Unity (part I)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 30 Oct, 01)

The prayer that Jesus prayed before He left this world was a prayer of unity, not just for His disciples but for the whole world (John). As descendants of Jesus Christ we must live in unity because when we do - God is present.

1 Samuel 4:21, She named the boy Icabod saying, the glory has departed from Israel because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.

The name of Icabod is to signify the removal of God’s presence among the people. If we don’t pay attention to what we are crossing, God will leave us. Israel found that they weren’t strong enough to fight against the Philistines, so they decided to call for the ark of God, but when the ark was with them they were still losing the battle, and this puzzled the Israelites.

Today, we are crossing a fight against our thoughts, body, actions and activities among the church, and if we are not serious, God’s presence will be taken away from us. Maybe through Michael 5000 people will be saved, but through one bad action these souls can be destroyed and he has to give an account to God for them.

God says we must live in unity. Unity is important for our spiritual life. It is like our body parts, every part has its own function. However when these parts don’t do their job, confusion comes. A leg cannot do the role of an arm and so on, and it means we must respect our responsibilities and accept the tasks given to us.

God calls all of us, Michael is from France, Oscar is from Congo, and Peter came from Australia, so why would God gather us together to meet and share His Word in New Zealand? You must be prepared to preach the Word anywhere. God has to send us to tell people the truth about His Word in the church today because Christians need to understand the real meaning of God’s Word. We are not there to criticise or judge people, but we are there to tell them the truth.

When Jesus was on this earth many people didn’t like Him, but He never had problems among His disciples because they knew their role and respected each other. This is one of the commandants we must have. We must have obedience towards God and each other. Michelle has to obey Michael, and Michael has to obey Angela. When this happens you will respect each other and talk to one another in a good way. Before we speak to others, we have to think about the kind of reaction that person will have; will it help Angela or will it lead her to sin?

Most people in this world like to use imperative words, “do this or do that”, and it becomes like an army. To live as children of God we must be friends first, and when friendship is achieved obedience will come. But when there is no friendship in our relationship obedience will never exist.

So how do we obey others? Luke 14: 28-31. Before we do anything we must sit down and calculate it. Who is Michelle for me? Who is she spiritually? How can I know who she really is? When Jesus left this earth His disciples didn’t know what to do, so they prayed. But one day the Spirit of God was upon Peter and people started respecting him, and so on with Paul. We have to discover each other, you know Angela physically but who is she spiritually?

Eli the prophet respected Samuel even though he was a boy and Samuel also respected Eli, but do you think Samuel would have received from God if he didn’t respect Eli? In order to respect each other we have to know what level we are on, it is like the ranking system in an army. Even though you wear the same uniform you’ll know their level of ability by looking at their emblems. If you don’t see the emblems on each other’s shoulders and don’t give the respect according to their rank, it will be hard for you to give the respect that person deserves. This is the basic principal for unity. If we don’t get that opportunity to discover each other it will be just like Icabod, the presence of God will disappear.

SUMMARY
- If want God's presence, we must be in unity with one another
- We must respect each other
- We must become friends and not give orders
- We must know our own level and ability and that of others

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