Many Years ago in Thailand, there had been a period of growing political and social tension which reached a point that threaten to become a civil war in that nation. The Prime Minister of Thailand and the opposition leader held diametric opposite views regarding political, social, economic policies and a host of other matters relating to the day-to-day life of a nation. The tension between the groups grew to the point of open conflict. The potential unrest threaten to rend the nation in two.
The two men came and knelt before the throne
of their king, and it was there that King Budipaulla commanded that the two men
put aside their differences and work together in a peacefully way and learn to
co-exist for the good of Thailand.
These two men, could agree on very
little, but, the one thing on which they did agree on was, who their King was
and they obeyed his commands.
The two men heard the command of their king
and they obeyed, peace was preserved and Thailand was speared a bloody civil
war.
This peace could have taken place only because
they valued their king over their own political and social views.
The Lesson for Christians
What is the lesson for Christians today, when
we see disagreements between the different Christian groups? It is unfortunate
but even after more than two thousand years, there can still be sharp
differences among and between Christians, between Armenians, Calvinist,
Dispensationalist, Reform, Evangelicals and Pentecostals.
There can be contentions between and with
Christians who hold different theologies and doctrines, practices and
liturgical preferences. These differences among Christians which arise can give
the world around us the ammunition to bring critical charges of inconsistencies
and hypocrisy against the Christian Church as a whole.
Unity
We Christians need something above philosophies,
doctrines or theologies, traditions and liturgy for our unity with and among us
and bind us together. We need a king who bring us unity. And that King on which
we all should agree on, and on whom, we all can look to bring Christians
together in unity is Jesus Christ.
In our King Jesus, we can and will find unity.
If Christians attempt to find unity in and by any other means we will fail to
find it. All else will fail us. If unity is derived from anything other than Jesus,
then when disagreements arise among us our unity is broken, but if our unity is
founded on Jesus alone then we can disagree on varies issues and still keep
unbroken fellowship. Jesus unites us and preserves us in unity and love.
Nothing or no one else can bring us
together and keep us together but Jesus.
St. Paul wrote about the divine identity of
Jesus, that it is he and he alone who ultimately has power and authority over
all things. It is in Jesus that we see the great God revealed to us in the most
perfect and complete way.
“The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him” Col: 1:15-16
St. Paul is telling us that Jesus has that
unique place of divine prominence over all things having all power and all
authority.
“For in him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He
is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the
head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among
the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile
to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making
peace through his blood, shed on the cross”. (16-20)
We are told by the Apostle that it is Jesus
who holds the whole created order together, all things are sustained and held
together (even we Christians) in and by our King Jesus and it is
he, and he, alone who has the supremacy over all.
Proclaim Christ
Jesus is the purpose of God. It is Jesus who
all things revolve around. Jesus is the pivotal person in all time and
eternity. It is Jesus who should have that place of divine prominence and focus
in the life of all Christians individually and collectively.
It is Jesus who is the point of the work of
the Church and the object of our lives, devotion, worship and the source of our
unity.
St. Paul tells us that Jesus was the reason
and the subject of his proclamation of the Gospel and should be the mission of
the Church Universal and Christians of all backgrounds, denominations,
ministries associated and unassociated, to tell others about Jesus.
“He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and
teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature
in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so
powerfully works in me.” (28-29)
Jesus should be the center of our lives and
worship and the true source of unity among all Christians. When we have Jesus
at the very center of all things then we can look upon one another as brethren
having in common a faith founded upon our King Jesus Christ alone, above all else.
This will bring to us unity and bind us each and all, one with another, this
common unity in Christ and the common recognition as members of his body the
Church will give us a unity which surmounts all difference which might arise
among and between us.
We Christians can come and can kneel together
in unity before the throne of our King Jesus Christ and in him we find unity.
Benediction: May we each and all in humble recognition
kneel in unity before the Throne of our Lord Jesus, today, tomorrow and forevermore.
Amen.
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Rev. Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
" If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not About Anything"
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