Unifiers, not dividers

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Psalm 132:1-134:3

TO CHEW ON: “Behold how good and pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1

Psalms 132,133, and 134 are all Songs of Ascents—Jewish liturgy of pilgrimage. Pilgrims to Jerusalem, on their way to celebrate the thrice-yearly feasts (spring: Feast of Passover; summer: Feast of Pentecost; autumn: Feast of Tabernacles) would sing these fifteen songs (Psalm 120-134) as they ascended to the city—the high point of Palestine. How fitting that the second-last, Psalm 133, was a reminder to them to get along.

Eugene Peterson, in his chapter about this psalm in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, makes the point that the moment we confess Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we become a member of the Christian church even though we never attend one physically or attach our names to the membership roll of one formally. “We can no more be a Christian and have nothing to do with the church than we can be a person and not be in a family” - Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience, p. 175. In other words, church is to Christian what family is to person.

How then, do we get along with our church siblings? Peterson lists some ways we might live in this community of faith. Who are you on his list?

• Some run away from it and pretend that the family doesn’t exist.

• Some move out and get an apartment… from which they return to make occasional visits.

• Some would never dream of leaving but cause others to dream it for them, for they are always criticizing what is served at meals, quarrelling with the way the housekeeping is done, complaining that the others in the family are either ignoring or taking advantage of them.

• Some determine to find out what God has in mind by placing them in this community … learn how to function harmoniously and joyously, develop maturity that shares and exchanges God’s grace, even with the nuisances - Peterson, Op. Cit., p. 176 (formatting and emphasis added).

If we’re not there already, let’s work to be in that last set. Let’s be unifiers, not dividers.


PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to be a family member who doesn’t think of myself first but who works for the good of others and the body. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trashed sanctuaries

Re-purposed church building (Photo: V. Nesdoly)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Lamentations 2:1-22

TO CHEW ON: "He has done violence to His tabernacle,
As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly:
The Lord has caused the appointed feasts and Sabbaths
to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.
The Lord has spurned His altar.
He has bandoned His sanctuary;
He has given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hands of the enemy.
They have made a noise in the house of the LORD
As on the day of a set feast." Lamentations 2:6,7

Seeing buildings that were once obviously houses of worship used for secular purposes always gives me a twinge. I wonder what happened? Did the congregation move to a different building? Are the people that formerly worshiped there still in existence as a body? Or did they fight, split, lose interest, die off, disburse?

Perhaps my feelings for church buildings are inappropriate. For in our focus verses today, it would seem that God Himself condoned not just the re-purposing but the very desecration of the temple, its celebrations, indeed all things to do with the outward show of worshiping God.

Why did He do this? One of the reasons was probably to drive home the fact that there is something even more important than outward forms of worship. That thing is obedience - 1 Samuel 15:22.

This brings me to the question, do I take comfort from the fact that I'm okay because I'm adhering to the expected forms and rituals of my time? Do I, for example, feel bad when I miss my daily devotions because of guilt over not having done a required thing? Or do I feel bad because I miss the closeness of being with Jesus?

The symbolism of a desecrated church is not lost on its members. But such an act can never harm the real church which is people, in-dwelt and living under the direction of the Holy Spirit in community with each other. In fact, each one of us is God's sanctuary -  1 Corinthians 6:19,20

And so any place can be sacred. Any room in your home, your garden, or your car can become a holy place because God meets you there.

PRAYER: Dear God, please show me where I am trusting in religious forms as a way of pleasing and getting points with You. Help me to understand, at a heart level, the difference between ritual and obedience. Amen.

MORE: Your church and its building

Most churches have dedication services when they begin meeting in a new building or move into an existing venue. These dedication services may include prayers that bind all evil spirits or influences which formerly operated in the physical space and invite the Holy Spirit to have free reign there.

In one church I attended, when we moved out of our old building we held a decommissioning service to lift the blessing we had invoked when we moved in. Such services are often a time of thanksgiving, sharing memories, and a declaration to the church and the secular community that the physical site and building is no longer a place of worship.

 Is there a biblical precedent for decommissioning services (one doesn't come to my mind)? What are your thoughts and experiences?

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Body talk

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 12:1-13

TO CHEW ON: "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12

The human body is endlessly interesting. It is complex with interrelated parts that can work in harmony to produce diverse results, from figure skating performances to brain surgery maneuvers. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the church to the human body making an argument for unity in the church that will resemble that of the human body.

Paul points out three likenesses:

1. Both bodies are diverse.
Consider the assortment of parts, organs and functions within our human bodies. Even each finger of our hand serves a different function. Think of the body systems — skeletal, nerve, circulatory, reproductive, endocrine, digestive. List the multitude of organs: stomach, heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, thyroid, intestines, skin...

The church body is also diverse. Paul talks of diverse gifts: faith, healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues, discernment, prophecy. He names diverse activities which a diversity of ministries carry out: apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, helpers, administrators (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).


