“Praise the Lord…O Zion. For He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates…He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.” [Psalm 147: 12 - 14]
It is of utmost exigency that believers begin to conduct a reassessment of what exactly we are about. The Spirit of God is doing something amongst us, but we need to let Him; we have to allow Him to “gather together the exiles of Israel”, that is those who are Christians but do not live as such.
Before I go further, I need to establish certain premises of why I refer to us as Israel today. First, we know from Hebrews 12:22-23 that “ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God” so that we know that the church [as well as the physical Israel] was being referred to in Psalm 147. Also, we were rightly informed by the Apostle Paul that “they are not all Israel which are of Israel” in Romans 9:6-8 where he explains to us that the true spiritual Israel are the children of the promise. To further bolster his point, he mentioned in Galatians 3:29 that everyone who is in Christ is Abraham’s seed and an heir according to the promise.
The initial premise being established, we now know that Israel in Psalm 147 spoke concerning us as well. But, before I advance to the main point which is unity in the body of Christ, I’d like to dispel any assumptions that everyone reading this blog knows what the body of Christ is. According to Colossians 1:18, “he is the head of the body, the church: who is the first born from the dead; that in all things he may have the preeminence” letting us know that Jesus Christ is the head of the church which the bible refers to as His body.
Knowing this, why do we work against one another? Is there a good enough reason why slandering, malice, hatred, discontentment and other such things should be found in our midst? In my experience as a Christian, I have heard more Christians speak against and condemn ministers of God than unbelievers themselves. How can we function cohesively against the massive attacks from the enemy in these last days, if we are divided over our pre-conceived ideas of what Christianity and moderation should be? Is there a reason why we cannot share stories of challenges and victories in our soul winning exploits with one another?
Consider the Apostle Paul’s confrontation with Peter concerning the issue of eating and communing with Gentiles in Galatians 2:11-14 where Paul says concerning Peter, “I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed”. There was a simple disparity in revelations whereby Paul had a higher revelation that, Jew or Gentile, we are all one new creation in Christ Jesus, but Peter was yet to manifest a complete agreement with the idea mostly because of concern about criticism from Jewish Christians. In spite of that occurrence, the Bible does not record a fight or continued disagreement between them. In fact, the Bible records Peter giving Paul a form of admiration in 2 Peter 3:15 where he says “our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you”.
Another point to consider in evaluating our somewhat childish disagreements is that there are different families in Zion just as Israel had twelve different children all with different traits. Even though we are all children of the same heavenly Father, depending on the family (local church assembly) to which we belong, our characteristics and strengths may differ. Using Israel’s children as a case in point, they all developed into strong nations with different trades and responsibilities, some as kings [Judah], others as priests [Levi] and so on according to the gifting of God [Genesis 49]. Understanding this, we should not be offended or taken aback when other believers don’t meet our outward expectations, as long as they hold to the important foundational principle of Christ. Like Joseph said to his brothers “be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life”, we should walk in love, respecting one another, and giving ourselves a long rope.
Also, it has been my desire to write concerning an issue that has been of great concern to me. One would think that Christians would understand “touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm” [1 Chronicles 16:22] more than anyone else, but sadly, the reverse is the case. We find Christians condemning some and otherwise accepting some men of God. It is not in our place to do such a thing; in fact, it is a manifestation of spiritual childishness to demonstrate such audacity as to speak negatively about a man or woman of God, whether or not you think he or she has gone astray. In Romans 14:4, the Apostle Paul wrote “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand”. Do you want to condemn a man of God that fell, only for God to restore him afterward? What then becomes of you who has touched the Lord’s anointed? Well, you may say that the anointing left him when he fell. But, think again!
After David had been anointed king and Saul had made attempts to kill David, Saul eventually died having already been rejected by God. After he died, a certain man brought news to David about the death of Saul and even lied that he killed Saul himself. Many of us, if in David’s shoes, would have burst out rejoicing considering that we have already been anointed and this ‘nuisance’ has been taken out of the way. But, David said something striking to the man that brought the news; he said “how wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed”? [2 Samuel 1:11-15, 19-20] Notice that David still referred to Saul as the Lord’s anointed. David ended up mourning for Saul and killing the young man that brought the supposed ‘good news’.
Afterward he forbade his men from letting the Gentiles know about it. Why must unbelievers hear about the fall of a minister of God from the mouth of believers? Why do we talk the most about ourselves in a negative light? This must change for us to be efficient as a body. For a while now, I have developed the mentality that my only business with another Christian’s spiritual life is to pray for them and give thanks to God for their successes. I believe fellow believers should adopt the same mentality, knowing that God deals with His children on an individual basis based on His expectations and no one else’s.
Jesus made it clear how we’ll know our brothers and sisters – by their fruits. He did not leave us in doubt or make it a confusing issue. John expounded on that by letting us know that “every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God” according to 1 John 4:2. Can we believe the word of God and relate with one another as siblings regardless of any other differences in understanding of the word of God?
Finally, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, which I strongly encourage you to read, Paul explains in-depth the importance of this subject of unity. There needs to be peace within the borders of Zion, and God can only establish it through us. We cannot keep cutting each other down instead of helping to heal each other’s wounds. Refuse to be the stumbling block in the way of the Masters’ work. When you are outside of your Christian family [local church assembly], function from the standpoint of members of one body. Let us love one another, work with one another, pray for one another, and strengthen one another till the day that the Master arrives, so that He will indeed find a “church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: but that it should be holy and without blemish” [Ephesians 5:27].
The church the Apostle refers to in Ephesians 5:27 is not your local assembly, but the body of Christ.
Be concerned about the body!
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