THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIAN LOVE AND UNITY
By Ezekiel Kimosop
A lasting Christian relationship is built on true Christian love and unity, with Christ being at the centre. It is not founded on mere Sunday gatherings.
Let us therefore put on Christ by seeking to grow our intimacy with Him through the Holy Spirit and grow our knowledge of Him through the devotional and meditative study of the word of God.
These are indispensable facets of a genuine spiritual foundation on which our fellowship with one another should always stand.
Christ Jesus is the foundation of our faith and anyone building on this solid foundation should do so with care and diligence.
1 Cor. 12-15 says:
"Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."
What a powerful warning....
Secondly, there is no such thing as private Christianity. I am aware of a fast growing New Age Christianity that pays little attention to Christian fellowship and unity. They insist that Christianity is a personal issue. This is a false religion.
Here is why....
We all belong together in our diversities of culture, ethnicities and social backgrounds.
This is not about Sunday Christianity. It is far deeper and more compelling.
God's design for His church contemplates a united Christian community with the following two key attributes that should manifestly stand out:
1) They sincerely love and cherish one another in Christ and reach out to one another because of the operation of God's love in them (John 13:4; 15:12,17; Romans 13:8; Philippians 2:2-4). Each believer belongs and is identified and cared for.
There should be no discrimination or favoritism along ethnic or race lines.
2) They are singly and jointly united with Christ in an eternal covenant of love and obedience.
Every believer began with the cross of Calvary. There is simply no other way into the fellowship except through Christ.
No matter how large a church congregation is, the true gathering of God's people exclusively consists of those whose souls have been purchased by Christ through the finished works of the cross (Acts 20:28). The rest are strangers.
The story is told of one mega church preacher in Kenya who sought to know from a prophet about the number of people in his congregation truly belonged to Christ.
The prophet went to fast and pray seeking an answer from God.
Two weeks later he came with an explosive answer.
The preacher nearly collapsed in shock when the prophet told him that out of his 10,000 mega church only a small fraction (less than a tenth] were true believers! The rest were merely Sunday crowds who had no relationship with Christ.
It is instructive that true believers are sealed for redemption by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
Do you belong to Christ?
No comments:
Post a Comment