EMBRACING UNITY in the BODY’S
DIVERSITY:
I wanted to offer a sharing point this morning on a subject that really
is dear to my heart.
And I welcome those that would
like to TEST/Discern this, even though I often speak with conviction I am fully
aware that some aspects of this could be filtered through a BETTER understanding of TRUTH
that you might can offer.
The divergence of UNITY and LIKEMINDEDNESS
This subject is dear to my heart,
because I KNOW how difficult it is to come into UNITY, and I TOO, just like
many of you, often have experienced the
charge/accusations/and persecutions of those that have become bias to their particular gifting or callings.
“UNITY
OF SPIRIT:
Ep 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond
of peace
EP
4: 4 [There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of
your calling;
Ep
4: 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism
Ep
4: 6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you
all.
UNITY in
SPIRIT “DOES NOT” always MEAN that we individually
are going to TAKE the same PATH or JOURNEY to get to the END of TRUTH.
IE: To be CONFORMED to the IMAGE OF
CHIRST, nor does it mean that
INDIVIDUALLY we are going to use the
SAME GIFTING OR CALLING, in the OPERATION, to spread the gospel.
“LIKEMINDEDNESS” is an ELIMENT of UNITY of SPIRIT:
We all should BE LIKEMINDED in CHRIST
JESUS:
ROMANS 15: 5 Now
the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded
one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
LIKEMINDEDNESS
leading toward the same END:
Conformity into the IMAGE OF JESUS CHRIST
Likemindedness in a KINGDOM sense, interested
in ETERNAL things:
ALL PARTS of the BODY OF CHRIST have the indwelling SPIRIT, as a seal,
for the REBIRTH or REBORN position in JESUS CHRIST.
1 Cor 12: 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus
accursed: and [that] no man can say that “Jesus
is the Lord”, but by the Holy Ghost.
To CALL HIM LORD, is a position of
HUMILITY, service and obedience. Also a position of INHERITENCE through HIS
PROMISE of the inheritance of eternal life.
ONLY through the HOLY SPIRIT can one TRULY confess That JESUS
CHRIST IS LORD, and have TRUE CONVICTION in that ABIDING LOVE as LORD OF
LORD’S, and KING OF KINGS.
That is the “KNOWLEDGE of GOD”, THAT JESUS
CHRIST is TRUE SALVATION, For it is ONLY through the HOLY SPIRIT that one TRULY can
ACKNOWLEDGE HIS POWER and AUTHORITY.
So where do LIKEMINDEDNESS
and UNITY DIVERGE?
LET’S TAKE a CLOSER LOOK AT THE
SCRIPTURES and HOW the LORD has GIVEN
EACH PERSON a GIFTING or TALENT for the WORKING of the MINISTRY.
ACCORDING to the SCRIPTURES: we
KNOW the LORD has diversites of gifts or callings upon our lives.
1 Cor 12: 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit
1
Cor: 12: 6 And there are diversities of
operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all
ALL giftings and Calllings are of the SAME SPIRIT, SAME
GOD which Worketh ALL IN ALL
1
Cor 12: 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God
which worketh all in all.
The
gifts or callings are “DIVERSE in OPERATION/functioning
differently” all leading in the SAME DIRECTION: >>> JESUS CHRIST is SAVIOR, LORD, our
REDEEMPER, our MEDIATOR, our protector, our high tower, etc.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT KEY: neither
THE GIFTING nor the CALLING
is the GOSPEL:
EACH MINISTRY GIFT or CALLING serves as a “VITAL FUNCTION or OPERATION” in the
BODY of CHRIST, BUT the GIFT or CALLLING is NOT the GOSPEL.
The GIFTINGS are for the common good of the BODY, so that the GOSPEL can be PREACHED in
the FULLNESS OF JESUS CHRIST.
The CALLINGS upon our lives, are for the ministry and
purpose of preaching CHRIST JESUS SAVES.
The
GIFTING or CALLING is a REFLECTION/FRUIT of the REDEMPTION/RESTORATION that has
come from our WORSHIP and OBEDIENCE TOWARDS JESUS CHRIST, but it is not the GOSPEL itself. IT should be evidence/fruit of the TRUTH, that JESUS CHRIST SAVES.
There is ONLY ONE TRUE GOSPEL… JESUS CHRIST SAVES, REDEEMS, and
JUSTIFIES.
