Many
topics arise in the New Testament, one that is of utmost importance to Paul was
unity among the family of God.
Paul treats this as one of the most crucial matters for
God's family that he invokes the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to emphasize how
much this matters to him and the Lord Himself.
In our day of Church splits and
rifts that develop unchecked between Church members and denominations, there is
much more that unites us than divides us and Paul is drawing attention to that
fact.
As the family of God, we hold the message of Jesus who died for the sake
of all humankind, and with that message, we can impart forgiveness and the life
of Christ to others who receive that message and make Christ Jesus their own
Lord and Savior.
The message of the cross has no room for discord and
infighting, which characterizes the divisive splits which have divided God's
family for generations. Rather than advancing the kingdom of God, we have
tended to push our platforms or ideological agendas. These mean nothing to
Christ.
"If a kingdom is divided against itself, that
kingdom cannot last. And if a household is divided against itself, that
household will not last."
Mark 3:24-25 (GW)
Jesus had permanence in mind when He made the statement "a kingdom divided against itself, that kingdom
cannot last." The
context was about the kingdom of Satan and its rule being divided, Jesus used a
negative example to prove a point, there cannot be permanence where authority
is divided among differing opposing ideologies.
When it comes to God's kingdom,
there can only be one King with one purpose, which is to expand His kingdom of
love to fill the entire earth.
The Jewish tradition of God being one God is
spoken of in the Shema. The Shema is a declaration of the basic principle of
Jewish belief, proclaiming God's absolute unity.
"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God; the Lord is
one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your might."
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
(NASB)
Even though God is revealed in scripture as a Father who
abides in another (otherworldly) dimension, there are also examples of
embodiment in which the Father has taken on flesh and revealed himself as a
human; this is evident in the life of Jesus Christ. There are also examples of
a spiritual personality, which is also an example of the Godhead, which speaks
of God's desires and intentions to people in the form of whispers and
inspiration. The Shema unites all three of these facets of God into one
expression, thus proclaiming God's unity.
In the Hebrew, it reads: "Yahweh our Elohiym is one Yahweh." It is implying that Yahweh is unique, holy, and set
apart from and not like any other Elohiym, (an Elohiym is a name for a ruler or judge, a divine
one chosen to rule) Yet,
Yahweh is entirely different.
The Israelites said in the Shema that "The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" Not only does Yahweh have three different
facets of His person (Father,
Son, & Holy Spirit) all
equally God yet still one, the Israelites also said, "…Yahweh, our
Elohiym, is one Yahweh" (the
one and only.) They
recognized that there was none higher than Yahweh. He is the true God, and
there is no other.
Our God is a blending of different facets of His character,
which fully represent who He is. He is a devoted benevolent Father who loves
his family, He is a son who is an heir to a kingdom in which all of the
creation resides, and He is a Spirit which empowers and communicates His
desires to men. Although each aspect of His character (or nature) is
different, they all operate in complete concert together (total unity) to form a complete picture of who God is.
"Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets,
missionaries, pastors, and teachers, so that his people would learn to serve
and his body would grow strong. This will continue until we are united by our
faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we will be mature, just
as Christ is, and we will be completely like him."
Ephesians 4:11-13
(CEV)
The purpose of being Christ-followers is for us to
receive the Faith of Christ and walk in that faith. We must live in unity with
our brothers and sisters by utilizing the talents and gifts we have been given
so that by serving each other, we form a perfect representation of God as we
grow strong individually and corporately. That is what Paul is describing as
the unity of the faith.
Unity has a purpose, and that purpose is to reflect the
multi-faceted characteristics of the believers as one body, much like how God
has different facets of His nature reflected as one. Paul says that when we
reach the unity of faith with all of our brothers and sisters, we will reach
the end (complete maturity) and a full understanding of Christ (this anointing) and ultimately reflect the divine nature.
Satan hates unity, for it speaks of his demise and an end
to his plans. He has injected sin into every human attempt for unity. There is
no way for man to achieve unity without Jesus, who has removed the curse of
sin. Any human effort to achieve unity apart from Jesus is destined for
failure, for there is no natural cure for sin. Truthfully, everyone must come
to the cross of Jesus and die to their sinful nature before they can even
become aware of and partake of the divine nature.
"We have everything we need to live a life that
pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he
had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous
promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our
evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world"
2 Peter 1:3-4 (CEV)
We are on this journey of faith given to us by Jesus,
which has as its end the goal for us to be like our heavenly Father and reflect
His characteristics and nature; this is accomplished through the anointing or impartation of (the Christ) which
makes us more like Him. The result of this change is that we can rule and reign
with our heavenly Father on the earth and bring forth a more righteous
government, one that will not be subject to corruption but will be under the
rule and reign of our heavenly Father with His sons and daughters as regents.
I, for one, invite unity among the saints as the highest
goal we could achieve at this present time. It speaks volumes of the mercy and
grace of our God.
Be Blessed;
Stephen Barnett
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