GOD HAS MADE US IN CHRIST TO BE ONE
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
Finally this week we come to the whole purpose for whom we are in Christ, which is to be one with him in the spirit of God. When we look back at Paul's ministry to the church we find that he was sent by Christ to the Gentiles, and not the Jews. One of the basic purposes in Christ's ministry was to establish a unity among his followers. Christ has destroyed the barriers people build between themselves. Because these walls have been removed by Christ we can have real unity with others who are not like us. This is true reconciliation because of Christ's death, we can all become one. In Ephesians 2: 14 Paul writes "for he himself is our peace who has made the 21 and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations."
If we continue to try to separate ourselves from others through divisions of doctrines and creeds that we have set up we fail that goal in Christ of unity. In most cases if we fail in allowing ourselves to be unified in Christ we also will fail in our efforts to allow God's Spirit to transform our lives. I find it interesting that one of the main things that Jesus has desired for us to put to death in this world is our tendency to divide ourselves against one another. Our hostility against each other has been put to death we can all have access to the father by the Holy Spirit we are no longer foreigners or aliens to God and we are all being built into a holy temple with Christ as our chief cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:14-21
We find that there are many barriers that can divide us from other Christians. Some of these are not divisions of doctrines as much as they are general physical differences. Things like age, appearance, intelligence, political persuasion, economic status, race, and theological perspective are among things that divide us on a physical basis. One of the best ways to stifle God's love through us is to be friendly with only those people that we like, or who are like us. Fortunately Christ is not down the barriers and his unified all believers in one family. That was the purpose for his establishment of the church. His cross should be the focus of our unity. The Holy Spirit helps us look be on the barriers to the unity that we are called on to enjoy. Jesus brought with his ministry a new covenant between God and man that goes beyond mere religion and starts to deal with the reality of love and family. By Christ's death on the cross the angry resentment between Jews and Gentiles which was caused by Jewish laws that favor the Jews and excluded the Gentiles was ended. Christ actually died in a sentence to abolish that whole system laws and regulations that men had built up to divide themselves against one another, and then he made them to become part of "one new man"through unifying all of these groups under the Lordship of the Holy Spirit.
We have an opportunity to begin to see the truth of what the church should be, and then take action on making sure that God's Spirit is once again in charge of every aspect of our unity with God. That will not happen unless we can humble ourselves before Christ, repent of those things that we have been doing two separate ourselves from one another, and to dedicate ourselves in a brand new way to listen to and obey the direction and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. The church is not the building, and the church is not in the one group of people claiming to follow God, but rather the church is made up of us as individual parts of a whole body worldwide. I look upon the Christian today is almost being an individual cell within the body of Christ. In that light if we war against one another we cause irritation within the body. If that irritation goes on long enough it can lead to cancer, which if not treated can be devastating. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Finally this week we come to the whole purpose for whom we are in Christ, which is to be one with him in the spirit of God. When we look back at Paul's ministry to the church we find that he was sent by Christ to the Gentiles, and not the Jews. One of the basic purposes in Christ's ministry was to establish a unity among his followers. Christ has destroyed the barriers people build between themselves. Because these walls have been removed by Christ we can have real unity with others who are not like us. This is true reconciliation because of Christ's death, we can all become one. In Ephesians 2: 14 Paul writes "for he himself is our peace who has made the 21 and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations."
If we continue to try to separate ourselves from others through divisions of doctrines and creeds that we have set up we fail that goal in Christ of unity. In most cases if we fail in allowing ourselves to be unified in Christ we also will fail in our efforts to allow God's Spirit to transform our lives. I find it interesting that one of the main things that Jesus has desired for us to put to death in this world is our tendency to divide ourselves against one another. Our hostility against each other has been put to death we can all have access to the father by the Holy Spirit we are no longer foreigners or aliens to God and we are all being built into a holy temple with Christ as our chief cornerstone.
Ephesians 2:14-21
We find that there are many barriers that can divide us from other Christians. Some of these are not divisions of doctrines as much as they are general physical differences. Things like age, appearance, intelligence, political persuasion, economic status, race, and theological perspective are among things that divide us on a physical basis. One of the best ways to stifle God's love through us is to be friendly with only those people that we like, or who are like us. Fortunately Christ is not down the barriers and his unified all believers in one family. That was the purpose for his establishment of the church. His cross should be the focus of our unity. The Holy Spirit helps us look be on the barriers to the unity that we are called on to enjoy. Jesus brought with his ministry a new covenant between God and man that goes beyond mere religion and starts to deal with the reality of love and family. By Christ's death on the cross the angry resentment between Jews and Gentiles which was caused by Jewish laws that favor the Jews and excluded the Gentiles was ended. Christ actually died in a sentence to abolish that whole system laws and regulations that men had built up to divide themselves against one another, and then he made them to become part of "one new man"through unifying all of these groups under the Lordship of the Holy Spirit.
We have an opportunity to begin to see the truth of what the church should be, and then take action on making sure that God's Spirit is once again in charge of every aspect of our unity with God. That will not happen unless we can humble ourselves before Christ, repent of those things that we have been doing two separate ourselves from one another, and to dedicate ourselves in a brand new way to listen to and obey the direction and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives. The church is not the building, and the church is not in the one group of people claiming to follow God, but rather the church is made up of us as individual parts of a whole body worldwide. I look upon the Christian today is almost being an individual cell within the body of Christ. In that light if we war against one another we cause irritation within the body. If that irritation goes on long enough it can lead to cancer, which if not treated can be devastating. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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