Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJV)
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Reflections:
There is a great challenge before us and that is to keep the church united, as one, all over Planet Earth. The Bible tells us that the church is the people and not the building. She (the Church – the Body of Christ – the Bride of Christ) is made up of living stones (people) (1Pet 2:5; Eph 2:20-22).
One very simplistic, but profound way to keep the church as one is not to name it! The church will automatically take on its own identity from the location where it is meeting. For example, if the saints (us, the redeemed ones) are meeting at John and Betty’s house on Wildwood Ave, its identity might be “the church that meets on Wildwood Ave, or the church that meets at John and Betty’s. If it shifts to Bill and Nancy’s house on Plymouth Street next week, it would take on a different identity. If a collection of small churches met occasionally in a certain city, let’s say Boston, it could be called the church that meets at, for instance, the Civic center in Boston.
The problem with assigning a name to a group of believers is that it sets up a unique identity establishing an invisible wall of distinction. This sets it apart from the whole. The next logical step in its digression would be to set up a checking account with the churches name on the account. Next would come the building fund and the name above the door or on a marquee along with a tax exempt status. Before long it could become a totally isolated entity, or even worse -- another denomination!
