Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 4 – 6 [highlight underlined portion] – 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
My Journal for Today: In the final phrase of this passage [i.e., Eph. 4: 6], Paul puts a capstone on the emphasis of importance that we, as Christians, must be unified in serving the ONE true and sovereign God, Who is above all, our Lord; … and Who is through all, our Provider; … and Who is in all, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Certainly the Old Testament asserted for God’s chosen people to be set apart in their worship of the One, True God, there being no other worthy of worship besides Jehovah [see Deut. 4: 39 and Is. 45: 45]…
SCRIPTURE: Deut. 4: 39 … Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 45: 45 I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, …
And into this one true faith, we, as Christians, have been grafted by/in Christ. And as with the Old Testament believers, it is only by our obedience and unity are we blessed by God, the Father, … The Author and Finisher of our faith … the One Who forged our one, true Body, His Church, … ministered to by His One, true Spirit, … with one hope, found in God, the Son, Who is our Lord. And all of this produces ONE faith, ONE baptism, and ONE Body.
And we have seen that only by joining all of the souls of believers into a unity of God’s Spirit can we be a powerful and effective witness in a world permeated by so much divisiveness and so many false gods and idols.
My Prayer Today: O, Lord, You are Holy … my All in all. May Your Church find Your power in the unity of Your Spirit. Amen
Showing posts with label Oneness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oneness. Show all posts
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
January 29, 2011 … Oneness in Christ
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 4 – 6 – 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called — 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
My Journal for Today: As we did in my last devotional entry [for 1/28/11], we focus on the “oneness” of Christ, … in the Church, and from the Gospel. And the two verses below, one from Peter, the other from Paul, clearly declare, as does today’s passage, that we give allegiance and serve One God in Christ Jesus.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 4:12 [Peter] “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
SCRIPTURE: Rom. 10: 12 [Paul] For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, …
Really, both explicitly and implicitly, CHRIST is the single unifying theme throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New. Denominational, demographic, or dogmatic differences within Christianity cannot detract from this unifying reality. There is only one CHRISTIAN faith.
Actually, unity (of the church) from diversity (of believers) is the theme of Ephesians 4; and it should be a strength of God’s Church. However, we live in a world which is fallen and fallible and which has led to fallacious and far reaching interpretations of God’s word and all too much diversity of feelings in Christ’s body. And any time we let feelings dominate a unified search for God’s truth, we fall prey to our enemy, Satan, who would pour his evil spiritual gas upon the flames of our distraction and disunity.
We must beware and not hold so tightly to our own provincial and protected “brand” of corporate Christianity so that we can come together to fulfill Christ’s prayer for His Body (see John 17), holding only to the reality that we have our unity in Christ Himself. [again see Eph. 4: 4 above]
My Prayer Today: We are one … I am one in You, Lord. Amen
My Journal for Today: As we did in my last devotional entry [for 1/28/11], we focus on the “oneness” of Christ, … in the Church, and from the Gospel. And the two verses below, one from Peter, the other from Paul, clearly declare, as does today’s passage, that we give allegiance and serve One God in Christ Jesus.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 4:12 [Peter] “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
SCRIPTURE: Rom. 10: 12 [Paul] For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, …
Really, both explicitly and implicitly, CHRIST is the single unifying theme throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New. Denominational, demographic, or dogmatic differences within Christianity cannot detract from this unifying reality. There is only one CHRISTIAN faith.
Actually, unity (of the church) from diversity (of believers) is the theme of Ephesians 4; and it should be a strength of God’s Church. However, we live in a world which is fallen and fallible and which has led to fallacious and far reaching interpretations of God’s word and all too much diversity of feelings in Christ’s body. And any time we let feelings dominate a unified search for God’s truth, we fall prey to our enemy, Satan, who would pour his evil spiritual gas upon the flames of our distraction and disunity.
We must beware and not hold so tightly to our own provincial and protected “brand” of corporate Christianity so that we can come together to fulfill Christ’s prayer for His Body (see John 17), holding only to the reality that we have our unity in Christ Himself. [again see Eph. 4: 4 above]
My Prayer Today: We are one … I am one in You, Lord. Amen
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