There is no more relevant topic today in relationships than the topic of Christian unity. As long as our Christian family stays divided, we send the wrong message to the world!
Is Christ divided? Never! It is we who are divided. Christ's original body, his universal church, is intact but we who believe in Jesus, we who trust entirely in Jesus for our salvation, and are obedient to him as Lord, continue to divide along party lines. As long as schisms exist among us, true Christian unity and fellowship on earth is impossible. We WILL be together over there! Why can we not get together here?
Regardless with which denomination you individually choose to affiliate, we are family, if you are a true believer in Jesus as God. However, we cannot properly demonstrate the unity of love and peace in Jesus and God as long as we exclude one another from fellowship and holy communion based upon, and along, denominational party lines.
Christ's prayer for unity, and the prayers for unity of all saints, cannot go unanswered! It must be addressed. This issue can no longer be ignored in the Christian world! We MUST unite in truth and love! Or else, truth and love do not appear to actually exist among us! I say this to our mutual shame.
Let me hear your ideas about how all denominations can once more unite along the lines of "the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace."
I have my own ideas. I'll share them with you later. For now, I want to hear from each of you.
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BTW, when I was a pastor of a congregation I taught on this John 17 text. Then I had the people stand up and lead them in prayers for the churches to the North, South, West and East of us! Many people came to me and thanked me for doing this. I understand that Jack Hayford makes it a practice every Sunday morning to drive to a neighboring church before he goes to his church, park in the parking lot, and pray for the pastor and congregation. We should all follow Jack's example.
ron
We need lots of prayers. And, we need to love Christ and HIS church more than we love our particular "twist" on denominational Christianity. We have to unite on what is most clear in Scripture. If we cannot unite on the "doctrine once for all delivered to the saints" and on the one Lord, one faith, one baptism taught in Scripture, then Christianity is a sham from the unbeliever's (and some believer's) standpoint.
Christ died to bring all heaven and earth under one authority, and it isn't the authority of your local denomination, pastor, preacher, priest, or pope!
It's time to wake up to this reality.
Thanks Ron!
You said, "we need to allow all people the opportunity to become believers no matter where they are starting at - not tell to change their ways and then they can have the opportunity to hear the good news."
I also agree. God requires us all to have simple trusting and obedient faith. When we respond in simple obedient faith, God sends his Holy Spirit into our heart and makes us brand new! A brand new man (or woman) can then be seen as being a child of God because their life changes! Their heart changes! Their language changes! They change! And, not for worse but better. The Holy Spirit slowly changes them more and more each day into the image of Christ. They begin to love and live like Jesus did while he was here in the flesh. They are known by their fruit. And you don't get apples from a poison ivy vine.
A Christian does not look like the world, he looks like Christ because God's power lives in him and puts on spiritual fruit. That fruit is joy, peace, love, goodness, kindness, self-control, patience, etc., and that's how you know he/she is a child of God. And, you're correct, it doesn't happen overnight. It's a process that is started by implanting a new heart into them along with the power to live more and more like God everyday. And only God can do that kind of heart surgery!
Spiritual maturity is judged by how much more joy you have and peace you have each year. Are you more loving toward God and others today than you were last year? If not, you're not growing! Joy and peace is not dependent on our circumstances. It is dependent on how close we are walking, trusting, and relying on him everyday.
"Stay attached to me" he says, "and I'll put on the fruit." Then, also, "Once fruitful, I will prune you and make you more fruitful."
I don't like that pruning part! It hurts! But it is necessary to get the old growth off so the new growth can come.
Thank you, Jesus, for grace and mercy while you are pruning us!
True, Christians are people but they are to be different. They are changed. They are brand new! Schisms may be natural for people but they are unnatural for Christians. And unbiblical.
Relationships aren't meant to end! We are family. And family sticks together or it is family no longer! That doesn't mean we all have to live in the same house but disfellowshipping over matters of human opinion and human traditions, including and excluding brothers in, regard to the same matters, is not natural.
Again, Jesus prayed that all believers in him might be one as he and the Father or one! Also, the Bible commands us, as Christians, to be of one mind, one spirit, united in the one faith and the one doctrine that was "once for all delivered to the saints."
Good blog you have here!
I've had to shop and shop to find a Church that I feel preaches Salvation by Grace and Not of works. A Church who accepts all colors, and races, and sexual preferences. A Church who does not judge others or Air Conditions HELL!! Wow!! This has been hard, and hey, I'm still looking.
I love my little Church, and the people who attend it. The Preacher, however has never preached the Road to Heaven. How to be saved, etc. I'm cool, because the Church who with the Holy Spirit lead me to Christ, would not allow a black man to be baptised there. Was that not confusing to my children? A red neck child of God. I don't think so.....
Jesus died for us all, and sometimes I get so frustrated, and just wonder how frustrated God must be.
I think the Churches will be unified only when we get to Heaven. Until then, I refuse to be let-down by a Church who claims to Preach the Word of God, and excludes my Fellow Man....
The only division that I see some Christians make are the ones within themselves by calling themselves by some name (ie) Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, ect. I call myself a Christian because I follow Christ's teachings. I happen at this stage of my life to go to a Baptist church - but I am a Christian going to that church. The Pastor there tells of God's word and the music that we sing and how we sing it "moves me" spiritually also.
