2003-01-02
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
I am led to take time to discuss the ways from the Scriptures that God tells us we can be worthy of His blessings, particularly the power to successfully wage spiritual warfare. Let’s look at the last way given in EPH 4: 3, “Do you best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together.” When we give into our natural selves, human agendas are the driving force. Each person has his own set of priorities, and the others are not taken into consideration. This is why there is so little unity in today’s secular society. What feels good is what rules without consideration for either the long-term consequences of taking this stand or for what it is doing to the society as whole right now. GA 5: 17 highlights the fact that what drives the flesh and what drives the Spirit are opposites. On the other hand, God has made His will very clear on the fact that true believers will put His agenda first in their lives, and thus, bring the Body of Christ into unity. PS 133: 1, “How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to live together in harmony!”
I specifically chose to begin citing this last verse because it comes from the OT and demonstrates that God’s will in this matter has been wholly consistent from the beginning. We can see the consistency of God’s will even further back than Psalms in the prophet Samuel’s farewell message in 1 SAM 12: 14, “All will go well with you if you honor the Lord your God, serve Him, listen to Him, and obey His commands, and if you and your king follow Him.” Later in Israel’s history, the prophet Ezekiel in exile in Babylonia prophesied the reunification of Israel into one land upon the end of the Babylonian and Assyrian captivities. You’ll remember that Israel had been broken up into two kingdoms before God allowed the punishment of dyaspora to come down on them for their sins. EZK 37: 15-19, “The Lord spoke to me [Ezekiel] again. ‘Mortal man,’ He said, ‘take a wooden stick and write on it the words, ‘The Kingdom of Judah.’ Then take another stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Israel.’ Then hold the two sticks end to end in your hand so that they look like one stick. When your people ask you to tell them what this means, tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to take the stick representing Israel and put it with the one that represents Judah. Out of the two I will make one stick and hold it in My hand.’” The concept of unity for God’s people is a basic teaching throughout the Bible, OT and NT alike.
Paul understood this well and expressed it to the early church in Corinth as he addressed his concern about division in the church in 1 COR 1: 10. “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my brothers, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united with only one thought and one purpose.” To be sure, that was God’s purpose, not the individual agendas that arise from man. Peter says essentially the same thing in 1 PET 3: 8. This concept is reiterated in EPH 4: 11-13, “It was He Who gave gifts to mankind; He appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God’s people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the Body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature.” This is fleshed out in EPH 4: 15-16, “… By speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, Who is the Head. Under His control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.” How very clear God’s eventual will is in PHIL 2: 10-11, “And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.”
By now, we should all be familiar with the promise of “the peace that goes beyond human understanding” in PHIL 4: 7. This is God’s way of letting us know when we are doing something right with Him. Our God is an orderly God, whose goal is to bring about an orderly Kingdom with authority to rule given to His Son and those who are faithful (as His joint-heirs) [RO 8: 17, 29]. The authority to judge has already been given to His Son [DN 7: 13-14]. We must ask: If we heard the last trumpet today, would we be ready to stand before Christ to be judged? Today and every day, we should examine our own lives to see if our attitudes, decisions, and actions are carrying out God’s will for unity in our families, our congregations, and the Body of Christ as a whole. If the answer is “yes,” then we are being worthy of the wonderful blessings God gives us.
PRAYER: O Lord, You call us to put aside human agendas and to make Yours our first priority. Christ’s own words in LK 9: 23-24 bring this to mind, “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must forget himself, take up His cross every day, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Those without faith will see all of this as nonsense, but we are called to examine the consequences of a life where the natural self leads. It is because of the natural self that artificial barriers are erected between people by themselves and that exclusivity barring certain people from goals desired exists. It is because of fleshly drives that such evils as materialism, prejudice, jealousy, greed, and lack of ethics have such a prominent place in our society. The “war” between the haves and have-nots and the “battle of the sexes” are examples of putting the desires of the flesh first. Heavenly Father, our hearts break at the reality that much of the hunger and suffering in places in Africa are caused by political agendas being carried out even more than drought. That is only one example out of many. Christ spoke eloquently in the Sermon on the Mount [MT 5: 1-12] about what brings happiness. MT 5: 6 stands out especially. “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully.” You have blessed us with direction and have given us many ways to achieve unity within the body of believers. The picture of unity is given in EPH 2: 20-22, “You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the Cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself. He is the One Who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with Him, you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through His Spirit.” We humbly confess our sins and dedicate ourselves to building unity in the body of believers. We offer You our heartfelt adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, thanks, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
In tomorrow’s message, I’m led to return to EPH 6: 10-20, only looking at it from the context of its usefulness as a list of how-tos in being worthy to have God’s blessings. This won’t be a waste of time. God always has something new to teach us from His word. Remember PS 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light for my path.” I love how our Lord’s words and His commands to us in prayer cast light into our lives and help to prevent us from becoming ensnared by the traps set for us by Satan. Without His light (His word), we don’t see those traps in the dark and are in mortal danger from them. When we stand one in Christ, God’s army against Satan is so strong that the devil hasn’t got a chance. That’s the unified army I want to be in, the one that puts truth first. How about you? Our Lord has made it possible for us to be His foot soldiers, because He wants us on the winning side. That’s one more way that He shows us His love for us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn