Wholeness: Communion of Believers/9
Psalm 35: 18. Then I will thank you in front of the entire congregation. I will praise you before all the people. (TJB)
Psalm 68: 26. Bless God in the congregations, praise even the LORD, you who re the fountain of Israel. (NAS)
Psalm 22: 22. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you. (NIV)
In communion with the unity of the Body of Christ, we are joined with Jesus as one. When the church was first formed in the first century, it was a communion of believers to celebrate Christ, The fellowship was referred to as followers of the Way, or; the brethren, the Church, the saints. Yet over the years we have separated ourselves from this commonality. Even as the first church was formed, there was a separation forming. At no time was there a solidarity among the believers., the communion of Christs became a divided body. We must accept that we are NOT ONE CHURCH. I have come to the conclusion that perhaps it was never in God’s will that we be one body of believers under the authority of one denomination, but that we be free to explore God’s will in several ways. I don’t even know if Christ meant to create a “Church” as we perceive it today. I only know that Paul said,(Eph. 3:6) “And this is the secret plan The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God’s children. Both have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy TOGETHER the promise of blessings through CHRIST JESUS.” (NLT) Churches then are to be the guiding light, a source of comfort, a strengthening of will and encouragement and a servant to the needs of the people of God. The are to provide a focus point of fellowship and worship and they are to bind us together to allow us completion in Christ. The communion of believers is Christ’s FELLOWSHIP OF LOVINGKINDNESS. They are not to be enslaved by the Law but freed to Love the Law.
I make no reference to the sacramental communion, but to the the Spiritual and Physical communion that we share as people of God. While I hold the Sacrament very highly, it is not the topic of this lesson. I’m speaking of the communion that exists when “two or three are gathered” in the Name of Jesus, the communion with the Lord. This is what I mean as communion, the presence of God with us, the Emmanuel Worship. During the sixties, commune societies where a fad. The early church also formed communes to preserve themselves as a people. They hid away from the pagan society and worshipped in secret. As the world turned to Christian thought in the Middle Ages, Monasteries and convents were formed to celebrate Cloistered life with God. In Ireland and Briton, there were co-ed communes where husband and wife could join to separate themselves from the world so that they could devote their lives to God. If the state of the world does not change soon, we have to revert to that again to preserve the sanctity of the Walk of God, I pray not. This again is NOT the relationship that I am referring to.
I am referring to the communion that we celebrate with Christ as individuals whether we are Orthodox, Methodist, Anabaptist, Congregationalist or what ever we may call our Christian Faith. Wherever two or three Christians are gathered in prayer and praise, Our Lord is among us. Whenever those who love the Lord Jesus are, be it two or two thousand, that is the communion that I care about because the Lovingkindness of God is there in their midst Communion of Believers is the Christ Connection. Conducting ourselves by the Ideals and concepts of Christianity causes us to separate ourselves from the world and join ourselves within the boundaries of Christ. “My Goal (Paul’s) is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of Love. I want them to have FULL confidence because they have COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING of GOD’S SECRET PLAN!” (Col. 2:2) If we allow our walk to bring grief to others or to raise discontinuance of faith among us, we divide Christ. Christ can not divide Himself, and if we try to separate ourselves by man made ideals or interpretations, we are in effect separating ourselves from Christ’s Wholeness. Thank God that He is a forgiving God or none of us would be saved!
Why then do we separate ourselves from each other? We do it because we are weak in the Love that Jesus does no deeply want for us. We do it because we are afraid that our faith can be changed or diluted. We are afraid of our doubts and don’t want to be challenged. We would like to be partial Christians, firm in our limited beliefs and don’t really want to grow in the spirit because we may nor understand what God envisions for us. But if we are to celebrate the Wholeness of Christ, we must have a willing heart to share the Presence of Christ among us. This is why He is called Emmanuel, so that He is with ALL of us!
I once asked a Pastor of one church why he would not work with an other church in a food and shelter mission. I was told that because one church was a Baptist and the other was a Pentecostal, there would be friction as to the method of the Salvation Message taught and to whose church would “get” the redeemed. Souls were lost because of a difference of opinion about the Holy Spirit’s Gifts, how sad! The bodies of both churches failed in the mission of Salvation and caring. Both forfeited the Lovingkindness blessing to others because they failed to recognize the presence of Christ in others and denied the opportunity of Christ to many. There was no communion of believers there. That was many years ago, but I can say now that the Pastor that refuse to work with the other is no longer a Pastor. God removed him from the pulpit. The Spirit of devotion to the Service of God should have been the primary purpose in the mission. Above all, there should have been a desire to share the Lovingkindness found in Christ’s Salvation.
