Unity- Part 4

Really, I hoped to not be so “serious” and “spiritual” all the time on this blog . . . I’m just taken with this topic right now… someday soon (hopefully) I’ll have a “just for fun” blog…

Part 4:  We go farther together. 

This is one of the biggest hurdles for us in the Western world.  We live individualistic lives in pretty much every area; we really don’t even have much of a grid for having any kind of “corporate” identity, wether it be in a family, a church, a community, whatever.  We value our independance and personal journey.  There is a reality to a personal journey and our relationship with God.  However, it can’t just be “me and Jesus”. 

See, there is ONE Body.  And, the Father is preparing a Wedding (see Matthew 22) where there will be ONE BRIDE.  Our identity will be so intertwined and connected with one another, that we can truly be called “one”.  There’s no reference to the “harem” of Christ (heard that once and it stuck with me . 

So, one person may speak of amazing personal revelations and experiences they have in the Lord.  However, if that cannot find an expression that impacts others and draws all of us into more of the “fullness of Christ”, there’s a problem.  As they say, “no man is an island”, I think the same concept is reflected in our life in the Spirit.  Don’t get me wrong, we should ALL have a personal, private history with God.  We cannot live off of another person’s pursuit of the Holy, some how siphoning spiritual reality when we haven’t pressed in ourselves.  On the other hand, people who find no need for the corporate expressions of worship, and feel hindered because they just want to “go” in God, and others “just don’t understand” are missing out on the greatest blessing of all. 

We ARE called to love God in the most extravagant personal, all-consuming way possible (first commandment: love God with everything).  We are ALSO called to love others (second greatest command!).  Our relationship to the Lord is intricately connected to the life and love we share with others. 

God has a desire to cause us to attain to the “fullness of Christ” — to somehow grab hold of ALL that Christ is– but, it only happens in relationship to one another!!  (see Ephesians 4:12-13, “. . . that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the.. fullness of Christ).  This is amazing, stunning, and challenging all at the same time! 

Let me throw out a few of the most startling Scriptures related to this:

Paul prayed…”that you may be able to comprehend together with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;  that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:18-19 

Paul prays that we would comprehend the great love of God — and be filled with the fullness of God — but only in the context of “wiith ALL the saints”.  We get it TOGETHER. 

 the commanded blessing: “See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard ……. for THERE the Lord commands the blessing — life forevermore.” Psalm 133:1-3 

Not only is it GOOD and PLEASANT (that means God really likes it!), it says that He COMMANDS a blessing…. there’s a blessing that cannot be stopped, because it is commanded by God Himself!!  It is an ETERNAL blessing, and powerful blessing:  “life forevermore” — could that mean the RESURRECTION LIFE and POWER of Jesus?????  We are supposed to have His POWER in us!  So what could this commanded blessing and “life forevermore” contain??……. 

This promise seems to be partly fulfilled in the book of Acts: “They were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house …. then there appeared to them tongues of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:1-3) “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.  Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.  There wasn’t anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:31-35) 

Wow!  Obviously as the people came together in Unity, great power was released!  It’s awesome!   

“And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people.  And they were all with one accord at the Temple area known as Solomon’s Colonnade.”  Acts 5:12… and more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord — crowds of both men and women…… Crowds came in from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.”  Acts 5:14-16

I could happy to love Jesus in my little corner of life.  But, He has SO much more for us!  How could we not come together, and find out what the reality of knowing the FULLNESS of God is??

 

Unity- Part 3

okay, finally.  I’ve been wanting to continue this thread– this topic won’t leave me alone!

but first, more important things: for those who are eagerly following along, I updated the Baby page, as we have our first PICTURE!!!  WOO! Check it out!

What else is necessary for unity?  Humility.

Ah, that crush to the carnal nature we all struggle with: humilty [if you haven't read my first blog on Humility, check it out here].  I don’t think anyone is ”naturally” humble.  We are all born with a lean towards making ourselves into the center of our attention, “self-gods”, kind of.  What dictates what we do?  Our self.  Who tells us what we should do?  Our self.  Who has the final say in pretty much everything?  Our self… you get the point.  Even those who would claim to serve God, in the final analysis probably are led more by self than by God or his directions. 

But, all is not lost.  We’ve been given an amazing example:  Jesus Christ.  Though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor, so that though His poverty, we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).  The One who could have and should have been worshipped and followed came to earth to serve, emptied out everything, to give us everything.  Amazing!  The Greater serving the lesser, making them.. Great! 

Why?  Love.  He was so committed to love us, to show us His love, to captivate us with His affection, He would go to any length.  Really, it should have been us, trying to go to any length to show love and affection and commitment to Him: the One who holds eternity, and is worthy to be served by every human being (one day, He will be!)!  But, He turned the tables, did what we would never do– bowed low, the Uncreated One, serving those He created.  It’s completely unthinkable, yet true.  “Here is love, vast as the ocean . . . . “     

If we’ve truly been touched by Him and this truth…

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. . . [Philippians 2:1-5]

If we’ve been touched with the reality of Christ, the natural end will be that we should be (or eagerly desire to be) “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose”.  How do we come to a place where we operate in a oneness of spirit and purpose?  It is when we don’t seek our own gain and do only what we think is important and excites us, but consider others BETTER than us. 

C’mon, how often do you look at your neighbor and say to yourself, “they’re better than me; I should treat them with more honor and value than I do myself”?  But, that’s exactly how we should approach our relationships with one another!  It’s easier said and though than done, I know.  But, in God’s eyes, the way for me to be truly be great, is to get down on my knees and do whatever I can to make YOU great!  It’s what Jesus did.  Am I better than Him?   

