Living LIFE in Unity is Liberating!

We shared yesterday that unity means "to be in agreement" and the agreement part is for....

Us to be diligent to exert ourselves to be in the agreement of faith... It is good and pleasant and having the knowledge of Jesus, it brings about a perfect man in us, we will have a portion of the maturity of fullness in abundance of Jesus if we are INTENTIONAL to live this out.

A perfect man....Christ-likeness and the portion...it is good to get a portion of maturity is it not! A fullness of maturity in abundance...that is spiritual growth...that is an abundance of Jesus, Wow!

Our faith is conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it...We have faith in Jesus...we are fully persuaded that He is the Son of God and we were created to be like HIM. Romans 1 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (KJV)

As we are diligent of our faith one may ask how does unity derive from that? Well to be in agreement means GRACE & PEACE! One must understand forgiveness and grace. The scriptures simply tell us this... Lu 6:37 ¶ Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Mr 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

It takes alot to get people to agree...sometimes it is said we must agree not to agree...that means I will extend grace to you...that although we may not see eye to eye...I will still value you as a person...I will not condemn you or judge you...I will be open to learn from you and to appreciate our differences!!!! That is also unity and it breaks the shackles of uniformity...that you must be like me, think like me, act like me, serve like me....

If we would all come together as Php 2:2 tells us to; Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind.

God loves when His children embrace grace to supernatural empower them to love others despite themselves. 2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;...God grants them the repentance and the revelation of truth...we have nothing to do with it. Although how often have we tried to take matters in our own hands with things that didnt suit our fancy?!

When we come to realize that the God of the universe, that is working out a great salvation in us individually, He is working it out for others at the same time. So just as much as we desire to be loved, accepted, forgiven, and shown grace...we are to in turn give it. We who have received amazing grace know the cost it came and desire to give it back to others. This makes God very happy....it fills Him with JOY.

So as we put our trust in Jesus and Jesus alone...and we come together with others of like minded faith...when we understand that it is HE that accepts us, forgiven us and supernatural enables us to live out grace...we want it for all people! It is good and pleasant for the brethren to dwell in agreement of faith.

It is so liberating not to be under "men" and their "ideas" of what "they think life should look like" its about being free to express the image of God they way we were created to be. God gives us grace to live out a pure heart towards others, a fresh mind of purity and sincerity of heart, a love for others to embrace forgiveness and extend forgiveness.

Embracing forgiveness and extending forgiveness is a KEY to unbroken fellowship with God and others. The scriptures are clear if you forgive others God will forgive you...if you do not forgive others your Father in Heaven will not forgive you. This is horrific tragedy in our churches! We think we can be unforgiving and still be united with God....NO! We must be fully persuaded that the scriptures are clear and true and must be obeyed.

Unforgiveness comes at a great cost to us personally if we are not laying down our rights. It breaks the fellowship, it means the sins we commit daily are unforgiven until we can forgive others. This is a horrible place to be....NO ONE WINS!

However if we commit to be intentional to unity....to forgive and extend grace to growing believers...speaking the truth in love and watching people from their insides...their hearts...and not their outsides which is a facade most of the time...we will come to see the value and importance in our liberty to be unified.

We all have choices...you have your rights that you can protect or you can lay them down for the love of a brother.

How do we do this if we are upset? Remember its ok to have good expectations as long as when they are not met, we can with GRACE understand and accept it may take some time.

It is not ok to have good expectations ( I say good, cause no one would admit they had bad ones, right?!) and when they are not met, we become disappointed and then we judge and become critical and then we condemn and punish...We ALL have done it...we ALL must stop and learn this is God's job not ours. We are to sharpen, we are to lead by example, we are to encourage but we are not to demand or control. We must trust God and only God can move and change the heart of others. People have the choice to make bad descisions, to do bad things...its unfortunate and we can plead but we all know from experience some of our best lessons learned are from our own mistakes. All we can do is trust God sometimes when things dont seem to be going our way.

Romans 8 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. This verse helps me to know I can trust God and I am fully persuaded He has got it all taken care of!

