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.