Unity in the Church

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on February 18, 2014 at 10:42pm

Frankly, I'm very tired of hearing all the bashing of local churches as well as of the universal church. In every congregation there are people who are struggling with their sin who aren't fully sanctified and are at various spiritual levels from newborns on up, and a case could be made for even preemies, I suppose, still in incubators. It's going to look like a mess, just like a busy ER in a hospital, but God is Sovereign and still in control, and just like in the ER, when everyone's doing their part, working properly, lives are saved (or, I should say souls).

Ephesians 4

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers,[d] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. ESV

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on February 19, 2014 at 2:24pm

PS As one who has been hurt in a congregation before, I've certainly experienced frustration (with mostly doctrine) and even stopped going, but now I see it differently, even though I still don't meet together regularly with believers. I feel very sensitive now, when I hear bashing of a church, and I suppose it reminds me of my own sin of when I was doing the bashing, plus it causes me to feel discouraged now, because I see the need to keep Christ central as we help angry, hurt, and confused people learn to put on Christ Jesus and their new self, taking off the old self. Colossians 3:12 mentions compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. If only we could see others as Jesus saw them, when He lifted up is eyes that day and said the fields were already white for harvest but He hadn't even made the atonement yet. Our first inclination appears to be to judge, criticize, and speak to the problems, sometimes even throwing grenades of scripture at the problem itself, forgetting to speak to the person struggling with the problem. One analogy I recently read is that we see people as being in the way of God's plan when they are actually the focus of it. Similarly, what I see now is that when I was bashing the doctrine and organization of a church, I was actually bashing people but people are not impediments to the Body of Christ. Another analogy is of a doctor complaining that all he ever sees is sick people and wanting only healthy people to make appointments with him. I don't know. I don't mean to bash the ones who bash. Those who visit or even are members of church are dealing with sin and life in a fallen world, saved or not saved. The fact that it's a mess is no surprise since no one is perfect but unity must be something different than not being a mess since none will be perfectly conformed to Christ's image until they see Him. 1 John 3:2-3 I'm just rambling. Sorry.

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on February 19, 2014 at 3:17pm

You did not ramble. You made sense. Colby commented earlier regarding unity not being conformity. Too often I think that people have the idea of unity in this life as being a utopia that is absent of conflict, but that is not going to be the case. Yet, even though we will not fully attain to the conformity (which must be the likeness of Christ) we have no excuse to give up or shy away from searching for and being agents of unity.

I think the Holy Spirit through Paul gave us a glimpse of the expected conflict when he used the concept of one body and many parts and that each part must learn to act according to its function since all cannot be eyes, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on February 19, 2014 at 4:10pm

There's no doubt that the Body is going through a process of transformation. Paul said we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the head, into Christ. The head is perfectly mature but the Body is still maturing. What we see in a congregation on Sunday is evidence of this truth. You have children flirting with temptation, seeing how far they can stretch beyond their parental limits, and married couples at odds with each other and people struggling to love and accept each other and God is at work in each one who is His child. Some say the church needs restoring, and I understand that people need restoring, but I don't think we are called to return to the way things were done exactly in the NT church since that was the birth and beginning of the Body but that's my opinion. I believe God has it all under control even when the liberties of people appear to be making this mess out of all of it. I think the ones who are disgusted with the way the church looks on the surface ought instead to change their focus to the process of change that God is working in each one since the work will be completed eventually. Surely God is aware of the struggles within the Body. It even looks like those struggles are part of the plan, part of the way that change happens. As individual parts of one Body, each needs to ask God what is their job or work. Just as no part of the human body exists only to serve and preserve itself, the work Christ wants the members of His body to do is going to be for the good of all the other members, too. IMO

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on February 19, 2014 at 6:06pm

Makes sense.

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