DEMANDED UNITY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There’s no excuse for a Christian church that isn’t united.

Not one and this goes for the individual Christian church and the Christian church universal.

We know this for fact by looking at the first sixteen verses of Ephesians, chapter 4 where the very word of God tells us the following in regard to the expectation of absolute togetherness in the Christian church:

1. All Christian believers are to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (v.3). This is just one of many responsibilities that show a follower of Jesus is showing themself worthy of the calling God has given them through His Son.

2. There isn’t to be individual Christian denominations and churches that wall themselves off from one another and operate as individual entities, even going so far as to compete against one another for members. Rather, there is to be “one body” led by “one Spirit”, one body that shows it has been “called to one hope”, one body who has “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” and “one God and Father of all” (vv.4-6).

3. When Jesus came and gained followers, the advent of the Christian church, He gave certain believers special gifts that allowed them to teach others about Him and bring the Gospel message of salvation to others. These apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were established by Christ “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” to where it reaches “unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God” and becomes “mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (vv.11-13).

4. Jesus is the head of the church. Period.

The Christian church is only Christian because of Him and He puts the Christ in Christian. The church is segregated today because focuses within the body have turned away from Jesus. It’s as simple as that.

Now, all this would have been enough to show us what the Christian church is to be like and how far away we are from where we need to be as the body of Christ today. But as we see in today’s verse, the Apostle Paul adds one more point when he writes:

From Him (Jesus), the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. V.16

Jesus, the head of the church who provides the perfect point of Christian unity, is also the source of love that the church can build itself up in as it does its work. This isn’t just any love. It’s love in its most pure and perfect sense. It’s a love that goes as far as saying, "I died to save you and will forgive you despite your failings". It’s a love that loves everyone universally, never picking and choosing who will and won’t be loved. It’s a love that forgives and doesn’t condemn. It’s a love that builds up instead of tears down. And finally, it’s a love that never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Friends, our God demands that we be united as one body in and of His Son Jesus who has been appointed the head of the Christian church. It’s time that the Christian church meet this demand, and start doing so, by really placing Jesus first and allowing His love to drive all work done together for the common cause of helping all lost souls in the world to be saved.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com