06/13/2018
How many churches are there within your congregation? How many groups of different mind, and various agenda, are milling about one another, and often find themselves at loggerheads? This is what happens when we lose focus on maintaining ourselves in the image of Jesus Christ. This is what occurs when a marriage ceases to be of one flesh.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—”
Ephesians 4:1-4 ESV
Paul warned the church at Ephesus about allowing their humanity, as seen in strong personalities focused on their own prides, and human frailties... division, begin to lead them astray of Christ. There should be a oneness within us as we humble ourselves, and follow the one hope we have, and that is Jesus.
There is a condition known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, or sometimes we call it split or multiple personalities. A good example is a woman in England that was diagnosed as having 100 distinct personalities. If you have this disorder only one of the personalities will surface at any one time, but you never know which one it will be. Can you imagine how debilitating this would be? Can you imagine trying to live with a person who was not really a person at all, but many people... all vying to present themselves? Well this is exactly what can happen in our churches, and in fact has happened many times in dysfunctional congregations since the very first churches were formed. It is contrary to the norm that Jesus wished for us to exhibit, and it tears apart the bride of Christ.
Yes there are many individual people that come to make up a church, and we are all unique personalities, but when we accept Jesus Christ something wonderful happens... we become new creations... we cease to be many, and become one in Him.
“But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”
1 Corinthians 6:17 ESV
This is exactly what we see in marriage when it abides in covenant with God. Two people ceasing to exist separately, and who become one. This is not meant to be simply a physical joining to produce offspring, but a spiritual joining that produces a family that is bound together in all ways and founded in faith to God, and love for one another.
“"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."”
Ephesians 5:31 ESV
This is what makes the Church the bride of Christ. It joins Him as one with this, His bride. But, what if He marries a bride who is suffering from multiple personalities, then who does he really marry? This is not the bride that Jesus seeks for Himself. He seeks a bride, a church, that has accepted Him, and is one in spirit with Him... a new creation for all time.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;”
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 ESV
When we find ourselves in discord, and disunity, within the church we have wandered from the way of Christ, and although we try to couch such divisions in noble arguments of faith, or disagreements in our interpretation of the will of God, they can quite simply be boiled down to people arguing their own desires... multiple personalities that have separated themselves once more from the new creation they were called to become, and should still be.
So how do we handle such situations? How do we maintain our churches in the oneness of Christ? Well, we can’t heal the church until we can heal ourselves. Churches don’t choose to dissolve... people do. Marriages don’t fail... spouses do. And in both cases the tumult can be fixed in humility, and prayer, but we must pray together. When we associate ourselves with the peacemakers, whether they are a person, an idea, or a Word, then calm returns and arguments become discussions. The nature of Jesus wasn’t divisiveness or discord, but unity, harmony, and peace... it also meant a singularity in belief and a focus on Him.
Jesus fed on the will of God, and he remained in prayer always. This is the example He set for us. Are we ready to follow Him in this, or will we make a pretense of it as we wrap ourselves in a foil of spirituality while remaining to be the same ugly self within? We say we seek Him, and we say that we are new creations, but time and time again the old man surfaces, and our deceitfulness arises. How is this? It is because we cease the hard work of prayer, and stop following the will of God. Let’s listen to Paul and walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Let’s stop going to church and simply become the Church. Let’s take our differences, and make them subservient to Jesus.
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
Romans 12:4-5 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ in whom we have become new creations, and one church. I thank you for the humility and peacefulness that He exhibited in His life, and the example of prayer and obedience to your will that he set for us. Help us Holy Father to be more like Him each day. Help us to draw Him into us like the deep breath of a runner... each breath being gasped as if our life depended on it... every breath bringing us relief. Lead us out of discord Merciful Father, and teach us to overcome our pride and humanity as we pray ourselves into humble accord, and form ourselves into an acceptable bride for your Son. Let your Word mold us into one spirit, and defeat the legion that threatens us. Let us find ourselves to be one spirit and one body, and serve you with one heart... one mind. You are a great God, and call the many to you where we are joined as one. Holy are you my God, and the Potter whose hands formed us, turned us, and fingerprinted us as your masterpiece... to become your church. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the resolver of conflict, and the peacemaker’s voice.
Rich Forbes