Unity is only possible in a loving acceptance of those who follow Christ and claim Him as their God.
Sounds good John but at this point attempting to lovingly unify with all of those who claim to follow Christ and say He is their God
would accomplish something like Babel or the UN where it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation.
Each serves the Master in our own way and this is not only as it should be, it is by the appointment of God (Ro 14:4). Romans 14 records the vertical relationship each has with the Father. We are made correct by another -- "... and he will make us to stand." We are not correct (in terms of thought) without the Divine hand of God's fellowship. God is light and those who walk in His presence already have fellowship with one another ".. if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light we are having fellowship with one another ..." (I Jo 1:7). In terms of "creating fellowship with the others, we are passively involved as seen in the 1st John reference and as stated in Acts 2:47, the Lord does the saving and the adding to. We do not "lovingly unify" anything, rather we accept the fellowship of the Body of Christ into which we have been placed by another (God) and deal with our problems in that light. I am probably preaching to the choir on this -- but I wanted to cover all the bases.
To keep the peace we
must stay with surface issues only because digging a little deeper would cause what is really going on to come to the surface.
This, of course, is not what I advocating, either.
It is my belief that true unity will only happen as we unify around the truth of God's Word so as to have one mind and one heart in Christ. This is not a present reality that I can see but I do believe that this is what the Church He is coming back for is going to look like because LOVE always rejoices in the Truth.
The grandest of all illustrations presenting our relationship to one another is surely that of the "family" -- God the Father, Christ the Son and we who have been adopted into this family. And why do we suppose this illustration is used by God. Because we all know how a family should function. Because we all know how a loving and caring family survives in the presence of each other. And how is that. Well, I can only speak for my family -- seven children; one own's a dairy and is very conservative, another is a lawyer and about as left wing as our Canadian buds, one a minister, two are worship leaders and housewives, there is a doctor in the house and still working on matters of faith, one has escaped to Colorado against the wishes of the Mom -- some tearful and even heated exchanges occurred during that one and so one. Lots of opinion. A very successful family with LOTS OF EGO. The point, if not obvious, is that family unity is real and vital when a loving respect and acceptance is center to all other considerations. And that exists in our family. Guaranteed, the bigger the family the more obvious this consideration becomes. Note that I did not say that this was the only circumstance in which unity can occur but it is the primary consideration. Most of us in our family shares the same "divinely appointed political view" but that really does little in terms of fulfillment. Correct thinking really does little to bind us together but it sure as heck can tear us apart.
I have a brother in Christ, he considers himself a prophet but he is really not. What do we do with this guy? In some churches he would be deleted. But those of us who know him see his love for the Lord and his zeal to do the right thing. Morgan is his name. Morgan is the one who would stand in front of a firing squad for the Lord while I, for example, would be running to get help. And so Morgan is truly a family member -- he is just a little goofy in terms of what he thinks. We all love him and, yes, we pretend that he is NOT goofy when in his company. He is accepted because the focus is on that which exalts him. We see his courage and know that none of us measure up to him in that -- we think of him more highly that we consider ourselves in that one thing -- and that is enough to maintain a loving relationship. God in Christ has made amends for his incorrectness. We can love those with whom we disagree and "unity" exists the second we do because the reall differences have been solved in Christ.
This is a public forum BUT it is really more than that (as are all Christian forums) because it entertains the opinions of those who claim the name and serve the Savior.
Anyway -- enough said by me. You either accept the point of view or not. It makes little difference to me in terms of my respect for you and your individual place in the sight of the God you serve.
a brother, John Smithson
Grace and Peace,
Judy.
