1 Corinthians 1:10a, “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church...” NLT
God desires that his children live in harmony with one another. It breaks His heart when he sees relational division in the body of Christ.
Let’s pretend while taking a shower this morning (hopefully you did that) your right arm did a great job of washing your left arm, but then when it was your left arm’s turn to wash your right arm, your left arm did a subpar job - and consequently your right arm was offended and therefore refused to help your left arm put on your clothes for the day. Image how difficult it would be to put on your shirt with only one arm. Imagine the difficulty of putting on your pants and buckling your belt with only one arm.
In the same way that your physical body was designed to work together in harmony to be effective, so it is with the body of Christ. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:12 “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” NLT Just as a human body is supposed to be a united whole, with all the parts working in harmony with one another, so should it be with the body of Christ (the church).
Division among the members of your physical body will render you ineffective at whatever it is you’re trying to do. And the same thing is true of the body of Christ. For those who don’t know - the church is on a mission to make disciples. And when we don't work in harmony with each other, we're rendered ineffective.
Therefore, we ought to do everything within our power to pave the way to peace with our other brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the clear teaching of the Bible both in the Old Testament and New.
God desires that his children live in harmony with one another. It breaks His heart when he sees relational division in the body of Christ.
Let’s pretend while taking a shower this morning (hopefully you did that) your right arm did a great job of washing your left arm, but then when it was your left arm’s turn to wash your right arm, your left arm did a subpar job - and consequently your right arm was offended and therefore refused to help your left arm put on your clothes for the day. Image how difficult it would be to put on your shirt with only one arm. Imagine the difficulty of putting on your pants and buckling your belt with only one arm.
In the same way that your physical body was designed to work together in harmony to be effective, so it is with the body of Christ. Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:12 “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” NLT Just as a human body is supposed to be a united whole, with all the parts working in harmony with one another, so should it be with the body of Christ (the church).
Division among the members of your physical body will render you ineffective at whatever it is you’re trying to do. And the same thing is true of the body of Christ. For those who don’t know - the church is on a mission to make disciples. And when we don't work in harmony with each other, we're rendered ineffective.
Therefore, we ought to do everything within our power to pave the way to peace with our other brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the clear teaching of the Bible both in the Old Testament and New.
- In the Old Testament Psalm 133:1 says, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” NIV
- In the New Testament Jesus prayed for his disciples in John 17:11, “...Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.” NIV God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit live in harmony with one another. They work in unison with each other (i.e. God the Father sent God the Son into the world that the world might find salvation in him. And God the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin and helps them see their need for Jesus). They are one and here Jesus prays that we would be one, so that people far from God the Father, can be led by God the Holy Spirit to God the Son (who is Jesus).
- The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” NIV To have no conflict is unrealistic. We live in a sin-filled world and have stubborn sinful natures. As a result some conflict goes unresolved. But as far as it depends on us, we’re to live at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ - with the other members of the body of Christ. That means that we do all we can to create harmony and destroy any possible cause of division and conflict.
- As Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3, “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” NLT We won’t resolve every single conflict on this side of eternity unfortunately, but we’re to make every effort to, for this greatly pleases the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment