The One
Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 4:3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so too is Christ. 12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. 12:14 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. 12:15 If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 12:16 And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? 12:18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. 12:19 If they were all the same member, where would the body be? 12:20 So now there are many members, but one body. 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.”But we do this all the time, don’t we? The pacifist says to the warrior, “I don’t need you! You’re chasing the wolves away!” And the technical says to the emotional, “I don’t need you! You’re inviting the wolves in for dinner!”
When will we learn that all body parts do not have the same function? When will we accept the views and methods of others in the Body of Christ without demanding that the eye be the hand, or the foot be the nose? When will we let each other do what we were designed to do, and stop stabbing each other in the back for not doing everything one way?
Unity is not found in performance but in faith. I will contend side by side with the pacifists-- as long as they don’t tell me how to do my job. I will defend the gospel along side Calvinists-- as long as they show the love and acceptance of the Holy Spirit. I’d sooner work with that person than a non-Calvinist who is full of anger toward other believers. As I said in the Hypocrisy article, the people I can’t stand are the believers who commit the faults they charge other believers with, such as charging those of us who challenge false teachings with being too negative, but they do so in a very negative way. Somehow it’s okay for THEM to criticize, but not for others.
Balance, people!
Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stand or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)Now don’t go parroting the “judge not” idea as if it means to never practice discernment. We MUST judge:Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. (Romans 2:1)
1 Cor. 5:12-13 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside? But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you.Hopefully, now you see that we all have the same Spirit but different jobs and ways of service. We must all just do what we are gifted to do and stop looking around to see if everyone is also doing exactly what we are.1 Cor. 6:1-8 6:1 When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints? 6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits? 6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? Why not ordinary matters! 6:4 So if you have ordinary lawsuits, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church? 6:5 I say this to your shame! Is there no one among you wise enough to settle disputes between fellow Christians? 6:6 Instead, does a Christian sue a Christian, and do this before unbelievers? 6:7 The fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 6:8 But you yourselves wrong and cheat, and you do this to your brothers and sisters!
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.