Passion For Unity

January 5, 2018

Passion For Unity

For the same God who worked through Peter as the apostle to the Jews also worked through me as the apostle to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:8

Read: Galatians 2: 6-10

Through the Apostle Paul, God has given us the incredible Gospel of Grace; the Good News that God accepts us, unconditionally, just as we are, not as we should be, because none of us are as we should be. (Brennan Manning) Through Paul, God has also given us a passion for unity in the Body of Christ. In this letter to the Galatians, Paul sought to reestablish the church on the solid foundation of grace. He was also seeking to maintain unity between himself and the church of the other Apostles in Jerusalem.

To discredit the Judaizers, Paul asserts that the church in Jerusalem did not add to, or take away from his Gospel of Grace. In commissioning Paul to be an evangelist to the Gentiles, the church simply asked Paul to keep on helping the poor, which Paul had always been eager to do. There are times when we are compelled to speak the truth in love, even when such a confrontation may threaten unity, because to remain silent may have a more harmful effect on the church. (We’ll see an example of this in the next passage.) For today, let’s take some time to ponder how we can embrace Paul’s passion for unity within the church.

I believe God calls us to be a part of a local church because He wants us to use the gifts He has given us to help the church fulfill the mission He has for her. We will experience times of conflict within the church, as well as times when we don’t feel we’re being fed. There will be times of great productivity and times when it seems we’re just not contributing to the cause of Christ. In all of these times, claim these words of Paul, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6).

My Takeaway: We all will face issues in our local church. If we hold tight to Paul’s passion for unity within the Body of Christ, I am confident our gracious Heavenly Father will give us the wisdom to respond to the issues in a way that glorifies Jesus and edifies our fellow believers.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2018 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.