The world has been talking about unity lately. If you have watched anything Joe Biden has said since Inauguration Day, you have heard him claim he is going to bring unity to the United States. Of course the world’s definition of unity means, “Everyone, think like I want you to think, do what I want you to do, and be who I want you to be.” This is not unity at all. Instead that type of call to unity is actually slavery and conformity.
The Change Jesus Desires
I believe Jesus is making a call to unity. (Which is also why we are suddenly hearing unity proclaimed in the world. Satan only knows how to imitate. He has no ability to be original.) God’s call of unity is much different than what the world is wanting. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul describes who we are when we come into the family of God. Paul declares we are part of the body of Christ. We each play a vital role in allowing the body to work at its best. Paul points out we can’t all be an eye because then we wouldn’t have any sense of hearing. We must all be different members of one body. It’s a good thing we all play a different role in the body of Christ.
As I was in prayer, I felt the Lord saying, “I desire unity. I want to bring together all the best parts of each denomination to make one super powered body.” I felt he went on to say, “I really love the reverence of denominations like the Lutherens, I love the passion for my word of the Baptists, and I love the faith and energy that comes from the charismatics.” I believe it’s time for all of God’s people to come together.
How We Can Bring Unity
Each of us brings something unique and vital to his body. We need to recognize what we bring to the body may look and feel different than what you bring. We need to learn to appreciate the value each branch of the body brings. Stop judging this body part because they look and serve differently than you do.
We are to show love and be love to each part of the body of Christ. The end of 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, “And I will show you a still more excellent way.” What are the next words written? 1 Corinthians 13, “The Love Chapter.” Paul then extorts us, who he just called the body of Christ, to love.
What Will You Do
How can you show love to someone who worships God differently than you do? Will you ask God what it is he loves about their methodology? How will you come alongside your different body part to encourage them to be the best body part they can be, even when they think differently about a given topic than you.
Of course, we need to ensure they are in fact a part of the body of Christ. That’s easy though. Just ask them what they believe it takes to be saved. They will answer, “Believing in Jesus as Savior and making him Lord of your life.” Once they answer the question of salvation correctly, you know they are a part of the body of Christ, and thus a part of your own body. We are one just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. Jesus prayed for us to be one as he is one with the Father in John 17. Go read his prayer. It will change the way you look at your brothers and sisters in Christ.
In closing, I want to give you 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:13 to read. Think about what Paul is saying here. Think about how chapter 13 describes our role, no matter what part of the body we belong to. Then join me in praying for unity within the body of Christ. When each body part becomes united with Jesus, and we stop bickering about how one part of the body works differently than we do, we as the body of Christ will be unstoppable in advancing His kingdom.
We Are One Body
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
We Can’t All Be An Eye
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
We Must Love
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (ESV)
Prayer
Lord, thank you for answering the prayer of Jesus in John 17, where he prays, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us…” Thank you for giving us the gift of unity, and help us to walk in the oneness you have provided so richly. Thank you for making us one in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit to walk in your unity, and being unified with the body of Christ around us. Continue to show us the better way, the way of love.
Thank you for filling us with your patient love and your kind love, your love that doesn’t envy or boast or keep record of wrongs. Father, continue to teach us your ways. Help us to pour out grace and forgiveness to every person around us. Let us see our brothers and sisters in Christ through your eyes, and may the gifts you’ve given us be used for their good and your glory, for the building up of the Church. In Jesus’ name, amen!
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