The hymn, as many of you might already know, was written by Count Zinzendorf during the time of the Moravians, when the Lord captured their hearts and brought them into a oneness. Their oneness was a great testimony of how the Lord draws ones from many backgrounds, different thoughts, and interpretations, and brings them together in the love of Christ. That love of Christ shone for many years.
In fact, these dear ones, as they were captured by the love of Christ, had a prayer meeting that lasted one hundred years—every day, praying for one hundred years for the testimony of Jesus to go forth. They truly were Christian hearts in love united.
We can commit to have prayer meetings for a season, but when it goes from generation to generation as a reality, there is something that the world cannot deny. It does something to truly bring forth a testimony of the great oneness and the work the Lord has done.
And we know that if you are praying together for one hundred years, if you are living closely with one another, it is not only the expression of a corporate life, but we know, too, the cross was doing a deep work within our brothers and sisters.
Really, as we share this morning, what is upon my heart is that over the last month or so, we have been hearing on corporate life. We have heard on the cross, and last week we heard on life again. There is a theme: as we look at these, these are not separate topics. They are vitally interrelated.
If we want life, it is the way of the cross. And the way of the cross leads to life. The way of the cross is not an end in itself, but it is the way to entering into more and more life. Today, as we come, we would just like to fellowship on this matter of the way of the cross and corporate life.
Let us have another word of prayer.
Lord, we bless You for the way You have drawn us. We thank You, as we have already praised You, Lord, for the wonderful way that we could come and celebrate and remember Your great death and resurrection.
Lord, as we come, we thank You that we can continue in Your presence. We can offer ourselves afresh unto You, that Your word would be very living within our hearts and very living within our lives. Lord, we come to be those that are hungering and thirsting after You.
Lord, as we would be here now, if there is not a hunger within us, if there is not a thirst within us, we pray for a touch of Your Holy Spirit. Open our eyes; open our taste buds. Lord, would we be those who really come seeking You today?
We are not here just to occupy an hour together, but we are here to sit at the feet of our precious Lord and Savior, who has first loved us. And we return and offer unto You our hearts. We would be those today constrained by Your love to allow You to speak into our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I would like to read a few Scriptures to start with. If we could first turn to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, looking at verses 1 through 3:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,
let us lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself,
so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
I particularly want to focus on a phrase in verse 2: “Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Now turn back to Romans 12. Romans 12, starting in verses 1 through 5:
I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service of worship.
And do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what the will of God is,
that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you
not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think;
but to think so as to have sound judgment,
as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.
For just as we have many members in one body,
and all the members do not have the same function,
so we, who are many, are one body in Christ,
and individually members one of another.
And finally, in Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4, again starting with the first verse:
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,
entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
showing forbearance to one another in love,
being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
As we come to the Lord’s word this morning, as we were saying, this matter of the cross and the matter of corporate life have a vital interrelationship. Bill, as he was concluding last week, was talking about how the way to life is the way of the cross.
Sometimes we can look at the cross and think it is an end. The cross is not an end; it is a way to God’s end. We are thankful that we have been called to walk the way of the cross.
We can walk the way of the cross, not in our own strength, because there is One who has gone before us and has walked the way of the cross. The One who has already walked the way of the cross bears us up and enables us to walk the way of the cross. Because of that, we can enter into the victory that we have in Him.
I had a few questions I wanted to ask throughout the morning. The first question is this: when you hear this word, “the cross,” and when we think about it, does it come across as negative to you? Is the cross negative, or is it positive?
Oftentimes, we think of the cross as a negative. But, brothers and sisters, if, when we hear this word “cross,” we find ourselves shrinking back in a negative sense, we only see in part. We are only seeing partially.
The cross speaks not only of our Lord’s death. Yes, it speaks of the death of our Lord, but it speaks of His resurrection too. The precious testimony of our Lord, when He was upon this earth, was that every time in the Gospels He referred to going to Jerusalem to suffer and be crucified, He never stopped there. He always said, “But in three days I will rise again.”
The cross—the death and the resurrection—is really the full picture of the cross, and it is how we can see this victory. It should bring a joy to our heart. As we read in Hebrews 12, our Lord endured the cross, despised the shame, and died. But out of that came life, an ascension to the throne, and sitting by His heavenly Father.
Because of that cross and the work that our Lord did, we have been called into that victory. Praise God for that, brothers and sisters. How we need to see the fullness of all that our Lord has done for us at Calvary.
Sometimes, if we focus only on the death side, it can become very depressing. If we only look at the death side, it is dark; it can be heavy and so negative, and it can paralyze us. “Oh, I have to die. I have to die.” There is truth in that—we do need to die—but there is also the positive side. There is the resurrection side, the life side, the victory side.
Now, oftentimes we have ones who want to focus only on the victory side. “Oh, I love the resurrection. I love the victory.” But if we try to enjoy the victory side without the death side, all we have is superficiality, and we are trying to serve in our own natural capacity.
The death and resurrection in the work of our Lord are so intertwined. We can separate and distinguish them for fellowship, but in the work that goes on within our lives, there is no separation. When we say no to self, we are saying yes to Him and His life. There is a release. Every time we say no to ourselves and deny ourselves, there is an immediate release of His life.
Praise God for that. Let us not be intimidated, shrink back, or become so gloomy when we think about the cross. We want to see the fullness of the work of the cross.
Praise God, it did not stop in the grave, but up from the grave He arose—a mighty Victor, triumphing over all His foes. We have been brought into the good of that. How can we celebrate that life? Celebrate!
That is why we do not have to have the gloom. As our brother said this morning, we are not just at a memorial service, but we are celebrating the great work that our Lord has done.
May we know, when we consider this matter of the cross, that victory side. The death and resurrection bring us into all that the Lord has for us. As we enter into more of the death and resurrection—the work of the cross—there is that releasing of His life, not only individually, but in our lives together.
As brothers and sisters together, we allow the working of the cross to bring our own selves to death and release His life. Then there is a greater expression of His life and a greater expression of His love, one for another. As this hymn testified, there is a witness that goes forth to all the world: we are branches coming from one stem, testifying of our beloved Lord and Savior.
As we think on this matter of the way of the cross in corporate life, we can ask a second question: why is there so little expression of real corporate life?
The first reason, which we hear quite often and which is absolutely true, is a lack of revelation. Oh, how we need revelation. But it cannot just stop there. It does begin with revelation, but then it is allowing that revelation to become real within our lives and to be expressed within our life.
As we see the revelation of the church, it is not just knowing about the church and being able to talk about the body of Christ. Praise God for that, but how the Lord is yearning for so much more. He is wanting a response to the revelation.
Praise God, when Paul was on the road to Damascus, he responded. It was not enough just for the light to hit him and knock him off his high horse. He responded to the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is how, brothers and sisters, we can come into more and more: by responding to the life of the Lord. But what is it that keeps us from responding? So often, the greatest hindrance to the expression of corporate life is because we are not willing to go this way of the cross.
Responding to His call is going the way of the cross. Oftentimes, we can blame our conditions on outside problems and circumstances, the enemy, and problems without. But no, brothers and sisters, the problem is within.
As we look at church history, there is a little phrase that talks about how persecution from without strengthens the church, while corruption from within weakens it. The corruption from within comes, brothers and sisters, by us not being willing to go the way of the cross.
How we love to look back at the cross on that day of our Lord’s salvation, when He brought us into so great a salvation. But daily, when we have to get up, do we start that day by declaring, “He is Lord,” and saying, “Lord, not my will, but Your will be done”?
As we go this way of the cross, we will find that not only within our individual life but within our corporate life, the first step in going the way of the cross brings us back to this matter of consecration—something we all love.
It is amazing how, as we go on in life, we find out within this Christian circle that so often, as we are brought back to a greater expression of our Lord and for His life to be expressed, we touch these matters of consecration. We touch the matters of the cross. But in and of themselves, again, they are not the end; they are the way and the means for us to enter into more and more of what the Lord has.
