United In Love

The Missing Ingrediant or the Tie that Binds

The making of a universal Body of Christ is the heart cry of God. Paul said, “There is one body one Spirit, just as you are called to the one hope of your calling one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God the Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” When we look at the church today we see many different denominations or what I call tribes in Christianity. There is a good deal of unity within these tribes. It is pretty easy to get together a bunch of Charismatic believers, it is not very hard to bring together folks from a traditional Evangelical background. (Baptist and Calvinistic kind of folks) It is not even hard today to bring together a Roman Catholic and an Episcopalian. This is a type of unity but it is unity within kind and not unity within the Body of Christ.

Chuck Swindoll has pointed out that people love to universalize their experiences. If I speak in tongues, everybody should speak in tongues, if I believe in the pre wrath rapture everybody should believe in the pre wrath rapture. If I celebrate the sacraments everybody should celebrate the sacraments! These kinds of statements come from people who want to take their spiritual experience and universalize it to everyone else. They may even be right about their position. However, if the church is going to be strong in the Lord and His mighty power we are going to have to learn from each other.

There are three types of Christians that I have listed. One I will call the Beatitude or good works Christians, Spiritual Gifts Christians and Doctrinal Christians. Each one reflects the nature of God. The late Mother Theresa was a Beatitude kind of Christian, Chuck Swindoll is a Doctrinal kind of Christian. Benny Hinn is a Spiritual Gifts kind of Christian. The differences between these Christian leaders may seem profound but the differences that we have are not a problem. The Gospels are written with these differences in mind. Matthew for good works, Mark for power, and Luke to measure the mind. Many people are surprised to learn the Body of Christ agrees on almost all the major doctrines of the church, especially the nature of God and the person of Jesus Christ.

So why are we so loosely bound together? The problem is a Love problem. We don’t value the gifts that are in each other. The Church will continue to be broken until we grow into the fullness of faith together. 1 Corinthians 12:25 says God has arranged the body so, “there may be no dissensions within the body, but the members may have care for each other. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”

1 Corinthians 13 says, “If I speak with the tongues and have not Love I am a clanging cymbal” this applies to spiritual gifts people. “If I understand mysteries and have all knowledge but have not Love I am nothing” this applies to Evangelical teachers. “If I give my possessions to the poor and have not Love I am nothing” this applies to beatitude or good work Christians. Let us begin to come together as tribes following the simple command of our savior. “Let us Love one another.”