Ecumenism Vs. Unity (7/11/11)

Shalom,

Please begin by reading John 17:20-23.

The prayer of our Lord Jesus for his Church, his Body, is the guide to proper unity. In verse 21 he prays that we "be brought to complete unity." This means to consummate, to finish, to make perfect. We need to hear and understand this. It's taken the Church so long to get to even a small understanding of this point becuase we've allowed ourselves to be deceived by our enemy, the devil. It's not that he lured us into gross sin, but that we allowed our minds to be infiltrated and neutralized with enough good to quench our thirst for excellence, Yahweh's kind of excellence. Since the only way for us to be perfect is to be completely surrendered to our Lord Jesus, we better pay attention to how he wants us to operate as his people.

Ecumenism isn't an evil thing at its root, it's just not up to Yahweh's standard of excellence. It's a man-made entity. The definition of ecumenism is: A movement seeking worldwide unity among religions through greater cooperation and improved understanding. That sounds like a nice thing, doesn't it? But it clearly misses the target of the unity Jesus prayed for us to have. Ecumenism is about accomodating one another's different beliefs without condemning or criticizing each other. You come to our church and we'll do things our way, then we'll come to yours and you can do them your way. Ecumenism is about styles and often skips over true differences in the matter of Yahweh's truth.

When the Church of Jesus Christ truly ministers to one another, the whole Church attains a more perfect unity. This unity is based on the fundamentals of faith, so it can lift us above our petty disagreements, differing personalities, and denominational pride. Yahweh's goal is that we reach maturity in Christ so that we can come together for ministry to our lost and dying world. We don't have to agree on everything, but we must be united at the most fundamental points of our faith.

Yahweh is building a foundation of unity and openness to accomplish something new in his people. But we need to step forward in faith to meet him in this new venture. Yes, we'll make some mistakes, but that's OK. Our Father doesn't mind the mistakes as long as we're striving to learn his ways. He understands there'll be some trial and error on our parts as we discover new paths. There needs to be more freedom to allow people to try new things, things that are outside the realm of their normal religious thought. We need to allow some experimentation. Things can be tested afterwards instead of hindering and limiting everything by old systems of checks and balances.

Did you know that the two most powerful beings in the world are trying to kill you? Which one will you give in to? Yahweh and Satan are in mortal combat, contending for the souls of all mankind. One wants you to die to yourself so you can better serve him. The other wants you to die a horrible death and suffer for eternity along with him. We have an advantage because we know who wins in the end, but don't forget the devil is still working hard to change the end of the story.

Sometimes ecumenism is right in line with the wil of our heavenly Father. Other times it's drawing us into the trap of the devil. One of the main problems with ecumenism is that we're trying to unify around too many points. Instead of coming together using the things we have in common, we try to accomodate each others major differences. Yahweh prescribed two main points of focus for our untiy: Worship & Warfare. Will we worship together, working to build the Kingdom through our united prayers and efforts to minister in the name of our Lord? Will we join forces to battle against the enemy of our soul, tearing down his strongholds through a united effort?

Worship: Worshiping together is about feasting, not fasting. We should rejoice in our Lord together. It's not going to make us close our churches to then form one big church. I don't believe we're meant to be a big single church. Having different churches with different worship styles seems to go along with the diversity our Creator built into us. I look at them like the tribes of Israel. We clearly have distinctions, but we must never forget that our Lord and Master prayed for us to be united. We must work to maintain and work for that true spiritual connection which lifts up the Kingdom of our Lord instead of our individual churches.

When Jesus prayed for the unity of a single, worldwide, ecumenical church; he was praying for a unity of love, his kind of love. Jesus prayed for a unity of obedience to our God and his Word, with an understanding that we have different perspectives we view this truth from. We need a united commitment to do the will of our Lord. This isn't about uniformity, doing things exactly the same. This is about unity, having the same vision and focus for the big picture. It's not just about right and wrong, it's about us sharing what we've witnessed. Our individual experiences of the presence of our Lord should be able to interweave and produce a better picture of our eternal and extra-dimensional God.

