To Encourage You

Ephesians 4:11-16 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Have you ever seen the bumper stickers that are so prevalent today that say “Coexist”?  I’m sure you have, for it seems they are everywhere.  If you take time to study the word on these stickers, you will see that the letters are actually made up of symbols representing many of the world’s religions. For example, the “C” is actually the crescent moon symbolizing Islam, the “X” is the Star of David, a symbol for Judaism, and the “T” is the cross of Christianity.  Apparently, the point is that we should all live and let live in unity and love as one big happy human family.  Perhaps it’s an attempt to support the idea of “tolerance,” a word that we hear so often today.  Of course, “unity” is a word that is used frequently in Scripture.  One place we see this is in the verses above from Ephesians which speak of “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.”

So, are the Bible and the bumper sticker really saying the same thing?  Well if we think so, then we better study the Bible a little more closely, for it doesn’t say anything of the sort. “Unity” as it is described in the Bible, is unity in the Church concerning “the faith” and “the knowledge of the Son of God.” So, what does that mean?  Well for one, this same passage in Ephesians tells us a message that is opposite of that of the “coexist” bumper sticker. You see, just before the passage above, we are told that there is “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).  As it says this, it is not saying that all modes of belief are just the same thing at heart with many forms of outward window dressing. It’s not saying that all roads lead to God or that all paths are actually the same path, so we should obviously be able to “coexist.” No, what the Bible talks about when it talks about unity is a goal of coming to a united understanding within in the Church of who God is, who Jesus is, who the Holy Spirit is, and what they have told us in God’s Word.  This understanding comes to us as the Church functions as one united body with each member of that body doing its part. 

You see, the Bible tells us that there is only one body, but there are many parts in that body. Each part is gifted in various ways to help all within that body grow in maturity in the “one” faith, and in the knowledge of the “one” God.  God has gifted the church with apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.  He’s equipped everyone in His Body with certain spiritual gifts. Among them are things such as prophesy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, administrative leadership, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, and healing (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4).  These gifts are designed to bring the church to unity of purpose in the work that God has called us to, i.e., to reach the world with the gospel. 

You see, there is only one way to heaven. There is only one God who knows the way to heaven. And there is only one “only begotten” Son of God who gave His life so that we might live.  It is the Son of God Who is the one and only head of the Church, which is His one and only Body.  You see, the message of the world is that “all ways lead to God.” It’s the “coexist” message. However, God’s message to the world is that there is only One way to Him, and it’s the way of the cross of His Son.  By contrast, the only way for everyone to “coexist” in the way of the bumper sticker is to not preach the gospel to every creature, for when that truth is preached, Jesus said it would result not in unity, but in division. He warned of this with these words “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36). Such division isn’t because God doesn’t love the world, but because the world hates Him. The clearest example of this was Jesus, Who came unto His own people, the Jews, with the message of the gospel, and they crucified Him.   Nevertheless, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12-13).

Unity within the body of Christ is unity of purpose, unity of love, unity of the knowledge of God, and unity in the work of reaching the world with the truth of the one and only gospel that brings life.  All of this is but the very opposite of the unity the world seeks with its “coexist” message, which is only possible apart from Christ.

So which message are you listening to? Which message are you sharing?  Is it the message of the one Way that leads to life, or the message that does nothing but lead away from life, i.e., the message of the broad way that leads to destruction?