As we know, we have touched on this before: consecration is not committing to do something for Him, but simply yielding our lives—giving our lives over so that He can live through us and express His life through us. It is a free-will response to being constrained by the love of Christ, offering ourselves to Him so that He can use us for His glory and honor.
We read those verses in Romans 12. That is not only a one-time thing, but a daily giving of ourselves to Him. These verses in Romans 12 are very closely related to those verses repeated in the Gospels:
If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself daily,
take up his cross,
and follow Me.
This is the way of the cross. But praise God, it is a way of life. It is a way of entering into the goodness of all that He has for us. As we say, it is not the end, but it is the way. It is a means for Him to accomplish.
Really, brothers and sisters, one of the most vital issues within consecration is giving the Holy Spirit permission to work within our lives, to transform us into the image of our beloved Lord.
Our Lord does not force Himself upon us. He is not going to demand this or demand that, but He is going to show us His great love and His mercies. Then we are going to say, “Therefore, by those mercies, Lord, I am giving You permission to do this work of conforming, transforming, and renewing my mind, that Your life can be expressed through me.”
This is what we are doing not only individually but together. As we offer ourselves together, with a desire for more of His life to be expressed, we are granting the Holy Spirit permission.
We might not know some of the ways the Holy Spirit is going to work. Sometimes, when He answers those prayers and puts us in circumstances, we say, “Well, I am not sure I bargained for this.” But then He shows us His love. He shows us His so great salvation.
Even though the thing He is touching in our life might be a momentary, light affliction, He is revealing to us an eternal weight of glory as we see the joy set before us. May we not resist the momentary, light afflictions.
We know good and well that in the midst of that momentary, light affliction, we do not see the momentary and we do not see the light. We just see the affliction, and we have no idea how long it is going on.
It is only after we have allowed the Lord to bring us through, and we see more of Him, that we say, “Oh well, praise God, that was just a momentary, light affliction,” in light of the glory of seeing our Lord and beholding more and more of Him.
I know how each one of us, at times in our lives, has held something that was so precious. The Lord has touched that, and we have had to let go of it. We have had to go through circumstances, or whatever affects something very valuable to us, and we have had to let go.
We have thought about how traumatic it was. But then, as we have looked back, we also ask ourselves, “I wonder why I fought so hard. Why was that of such value to me in light of what I see now?”
But praise God, He understands us. He meets us right where we are, and He just shows us more of His great love and tender mercies. He shows us more of those mercies to cause us to respond to them and offer ourselves to Him.
When we shared together on corporate life, we touched on this matter of how much of corporate life is expressed in the New Testament through this little phrase, “one another.” Paul encourages us to love one another, care for one another, pray for one another—all the “one anothers.”
This gives us a little handle on this matter of corporate life. We talk about corporate life, and it is like, “What is this?” Really, the master or main “one another” is loving one another. But even then we say, “What does it mean to love one another?”
The Lord, in His great understanding, says, “Well, I am going to show you. I am going to teach you. I am going to instruct you in the way of loving one another.” We love one another by caring for one another. We love one another by submitting to one another. All the “one anothers” are subsets—descriptions of what it means to love one another.
We know that first of all we love one another because He first loved us, and we love as He has loved. We allow His great life to come in.
As we touched on also, a vital and important aspect of our corporate life together is every time we have the precious privilege of assembling together. It is a wonderful expression that we can gather at the Lord’s table and testify of who He is.
That is a vital part, but it is not the totality of our life together. It is not the totality of our corporate life. Our times outside the meetings, outside our gatherings, and our relating to one another are also part of it.
Often I have to ask myself, because in my self-centered ways I love just to stay by myself and read a book. You can find a good book, and I will just read away. But often I have to ask myself, “Mac, how much time have you spent with other brothers and sisters this week? How much time have you taken to call, to do this, or to do that?”
We need to be diligent to respond to all the opportunities. Sometimes we need to make those opportunities to reach out and care for one another.
This morning, I wanted to touch on a few of these “one anothers.” As we look at each one, and this is not exhaustive, it will show us the very practical nature of corporate life.
