Unity of the Body

https://odb.org/MY/2022/09/14/a-house-undivided

I think the topic of the unity of the body of Christ, the church, is a difficult one as the universal church is a fragmented lot with numerous denominations and many independent churches, not only worldwide but even at the local church level. In every city with many Christians, there are many churches. But I guess in the end even though there are many, we are still a part of the universal church united as a body of Christ, the bride that Christ will come to receive when He comes again.

At our respective local church level, we are united as one body because we are a community of believers who have got together to worship God as a congregation as well as to share our lives and embark on this spiritual journey together. So it’s a community not just of meeting social needs of fellowship and relationships but also of a “shared” experience in spiritual growth and spiritual maturity. Thus we help each other in our Christian walk, giving and receiving pointers on how to face challenges and issues of life while maintaining our standards of Christian living. Ministry tasks are one thing but just keeping our stand as a light and salt of the world is not an easy task and can sometimes be ardous as we are constantly bombarded with temptations to throw our values to the wind and follow the world. That is why the church is a community of not only believers but of a shared experience on how we overcome the world and our flesh with the strength from God, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and the guidance and support of our fellow believers.

It is thus a fallacy and lie to think that we may worship God alone and be a lone Christian since faith is personal and between us and God. It is personal and yet it is communal. We need each other and our action or inaction affects others among us. Just our presence at the sanctuary encourages the same way our absence discourages. In my view, we are united if we worship together, if we come together to experience God as a congregation. Unity does not mean we cannot have disagreements or divergent views on things. We may hold our individual views and yet we conform and follow the lead when we worship together as a body.

My encouragement to us today is to make that effort to wake early, freshen and dress up for church. We look to the Lord in prayer and supplication. We worship Him together as a congregation and we meet up with one another to encourage and edify that we will strive on towards the goal that Christ has placed before us to be more like Him and to fulfil God’s plans and purposes for our lives. We are all running our individual races towards our own finish lines but let’s all run together in one direction in tandem and heavenward towards the glory of God, looking forward in great anticipation to our crowns of glory!