The
HAND is not supposed to force the foot to be hand.
For
the eye, the hand, and the foot “ALL” have a
specific PURPOSE in the KINGDOM
of GOD
TAKE
a CLOSE look at these scriptures:
We
can see that the LORD already KNEW we would
have CONFLICT and seek to separate ourselves
according to the giftings or callings on our LIVES. And HE warns us NOT to do that because each ONE has their unique purpose
in the KINGDOM of
GOD
1
Cor 12: If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body;
is it therefore not of the body?
So this is my
OFFERING today as an admonishment: I am going to make this VERY PERSONAL to me. I WANT to REMEMBER this for
the rest of MY LIFE.
If I ever seek to measure YOUR
faith or righteousness before God by the yardstick of MY gifting or calling, then I have FAILED to nurture and
encourage the body for which my gifting was given.
Then the MINISTRY, CALLING, or
GIFTING, itself has become the GOD of our souls, and the MESSAGE I am
presenting, is ANOTHER GOSPEL.
TOO often the GIFTING and
CALLING upon the lives of an individual becomes an IDOL unto itself. I have
seen MARRIAGES DIVIDE because of GIFTING or CALLINGS. That was NOT MEANT to be
so. I do not believe it was EVER, EVER the LORD’S intention for a woman to
leave her husband to follow a calling.
This is something I do keep in
the FOREFRONT of my MIND, maybe it would be helpful to all of us?
I have NOT shed ONE DROP of BLOOD for anyone’s redemption or salvation,
and EVEN IF I DID, EVEN if I died in my faith, or worked my hands to the bone in ministry or calling or gifting it would NOT hold an ONCE of REDEEMING POWER.
For MY BLOOD is NOT WORTHY,
and WILL never be worthy for REDEMPTION. THAT WORK was ACCOMPLISHED by ONE and
the ONLY ONE that was ACCEPTABLE. JESUS CHRIST.AMEN
There is ONE BODY,
ONE FAITH, ONE LORD…
IF
I labor let it not be THROUGH VAINITY, not according to MY GOSPEL but according
to the ONE THAT HAS CALLED. FOR HE ONLY IS WORTHY OF PRAISE.
IF
the hand seeks
to be the foot, though the WORK may be
Beautiful, it is nonetheless a work of the flesh and not the work of GOD for it
was not BROUGHT to LIFE by the HOLY SPIRIT.
To SUMMARIZE:
“ ONLY ONE DIED, and ROSE” again for my ransom
and justification, JESUS CHRIST died for ALL” we individually are not the only
focus, HE IS, and HE is interested in the BODY as a WHOLE.
THIS Is Where I
believe LIKEMINDEDNESS and TRUE UNITY begin to DIVERGE, and this is where I
believe we truly fail as a UNITIFIED BODY of BELIEVERS.
To be LIKEMINDED
means we are to be IN ONE ACCORD and UNIFIED IN CHRIST regarding HIS goals, HIS
desires and HIS eternal purposes for HIS Body.
HOWEVER, To be LIKEMINDED does not mean ALL share in the SAME working, calling or gifting. Nor does it mean we will travel the same path
in our journey toward the Kingdom
of God
We are a body comprised of DIVERSE
gifts, callings and talents who are UNIFIED IN
CHRIST expressing the work HE has done in us as HE works through each of
us for the COMMON GOOD of the Body.
Unfortunately, LIKE-MINDED people
like to gather together….. and that is
usually NOT A
GOOD THING.
I think we should be HONEST here:
I propose that the MAIN REASON for
these GATHERINGS is because:
It is “appealing
to the flesh”. We tend to gather with those of similar CALLING/GIFTING,
with the end result being that because we are traveling the same road by the
same means, there is little or no conflict with
or fellow travelers.
HOWEVER
there is a TEMPTATION to lift up that ‘SUBSET’ of the
BODY and to think of that small group as somehow ‘elite
or special’. Ultimately, the GIFT
becomes the center of focus which “DEFINES the GOSPEL”: Making the GIFT more
important than the GIVER, polluting the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST, and placing the
GIFT above the BODY for WHOM it was given.
For example: The ‘Gathering’ of
the NAR Prophets
Matt18: 1 At the
same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom
of heaven?
Matt 18: 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as
this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Blessings
in the NAME of the LORD.
To
be continued:
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