Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
I am not ecumenical in the sense of glad handing everything and everyone that has the name Christian attached, but I am for unity around truth.
There should only be one church of the same doctrinal statement per town. You can only serve Christ and the town effectively when there is unity. Occasional joint event is not really unity that the Word tells us to walk in. Much money and manpower is wasted supporting buildings; some grandiose and others deteriorating.
Some could be used as homeless shelters and food banks instead of being mausoleum memorials of glory departed or expensive housing for a small connection group or a barracks of bitter people who did not resolve issues but chose to run from them or silly preferences ruling over the call to be one as Jesus and the Father are one.
If people would become Bereans, there would be fewer doctrinal divisions, fewer denominations/non-denominations and hence fewer churches. Instead, we cling to traditions of men and choose churches more on the bands and programs than on doctrine. (Acts 17:10-11)
The Holy Spirit was sent to lead us into all truth and there is only one truth about an issue, not several. God does waiver nor is He gray about anything. He does not have multiple standards for His people. Things are true or false, right or wrong, darkness or light, not fuzzy-muzzy. (John 16:13, James 1:17)
There is no church group without some error. Some things are glaringly clear and we should deal with those first. Others that we think are gray issues we need to ask His wisdom and work towards an answer and not just give up and be willy-nilly. He is not a willy-nilly kind of God. A God who preserves jots and tittles would not intentionally leave us in areas of mixed light and darkness especially in the age where the Spirit of truth indwells each believer.
If there was ever a time in history when we need to rise up to seek doctrinal purity and unity around the truth it is now. Country Club Church and Me Church days must cease. People need to see the Church in unity of body and teaching. Shoot, if I were unsaved today I might never get saved because of the confusion among the people who are supposed to be a part of the pillar and ground of truth. They could, like Pilate, say looking at us, "What is truth?"
I do not rejoice when a new church starts in town. It is just more division. Indeed, more often than not it is populated by frustrated or Mars Hill sheep then it is by new converts. If someone started one and won hundreds of people to Christ I would rejoice and ask God to revive the 80 churches we have in town as that should be conviction that we are doing something wrong and God is removing some off our candlesticks. Indeed, the fact that we have so many should be telling us the same thing since less than a third of the town attends church regularly.
Pastor, as an under-shepherd, you are to lead your people to green pastures not allow them to stay in a dry, rocky wasteland because you need a place to preach. If you are seeing nothing but a steady decline and the baptistery has been dry for many years that is a sign unto to you.
I do not know why it is that way, but it is. Even the church at Ephesus and Philadelphia that Jesus had praise for no longer exist. There is no piety or glory just hanging on till Jesus comes or the last member goes to the nursing home or the cemetery.
Find a church of like faith that is growing and lead your people there. God may have a more fruitful ministry for you there or somewhere else. Get your people out from under the burden of a decaying building and despair.
If you pastor a large church that is growing seek out the pastor of a small church and seek to become one. If they do not have a pastor work to get the small body to merge with yours. It is a time of gathering of the saints. Jesus only had two folds, Gentiles and Jews. They were to become one. Neither had to become the other but they were to be one.
We are one blood and all a shade of brown. Our song is wrong and left out the one color that we are. Our church in one town should be made up of all the shades in town. Christ is to define us not our shade or culture. Have culture related clubs or meetings to address the issues of shade, but on church gathering days we are to be one and put all of that other stuff to the side.
Once we get all the churches of like doctrinal statements to unite we need to reach out to the others to get to one position on the items that separate us. As we work those out and unite we will get closer to the Church Jesus called us to build on His foundation. This will be tough as long held positions and traditions are hard to change. I have had to challenge my position on many issues over the years. It has to come down to what is truth and what is not. My preferences and pet theologies or ideologies have to bow to the truth.
Jesus said that His sheep would hear His voice and not the voice of another. Paul talked about trumpets not giving a clear signal would not motivate the troops to prepare for battle. That is why we need Jesus to shake His vine out of the mud and prune us for we are in a battle.
John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
I thoroughly believe we are lacking the glory of the 1st Century because we lack the unity they had in the truth as well as the power of the Spirit. The Spirit works to bring truth and unity. Many have resisted Him and have become Pharisees and Sadducees dividing into our numerous groups over things other than truth giving a form of godliness but lacking the power. May that change soon or it will be to our destruction. May revival come and start with me! Maranatha!
