Unity : The Particular Church and the Universal Church

I've been rereading "Being The Body", written by Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn. Among the many things I learned the first time through the book (besides the fact that Colson was a reformed Southern Baptist) was the difference in the definition of unity when applied to the universal church and the particular church (or the invisible church and the visible church if you are reformed like me).

The universal church is THE CHURCH of Jesus Christ. It is the sum total of all people saved by His grace. In essence it is all the people who will make up the group that will be with Him for eternity. The particular or visible church is the church on earth everyone sees. It is made up of everyone who claims to be Christian, whether saved or not.

The Bible commands us to be united in the church universal. What exactly does this mean and what are the ramifications? Colson and Vaughn have an excellent chapter on this issue. I would encourage anyone who wants to know the role of the true Body and their place in it to read this book. I saw it on the discount shelf at the Christian Book store at Northcross, beside Harris Teeter for only $4.99, great deal.

They title this particular chapter "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism". They make the case that not only is unity a requirement for us, one to another as it was for Jesus being one with God, but that it's a prerequsite for evangelism (John 17:21). Unity of the universal church is what is most important. When the outside world sees a Christian, they don't care what denomination we are, they will use any lack of unity on our part to discredit ALL of Christianity.

The ultimate case they make is that in the universal church we must set aside the "smaller" doctrinal diffrences, but not all. Any church must agree and abide by the fundamental doctrines that make us Christian, such as the resurrection to be included in the universal church. So, the universal church must practice unity with diversity. We must agree on and abide by the fundamental biblical doctrines of Christ, but quietly disagree and abide with our own different doctrines (like baptism methods, but, not the need for baptism) and come together as one in the eyes of the world.

The church particular on the other hand MUST never waiver from its unique doctrines. To be one in mind and spirit completely with one another on Sunday morning, every member of a church must believe in the same doctrines and submit to the same church authority and government. If you believe in baptism of infants and sprinkling, then you should be in a church that agrees with you or you dilute the unity of the church particular you are in.

C. S. Lewis expounds greatly on the unity of the universal church in his classic "Mere Christianity", in fact he calls the doctrinal truths that the Universal Chruch must hold to be just that, mere christianity, they are the things that make us Christian.

I believe we must study the great works of others of different particular churches than ours. Until we converse and exchange and discover the differences and why we believe what we do, can we really say we believe them? I look forward to your comments on this issue. An active interchange of idesa is important, whether applied to the Universal or the particular church.

The Rule of Faith, the core set of beliefs all Christians must share:

-God, the creator exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
-Born of a virgin, He suffered, died, rose again, and was exalted at the right hand of the Father from whence He will come again
-The Holy Spirit brings the benefits of Christ's saving work to people who believe in Him
-Christians are expected to unite with a local church, submit to the authority of bishops and elders (deacons), and live a holy life conducive to the spread of the gospel
- God will judge the world and receive His own at the end of history
the above quoted from "Being the Body"

A Prayer for Renewal

Father;

I praise you and thank you for a weekend of wonder, awe and renewal. Your Spirit was so active among us this weekend that we should fall to our knees and thank you for the blessings you gave.

I thank you for the Word you gave us during the men's conference. The Spirit was strong and we pray will have great impact in the lives of the men of our church.

I thank you for the life of JJ Weaver. Father I belief you held that young life up before this church to unify us, to make us aware of our place in your plan, and to show us what the Body should be.

Father the blessings of these two events, and the seeds you have began to plant with our missions are truly gifts that we must thank you for.

Father my prayer is that now that these seeds have been planted, you will find a church of men and women who will care for them, water, cultivate, and grow them for your Kingdom. Father, I pray that this is the beginning of a renewal and revival in our church and of the unity of the Body, the true Church of Jesus Christ. May we, father, set aside our lives, and make ourselves completely available to you. May we be united with one purpose only, to further your Kingdom.

As my church enters into an exciting but dangerous time of growth Father, I pray your blessings on us. I pray that the Spirit will work in all of us to keep the enemy at bay, knowing Father, that he will attempt to delay our tasks and break our unity.

Be with our Pastor, our staff and our lay leasdership, and Father keep us strong in the Spirit so our work will honor you. Let us never forget the sacrifice you made on our behalf, the life of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name I offer this prayer.

Amen

The Power of One Small Life

Today, I witnessed a Church united, being together as one. The miracle of this is it wasn't the result of man's efforts; no program did it, no sermon, no event, no anything.

Today I witnessed the awesome power of God. I saw how the wonder of His work can bring grown men to tears and gather a group together as one without any issue to be discussed or decision to be made.

As I looked around the church, I saw for the first time I can remember, complete and total unity of everyone present. I saw children, teens, adults of every age come together with absolutley nothing in mind except to support one small boy and his family, and to praise God for his life, and to commit to God our care and support for him.

Today, J J Weaver was dedicated by his family and his church, to the Lord. It was an unbelievably moving and renewing moment. As a father of six, I can't imagine what the Weavers have been through. I find it rough when one of my children has a cold or the flu. I tried to place my self in their shoes, but I can't.

We all know that our God works in ways that will remain a mystery to us until we are home with Him. Throughout JJ's illness I have tried to find the will of God in it, have tried to make sense of it in an eternal way. I simply lack the ability to look into eternity and see God's complete plan, as do we all.

But today, I think I can say that I have a peace about this little life that I didn't have before. Now, what I am about to say may or may not be what God has done in this life, or it may be just a part of what He has accomplished. But if JJ Weaver goes home to be with the Lord tonight, I saw something accomplished in his life that could only be the work of our Lord.

JJ Weaver and his parents unified First Baptist Church Huntersville. OK, maybe only for a short time, maybe only in one aspect, but we were unified. And in God's perfect providence, at a time we really need it.

As our church embarks on a journey of growth and strives to reach out in new mission ways, we desperately need to be unified. It requires great unity of the Body to carry out great undertakings. In Nehemiah we find " And it came to pass from that time forth, That half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah" Ne 4:16, and "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour" Ec 4:9

A unified church is stronger and has added power in their prayers, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven" Mt 18:19

So, my prayer for the Weaver's is not only for a miracle so that JJ might survive his earthly disease. My added prayer is that they will be comforted by the knowledge that God has held their son up, and so deeply affected our church. He has used JJ to show us that we can come together as one, lay aside our lives, and be the Body He desires us to be.

Peace and assurance be with the Weavers.

Memory Verse for Oct 15-21

1 Timothy 1:15

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief

Welcome

Welcome to The Narrow Pathway. This blog will explore the journey down the narrow pathway of a life that follows Jesus Christ. It is a story of my journey in particular, but will encompass the journey of all of us that choose to travel apart from the world.

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