Seven Ones, Four Alls, Part 2

This is a continuation of the study I started in Part 1.

Unity is a virtue for Christians between Christians. I suppose, in a more general way, unity is a virtue in all places in life, but it is vital to the Christian community. I think Christians have succumbed to believe too much in science and see their local church as a semi-random gathering of people who want to know Christ better. No. God has hand-picked each of the believers in that place and each has a role and a place to serve there, if they will do so.

No one is out of place in a local community. No one is there without a purpose.

One Lord.The "one Lord" is Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. This plays out in many versus where Jesus is described as Lord. (Acts 2:36, 10:36) We live to Him and He is Lord of both the living and the dead. (Romans 14:8-9) Jesus is the Lord to all who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:2) Jesus is our Lord and not a human leader. (1 Corinthians 1:13) All things exist through our Lord. (1 Corinthians 8:6) We are all given various gifts to serve our one Lord. (1 Corinthians 12:5) Everyone will confess Jesus' Lordship. (Philippians 2:11) Nothing is as important as knowing our Lord. (Philippians 3:8)

Of course, the word "lord" has not nearly the depth of meaning that it would have had to someone living in the Roman empire in the first century. The dictionary defines "lord" as someone having influence or power and a master or ruler. A lord is someone to whom you show respect, honor, and obedience. Jesus is "the King of kings and Lord of lords." Such titles have been given to many men now dead, but Jesus lives on and is really the "the King of kings of kings and Lord of lords of lords." There is no higher power.

This gift separates us widely from the unbeliever. No one but a believer serves the one Lord. Many unbelievers claim to serve Christ, but they will change Christ's definition so that they serve a different Christ or their claim will be empty, followed by inaction. James stated that it might be possible for a believer to have faith without works, but he didn't understand it. How can one believe in Christ and not be driven to obey and serve? His implication is that, perhaps, such a person doesn't really believe, though only God can see through a person's facade into their heart and know.

As a for of unity, it is clear that if we all have the same commander-in-chief it makes no sense to act in civil war. Yet, this is what so man "Christians" do. If you disagree with someone in the Church, you don't have the luxury of writing them off and going separate ways, a mistake that the Apostle Paul and fellow missionary Barnabas made, but eventually reconciled. We should be reconcilers, not dividers, at least within the Church. If we disagree, let it be in love. God will surely straighten each of us out in the end.

Application: I think it should be obvious. Honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. We do this through obedience to his commands. This includes making Him our highest and most important priority above spouse, children, work, friends, school, hobbies, and anything else (i.e., the First Commandment). This includes fulfilling our desire to know him by reading and meditating on His word and sharing our hearts and listening through prayer. We do this by reaching out and sharing our message with others whenever we can.

One faith. If there is a word in this passage that has been corrupted by American culture, it's this one. Typically, when an American says the word "faith," she is referring to the fact that a person has spiritual or religious convictions of some kind. In a sense that's not a misuse of the word itself, but to read this word in that sense is a mistake. Another definition for the term that's even more sinister is presented by many of the modern televangelist ministries, those that fall under the "Word of Faith" movement. In this movement "faith" is used as some sort of magic power that if one can build up enough of it and leverage it, he can get God to do things for him, like make his work successful or get some job he wants. This isn't much different, in my eyes, from the Wiccan who believes that by living in harmony with nature she can gain enough psychic power to do essentially the same thing. Both are superstition and sorcery as far as I'm concerned.

Instead, faith here is according to truth. One can't simply have some nebulous "faith" that gives them power, you have to have faith in something. To have faith in something you have to define that something. Therefore, the true key to having faith is good doctrine—i.e., having good definitions of what you have faith in. In the context of Biblical truth, faith is in Jesus Christ, our one Lord. Jesus Christ is defined pretty clearly in the Bible. There may be differences on minor points, but anyone who calls himself a Christian (literally, little-Christ) should be sure to get the core truths down.

We receive greater faith through "equipping" (i.e., learning more about God and preparing ourselves to serve him), according to a later verse in this chapter of Ephesians (4:13). Our faith is that which God uses to justify us. (Romans 3:30) There are different, false faiths (called "different gospels"). (2 Corinthians 11:4) These other gospels are false because they are worthless lies. (Galatians 1:6-7) Faith unites all believers regardless of background. (Galatians 5:6) Faith is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Faith belongs to God's elect. (Titus 1:14) We should imitate the faith of our godly leaders. (Hebrews 13:7) Faith is demonstrated through works. (James 2:18) We should fight for our faith. (Jude 1:3) We should build ourselves up in it. (Jude 1:20)

Certainly faith is unique to the believer. A true believer is one who has faith in the God and Christ defined in the Bible. A pagan might have a "faith" but it will be according to her own definition or according to a definition handed to her by a false teacher. We are separated from these different gospels. Obviously, focusing on a core of true beliefs will create unity within the body of Christ. We should not get too caught up in minor differences, but we should explore those differences lest we fail to equip ourselves when challenged from outside the Church. Remember, our faith is increased through equipping, we should fight for it and build ourselves up!

Application: That's it. Seek to know God as best you can. We should all study the Bible as often as we can. We can't spend all our times in seclusion praying and studying, but American Christians are far too distracted by career and family and fixing up the house and washing the car and playing video games. The Bible should be our primary hobby. Reaching out should be our primary task whenever we aren't studying. That's faith.

To be continued... I have five "ones" down and two to go, along with four "alls"...