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Text: 1 Corinthians 12:25-27
If we read the whole 1 Corinthians 12, it's not directly referring to the topic that we're tackling. But it's all about the spiritual gifts.So, what are the spiritual gifts that we refer to in these verses?
These are the gifts that God gave us the moment we received Jesus in our lives. These are gifts of prophecies, speaking in tongues, our ministries, be it cleaning the church premises, being part of the worship team, gift for preaching - those are all gifts of Christ that's been appropriated to each one of us.
But our focus on this devotion is not on the spiritual gifts because it is a given appropriation once we have Jesus in our lives.
If we take it bit by bit the verses that we have read, it says there that there should be no "division".
When we say the word "division", what comes out of our minds?
This is the opposite of the word "unity"
While doing this topic the other night, when the word "division" appeared on my reading, what came to my mind was the word "religion". You know why?
We are worshiping the same God, we are reading the same Bible, but why is it that churches are divided? Why is it that there are varying ways of worshiping in these churches?
I am not saying that those (worship styles) are wrong, what I am trying to point out is that it creates a division among us Christians. Although we worship and praise the same God, there are a lot of divisions.
Even though you are not Protestant and are coming from different religious backgrounds, you are very much welcome in this ministry.
When we say the body (verses 25-27), we can also relate that to our physical bodies that have head, eyes, arms, fingers, feet, and tummy. Each part serves a different purpose. Our hands help us grasp things and feed ourselves. We use our mouth to eat and speak. Our feet bring us to places we have to go to.
Although we have different body parts, they are still parts of one body.
For a person to survive and for his body to function properly, he needs the cooperation of his different body members.
How do we unite in the body as a Church?
Unity is defined as a "state of oneness".
This is a character wherein the people are united and are in unison with one another.
Verse 27 says, "now that you become a body of Christ." it doesn't matter if you're the hands, or the feet, or the mouth, as long as everyone acts in unity in Christ.
Though you might say, "I already know it", there are always new revelations from God for us every day. Although you've heard it before, there will always be new lessons to ponder through another perspective.
God's Word never changes but His personal message for us is new every day.
Knowing that the topic of our discussion is unity, how can we indeed experience unity in the body of Christ?
I want to leave you with 3 ways we can obtain unity in the Body of Christ.
1) REMOVE PRIDE IN OUR HEARTS
When we talk about Pride, it speaks of destruction (of you and others).It can destroy everything - most likely, our relationship with our family, friends, and co-workers. As long as we have pride in our hearts, all of those things mentioned will be ruined, no matter how long we've built those relationships up, whatever time and effort we've exerted, all of those will come to nothing if we still harbor pride in our heart. That's why for us to obtain unity in the body of Christ, we need to let go of our pride.
A person did something wrong against you... maybe you'll say, " Why should I ask for forgiveness from him if he's the one who's at fault?"
It's the mindset that you always have to be better than others.
Those things are just in the context of human standards. What's more bothering (truth) is what the Bible says about pride:
"When you have pride in your heart, it is an indication that you are turning away from God." (Read Psalm 10:4)
Proud people turn their backs away from God. They don't want to accept God's sovereignty in their lives. How do I say so? It's because proud people have no interest in listening. Reason with someone very proud of himself and he will not listen. He always wants to be the correct one. Though he's at fault, he will make sure that he will always seem to be the one righteous.
The same is true when we're not listening to God's Word and all His revelations in our life. That is an indication that we don't want Jesus to meddle with our affairs. So if we want to have unity with the body of Christ as His followers, we have to take away pride in our hearts.
2) DO NOT BE IGNORANT
Ignorance is defined as one's absence of knowledge about certain things. It's when one doesn't know the things he has to know. He doesn't know what's going on around him. He's unaware of himself and others. If we don't know what we should know, we will end up lagging. There's a meeting and we're late; there's an online devotion happening and we're not able to listen and tune in; there's an activity in the church but we were not able to attend and participate. For us seafarers, we were told to report to the office but were not able to do so because we didn't care to find out and follow up. All of those pertain to ignorance.We can't just say to everyone, "Look. I don't really know this". It's not a good excuse brethren.
Even in the law, it says that "No one is to be ignorant of the law." Even if we didn't know that a certain regulation is being implemented in a city, we will still end up having offense and penalty even if we unintentionally violated it.
If we are ignorant of God's law, we will be in great danger for it's a matter of eternal life and death.
Going back to the verses that we have just read, whenever we are in trouble and suffering, the whole body also suffers. It's not only us that suffers but the whole body as well. It might hurt our loved ones. That is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:1, "we are not to be ignorant and uninformed."
Of all that Paul has written in the Bible, he has given us 3 things to take note and not to be ignorant about:
- God's plan
- Spiritual gifts (We should be aware of how to use our gifts that God has given us. It's of no use if we don't open the gift and not use it.)
- The second coming of Christ
3) KNOW YOUR PURPOSE
Why should we know what's our purpose in life?It's because that purpose will give meaning to our life.
These are the things where we should excel.
These are things in which our talents are nourished, developed, and used for God's glory.
And God is fair when it comes to allotting talents.
We need to know which part of the body of Christ we are representing.
Once we know our purpose in our life in Christ, though we're facing a lot of trials and sicknesses, we will never be moved. We will never lose our direction.
Conclusion:
Matthew 28:19God calls us to participate in the Great Commission. We need the quality of unity to advance the Kingdom of God to other people.
Photo by: Jaime Legaspino
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