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Unity

Jesus is pretty clear. Jesus wants His followers and disciples to be unified and one.

Jesus wants us perfected in unity. I must take this seriously. What am I doing to make it happen?

It is important for His message and for the world to see this so they know that God sent Jesus and loves them.

Jesus wants his disciples to one, exactly the way Jesus and God the Father are one. It should be the same.

That they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

| John 17:23

The Bible underscores the importance of “unity” and “oneness.”

What is the basis for true unity? The person and work of Jesus the Messiah and His glory (John 17:2–5). He has already given His glory to us, and He promises that we will further experience that glory when we get to heaven!

All true believers have God’s glory within, no matter what they may look like on the outside. Harmony is not based on the externals of the flesh but the internals and eternals of the Spirit in the inner person.

We must look beyond the elements of our first birth — race, color, abilities, etc. — and build our fellowship on the essentials of our new birth.

  • Unity with others is “good” and “pleasant”. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1).
  • Unity is absolutely essential because the called-out assembly of disciples (aka church) is the “body of the Messiah”.  Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27).
  • A body cannot be in disunity or disharmony with itself.
  • If disunity occurs, it essentially ceases to be a body and becomes a disjointed group of individuals.
  • Jesus’ plan for His called-out assembly of disciples (aka church) is people unified in the faith.

The called-out assembly of disciples (aka church) is one: Or at least we should be one. That is what Jesus wants. That is what Paul and the other apostles teach us.

Jesus has assured us that some will believe because of our witness (John 17:20), but we must make sure that our witness is true and loving. Some disciples are prosecuting attorneys and judges instead of faithful witnesses, and this only turns lost sinners away from the Savior.

I need to get his into my heart and soul. I think Jesus weeps over our disunity and hatred for the other members of the body of Jesus. It is just plain wrong.

  • Romans 12:5  — So we, who are many, are one body in the Messiah, and individually members one of another.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:12  — For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is the Messiah.
  • 1 Corinthians 12:20  — But now there are many members, but one body.
  • Ephesians 4:25  — Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.