Hindrances to Perfect Unity

Just being in Christ, makes us part of His body. It is an either/or situation.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. Romans 8:9 (NIV)

However, being in the body does not mean we work well with other parts of the body.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16 (NIV)

Notice the last phrase, “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” If the body is not building itself up in love; if each part is not doing its work, then the body does not function as it is designed.

There are two basic commands getting into the “body” and functioning as “a body”:

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 1 John 3:23 (NIV)

1. Believe in the name of His Son.
2. Love one another.

Number two is the basic problem in the body. It is very serious. If it is not happening, we have every reason to doubt we are in the body.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 1 John 3:14 (NIV)

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:19-21 (NIV)

As you can see, this is serious. Not only do we know we are part of the body if we love one another, so does everyone else know we are part of the body.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34, 35.

If we love, we build up the body. If we do not love, we are either not part of the body, or we are acting like we are not part of the body.

(Taken from Day & Night, 2003)

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