2. Both bodies need each part.
I once saw a woman on the news who no longer had the ability to recognize faces. During surgery for epilepsy the surgeon had excised that tiny part of her brain that has face-recognizing ability. I didn't even know there was such a thing. Until we lose a function, we don't appreciate that there was a body part jogging along behind the scenes doing its job.

In the same way in the church we need each other. Paul underlines this aspect of the church body further on in 1 Corinthians 12. A body can't consist of only one or two organs, he says. It needs a variety, working in cooperation and not competition with each other to function properly (1 Corinthians 12:14-18).

3. In both bodies the malfunction of even the smallest part causes distress in the whole.
Have you ever tried to carry on as usual when you have a toothache? The tiniest part of our body in distress impacts our whole selves.

In the same way, Paul says we experience the church's unity as pain when one of our members gets hurt, is ill or missing (1 Corinthians 12:26).

I love this comparison of the church to the body. It spreads around the responsibility and the credit. It makes our variety and differences a good thing. It helps us relax because we don't have to be like someone else. All we need to do is be the faithful little toe, or knee bone, or vocal cord, humming along, doing our part to help the whole body work as one.


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to understand the church, Your body, better and be a more eager and cooperative member. Amen.

**********Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unity—the reputation we want

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Philippians 1:12-30

TO CHEW ON: "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 1:27

Whenever a prominent Christian makes news for conduct, it reflects on the whole church. As Christians we don't live only to ourselves and this is never more evident than when one of our famous ones stumbles.

"Conduct is a word that usually describes one's life as a citizen," writes Wayne Grudem in his commentary on this passage. "The city of Philippi prized its Roman citizenship, but Paul reminds his readers that the most important conduct is to behave in a manner befitting citizens of the kingdom of God" - Wayne Grudem, Study notes on Romans, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1661.

Paul goes on to tell the Philippians what he'd like to be hearing about them: "… so that… I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel" (emphasis added). In plain words, he wants them to have a reputation for UNITY.

Paul is surely following his leader Jesus in this. Hear Jesus pray in John: "…'that they all may be one as You Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us that the world may believe that You sent Me' " - John 17:21.

So let's remember, we don't live only for ourselves, Our conduct reflects on the whole body of Christ. And there's no better "reflection" than to mirror the unity of the Godhead.  Let's work for that within our own congregations and throughout the many communities that make up Christendom. How? Some ways to foster unity that come to mind:

• Focus on the beliefs we hold in common, versus those on which we disagree.

• Get to know Christians from other churches in the community. One way to do that is to attend interdenominational events. For example, our community has a joint Good Friday service that involves all evangelical churches that care to participate.

• View members of other churches as brothers and sisters in the same big family rather than rival families.

PRAYER: Dear God, may my conduct be a credit to Your kingdom and a force for unity in it. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Another Lord's Prayer

Jesus prays with His disciples - by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 17:1-26

TO CHEW ON: "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven and said: 'Father the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You.'" John 17:1.

Someone has suggested that John 17, our passage today, should be called the Lord's Prayer more than Matthew 6:9-13. If the contents of a person's prayer are an indication of their preoccupations, we can tell a lot about the things Jesus was interested in, that were at the very heart of His thoughts, by these verses.

His prayer contained a three main requests:

1. He prayed that He would be glorified (John 17:1-5).
But, we ask, isn't that self-serving? And then we realize who is making the request, and of whom. He is the God the Son, praying to God the Father who is the sum-total of all that is right, true, beautiful, glorious, excellent... Where else should glory go if not to Him?

2. He prayed that the apostles would be sanctified (John 17:6-19).
In His prayer, Jesus gives us a glimpse of how special and unique these men were as gifts to Him from God the Father (John 17:6-7). He prayed that God would keep them, and specifically, keep them from the "evil one" (John 17:11-12;14-15). He asked that they experience His joy (John 17:13). And He requested that they be sanctified or set apart to take the Gospel — good news about Him and salvation — to the world (John 17:17-19).

[Sanctified: hagiadzo: to hallow, set apart, dedicate, consecrate, separate, sanctify, make holy. Hagiadzo as a state of holiness is opposite of koinon, common or unclean. In the OT, things, places and ceremonies were hagiadzo. In the NT the word describes a manifestation of life, produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1463.]

3. He prayed the the church would be unified (John 17:20-26).
We are included in this prayer as those "who will believe in Me through their word" - vs. 20. Jesus' great desire is that we experience and demonstrate unity. Our unity will be a sign to the world so they believe God sent Jesus (vs. 21). And this unity will eventually flower into His followers joining Him to "be with Me where I am..." (vs. 24).

I ask myself, am I working toward Jesus' prayer being answered? Are you? Is furthering His glory a priority in our lives? Though we are not the apostles, we too are hand-picked by God to fulfill a purpose on earth. Look:

"For we are God's own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned before hand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time — living the good life which He pre-arranged and made ready for us to live" - Ephesians 2:10 AMP.