If we can worship together we can begin to accomplish the threefold goal of the five-fold ministry found in Eph 4:11-16. First we're to have a unity of faith. We may not approach the Lord of Glory in the same manner, but we're all trying to get to the same place. Second, we're all supposed to be growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. We may not agree on every point, but if our desire is to know Jesus better none of us should be critical of the other. Third, we're to be growing into the stature of the fullness of Yahweh. None of us has the complete picture, so we need one another and our different perspectives if we really want to know the fullness of our God.

Warfare: In Israel, all the tribes would mobilize to fight together. We have common enemies that we need to band together to overcome. Some of our enemies are: poverty, drugs, oppression, lack of biblical knowledge, political corruption, greed, and much more. Paul told Timothy to "fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim 6:12). We need to bring salvation in Christ to the whole world, and a united Church will be much more effective in this mission. We may not all appreciate the way social justice is done, but it's something that the Church should be involved in. A united Christian front on this could overcome the humanistic weakness and unbiblical worldview which dominates the current liberal agenda.

Doctrinal problems don't matter, they're overrated. All churches are family in Christ. If Jesus is their Lord, we have something in common. We can't let our individual visions hinder us from a united ministry. All churches who name the name of Jesus should be working together to bring the Kingdom of God to their communities. Instead of warring against ourselves over less than vital points of doctrine, we need to join forces to fight against the demonic strongholds that surround us.

We need a new move of Joshua-style leadership, people called and anointed to lead us into spiritual warfare, real fighters. Joshua didn't settle for just knowing Moses and imitating him. He wanted to know Yahweh. Ex 33:11 tells us he stayed at the Tent of Meeting when Moses returned to the camp. He developed a close relationship for himself, longing to spend time in the presence of his Lord rather than emulating Moses. We may greatly admire the faith and spirituality of other more mature believers, but we better be like Joshua trying to cultivate our own growth in Christ instead of using a fallible human as our example.

King David is a good picture of the Warrior Worshiper. He was a mighty fighter and a man after Yahweh's own heart. He won many battles because of his dependence on his Lord, and he abandoned himself to powerful and free worship of Almighty God. Read 1 Chron 16:8-36 some time. It's David's Psalm of Thanksgiving written after the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem. If you have a problem coming up with words to praise and exalt and worship Yahweh, these are some good ones to use.

Verses 23-31. "Sing to Yahweh, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the peoples. For great is Yahweh and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to Yahweh, O families of nations, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength, ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship Yahweh in the splendor of his holiness. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "Yahweh reigns!"

The goal of the unity of all believers with one another and also with Yahweh is twofold. First, that the world will believe in the divine mission of Jesus. If we can act with solid unity for the purpose of spreading the Gospel and building Yahweh's Kingdom, the world may stop ridiculing us over our petty differences and actually be drawn to Jesus. Second, that the world will sense the Father's love for his creation is as deep, intimate, and lasting as his love for his precious Son. The world needs to know that they are deeply and greatly loved, in spite of our sin. Every single human needs to know that Jesus will accept them as soon as they admit their need and seek his help.

As the Church proclaims the significance of the the redeeming work of Jesus on the Cross, it can be united in our Father's purposes and his redemptive plan for the whole world. The union of Christians, "that they may be one," is likened to the unity the Son has with the Father. This union is linked by Christ's indwelling of believers, "I in them." If the same Jesus lives in our hearts, how can we be so divided? Unity comes when we set aside petty differences for the ultimate goal of preaching the Gospel of salvation to the lost and dying of our world.

I'm happy that there's an ecumenical movement, but I know it has human shortcomings. I pray that we'll truly become united in Christ, worshiping together in Spirit and truth, warring together to bring the Kingdom to our communities. The power and effectiveness of the Gospel will be greatly increased if we unite and serve our Lord above our little churches. Jesus prayed for our unity, so it's not an impossible task. We need to trust him and seek his direction as to how we can overcome our pack mentality and become the mighty warriors of the Kingdom we're meant to be.

Blessings & Peace, Mike