Unity of the Faith, Similarities with Marriage Pt. 1
Hello heartchurch parishioners, Greeting you all.
Today i want to look into the term unity of the faith as recorded in Ephesian 4:13 which captures the original intent of Jesus' dead on the cross.
Ephesians 4:13
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
In the book of John chapter 16: 20-21 Jesus prayed a prayer for the church before He was to be taken away from them and in that prayer, reveals His desire for unity in His body.
"20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." So the desire of Jesus wasn't to build a body that is dependent on each persons self. Jesus hoped to build a church that was interdependent on each other.
Let's look a little into marriage and see what relationship it has with the unity of the faith.There is one thing that is very paramount in marriage and that is love. To this note Apostle Paul said in his epistle to the To this note Apostle Paul said in his epistle to the Ephesian's church in Ephesians 5:22 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. On the bases of this LOVE, bible says for this reason, shall a man leave his parents and shall be joined to a woman and the two shall become one flesh and this was the whole intent of Christ for coming to die for humanity.
The entrance of sin exposed man to so many contrary characters that wasn't to be found in man during creation and one of it as recorded in Galatians 5:19 is hatred recorded as one of the works of the flesh.
Now let's quickly note that the church cannot achieve the unity of the faith when members of the church is functioning from the plain of the flesh off course man was born into the flesh through the sin of Adam but upon the coming of Christ into our heart, man cease to live his life from the plain of the flesh.
No marriage works without love so now the question is: will a man be married to someone he doesn't love? And the answer is yes. Many people marry for different reasons. One could marry because of character while the other marries because of beauty and the list keeps going. But the bible has made it clear that the only base for marriage should be love.
Bible says that a man shall live his parents and be joined to a woman and the two will become one flesh. Now how do you explain that? I was just reflecting on something today before living for work and then i realized that the only thing that keeps them is love. This are two different people with different educational background, believes, morals and what have you but in the midst of all this, they can still peacefully live together. What allows this peaceful coexistence is love because without love, we can't live peacefully with one another.
Love overlooks mistakes and shortcomings and this is why it is possible for two different people to live together and the call it marriage.
The church will never reach the place of unity in the faith when love is missing among us. Jesus while teaching His disciples about the greatest commandment said that we should first of all love God with our all and then love our neighbors like ourselves. Until the church break free from self indulgence, we will never reach the place of unity in the faith. Am not against the fact that we should first of all think of ourselves but am strongly against seeing oneself as our only responsibility.
In Hebrews 12:12 bible says that we should strengthen the feeble knees and lift up the weary hands that stoops to fall meaning that we are to bear one another's burden. Never will God realize Christ to come for the saints when we have not learnt how to live in unity in Christ.
God is not interested in any believe that lives in self indulgence. Love is the first of all the fruits of the spirit cause it is the paramount.
The driving force in this kingdom should be love and nothing else. If we don't have love in your heart for another person then we are not ready to receive the second coming of Christ for heaven will still withhold Him until the time of the restitution of all things including our hearts.