Unity in the Body of Christ

In the previous blog, Healing in the Body of Christ, I talked about the Lord wanting to heal His Body, the Church. I talked about the importance of repentance, the kind that includes a godly sorrow for our sin. In this blog I’d like to talk about unity, and why it’s crucial for what lies ahead.

At this time of being at home because of the virus, I believe it is the perfect time to take stock of our relationships before going back to our social groups, especially with fellow believers. People have called this time a reset. Whether that is true or not, we are entering a time in the world where people need Jesus more than ever before. And how will they hear without a preacher? We are the voice that Jesus needs. But He also wants us working together in harmony as a unified Body with Him as the head. And He has showed us how this works in His Word. Take a look at I Corinthians 3 verses 3-11, which is about divisions in the church.

1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

1Co 3:10  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

1Co 3:11  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I’m going to get up close and personal, and talk about my experience with some churches. It seems to me there has been a lot of division in some of the churches, infighting, and many little fiefdoms have been set up due to major disagreements in the Body. The saying, “United we stand, divided we fall,” rings so true when this happens. Satan wants to divide and conquer and render us weak and useless, so we won’t have the support of each other to work in the Lord’s Kingdom. And the unsaved world around us look on in confused wonder.

I think, in part, that what’s happened in the churches is what happens in the world. Someone new comes along that has a children’s ministry, or music ministry, and threatens the ones that are already working in that area. So, animosity, envy, strife, and jealousy may occur. Friendships are split or don’t even develop. People become very competitive and rather than working together with the shared gift, or use someone’s gift that would’ve helped the body, those gifts lie dormant. And the person with the unused gifts may feel hurt, shunned, rejected and without any purpose in the Body. The whole body suffers if one member suffers. Let’s take a look at the Body from Scripture:

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

1Co 12:15  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

1Co 12:21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

1Co 12:22  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

1Co 12:23  And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.

1Co 12:24  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:

1Co 12:25  That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

1Co 12:26  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

Interesting that the chapter after this, Chapter 13, is the love chapter. It describes true, unconditional, Godly, agape love, a standard for each of us to attain to. So even if we have all the gifts and the most impressive talents, and we don’t have love, we might as well hang up our violin, so to speak.  It won’t mean anything to the hearer.  Love is the supreme gift above all others, and how we treat each other counts more than our ability to prophesy, heal, teach children, adults and so on! In other words, God would rather have us love one another above ALL ELSE, using all the best gifts, all the plans to do great things, all the missionary ventures, tithing, and so on.

This is not to say that it’s all going to be perfect. Someone may always gets hurt over one thing or another. As I mentioned in the first blog, people leave churches. I believe this grieves the Lord when one of His children feel mistreated. He cares deeply about each and every one of us, and He wants us to care deeply for one another as part of honoring and loving Him, and to show the lost world that this is what Christianity looks like. He will leave the 99 sheep and go after the 1 that got away. For these reasons, it is important to share these grievances, and find a way to get along. As my mother said to an argumentative parishioner who wouldn’t relent their opposing position: “Let brotherly love continue.”

Like it or not, we are in this together.  And the Lord is looking for a church that is healed, united and going forward in support of one another to reach the lost in these final days! We must not fall into Satan’s trap, but rather we need to avoid divisiveness and please our Lord instead. In order to get the Lord’s job done, let’s pray for our churches to love one another and work together for the sake of the Lord’s Kingdom. We are here in His stead. Let’s represent Him well in all that we do. For the harvest is plenty and the workers are few.

Healing in the Body of Christ

In the last little while I have been getting a very strong message from the Lord that I’d like to share with you. If you are a born-again Bible-believing Christian, this is for you. I have had great difficulty and set backs in sharing it. I was going to do a video, but have been waylaid until later. I have struggled with physical problems, and busyness.  Finally, I am able to share it.

What the Lord showed me is that there are many hurting believers out there. Some may have left the church, and vowed to never return. Some may still be attending church but they are hurting. Perhaps those who left have not once been contacted to return. Perhaps the pastor or other members never even noticed. Or perhaps they do not pursue hurting members when they leave. I want to say emphatically, that THIS IS NOT THE LORD’S WAY or HIS WILL!

The Lord wants to heal the church, and every hurting member. The Lord wants to heal the body of Christ. There are many people who have left the church because they were offended, or hurt, mistreated or perhaps left out of fellowship, and they feel rejected. If this is you, He wants you to know that He has not forgotten you or forsaken you! Satan has relentlessly whispered in your ear that God doesn’t care because some careless Christian (he will keep reminding you) said or did the wrong thing! Maybe they aren’t even aware of what they did if you never told them. Let’s face it, the Bible says the devil is a thief, a liar and a murderer. He is ruthless, and he does not want to see you enjoying fellowship with God and other believers. The truth is God does care, more than you can think or imagine, and He wants to heal every member in His Body who are hurting right now, and that includes you and I.

I firmly believe that without this healing, any kind of ministry cannot and will not move forward. We can’t knowingly leave our brother or sister in their current broken state, and say that we love God and are doing His will. God cannot bless a ministry that is rife with division, disunity and especially unforgiveness. These things make us thoughtless and careless in how we handle the people Jesus loves and gave His life for. Let’s not be unforgiving and allow our hearts to grow cold. God wants us to have a loving and compassionate heart towards one another. We are, after all, family! And if we want to glorify God, we must do everything we can to live the way He has instructed us to. And that means He wants us to clean up our relationships.

Jas 3:14  But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

Jas 3:15  This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

Jas 3:16  For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

Jas 3:17  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

Jas 3:18  And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

We need to make peace and be at peace with our brothers and sisters in the Lord!

And a big huge part of this is that to make this stick, God is calling His church to radical repentance. This is not a casual saying, “I’m sorry.” This is a complete turn a round, a change of heart, similar to when we first got saved. This is a repentance that pricks the heart by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is a repentance that will change your life! Get ready for it!

We need to have a godly sorrow for our sin. What is a godly sorrow (see 2 Cor 7:9-11)?  It is the conviction that we have done something contrary to God and His Word, and we are undone by it when we realize the gravity of what we've done.  It is when we recognize that something or someone else has taken first place in our life, and God is no longer the Lord of our life. Like David, it is recognizing we have sinned against God, and this has harmed our relationship with Him.

It is a putting down, a putting away, and a putting aside any idols of the heart. Even people can become an idol. Your family and grandchildren can become an idle you “have to” see or your world falls apart. My friend, that is not God’s intent for you. His blessings, which all belong to Him, are not ours to covet. We must let Him have control in order to even enjoy these blessings, and HE must come first, ahead of family, friends, hobbies, work, entertainment, etc.

Godly repentance is a cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, not mumbling a few words of confession where the heart never changes.  We must be in fellowship with our brother and sister before we can be in right standing relationship-wise with God. He takes how we treat one another very seriously! Please take heed to this Word. Read it and respond. God wants to heal you, and He also wants you to have a part in healing His body. 

 

1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1Jn 3:12  Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

1Jn 3:13  Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

1Jn 3:16  Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1Jn 3:17  But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

1Jn 3:18  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Please watch for another important blog about unity in the Body of Christ.