Do we set ourselves apart for such a God-appointed destiny? And are we working toward unity? Or are we standoffish from other Christians, choosing to focus on our differences rather than the core Gospel truths that unite us?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for this prayer, straight from Your heart. Help me to answer it in my life today. Amen.

MORE: Interview with Satan about unity in the church‬

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The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

Cooperation, not competition

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

TO CHEW ON: "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." 1 Corinthians 12:7

We usually think of gifts in terms of how they will please us, how they will be of use to us, how they will enhance our ease or magnify our image. But spiritual gifts (also referred to here as manifestations, ministries and activities) are not like that. They are not primarily about us as individuals but about "all."

Who is this all? In one sense, it is the universal church—the worldwide body of believers who have entered the Kingdom of God or Heaven through being born again (see Jesus' explanation to Nicodemus in John 3:1-21).

But because we can't meaningfully live on such a vast plain, we connect our selves with local churches—smaller bodies of believers that we meet face to face, whom we know and who know us. It is mainly within the local church that our gifts are used, needed, and appreciated—or not.

There's the rub. For spiritual gifts don't all have equal prominence. But we mortals like prominence. And so here Paul's words hit the road of life when he reminds us, these gifts aren't about us, but about the good of "all."

We may never see the custodian who keeps the church shining and the garbage cans emptied, or the secretary who types and prints the bulletin, or the volunteer who puts the nursery worker schedule together, or the team that visits the sick in hospital, or the cooks and kitchen workers who prepare the Alpha meal. But if any of these, and a myriad others, fails in his or her job, don't we notice it!

So as we discover and use our spiritual gifts, let's remind ourselves:

• Our gift is not about our prominence.

• It's not about gaining a following.

• It's not about people's compliments and well dones.

• Rather, it's about faithfully doing our little under the head—Christ—and leaving the results with Him.

PRAYER: Dear God, I so easily forget the principle of spiritual gifts being for the profit of all. Help me to get my thinking out of the realm of competition, into the realm of cooperation. Amen.

MORE: Our corporate calling

"The call of Jesus is personal, but not purely individual; Jesus summons his followers not only to an individual calling but also to a corporate calling.

"... over against history's involuntary groupings, such as the tribe, the city-state, and the nation, there now stands a new community of God's called-out ones. These are bound together by a covenant and living out a corporate calling that both complements and transcends their calling as individuals" - Os Guinness, The Call, pp. 93, 97.

Another Lord's Prayer

Jesus prays with His disciples - by Alexandre Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 17:1-26

TO CHEW ON: "Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven and said: 'Father the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You.'" John 17:1.

Someone has suggested that John 17, our passage today, should be called the Lord's Prayer more than Matthew 6:9-13. If the contents of a person's prayer are an indication of their preoccupations, we can tell a lot about the things Jesus was interested in, that were at the very heart of His thoughts, by these verses.

His prayer contained a three main requests:

1. He prayed that He would be glorified (John 17:1-5).
But, we ask, isn't that self-serving? And then we realize who is making the request, and of whom. He is the God the Son, praying to God the Father who is the sum-total of all that is right, true, beautiful, glorious, excellent... Where else should glory go if not to Him?

2. He prayed that the apostles would be sanctified (John 17:6-19).
In His prayer, Jesus gives us a glimpse of how special and unique these men were as gifts to Him from God the Father (John 17:6-7). He prayed that God would keep them, and specifically, keep them from the "evil one" (John 17:11-12;14-15). He asked that they experience His joy (John 17:13). And He requested that they be sanctified or set apart to take the Gospel — good news about Him and salvation — to the world (John 17:17-19).

[Sanctified: hagiadzo: to hallow, set apart, dedicate, consecrate, separate, sanctify, make holy. Hagiadzo as a state of holiness is opposite of koinon, common or unclean. In the OT, things, places and ceremonies were hagiadzo. In the NT the word describes a manifestation of life, produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1463.]

3. He prayed the the church would be unified (John 17:20-26).
We are included in this prayer as those "who will believe in Me through their word" - vs. 20. Jesus' great desire is that we experience and demonstrate unity. Our unity will be a sign to the world so they believe God sent Jesus (vs. 21). And this unity will eventually flower into His followers joining Him to "be with Me where I am..." (vs. 24).

I ask myself, am I working toward Jesus' prayer being answered? Are you? Is furthering His glory a priority in our lives? Though we are not the apostles, we too are hand-picked by God to fulfill a purpose on earth. Look:

"For we are God's own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned before hand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time — living the good life which He pre-arranged and made ready for us to live" - Ephesians 2:10 AMP.

Do we set ourselves apart for such a God-appointed destiny? And are we working toward unity? Or are we standoffish from other Christians, choosing to focus on our differences rather than the core Gospel truths that unite us?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for this prayer, straight from Your heart. Help me to answer it in my life today. Amen.

MORE: Interview with Satan about unity in the church‬