This will free you...it has freed me...I believe everyone of us experiences this process...I am not convinced everyone comes to the end of it as a learning experience and grows from it. I believe some just get stuck...and when no one is real and honest with their personal struggles...they just dont know what it looks like to be free...so they continue the vicious cycle of unforgiveness and turmoil of disunity.

Live life in agreement in the faith to Jesus Christ & be Liberated!

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God calls us to Unity...not Uniformity

As followers of Jesus Christ...believers...saints...brethren...Body of Christ... David sings this psalm....Ps 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brethren to dwell together in unity! That sounds peaceful...unity means in agreement...in agreement to what?
(By the way unity is used only 3x in the KJV...)

Paul says in Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavouring means to be diligent to exert one's self to be in agreement of the Spirit in the ties that bind us (bond) of peace. He then continues in chapter 4...

Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

We can put this all together to say it is good and pleasant when we are being diligent to exert ourselves to be in the agreement of faith...Paul is communicating we as believers should be in agreement about our faith and the knowledge of Jesus, it brings about a perfect man in us, we will have a portion of the maturity of fullness in abundance of Jesus when we come to understand unity.

Now many...not all... many confuse unity for uniformity, that is, where everyone must look like them, serve like them, be like them. Also, it may be they think along the lines of mostly man-made laws and guidelines for the church and people must be in uniform to that. Most guidelines are either not Biblical or the ones that are are not followed. People tend to follow man rather than Jesus Christ. Like Moses' time, they wanted their rules...only to rebel against them.

God says He made us in His image...if we are to be in uniform to anyone or thing...it is Him. He has given us dominion over the earth and the animals...not others! Paul exhorts us to be followers of God or imitators as dear sweet obedient children...he does not say follow others, imitate others, we are to bear the likeness of God. We are to imitate or follow Christ's love, it may be a sacrifice but it is sweet to God. We are also told in Scriptures to PUT ON the LORD JESUS...not take on or put on Jane, Sally, or Joe.

We are also beseeched or exhorted, begged that by God's mercy we would present our bodies...our human form of self, as a living...not a dead...a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable or pleasing to God which is the least we can do, our reasonable service...IN doing so we cannot be conformed to this world...this world is not a believers home...we are to be TRANSFORMED changed into another (Christ) HOW? by the renewing of our minds...taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ...that we may prove what is good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God.

IF ....and I say if, most professing believers would concentrate on their own Christ-likeness...I would reckon..at least I know for myself...we wouldnt have time to worry about what we think others should do, Amen! Now, I am not saying if a brother or sister is in trouble or sin and they need some sharpening...I am talking about...people wanting other people to do what they "think" is right about the things they should do. I will share a story tomorrow as an example when we talk about grace.

I leave us with this thought...God is amazing...He is in control...He knows what He is doing. We are to be in obedience to the one true God! We were created in His image, to glorify Him (Is 43:7). We are not to serve or obey little gods, we are not to chase after idols, we are to tear down our high places and build our alters of sacrifice. What does that alter look like...as we live we lay down our life as a sacrifice that God may do His work in and through us. We are never asked to sacrifice our service to look like or conform to or allow anyone else to work in and through us.

God made YOU special! He made me special! He gave us unique characteristics, with specific purpose and assignments that only we can do! We have one of a kind fingerprints, we have one of a kind iris's, we have one of a kind voices, our lives should not look like other people, our life's journey should be a one of a kind story that has been packaged from birth. ITS OK TO BE YOU...GOD NOT ONLY LOVES YOU...AND HAS REDEEMED YOU...HE LIKES YOU JUST THE WAY YOU ARE!!! God takes a lifetime to transform you more and more into His image. Keep your focus on Jesus, set your standards to Jesus, compare yourself only with Jesus and you will be a sweet...sweet aroma to Him.

You are IN-CHRIST...live believing which means to be fully persuaded that you know that!!!

Genesis 1 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over

Ephesians 5 1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

We are to put on the Lord Jesus.... Ro 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].

Romans 12 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (KJV)

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