The
interdependence of believers. Depend –
Rely on. It is not by accident that God
put us believers on an even playing field with no one better than the other and
no one favored more than the other.
Scripture calls it UNITY. It is
where we are all focused on Christ. He
is the hub, or as scripture says The Vine, and we are the branches. The question may be asked, “How many
Christians does it take to build a church?”
The answer is “all of them.” It
seems like it is more and more difficult to keep a Church together, much less
grow one in the present condition of our world.
We have digressed into the attitude that believes someone owes us
something, instead of Jesus’ teaching where he says in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” We “Americans” don’t understand the
serving thing so much anymore and it is a foreign policy that has been tossed
out with the latest effort to build each other up. Selfishness is the new norm and it takes our
faith and puts it on a slippery slope that will surely end in chaos and
war. Many churches have taken this
mantel and allowed it to drive their faith right off a cliff and the return
trip up the mountain seems insurmountable, but it CAN be done. As written in the above Scripture, “even the Son
of Man took on the form of a servant.”
This brings to mind WWJD.
Remember the quirky little letters that started a firestorm of servant
mindedness back in the 80’s? The only
problem with thinking about what Jesus would do is we need to know what Jesus
would do and those answers are found in God’s Word, not in our personal
impressions of what we “think” Jesus would do.
Which brings us to the problem at hand.
We have been living our Christ-centered lives from counterfeit
information, and we are the counterfeiters putting out the fake
Christianity. The counterfeit faith of
many has been handed down to their children and their children’s children, and
the end result is a selfish generation.
I know this because I have been part of the problem. I drank the Kool Aid long ago and the sweet
taste of it only marginalized my walk with God.
I finally woke up and quit drinking,and because of the conviction of the
Lord said, “enough is enough!” In
making my commitment I didn’t realize that changing my mind wouldn’t mean that
others would come alongside and join me in my commitment to live a real life
for Christ. It was like telling an
alcoholic they needed to quit drinking.
The first thing they say to you is “ I can quit anytime I want.” But they can’t! Here is where the whole interdependence
thing kicks in. We need each other, and
we need to commit together to only follow God’s Word and keep each other
accountable to this very lifestyle.
Together we can do it. In
Unity!! Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:3 “Make every effort to keep the unity of the
Spirit through the bond of peace.” We need to make an effort and it starts
right now. We as believers need to learn
to love God and love God’s people. Love
will be the glue that holds the whole thing together. Colossians 3:14 says, “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity.” If you do take this stand to trust others
to help keep you accountable you will start to lean on them and they will on you and the process of true
fellowship will kick in and empower you to live a more committed, servant
lifestyle. !1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,
stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always
give yourselves fully to the work of the
Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Paul wrote this scripture at the end of a
wonderful chapter that explained the victory that we as believers must live and
walk in. Let us walk it together in
peace and harmony.
and we will experience true victory.
The
Pilgrimage continues….
David
Warren
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