strength perfected in weakness

'And he said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness' 2 Corinthians 12 v 9'

The ways of the Lord are opposite to those of the world. The world chooses as its role models men and women who appear outwardly tough. Whereas the apostle Paul was happy to say 'therefore I shall boast gladly in my infirmities that the power of Christ shall rest on me'. The apostle Paul didn't wait until he felt inwardly strong before he ministered to others. For as he said in a previous letter to the Corinthian church 'he came to them in fear, weakness and much trembling' and not with 'excellency of speech' or 'persuasive words' but with the 'demonstration of the Holy Spirit and with power'. The reason God chose little David to defeat Goliath was in part a demonstration of his own power and authority for as it says in Zechariah 4 v 6 'Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit' says the Lord.

With God all things are possible

Ephesians 4 1-6

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have recieved. Be completely humble and gentle: be patient bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called--one Lord, one faith, one baptism one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

The issue of true unity is not a soft or easy option.
Neither does it mean that we don't have any opinion on anything except the Lordship of Christ. It is good to have strong opinions on everything from politics to the Evolution/Creation debate. But even more important than all of these are the two greatest commandments 'Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength' and 'Love your neighbour as yourself'. In my opinion the second commandment can be clarified further by a statement in Galatians 6 v 10 'Let us do good to all men especially those that are of the household of faith'. True love involves seeking to love all people including even those who see things differently from us. Most especially it means loving those people who are children of God. If love is easy it probably isn't true love and if unity is always easy it is unlikely to be the kind of unity for which Christ sweated blood - John 17.

Unity in Diversity?

If we can establish that unity in the wider church is actually a good thing then we need to make clear what form it should take. Should it be regarded primarily as a physical thing, emotional, spritual or all three? When we speak about unity do we mean in diversity or uniformity or perhaps a bit of each?

When I first had the idea for this piece it seemed so obviously to point towards diversity. I have to admit to feeling a sadness when certain types of people are excluded from the church due to being seen as difficult and/or different. As a qualified mental health nurse I have on occasions worked closely with people with conditions such as Schizophrenia. Now although these people were to my mind true believers there are not many Churches that could be able/willing to accommodate them. Alternately, the fact that there are Christian bikers groups or racial divides for example, disappoints me. Indeed when I first became a Christian the minister at my church encouraged me not just to worship with students like myself but to mix with a wider cross-section of people. For where two people who in the natural scheme of things couldn't get on now find themselves wanting to be friends, this, to me is a sign that God has been at work. After all what does it prove if we only ever fellowship with people similar to ourselves?

Colossians 3 v 11 stress's that there should be no 'jew nor greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, scythian, slave or free but Christ is all and in all'. It is interesting to note here that the Barbarians and Scythians are wild and uncultured people but we are called 'not to judge on outward appearence only but make a righteous judgement.' It is a good thing, in my opinion, to be offended by what offends God and to be grieved by what grieves the Holy Spirit but it is possible to be guided by what seems culturally right and what fits in with tradition. Not all tradition is bad but as 1Thessolonians 5 says 'test everything.....hold fast to what is fine'

So who needs to change? Those currently in fellowship or those outside? I think that the answer is much easier said than done: everybody needs to draw closer to Jesus: to become more humble, more open minded and more flexible. Whilst sticking resolutely and firmly to scripture. We need to become the kind of church that anybody from any walk of life can feel comfortable. Do people leave our churches because they are running away from God or is there some other reason?

1 Corinthians 12 makes some telling points on the subject. Indeed the theme of unity in diversity is a very recurring one. First of all there is much more to unity than physical proximity, mental assent or even doctrinal agreement. For example it says in verse 26 'if one part of the body suffers all suffer with it and if one part is honoured all rejoice with it. Thoughout the passage Paul appears to emphasise the diversity and interdependence. In verse 15 he states 'f the foot says because I am not a hand therefore I am not part of the body it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. Paul says in verse21 'the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you'. Indeed in verse 22 he states that 'those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensible' For as the Word says: 'there are many who are last who will be first and many who are first who will be last'.

Uniformity in my mind exists in terms of single mindedly following Christ. We should all pursue Christlikeness in terms of love for each other, holiness etc indeed as it says in John 10 v 4 'His sheep follow him because they know his voice'. We live in a society with many divides: people seperate themselves due to race, gender, age, class indeed so many things but ultimately there will only be one divide those whose names are written in the lambs book of life and those who are not. Even here it is not our job to decide who is and who isn't (Romans 10 v 6-7). We are merely called to love our neighbour as ourselves.

The unity that I believe that the Lord wants is heartfelt with deep roots.

An appeal to come together

Psalm 133 says this: 'How good and how pleasant it is when brother's dwell together in Unity. It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion! For here the Lord has commanded a blessing, life forever more.'

It is not very often in Scripture that God commands a blessing but we see it here and it is very much unity related. The New Testament goes even further and calls for onenness (John 17 v 12) and in a good many other places.

The history of Protestantism has been a history of splits and divides but this need not nor should not be so. When Paul wrote his epistles he didn't write them to all the denominations he just wrote them to Christians in a given locality or City indeed Acts 2 chapter 1 says that the great day of Pentecost came 'when all the Christians (in a given locality) were together in one place'.

I need to point out that I am not just writing a blog on unity for unities sake for there are certain things upon which Christians (or children of God) should not compromise for the sake of holiness. I shall discuss this in future posts. But if our brother or sister are truly committed to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ then surely we should be committed to loving them and sharing in their joys and sorrows.

Before I complete this first blog entry I need to point out that a website such as this was first put together by a dear Christian lady called Thola. Unfortunately I lost contact with Thola quite a while ago whom I believe moved to South Africa and I can't seem to be able to contact her and her website seems to have gone too. However, unity (or oneness) is ultimately God's plan. So I hope and believe that she would be glad that I am continuing in the quest that she started.

One final thought before I complete this first post is that throughout eternity. denominations will cease and there will just be Christians (God's children) if this is going to be our eternal state then shouldn't we be getting a little practice beforehand?