So, in the “walls” of God’s house, there needs to be the “bonding material” of truth, every stone connected to every other stone by the truth of the “faith” that has been delivered to us and through which we have been saved.
Unity is sabotaged when false teaching creeps in and weakens the bonds of truth which hold us together. Since love and unity in the fellowship witness to the world that Jesus is real and are the hallmarks of spiritual maturity, we cannot afford to allow selfishness or false teaching to destroy what the Holy Spirit is working in His people.
Paul urges his readers and us, “Don’t allow anything to interfere with or slow down the progress you are making towards maturity.” He trusted the Holy Spirit, the builder of God’s house, to reveal the weak places in the fellowship so that each member would play his/her part in contributing to this partnership in doctrine which bound His people together in unity.