Perfecting Our Unity in Christ

by | Sep 30, 2014 | Uncategorized

This last Sunday we considered the first petition that Jesus prayed explicitly for the future church. In other words, the first petition He prayed for us as disciples of Jesus. The petition was “that they may all be one.”  The unity that Jesus was praying for was a unity that all true believers have by virtue of their union with Him by faith. However, Jesus also spoke of that unity being perfected. Below I have listed just some of the ways that we can be perfected in the unity that we have in Christ.
  • We must be concerned about what the truth is
  • We must recognize what truths are vital to true Christianity
  • We must focus on others rather than ourselves
  • We must be identified in an accountable way to a local church through church membership 
  • We must be willing to acknowledge our spiritual unity with other believers even if there are disagreements on important but non-vital truths
  • We must be about the mission Jesus gave us of gospel advancement
  • We must increasingly know the revelation Jesus has given of the Father

May the Lord enable us to grow in the unity we already have in Christ through a selfless focus on the purposes of Christ in one another and others.

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,  2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.  3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;  4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.  5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:1-8).