"WE SEEK UNITY"
By: Daniel McMillin
Ephesians 4:1-7
As the Church of Christ, we desire to live in a way that is Christ-like, to follow the footsteps of Jesus through the example He gave us. We desire to live a life that is loving, caring, and compassionate. We live a life that is lowly and meek exercising humility, because we are not worthy to be boastful of anything other than God. We desire to love one another with long suffering and forbearance, to keep the unity of which Jesus the Christ unified through His blood. As humans we seek to be saved, to obtain the reward of the afterlife in Heaven. To do this we must seek to follow the teachings of God and have unity one with another as the Church.
One Body
There is one body of which Jesus purchased with His blood. This one body looks to the cross and are in Christ. “That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby” (Eph. 2:16). There are many members that fill the body. “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So, we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another” (Rom. 12:4-5). As it is seen that Christ has one body it is logical to conclude that there is one body with many members united in Christ. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also, is Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12). To be in His body you must be baptized. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13).
As the body follows the commands and the authority of the head, the body of Christ follows its head. The head over the Church, who having all authority, is Jesus the Christ.
“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col. 1:18-20).
For Christ is the head over the body we must follow His commands. The commands of the Lord are given to us through the Word. Jesus said with His own mouth “Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28). Christ as our Savior and our judge is telling us that if we keep the commandments of God we will be blessed in a sense to where when our time on this earth has finished we will enter the home in heaven with Him.
One Spirit
There is but one Spirit, this Spirit is most known as the Holy Spirit, being deity. He is one of the three heads of God. This Spirit is an important part of our lives today, without the Spirit we would not have the inspired word that is before us. “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). The Spirit is how we have access to the Father. “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (Eph. 2:18). As He is the Spirit we are baptized in His name. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matt. 28:19).
One Hope
This one Hope is a hope in Heaven. As human beings we should strive to be saved, we have a hope to be saved. There is but one way to fulfill this hope, and it is to be in the one body of Christ to follow after the one true and living God through His word.
One Lord
The one Lord is our one Savior who came to this earth to die for us, this being Jesus. He is the Lord over heaven and earth and is to be Lord of our lives because He is the Lord over the Church.
He is to be our Lord because we our His. As His creation we owe it to Him that we follow His word. As His children, of which He has saved, we owe our lives to Him. We do not belong to ourselves, but we belong to Christ our Lord.
“For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:7-12).
One Faith
There is faith, and then there is the one Faith. This one Faith is a faith in the teachings of the Lord the bible. It is to have faith in the Word of God. There is only one faith in which is inspired by God and there is one faith, in which, we are to follow.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb. 11:6)
One Baptism
Baptism is the one way we are able to follow after the one faith, the one Lord, the one Spirit, to be in the one Body, and have the one Hope in which we all desire to obtain. To be baptized is to confess the name of the God: one Father, the one Son, and the one Spirit. To be fully immersed in the water to then be brought up out of the water as a child of God.
“We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4)
In order to obtain salvation, to be saved from my sins I must put on Christ in baptism. People may say that baptism does not save us, but the bible says that “baptism doth also now save us” (1 Peter 3:21). To be saved I must realize what is required of me from God, and that is to be baptized, just as Christ died, was buried, and resurrected. We do the same in baptism by putting to death the old man, burying him in the grave, and raising into newness of life.
One Father
There is one Father, the Father of whom loved us so much that He sent His one and only son to die for us (John 3:16). He is the one Father of us all.
One God
This one God is the one recorded in 1 John 5:7:
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
This one God is the God of our Lives and the God who dwells in heaven and wants for you to join Him for all eternity. God loves you and wants for you to be saved.
One Church in Unity
There is only one Church. That one Church was purchased by the one Lord. The Saviour who is the one that died for you. Who has asked of us to be in His one Body by being baptized and obeying His one Word of Faith. This Church was made possible because it was the perfect plan of the one God who created us, saved us, and redeemed us. Why not be apart of the one Church today?