But, I am of the Body of Christ - not of that Church building. If tomorrow I moved and lived in some other city - I would go to another church and still be in the Body of Christ's church. That is how I feel - it is NOT a building or a structure or a particular "religion" that I say I am a member of... It is Christ I claim and His Church I belong to. Where I reside helps decide where I go to church but not what church I claim. I hope that makes sense because that is as open as I can be or all that I claim I am.God bless you
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You said, “I do not believe all denominations will ever be unified.” You’re correct. Denominational doctrines are divisive, not unifying. I ask Christians, not denominations, to unify.
I ask Christians to unite under what is plainly revealed in Scripture. That is, under the “one Lord, one faith, and one baptism” found and emphasized in the one church of the New Testament. (See Ephesians 4.) This one faith and one doctrine was plainly preached by our Lord, his chosen Apostles, and emphasized by his earliest church. We should emphasize and unite under that same doctrine. This doctrine will make us Christians and Christians only. Not Methodist Christians, not Baptist Christians, but Christians alone! As long as we emphasize man-made doctrines (denominational preferences) above “the doctrine once for all delivered to the saints”, we will never unite. We will continue to divide along denominational preferences and party lines.
It’s like being a Democrat or a Republican. We cannot unite as a nation if we continue to split along party lines. Yet, we remain United Statesians regardless whether we are Republican or Democrat. And, despite our denominational affiliations, we remain Christians if we truly are born of water and Spirit. (See John 3:3-5.)
As Christians, we are commanded to speak the same thing. The Bible is given for us to KNOW the mind and Character of Christ, I Corinthians 2. We MUST align ourselves based upon who HE IS, what HE taught, and what HE plainly emphasized; that which is most clearly revealed to all Christians (in Scripture). We must stop arguing and separating along lines of personal preference. It’s that simple. God must be pleased and not Man. Scripture was preserved so that all Christians might be able to speak the same thing regarding God and Christ, and the historic doctrine of Christianity!
You also said, “I've had to shop and shop to find…A Church who accepts all…sexual preferences. A Church who does not judge others or Air Conditions HELL!...I am still looking.”
No doubt, because the two are mutually exclusive! To accept “all sexual preferences” and preach hell fire accurately is not possible!Because hell contains homosexuals and lesbians who have not repented! It is incumbent upon all Christians to change illegitimage lifestyles. We must conform to God's Word and Character! We are condemned or approved based, not upon race or color, but upon choices! A practicing lesbian or homosexual or drunkard or adulterer CANNOT enter the Kingdom of God. They are condemned to hell (by God) because of their fornication before God! This is plainly explained in Romans 1 and I Corinthians 6! When one comes to God, through Christ, to become his child, one MUST GIVE UP ILLEGITIMATE LIFESTYLES! I didn’t say that, God said that! No one gets into the Kingdom of God by continuing to practice drunkenness or homosexuality! No wonder you found it difficult to discover a church that preaches hell fire accurately and also accepts every immoral sexual preference under the sun! A church cannot do both!
Sexual preference it not to be equated with race or color. Sexuality lifestyles involve choice. Color and race do not! Though one may be born with lesbian or homosexual “tendencies”, they DO NOT have to act out these tendencies! A person born with a tendency toward alcoholism DOES NOT have to become a drunkard! To insist that he does is ridiculous! It’s a lifestyle CHOICE! Race and color are not choices. God does not ask one to become a Caucasian to be a Christian, but he does require one to be heterosexual if one wishes for his soul and marriage to be accepted by God. In fact, no marriage is acceptable to God unless it is a marriage between one man and one woman! God speaks plainly about this and has since Creation! He made them Adam and Eve. Not Adam and Steve!
So, one cannot remain a practicing homosexual, drunkard, or adulterer and expect God to accept him as a Christian! God requires all Christians to REPENT of their former illegitimate lifestyles. Repentance requires a change! We must stop practicing all that God condemns in His Word! We must change our lifestyle and we can with his help. We cannot change our race or color. Neither are we expected to do so! God accepts all races and colors who enter into him through Jesus, the Christ. However, he does not accept all lifestyles!
The reason your preacher probably has never preached “the Road to Heaven. How to be saved, etc.” is because there is only ONE WAY! And that one way is through Jesus alone. This is offensive to Muslims, Jews, and some who claim to be "Christians". They would rather hear preached what is politically correct. More so than what is biblically or scripturally correct. There is a lot of pressure on ministers to preach a gospel ordained of men. Rather than a gospel ordained of God!
You said, “Jesus died for us all, and sometimes I get so frustrated, and just wonder how frustrated God must be.”
God tells us what frustrates him. We don't have to wonder. And, we should be frustrated by the same things as our Father. No one has any reason to judge a brother except by that thing that will judge all! All will be judged by God's written word. It is the common denominator between all races, tribes, tongues, colors and creeds. If we do not wish to be condemned then we had better open it up and lear from it what will be judging us all in that last day! Otherwise, we may be condemned! What is right in the world’s eyes is not always what is equally correct in God’s eyes. His word explains all this.
You and I will be judged, not by man, but by God. Thus, we MUST live according to HIS revealed and plain will if we wish to be accepted by him. In the end, man’s preferences and opinions will mean little to us! God alone judges all. He is the same one who wrote the Bible. We had better meet him now in Scripture for we will all eventually stand before him in Judgment!
“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him,” Hebrews 9:27,28.
I love the book of Ephesians....
Good work, and wonderful explanation of Gods will for us.
Will we ever see it in our life time, or will we have to wait until we go HOME?