June 9, 2012
So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. -- Romans 14:19 (NLT)
The word "edify" means to build up. Let's face it; we Christians should have "under construction" signs on us. The Bible says that once saved we become a new creation. We are recreated if you will. We are born again of the Spirit of God. We are being transformed into the very likeness of God on a daily basis until Jesus takes us home! Re-creation, rebirth and transformation are not simple procedures. They take some adjustment. God realizes this and so He encourages us to take an active role in each others development. The world certainly is not going to help edify us. The Word of God certainly edifies but God realized that we would need more than that. We were designed within the body of Christ to need each other.
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." -- 1Corinthians 12: 18-21 (NLT)
We were designed by God to be interconnected. To be one unit; one body. The truth is though that we often have to deal with rogue body parts within the church. People who routinely say "I don't need you." People who despite the clear instruction from God to edify are instead in the demolition business. The Christian wrecking crew - always quick to gossip and backbite. Always quick to bury their wounded. Tearing down the body of Christ from the inside out. This is not the plan of God:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. -- Ephesians 4: 11-16 (NKJV)
The various roles God created for the church was designed specifically for two things. First to prepare us for the work of the kingdom. We fall way too short on this as well because we seem more enamored with building a building than we are in building a kingdom. But that is a devotional for another day. The second is these roles were designed by God for edifying the body of Christ. The stated goal here is unity of the faith but allow me to clarify here because the modern church has contorted this call for unity in the faith into a call for unity in the individual church building. God did not send His only Son to die on an old wooden cross so that we can come together and play church every week. So that we can ignore key and fundamental doctrine in the pursuit of worldly success metrics. How do I know this? Because these verses from Ephesians spells this out for us! The call for unity is a call for unity in Christ. More specifically, for knowledge of the Son of God -- to grasp the fullness of who Jesus Christ is to us! And look at the reasons why God is calling for such unity!
The first reason is so that we will no longer be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. The Bible says that in the end days people will not even tolerate sound doctrine because they only want to hear what their itching ears want to hear. Sure enough this is what we see today. Without a unity grounded in understanding who Jesus really is and what He came to earth to do we can start to think the subtle doctrinal errors we see are not as big a deal as they are. Realize that doctrinal errors preach a different God than the one we serve. It leads to people thinking they are serving God when they are not. It leads to false salvations. It leads to people serving a building and not a God. This is ultimately what it leads to:
On judgment day many will say to me, "Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply, "I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God's laws.' -- Matthew 7: 22-23 (NLT)
The second reason why God's desire is for us to grow into the knowledge of the fullness of Christ in unity is to not be deceived by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. This is more insidious than the prior, but related. I believe the first group of people fails to see their own heresy. They stopped testing everything. You can be sincere however and sincerely wrong. When you think that you need to water down the Gospel or mingle it with worldliness and secularism in order to reach the next generation for Christ there is no doubt that you are completely wrong. When you compromise the Gospel to pad your pews, I will not assume that is a conscious decision. This second group however is purposeful in their heresy. They plot to deceive the body of Christ. They sell self-help and motivation disguised as the Gospel. They sell prosperity here on earth and in doing so rob the masses not only of their earthly prosperity but of their eternal destination as well. I know we get uncomfortable talking about this but not everyone is going to heaven and that includes not everyone who fancies themselves Christian. While it is never our place to judge someone's eternal destination we are certainly to judge their fruit. When you have alleged pastors jetting around in million dollar airplanes and their poor congregants continuing to mail them checks there is something seriously wrong. The number one topic in the Bible after salvation is taking care of the least in society. You know their names and yet sometimes we can't help but turn on their shows anyway. The Benny Hinns of the world are the worst kind of reprehensible snake oil salesmen there is. That isn't to pick on Benny as there are plenty of other candidates we could choose from. God wants us unified in Christ to be able to stand together and spot false doctrines -- whether it is the subtle and unintended type, or the more brazenly obvious and deceptive type. That is what unity is for -- not to provide ease for leadership but assurance for the body.
Lastly, we see that God's desire to see us grow into the knowledge of the fullness of Christ in unity is so that we can continue to grow into who He is. Jesus Christ is the goal. Jesus Christ is the unifying principle. The Bible says that light can have no fellowship with darkness. There are too many churches drinking the Kool-Aid and singing kumbya until Jesus comes. But they are not building the kingdom of God they are building the kingdom of man. Saying the name of Jesus Christ is not enough. Claiming that the heretical undertakings we are involved in are being done to reach people for Christ does make them less heretical. I think it is a mistake in the modern churchianty mindset. WE do not actually reach anyone for Christ -- the Gospel does that. WE are merely supposed to bring the Gospel to the lost and allow God to draw unto Him those that will come. If you keep that is the proper mindset and as the unifying principle -- then compromising the Gospel would never make any sense. We would be unified and edified by the only thing that should matter -- the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is the harmony the key verse
speaks to. That is what harmony in the church is meant to be. Not about the
leaders. Not about the ministries. Not even about the pastor. It is supposed to
be about Jesus and His life saving Gospel. We should always come together under
this principle. We should always build each other up through it.
Rev. Anthony
