Wholeness: Foundations /#3a
Psalm 89:14-15 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne; Lovingkindness and Truth go before thee. How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of thy countenance. (NAS)
In the search for the Wholeness in Christ, we have to establish an area of common belief. Throughout the history of the churches there has been a struggle to keep a unified understanding. During the early days, the church prepared a declaration of Faith called the Nicene Creed. This statement of Faith is the foundation of Faith that, in order to be called Christian, all church must be in agreement with. The only problem we have is the word catholic, which means universal. But if we are not universal in our belief of the sovereignty of Christ, then we are not unified in our foundations. Without a unified foundation, as the body of Christ, we fail. In reaching a unified body, we should strive to recognize those areas that are common in belief. Much of our discord is not in what we believe, but in how we express that belief. I’ve listened to the Calvinist, Full Gospel, Pentecostal, and Holiness and found that must of what they say is in fact the same, only in different words. At worst, it is only the expressions that are different or the importance of certain scriptures are most valued.
The beliefs that are essential are as follows: Jesus is the one and only Son of God. He was born in flesh by Mary, a virgin; he lived as a man died at the hands of others on a cross. By his death we have been reclaimed by the Father, God of All Things on earth and in heaven. Jesus, by his own power, rose from the dead, was seen by many as evidence of his power, ascended into the heavens and will come again to judge the living and the dead. None are spared from His judgment. We also believe in the Holy Spirit, God in the third person who dwells within us as counselor, guide, comforter and protector of our lives. We believe in the resurrection of the body and live eternal.
There are many other things that we believe and all are important to our understanding of God’ plan for us, but these are not debatable. If you do not believe these, you are not a Christian. Jesus is our sole (soul) judge and we are at His Mercy and Grace. We recognize the one baptism, the forgiveness of sins. We believe that God spoke through the prophets and the scriptures are inspired by God for the edification of God’s plan.
Without these basics, the foundation is lost. If any church denies these truths, they are in spiritual and scriptural error and should not be considered Christian. Without these basic foundations, the Wholeness of Christ cannot be realized. What I am trying to present in these writings is that we are to seek to agree without compromise on the basic foundations of Faith. Jesus is who He says He is, He came that we might have Life, be free from the torment of sin, and enjoy His presence forever. Psalm 89 says that God will not break off His Lovingkindness because of our sinful nature, He will not void His covenant with us, yet He will deal with our violation in His time. Since the founding of the Body of Believers, we have done everything in our power to prevent wholeness of believers.
I read somewhere that the problem with news media was vanity, but the same can be said of Christians. In our vain attempts to keep our sins intact, we challenge the sins of others. We forget the foundations of Faith in Christ, and go after the wrongness of others, Seek out that which is good in the brothers and sisters of Jesus, because like it or not, they are your relatives and you will most likely live in heaven with them. That’s assuming you’re going there. Put down your vanities and recognize that Christ is in all who believe. When we put aside the differences of the brethren, we can say; “This one is of God, he could do these things unless they come from the Father.” Look for the Christ in others and you will less likely to sin against them.
On that point, if your are able to see Jesus in the face of everyone you deal with; in or out of the church, Sunday to Sunday, how can you who KNOW Christ actively hurt, ignore, abuse verbally, offend or reject them?
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