Unity among believers is in the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. In John 17 we read about the prayer of Jesus for all believers:
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20, 21, NKJV, emphasis added).
The reason why God wants believers to be united as one Body is because the manifest unity of all believers is the only testimony to Jesus Christ which will reach the whole world. If we are truly concerned in reaching the world for Christ we must be equally concerned about coming into Christian unity. If we merely claim to be interested in the salvation of souls and reaching the lost with the Gospel but we are not concerned about Christian unity, there is something wrong with our motive. We can be active in Missions and Evangelism but many will not be touched by those activities. The visible demonstration of our unity in Christ will cause the world both to believe and to know that He is the One whom God sent to be the Messiah and the Savior of the world.
Unity of Relationship
The unity we are speaking about is not a unity that is brought about by organization; not a unity of denominational or ecclesiastical structure. The key word we use here is “relationship”. It is a unity brought out of relationship – a real relationship in the Holy Spirit among belivers.
The Godhead provides us with the perfect pattern of right relationship. In the Godhead we have three things which are essential – Fatherhood, Headship and fellowship. We cannot have true fellowship in the Biblical sense without the acknowledgement of Fatherhood and Headship.
True Biblical Fellowship
The important ingredient for Christian unity is fellowship. True Biblical Fellowship is not just a group of people getting together to have a good time – chatting, drinking and eating together in a cell-group meeting. It is much deeper than that. It is something which can endure the test of adversity, the pressures and problems that comes upon us. True fellowship enables believers to remain stable and remain unshakable in the face of all these. Fellowship in reality is a deep sharing in an intimate basis of all that we are and all that we have.
The word “fellowship” comes from the Greek word “koinonia” which means having things in common, partnership and sharing things together. This is one of the important key concepts of the New Testament Christianity. The apostle Paul said Christians are called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ:
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor.1:9).
We can say the Gospel is an invitation to the human race to share the eternal fellowship of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. John invites believer to have fellowship with him and the Lord when he wrote:
“That you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3).
Christian Disunity
Consider what happens when Christians continue to live in disunity. Two things can happen:
1. A house divided cannot stand
Spiritually speaking all Christians are in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said to his disciples:
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls” (Luke 11:17).
2. The Gospel message is discredited
Disunity and division amongst believers belie the message that we preached. We preached that the Gospel solves people’s problems by bringing them to the right relationship with God. But we demonstrate the very opposite. The pragmatically minded world is much more disposed to believe what it sees in our life than what it hears in our preaching! The life a believer is a mirror of God’s Word to the unbelieving world!
A Picture of Christian Unity
The Church is a type of Israel, and so when we want to look at ways to picture Christian unity and to apply practically, it always seems natural to go to those areas of human life of the Jewish people which are built on relationship.
Israel was an association of twelve tribes, designated by the names of the ancestors from whom they were descended (Deut. 27:12, 13; Ezek. 48:1). Each tribe has its unique characteristics and emphasis in customs and the way of life. Similarly, the Church consists of Christians of different races with different characteristics, customs and the way of life.
Psalm 122 gives a picture of unity of God’s people. Israel went up to worship God in Jerusalem three times a year for their annual feasts (Read my earlier postings). They went to a place to worship God where God had chosen to put His Name – at the temple of Solomon. Israel did not go up as isolated individuals – each one doing his own things. But they went up by tribes. Each Israelite had to find his place in a tribe.
“Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Ps. 122:1, NKJV, emphasis added).
The word “us” indicates a collective decision of the tribes of Israel.
“Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together” (Ps 122:3, emphasis added).
The word “compact” comes from the Hebrew word “chabar” means “joining together in fellowship”. In other words Jerusalem is a place of fellowship and worship for Israel.
Similarly, each believer does not go to the Local Church as isolated individuals – each doing his own things. Believers go to the Church as a family of God to worship God together in unity and harmony. Each believer has to find his place in the Local Church – the Local Body of Christ. The Local Church is a type of Jerusalem where God’s people have their fellowship and worship on a regular basis.
The apostle Paul said, we are a family of God:
“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephe. 2:19, emphasis added).
When we are born again we are not outsiders or strangers. We belong to God’s family. Someone has said, you may choose your friends but you don’t choose your family members. Therefore, whether we like one another or not we have to get along.
A practical way to move toward Christian Unity
Psalm 133 shows believers how to cultivate Christian Unity:
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garment. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forevermore” (Psalm 133:1, 2, 3, NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some observations:
1. “Dwell together in unity” does not mean coming together in the Local Church for a couple of hours on Sunday morning. It means getting involved in one another’s life – with a sense of belonging in the same family.
2. The psalmist says it is good and pleasant to dwell together … But he does not say it is easy. In my opinion, the problem lies in receiving one another as we are.
Paul said, “Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).
Christ received us as we were and so we must receive one another as we are. If God would require me to change before He would receive me I would never have made it! What changed me was His receiving me. Similarly we have to do the same toward our fellow believers knowing that it is receiving people that changes people.
I believe what people are longing for above all else in the world today is acceptance. They just want to know where they belong. Unfortunately we often base our fellowship with one another of being right. We have the notion that we are Christians because we are right. Consequently if we have to admit that we are wrong we are threatened.
We must understand that we are not Christians because we are right. We are Christians because God received us in Christ – right or wrong! If we are wrong we’ll not be afraid to admit it, because it is not going to change God’s acceptance of us.
3. Unity is like the anointing oil (a type of the Holy Spirit) running down and covered the whole body (of Aaron). It speaks of unity flowing down from the top (Pastors and leaders of the Local Church) to cover the whole body (members of congregation).
In other words, unity always flows downward and never upward. It always starts from the head. We know from experience in our biological family that children cannot unit a family. But if the father and mother are united, that unity will flow down to the children. Therefore the key to unity in the Local Church is leadership coming together and not people.
So, an important spiritual principle is clear – If the Body of Christ is to be united the leaders have to lead the way. The leaders are the shepherds of the sheep. That is the reason why Jesus said:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
A shepherd never drives his sheep, he goes ahead of them. They follow him because they hear his voice. We can never unit sheep unless we unit the shepherds first.
The other aspect of the truth is – only shepherds divide sheep. The disunity of God’s people is due to the disunity of Pastors and leaders.
In my opinion, believers have two options. Either be a shepherd or have one; if you aren’t one then you need one. If you are one, then you need other shepherds!
4. Another picture of the Holy Spirit is dew. But dew does not come down noticeably. He is gentle, imperceptible but continuing.
In Psalm 133, “the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion” speaks of the Holy Spirit coming down on the Church. All through Scripture “Zion” is the Church.
5. As a result of unity, the Lord commanded blessing. The blessing is “Life forevermore”.
It is one thing to seek the blessing of the Lord; it is another thing to have the Lord commands His blessing without even asking!
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