Believers who know they are in Christ should live a certain way — the way the Bible directs.
Your orthopraxy (which means “correct conduct”) should match what you believe. When believers adhere to that command, there is unity among Christians. This is particularly critically important to public servants because unity among believing political leaders determines much for a nation.
This week, we examine the Bible’s case for unity among Christians in the Bible study “Vitally Important: Unity Amongst Christian Public Servants!”
In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul makes the case for unity among believers: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
In these verses, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, designates characteristics that are befitting believers called by Jesus Christ: humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance and diligence. These five ingredients lead to preserving the unity in and among the body of believers. A subsequent bond of peace, not disunity, develops among believers.
Paul himself sets an excellent example of possessing these characteristics and exhibiting them in his life. Certainly, he had been imprisoned for his faith, but more than that was his conversion on the road to Damascus. It was there he learned that he was a “chosen instrument” of Jesus (Acts 9:15b). In essence, the Lord divinely imprisoned him, or better, as Paul himself describes the experience, made Paul his slave.
Such is the case with everyone called by Christ to serve him per Ephesians 1:4: “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” Accordingly, Paul explains the importance of the believer’s outward manifestations or characteristics underscored by his personal testimony, which indicates willing obedience to Christ.
That obedience stems from knowing one’s clear calling by God in Christ (cf. John 15:16, 1 Corinthians 6:20). True believers work toward their lives reflecting how God’s Word says we should live. We conform in our orthopraxy not because of forced legalism, but because of our inner willingness to honor the Father through our obedience. We are to live our lives to illustrate the new person we have become and are continuing to become through Christ.
To help the believer understand God’s definitions of humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance and diligence, this Bible study examines biblical examples such as Noah, Jeremiah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, who displayed perfect meekness, or gentleness, when betrayed by Judas. In Matthew 26:53, Jesus made the point that he could call upon the Father to dispatch legions of angels to stop the crucifixion. In refusing to do that, Jesus illustrated gentleness and obedience to the Father.
God’s very nature is reflected in unity. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). If the body of Christ is to be the representation of Christ between his first and second advent, then God’s nature of oneness needs to be reflected among believers and to all onlookers.
Disunity fails miserably to reflect his divine nature; unity reflects his divine nature! Accordingly, the unity of those who are trusting in Christ alone for their salvation is a very serious matter and is extremely important relative to the effectiveness of our overall witness to unbelievers.
Our nation desperately needs believers to be in unity! What results from a persevering unity can and will bless our nation! Click here to read the full study.
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