Wholy4Christ

Psalm 133:1 “How good, how pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.”(NIV)

Gal. 5:15 ” If you go snapping at each other and tearing each other to bits, you had better watch out or you will destroy the whole community.” (TJB)

Equality and unity are the Grace of the Spirit that men most often evade. We want to be better that some one else. We try to elevate ourselves to a higher level that the rest. Gnosticism tried to encode itself in to the early church as well as secularism and Judaism, each trying to tell the rest that “they had the right” to dictate to the rest. Egotism keeps us from rejecting self superiority and authoritarianism even today. I, as a Christian, am no better that you as a Christian. I know this, I believe this. But as Paul says, no matter how hard I try, I still do the opposite. Still, I want to bring forth the renewing idea that we are equal before God. We are all the same, His Children and, as foolish as we seem to each other, we are no different to Him. I may slip and stumble, I may get some points wrong, but you also do foolish things before God. You and I are equal in our Love of God and in His Love for us, in spite of our foolishness. Even in our failure to Love God as we should, we are equal.

Paul speaks of earnestly, generously, caring and serving other yet we fail to see that he spoke of the caring of the churches and their problems as well as the needs of the unsaved. We spend a lot of time competing for the unsaved, fighting among each other as to who is the best or most right among our churches, and still we tend to ignore the need to care for each other’s churches. I consider myself to be a Pentecostal-full gospel Holiness Christian, I don’t think myself better that a Baptist, CRC, Seventh Day Adventist or Catholic, Orthodox or any other Christian who professes Christ as the One God, Son of the Living God, YHWY. Even the Newly born again Christian is equal to the greatest scholars of theology. Each has “paid” the same. Equality allows us the freedom to worship Christ and to live in freedom to love God’s Law. If we accept that Jesus is Lord of All, then we have equality with Him in our hearts

I think that the strongest point of Paul’s letters was that we are equal in Christ, Jesus. Because of that unity, we share unity in the Salvation, hope and Love of Jesus. Unity in the Oneness of our relationship and Fellowship with God the Father. To say to another, “You are not of Christ as much as I am,” denies that unity and equality of Jesus. Ephesians 3 is the proclamation of unity and equality in Christ. While we continually contend with each other, we are contending with the Spirit of Jesus and the Grace of Mercy. Eph. 2:14 “For Christ has made peace between us, Jews and Gentiles, by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that use to separate us.”(NLT) Why then, are we trying to build back up that which Jesus tore down? Why are we denying the equality of Jesus among us? The Churches of the LORD our God shouldn’t be saying to each other things that reflect inequality and creating disharmony! We should be, instead, diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit of the bond of Peace among us.

The complaint that some churches have is that other churches are full of sin. Well, yes they are, but then all churches are full of sin. I know of no church that is full of saints. When I do, I will know that Christ has come again and the New Millenium has begun. So far, I don’t think that has happened. What I have found is that the more churches try to see sin in other churches, the more sin arises in their own. Think about it. Is the strife, conflicts and fears within your congregation on the increase as criticism increases in your church? Have you found the unrest in your walk on the rise as you put down the Faith of others? We find, that as pastors talk more on Spiritual Freedom and tolerance of other’s Faith, there is a coming together and a new awareness of the Peace of Christ. People who came out of other walks, feel more at ease to share of the things that they learned in other churches as well as of the hurts and disappointment, healings and Blessings and the growth they have had in their walk. A new desire of compassion and cooperation emerges when the churches can agree to work to a common good. Still a long road awaits us, many areas of past hurts must be dwelt with and acceptance comes hard.

Equality only comes as we accept the past as past. We must be as God and forget the transgressions against us. If God can forgive and not remember any more our sins against Him, shouldn’t be easy to forget the aggressions against us? Paul spoke to the Church at Corinth telling them to excel in the grace of giving as they excelled in other areas. This grace of giving was toward the Church in Judea (if I have learned my bible history correctly). The Judean Church had put down the Gentile Churches as not being Jewish enough and yet the churches in Mesopotamia and Macedonia had been helpful in their time of famine. The translation reads: “Have the desire to do good.” In this matter they showed their desire to have unity in Christ while still remaining a separate unity of Faith as a gentile Church. They expressed equality in Christ by their action of Faith and the sincerity of the Love of Christ and of all Christians, Jews and Greeks, even those who maligned them.

We therefore are not to declare ourselves better than other faiths and to ignore their needs but to reach into our eagerness and our desire to serve the Faith of Jesus by doing Loving Works for other churches even though they do not express the same way toward us. Jesus said it is easy to do good to those we like, but grace is in the doing for those who we hold disagreement with. In this way, we are a people of Unity and Equality. The Equality of Jesus is in our service to Hm through others. The Grace of Spirit Equality comes with the desire to grace others with the Spirit of Christ Love, not when we debate our Faith and cause others to turn from the Lord by our squabbles. While we still retain our individuality as separate and unique churches, we are still Christ’s Church as was the churches of the first days.

When I read that Paul was angered by the first churches and their comparisons with each other, claiming superiority over each other, and I see the same thing happening even today, I want to cry. What does Jesus have to do to make the people wake up and see that they are equal in heaven and in the Body of Christ and NOBODY has a lock on His favor? James and John wanted to be first in the Kingdom of God and they were told in effect, go to the back of the line.

While we are told to bring correction into the church where there is error, we are told to do it with compassion and gentleness, not with hateful or spiteful airs about ourselves. Nor are we told to reject them outright and to ridicule their understanding of Christ’s will or call. God’s Correction comes under His discipline, Equality comes under His Grace. Equality comes as grace and either we accept it or reject it. We I reject Christ in others, I reject Christ within me. When I embrace the Unity of the Lord in others, I proclaim my equality in Christ as He proclaimed equality with the Father (John 17:21-22). My equality is in Jesus as a man, Son of God. His equality is as God, Son of God, made perfect Man.