Times are really bad; just as these ‘closing days’ are truly perilous and evil ! .
The Church, which to all intents and purposes, is the acclaimed body of Christ, appears to be the only surviving vestige of a glorious past and the expected conscience of the nation. But if the presumed foundations of the main structures are destroyed, what hopes would be left for the preservation of the righteous, nay for righteousness itself, in the ensuing circumstances.
The clarion call for UNITY AND MATURITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, which is the chosen theme for this Sunday, and indeed the rest of the week, could not have come at a better time than now, when splinter voices of divisive savagery and unpatriotic tendencies across the country, are at the peak in their fierce clamour for the dismemberment of our fragilely-knitted nation-state, calling on each component unit of theirs to go its own way, advocating for the rather more destructive, escapist option of out rightly ‘tearing down of the entire body’, and engaging a newly-found lingo, which they uncannily brand as ‘restructuring’, ‘self-determination’, etc (just as if a total sledge-hammer-shattering blow of the head is the curing panacea required to heal a recurring headache).
Unity is about togetherness – a network of organic relationships; not a collection of parts. It is not mechanical. It is neither a coalition, marriage of convenience nor is it an amalgamation or mere alliance. It is a unique creation, consisting of a number of miscellaneous units coming together for a given purpose; just as in the human body – an organic unity of many parts: toes, fingers, hands, feet, legs, eyes, ears, etc. working in concert for a common purpose. The Bible teaches that: every member of the body of Christ is valuable and worthy of honour; just as every part of our physical bodies has a special purpose.
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ Just as the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour” (1 Corinthians 12: 21 – 23).
In addition, the Bible teaches that each member of the body of Christ is related to the other members in such a way that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it”
(1 Corinthians 12:26).
Maturity on the other hand, is the moral attitude of consistent witness and the working of God in our lives that protect us from the harmful divisions and quarrels that have plagued so many communities throughout history.
The call for “unity and maturity in the Body of Christ”, by those who designed our liturgy, therefore, is God’s timely divine-intervention in what is fast gravitating towards a total breakdown of law and order, intractable crisis or complete anarchy. It is a timely recall, and order to recoil; serving as a last-minute rescuing despatch to our seemingly disconnected ‘native land’ cabin- crew and passengers alike, which having seemed to have lost contact with the control tower, begins its drift towards the precipice. It is the shrilling,prophetic, ‘still small voice of calm’ jolting us back as a nation, to reality and calling us back to walk again, the ancient paths of unity in diversity “though tribe and tongue may differ”; always ensuring that “in brotherhood we stand” in joyfully co-habiting within ‘our sovereign Motherland’.
Christians, who bear Christ’s holy name and are believed to been called by God, and therefore believed to carry about, His holy labels must by their daily conduct, at all times, and in all places, “lead a life worthy of the calling” – by being, loving, humble and gentle, being patient with one another, making allowance for one another’s faults simply out of love; making every effort to maintain unity and maturity in the Body of Christ; binding all,together with peace. “For there is one body and one Spirit, just as we have been called to one glorious hope for the future.”
Paul the Apostle, was in Prison at the time of writing the letter, to the recently converted heathens of Ephesus (in Ephesians 4). While he was not responding to a particular theological or moral problem, he wanted to protect the Church, the conscience of the nation, against future problems by encouraging them to mature in their faith, until they have all come to such unity in their faith and knowledge of God’s Son and to a level of maturity in the Lord, that would measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
So after laying out in his preamble, some profound theological truths, apostle Paul, boldly expounded how every community of faith should walk in accordance with its heavenly calling, enumerating those practices that should follow in their relationships within the church, in the home, and in the world. He also spelled out clearly, his position on the prevailing life that the old, numerous,highly sanctimonious but spiritually-bereft and largely immature church lived – very similar to the way we in our own geographical entity live and behave today. He was sure that when we have upgraded our faith to such level of neo-Puritanism , “ . . . we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.and who, 16 makes the whole body fit together perfectly; such that, as each part does its own special work efficiently , effectively and sincerely , it helps the other parts grow in like manner, until such a point when the whole body becomes truly healthy, (not just in obesity, accumulating and multiplying destructive cancerous cells that will mutilate its future, but rather) growing and full of love.
This call, is an honest appeal to the Body of God’s elect, to which you and I claim to belong; to live no longer, that reckless, care-free and shameless life that uninitiated unbelievers lead, “for they are hopelessly confused, and their minds are full of darkness. That is why they wander far from the life God gives; because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. Indeed, they have lost all sense of shame and now, merely live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice, by means of every kind of impurity. Christians are charged to remember that :
“that isn’t what we learned about Christ. Since we have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, we must throw off that old sinful nature and our former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception and instead, let the Holy Spirit renew our thoughts and attitudes; put on us our new nature, created in the true likeness of God
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbours the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”[d] Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own,[e] guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, (or what has now come to be known as ‘ hate speech’) and slander, as well as all other types of evil behaviour. 32 Instead, be kind to one another, being tenderhearted, and forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Therefore, remain committed to the the Christian principle of UNITY AND MATURITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.
LIVE IT !
ADVANCE ITS CAUSE !!
BELIEVE IT AND PROMOTE IT !!!
Have a most wonderful week.