Unifying for the Kingdom of Christ

​Unify is defined as to make into a unit or a coherent whole; to put together, to form a single unit; to bond (Merriam-Webster dictionary).  Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25).  There are many churches, pastors, and Christians that have fallen for the spirit of religiosity’s traps of division not only throughout time but within the region.  This division is not among lines of heresy and separating false doctrine from sound doctrine to be biblical (Ephesians 4:14), but among churches that desire to honor God or among denominational names (Romans 16:17-18; Romans 12:5).  Churches and Christians should be driven to have the spirit of unity working among them to glorify the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:3).  When churches, pastors, and Christians fail to work together the spiritual enemies of God win (1 Corinthians 1:11-14).  Some Christians will unify for a common cause like homelessness, feeding people, or one certain particular event but they will stop at that one event and not proceed to give God honor by continuing in His work through unity.  How can this be overcome?  The answer is simple.  Christians need to gather with the common beliefs that should unify all believers of the New Testament church (Hebrews 6:1-2).  These doctrines are: going on to maturity in their relationship with God, repenting of dead works, faith toward God, doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  All of these are the elementary or foundational doctrines of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 6:1).  If Christians disagree on other doctrines like how to baptize, tongues, or other smaller branches of the Bible those doctrines should be able to be set aside to focus on the major doctrines of Hebrews 6 to still work in unifying for the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ (Titus 3:9-11).  The enemy wants God’s people separated as easier targets to conquer making this unity even more vital to all Christians that desire to endure to receive their salvation (Matthew 24:13).  Unifying is good for a region and a major method of breaking strongholds the spiritual enemies have used to divide for years (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  Christians, pastors, and churches need to unify within each region to overcome the attacks of the enemy of the Christian faith (1 Peter 5:9; Romans 12:21).  What can cause people not to unify?  For some it may be insecurity, fear of the unknown, going against tradition, or pride and arrogance.  In each of these reasons to not unify they are all of the flesh or carnality.  Christians are to not walk in carnality but by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:5-8).  If God’s people cannot unify, does that reflect serving different motives?  When each person serves self no one will be able to unify because the motives are focused on each person getting their way or being set as the focus of the task.  When God is the One being served then unity should be an automatic by-product of everyone attempting the same goal of glorifying God (1 Peter 3:8; 1 John 1:7).  This should motivate all Christians, pastors, and churches to honor God in everything that is conducted and create unifying for the kingdom of Christ to God’s purpose (Colossians 3:14).  The world needs Christians to unify to share the Word of God by working together to reflect one body and one army bringing victory for all that believe (1 John 5:5).  For information about Abundant Grace Church visit agcsparta.org.