 

Unity- Part 2

If you have n’t read Part 1 of this series, to that first: click here. 

After you’ve done that you might want to check out this interesting post about corporate times of praise/worship — funny, we all use different words to describe this time we share together glorifying God, singing songs, etc…. and there are actually 9 “worship words” in the Hebrew/Greek texts of the Bible — anyhow, he doesn’t do an in-depth exposition on all the words, but hits the heart of the matter.  I think you’ll enjoy. 

 Ok, so Part 2.  I couldn’t wait to post more.  My first post was so general on Unity.  And there’s so much more bubbling in me! 

One of the main reasons efforts at “unity” among Christians fail:  making “unity” the goal. 

That seems strange, right?  If you want to accomplish something, like becoming more “unified”, you set your sights on how you can make THAT thing happen, right?  Right.  Well, in most cases that is true in life.  But, I don’t think it works here. 

They say that nothing can bring “unity” among a group of people better than a common “enemy”.  This is how armed forces become such tight units, caring for one another, willing to sacrifice life and limb for one another.  It’s because they’re not focused on each other, and making sure the group is “ok” or safe.  There is a HIGHER purpose, a goal outside of themselves, a calling to fulfill destiny for many.  A common cause brings a common bond.  And not just agreeing to the common cause, but a heart and soul dedication to that cause — willingness to sacrifice self for the greater good.  In an army, laying your life down is for the greater good, and you do it willingly because it’s what you signed up for; you wanted to be a part of winning the “war”, squelching evil and protecting the greater good for all of mankind (more or less; I’m trying to generalize the mindset here — you get it, right?). 

In the call of our destiny to become One in Jesus, it will be because we are committed to a higher call, a greater good, and so dedicated to it that our lives are willingly laid down.  What is the greater good, then? 

 Is it that we would “get along” and like each other?  Or, is it that we could do activities together and say that we did this thing with that group that’s “different” than us?  Is it just a tacit agreement that “well, we’re Christians, so we’re supposed to be on the same team”. 

I say no. 

The higher calling is the glory of God.  That God Himself and His Son Jesus would receive honor and praise from more people and that His Kingdom would come more fully on Earth as it is in Heaven.   For this we are willing to lay our lives down, give up comfort, honor, pride, personal preferences, etc.  We love Him and He is worthy of it all and more.  That is the call that will truly unify us and cause us to love one another and humble ourselves and say “you’re better than me”, “your life and welfare is more important to me than my own”.

 So, why does is not seem to work when different groups try to “unify”.  Well, in my opinion, it’s because we look to ourselves and to each other.  We seek unity, not God and His high calling.  And, we end up factoring everything down to the lowest common denominator, i.e. “well, what are the basics that we can agree on, so nobody gets offended?”  What does this approach produce?  A lukewarm, “dumbed-down” cause with no passion, no teeth, no bite, no power.  It is self-protecting instead of sacrificial; it covets comfort instead of victory and battles won.  Istead of looking down, to the “basics”, we should look up to the higher calling and let it call us UPWARD. 

In the process, we will all be challenged — not to require less of one another, but MORE of ourselves– to give more, to humble ourselves, serve those around us and be obedient in love (to the One who loved us), even to death.  that is, I might have to die to what I “like”, my personal preferences, my position of power, my “vision”, etc. 

Ouch.

Why would I want to do that?  Because Jesus did that for me, and I’m madly in love with Him.       

 

Unity- Part 1

Ah.  I’m learning a lot about this… or, I feel like I am.

 

I have long been burdened to see unity happen in the people of God.  I have given of myself to try and see this happen.  But, I guess it’s harder than one would expect. 

 John 17:20-23  “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:  I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

This was Jesus’ prayer for US!  For you and me!  He was thinking of those of us who would be following in His footsteps hundreds of years after He had died and rose into Heaven, forever interceding for us.  His great desire of us was that we would express the perfection of unity, just like He had with his Father.  His plea to the Father was that we would become “one” like the Godhead.  Amazing!  How can we even understand the unity within God; that the distinct Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three individuals, yet One Being??  And, how could WE — diverse people, ministries, groups, etc. –  EVER express the complete UNITY that God has within Himself??  HOW?!  I mean, our feeble minds can’t even understand the reality of it – how are we to EMBODY it – this reality that we can’t even define clearly?!

 

Yet, it was the prayer of the Son, to His Father.  God, speaking to God.  Would the Father deny His Son this one desire??  No way.  The Father would be pleased to grant the answer to this perfect prayer, the prayer of His Beloved Son!  Does He lack the power to do this?  Never.  It is guaranteed.  It will be.  It will be.    

So, why does it seem so impossible?!?!

 

Jesus prayed that we would be “one” as He and the Father were/are one; i.e. sharing the same emotions, feelings, thoughts – and submitted in love to one another, rejoicing in one another and enjoying bringing joy to each other. 

 

Not only will we be One with one another, we will be One with God Himself!!  Talk about two very DIFFERENT beings . . . becoming ONE!  God wants to share HIS glory with us!  His glory is His goodness!  He is going to share HIS goodness with us, it will be OUR goodness.  Not only that, we will love Jesus AS MUCH as the Father loves Jesus.

 

WOAH.

 

The question is:  how much does the Father love His Son??

 

I’ll stop there, for now.  Unity has been burning in me.  But, I’ll do this in segments, so as not to overwhelm you.  If you’re at all interested in following my train of thought let me know . . . but, I’ll probably keep posting anyhow, even if no one responds.  J