The church is to be an organized organism that has a vision for reaching people for Jesus Christ. The commission to each of us is to make disciples to reach even more people for Jesus Christ. With Christ as the denominator the differences in backgrounds, careers, social standing, and spiritual maturity all fade away into a perfect harmonious group of Christ followers. Look at what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:10 0 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. The church at Corinth had some sharp divisions that were caused by some people only wanting to follow the one that brought them to Christ. Paul addressed it in this way. 1 Corinthians 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas;beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
As believers our allegiance is to Christ alone and Jesus is the one who keeps the unity and harmony in His church because He looks at everyone the same. No preferential treatment. We are to line up behind the teachings of Christ and go forward together with the same mind, the mind of Christ. If dissension and selfishness were kept out of the church we would see great growth in numbers and in spiritual maturity and our fellowship would be strong and encouraging. May we make every effort to be a peacemaker in every situation and also make every effort to follow Christ and His example and not a person. I pray our churches will be unified in reaching the world for Christ and that the Bible will be our guidebook in how to do it. When we have unity it fills the holes in our fellowship that can cause us to drift away from each other. Time to patch the holes!!!!
The Pilgrimage continues……
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