There are only a few essential doctrines that
must be adhered to to be a true follower of Christ Jesus according to the
Apostles Creed. We must believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, that He lived a sinless
life, that He bled and died and rose from the dead to take away our sins, that
He ascended physically to heaven and that He will return just as He left in His
physical body and that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.
I contend that we are, if we would look beyond
the barriers of our particular church doctrines, unified as brothers and
sisters in Christ. Our particular denomination may have a different view of
some things because of the place in the body the Lord has stationed us. I believe it is time for local bodies to put
aside their differences and recognize that we need to bless our brothers and
sisters work for the Kingdom. The word says we shouldn’t allow divisions among
us, diversity yes, division, absolutely not.
I believe things that others in the body do
not, but nothing I believe undermines the fundamental doctrines necessary for
salvation through Jesus Christ. This is one area we must agree on; that we can
agree to disagree and still be able to bless one another’s efforts to reach the
lost and dying while tending the flock we have been entrusted with.
I hope we can agree that when the Lord returns
He is coming for a bride and that the bride is one body with many parts that
function in different roles. He is the head of the body and will treat each
part of it with equal respect and that He will honor the whole body as His own.
I offer for your consideration a word I heard
a number of years ago at a unity meeting I attended. The speaker shared from the
passage of scripture where Jesus was serving ‘Communion’ to His disciples. When
Jesus gave the disciples the wine and bread He said as often as you do this “Remember”
me.
The speaker
used a ‘play on words’ as he described how grieved he believed the Lord is over
the divisions within the body. He said that the divisions needed to end and
that we as leaders should join the prayer of Jesus for us to be one even as He
and the Father are one. The way to begin bridging the gap and bring healing to His
broken body was to ask the Holy Spirit to “Re – Member” us, or to bring us back
together and fit us together into one fully functioning body again.
There is much more to this play on words but
for now I ask that believers begin to ask for the body to be “Re-Membered” as
we draw closer to His return. I am praying that He will sweep across the body
with a spirit of unity that will dispel the lie that we must be uniform to be
able to love each other as He intends us to. Will you join me and agree in
prayer for the Spirit of God to tear down the walls that have kept us apart?
It is worth mentioning that we are all
priests and that the word priest means ‘bridge builders’ or repairer of a
breach. Who will lay the first plank to repair the breach?
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