Can there ever truly be unity in the Body of Messiah

[kwikphilly]

Blessings JohnDB,,,,

     It seems to be more than 2 things that are confounding you as you really listed 5 ,not to mention your question as the Title of this thread-lol     To begin with I think that in spirit ,yes,,,,there can be true unity in the Body of Christ ....walking in  spirit & by the Power of the Holy Spirit we have the Heart & Mind of Christ & therefore we all function as that One Body with  Jesus as our Head but this is the perfection that  we strive for on a day to day basis as we live in our fleshly bodies,,,,,,our flesh is at war continually with our spirit & will always be until we are in our new glorified bodies just as Christ is in Heaven.We are a work in progress until we pass from this temporal place & our temporal bodies and into eternal life in our eternal,incorruptable bodies with our Lord .

     How can anyone pass up eternal Salvation?I don't know,it seems crazy to me but you did give one reason for it,people want to be their own god,the spirits of pride & vanity have deceived them into believing that they do not need a Savior..............It is clearly a choice,some will choose to serve the Living God Almighty & some will serve satan.Again,deception.......any claim to be Saved but choose to serve the god of this world....you cannot have it both ways,you surrender to Jesus because you want forgiveness & reconciliation back to our Father ....or not.....

      Can you remember what life was like before Jesus,how we were blind & deaf?We must have been called out because what was it that changed our hearts?

 

8and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.…                                                             1 Peter2:8-10

 and we,the gentiles ....are so Blessed that we are to provoke the Jews to jealousy..............I don't know why this has come to my mind but I am just grateful that my eyes were opened & I realize so often that I could have missed my opportunity to see that a choice had to be made for where I would spend  eternity.............                                                                                                            With love-in Christ,Kwik

[Marilyn C]

Hi JohnDB,

 

Haven`t talked to you before, but so love this topic. Thanks for starting it. Now my contribution to this great discussion is from Ephesians.

 

`I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility & gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent TO PRESERVE THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT in the bond of peace,.....` (Eph. 4: 1 - 3)

 

This together with 1 Corinthians 12 tells us how the Lord has `placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.` (I Cor. 12: 18)

Thus we see that the `unity` of the members in the Body of Christ is by the Holy Spirit (I believe) & we are but to `preserve` that unity otherwise we are the ones on the outer.

 

Now the `unity of faith,` is what we are really talking about -

 

`And He gave....until we all attain to the unity of the faith, & of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man...` (Eph. 4: 11 - 13)

 

And how will this happen?

 

`speaking he truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ from whom the whole Body, being fitted & held together by that which every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love.` (Eph. 4: 15 - 16)

 

The hurdle we have to overcome is not to judge what Christ is doing in the maturing of His Body, by the standards of a public meeting. It is the members of the Body that Christ is building & maturing. Yes there are differences & at the moment it seems we are `tossed to & fro,` (Eph. 4: 14) but the Body of Christ has come a long way, by the Holy Spirit if you look back over the past 50 years. Thus we can trust the Lord by His Holy Spirit to `lead us into all truth.` (John 16: 13)

 

Personally I believe that many people on `Worthy,` are doing a great job to help bring the Body to maturity in Him. We are in unity by the Holy Spirit & are being brought to the unity of the faith as we together speak the truth in love.