The devotion of the Unity of Christ is the unique living with Christ, not body counting is the measure of Church growth. Religiosity and Theo-phobia are the primary things that cause separation in the body of Christ. There will always be differences among the Faithful, that is natural and actually good for the growth of the churches. If all the churches were the same, we would become complacent in our faith and find excuses to fall away. But the communion of Christ was never to be as varied and separated as it is today with churches attacking each other or denying each other as they have over the years. Paul’s problem where never as bad as is the problem of today’s churches and the conflicts and fears that they have reaches and created. Christ does not create division, the devil does. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Unity. Without some willingness by the churches to reach out and help each other to grow in the Lovingkindness of the Wholeness of the Communion of Jesus, we will never see the completed Church.
When two people reach out and take left hands together and right hand together, they form a cradle that will carry another. When two or three walk in step with each other, they do not cause the other to stumble. Every time churches content with each other, they drop the injured and step on each other’s heels. They hold each other back and Satan is gleeful. He has claimed victory because we are in contention. He has prevented the fulfillment of the Word of God. It is in the heart of the Communion of Believers that the Wholeness takes place. the Wholeness of Christ calls us to be in communion with Him, and if you are in communion with the Lord and I am also in communion with Him, does it matter as to Jesus what manner of Christian Church we attend? As long as we are in communion with God, it is the spiritual relationship of Christ that draw us to serve Him. What does it matter as to how each of us express our Love of Our Savior? What matters is that we both Love Jesus and desire to serve His Perfect Will.
I’ve been asked why I forgave so easily. I reply that I felt that if I failed to forgive, I may have prevented two people to reach Heaven. The one I did not forgive and the one who would not forgive. My reason for saying that is because I don’t want to deny anyone the opportunity to obtain Salvation because I failed to forgive if I did not forgive, I might be the cause of someone never knowing the Forgiveness of God. In this same way, I will not deny the presence of Christ in anyone simply because their belief varies from mine. While I feel that there is a need to be firm in my belief, I can’t claim that “my way” is the sole means to Christ’s Perfection. How can I, if I’m still not Perfected? My Love of Jesus Christ causes me to love all those who seek to Love Him. My desire to serve the Lord encourages me to seek that all come to Him. It matters not to me if they come to the same understanding as I do in all things pertaining to the Salvation. That will come in God’s time. How can I who loves Christ, not wish to see Christ in all who seek Him? Even with those with whom I have sharp differences of understanding of the Word. I can still pray with them and for each. I can still worship the same God, the same Redemption and Reconciliation that they received. And they can pray for me. Because we are in the communion with the Lord of All, the God among men, and the Restorer of Faith, Jesus who is called Christ, I can do all thing of Christ with them. I can help build a school (well not really, I’m a klutz),feed the hungry, pray for and visit their sick just as easily as I can for any other. In the communion of the Body of Christ there are only minor differences. I have more differences with my brother and sisters than I have with other Christians and yet I can still call them family. Why then is it so hard to call our brother and sister in Christ family? We are still in the Family of God. and we all love Our Heavenly Father. The Grace of God does not recognize the boundaries of debate and arguments, it does not accept the strife of disagreement that tears down the family of God.
As I have grown in my Faith, I see that sin has entered into many churches. Sin has been justified in many churches and there is division between the faithful. I assure you that I pray that these churches will see that sin can not be justified, but that is nothing new in the churches. The only thing that changes is the sins that they say are no longer sin. I pray for the continuing growth of the Spirit of God to open the eyes of these people to recognize that they have been listening to foolish and empty teachings that come from Satan pretending to be a caring voice of reason. God is the ONLY Voice of Reason and His reason is found in Scripture.
Pray that in our discontent with other walks of Faith that it is not because we don’t have the understanding of God’s will. Be sure that we have nothing in our belief that causes others to stumble before we try to “teach” them the “right way” to believe. I have been studying the Word and the Walk for many years and still do not think of myself as an “expert”.
Pray for the churches, pray with the churches and pray for your own church. In this way you add Grace upon Grace. Feel free to give Grace and to receive Grace as you pray in open communion with God. We pray for God’s Kingdom and the Will to come on Earth as it is in Heaven. This can never come to pass if we fall to see the Kingdom in each other. We rejoice that so many have decided to follow Jesus and wish to enter into His Kingdom. We give thanks that we are free to Love and to forgive as Jesus did. We Praise God in the Lovingkindness that is in the Communion of Believers, Grace upon Grace with each of the Family of God.
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