OUR PLEA FOR UNITY
The churches of Christ
Greet You
(Romans
To those of you who believe and desire to show your love for Jesus (John 14:15; Heb. 5:9), please consider this brief and loving plea (Eph. 4:15). The Holy Spirit teaches that there is one God, one Lord, and one Faith (John 1:1-3; Eph. 4:4-6). Yet, there are many differences among believers.
In religion, if we would put aside our personal opinions and preferences, we could be united in Christ. All of us would be members of that church which was begun by our Lord on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, just after His resurrection from the grave and His ascension to the Father in heaven (Acts 2). This plea is possible, but only if we all return to the teachings of the apostles as found in the New Testament Bible for all that we say and do (2 John 9-11; Rev. 22:18-19).
Jesus prayed in John 17:20-21, “I do not pray for these (apostles) alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” We all can be called Christians (Acts 11:26; 1 Peter 4:16). We all can obey the same commands to be saved. We all can worship the Father in the same way (John 4:24; 17:17). We all can be one in the same spiritual family (Eph. 3:6, 15), working together to bring the message of salvation to those who don't know God (Rom. 1:16; 2 Thess. 1:7-9).
You might ask, “Does it really matter if there are many names and many churches, as long as we believe in the same Jesus?” Yes my friends, it does matter. Jesus Himself warned in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"
Among those of other world religions (Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc.) the statement is often made about Christianity, “You say there is only one God, and that the Bible is His book. Yet there are many so called Christian churches, teaching many, many different things. If ‘Christians’ are so divided, not knowing what God wants done, how can those who are outside the church understand what He wants?”
It's just as Jesus said: divisions among those who believe in Him
cause
confusion in the rest of the world. But what a convicting power it
would be if
all of us only believed and practiced exactly what the Bible teaches,
and by
our lives we showed the love, beauty and unity of Christianity (John
13:34-35;
1 Cor. 13). The effect of that unity would be as Jesus prayed: the
world
would believe that God sent Him.
If you would like to know more about this plea of the churches of
Christ
(Rom. 16:16), we invite you to come to any of our assemblies or ask us
to come
to your home for a personal Bible study. We plead with you to consider
these
truths and to become a part of God's family on earth (Eph.
If you believe that Jesus is God’s Son: (a) Have you confessed Jesus
as your
Savior? “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also
confess
before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew
Please go and read: God's Only Choice