Christian music

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Repairing Unity

Today, many churches are spinning their wheel because of their lack of unity. Divisions reveal themselves in power struggles between families, groups in the congregation, the leaders vs. the members, and even between parties in the leadership.

Sometimes, these divisions cause church splits or numbers of people leave and/or forced to leave the congregation in an atmosphere of bitterness. Certainly, this scenario does not give the church a good name in the community nor cause folk to believe in Jesus.

So, how do we repair unity?

1. Accept
Romans 15:7—Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

If a person has met the Biblical condition for fellowship with Christ, then we must accept him as our brother and as a part of our fellowship—even if he disagrees with us on a host of other issues.

2. Forgive
Colossians 3:13—Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

We must forgive because Jesus has already paid the price and in order to show God that we understand that forgiveness is not based on what we do, but on what He has done—grace.

3. Love
Colossians 3:14—And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Love makes this whole plan for unity possible. Love is more than acceptance and forgiveness; it is an attitude that results in action. Love is not just feelings about others; it is the manner in which we treat them.

4. Serve
Ephesians 4:11-13—Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Nothing will bring us closer to each other (even those we disagree with) than working hand in hand together in service to our Lord.

A church at peace and in service to the Gospel is a church that will attract many. For Christ’s sake, for our sake, for the sake of the lost, let us make every effort to attain and maintain the unity of the Spirit.

2 comments:

Tim said...

Good stuff. It is amazing. When you think of it, all four things mentioned can not stand alone. If you do one then the others will follow.

Preacher Phil said...

Yes! If folks will only take that first step the church could actually be the church