Starting from God’s eternal purpose, God has a purpose that we be conformed to the image of His Son, that we would be brought into knowing and experiencing the reality of Christ in the church. Often we can think this is so ethereal, but if we see and have a revelation of this and respond to it, we will find that it touches every part of our life.
It touches our relationships with one another. In each one of these “one anothers,” we are having to say no to our self-life and yes to His life. But out of that will come a greater expression of Himself.
In Ephesians 4, we read of walking in a worthy manner. This is what we have been called to do: walking daily, in the routine and the mundane, in that worthy manner to which He has called us. What a great calling. It is an on-high calling, but it gets expressed very practically, down to earth, in our daily lives, that we can be the testimony He desires.
We have shared also how our relating to one another is the visible testimony of Jesus. This is what the world sees: we relating one to another. There is the spiritual testimony in the unseen, but upon this earth it has been the testimony of believers throughout history.
It was the testimony of the Roman persecutors in the first century, and the testimony throughout the centuries: “See how these Christians love one another.” There was something there that people could not deny. It is the Lord’s desire that the testimony of His life would be expressed amongst the people in the days in which we are living.
We thank the Lord for the revelation and for the teaching, but there is so much more—so much more of entering in to see this life expressed. Let us look at a few of these “one anothers” in the moments we have remaining, that we can allow the Lord to teach us and apply these matters to our lives.
As far as the order, we are simply going to do these sequentially throughout the Scriptures, so we will not have to go back and forth so much. The first one is in Romans 12:10.
What we are wanting to see is how the Lord’s life can truly be expressed in our lives. We always have to be brought back to the point of seeing our Lord—how He related to the ones around Him. Since we are talking about relating with one another, it is probably best not so much to see how the Lord related to the outside world, but how He related to His disciples.
In Romans 12:10, it says:
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
giving preference to one another in honor.
Being devoted to one another—how our Lord was so devoted to those disciples. It was so precious.
As we think of the disciples, we have to remember that we can look back with rose-colored glasses and think about how wonderful it would be to be a disciple. But we have to keep in mind that He was devoted to one who betrayed Him. He was devoted to one who denied Him, and He was devoted to ten who forsook Him.
But it did not affect His devotion to them, because through that devotion and caring for them, eleven of them were brought through to a full salvation. Praise God for that.
As we think about being devoted to one another, one of the things we will notice that runs commonly through most of the “one anothers” is that there are no caveats. It is just the broad “one another.”
We can be very selective. How we can love to be devoted to so-and-so, or devoted to this one. But what we find—and thank the Lord this came out during our Friday night times—is that the Lord is interested in His life in us being expressed.
Sometimes, one of the things we have to watch for most is our natural goodness being expressed in lieu of the Lord’s life. Many of us can handle things through natural goodness, or what we might call good flesh, but the Lord is not interested in that. He is interested in us really allowing His life—the goodness and devotion of His life—to be expressed.
We can be devoted to ones who are for us. But are we devoted to the one who betrays us? He knew Judas was going to betray Him. Are we devoted to the one who denies us? It is not in us, but it is in His life.
This is a great testimony to the world when they see our oneness, and yet they know how different we are. They know some of the problems and situations we have been in, but there is an oneness and a devotion to one another that our Lord has.
That is why we need the cross, because we cannot be devoted in ourselves. We can be devoted naturally to some, but in the natural that will run out. There is a devotion, caring, and supporting of one another that He is calling us into. We have to say no to ourselves and yes to His life.
The same is true in giving preference to one another. Oh, how often we want to be the one speaking up. We want to do this or that, but do we really prefer one another?
In times of fellowship on Friday night, are we the one always talking, or are we preferring and trying to encourage the others to enter in? In one way, I am hesitant even to use that example, because whenever you talk about some who talk too much, they never hear you. The people who hear you are the sensitive people who are quiet anyway, and it makes them more sensitive and more quiet.
So forget that example. That was a bad example. But there is a sensitivity in the Lord. We do not know ourselves, and we may think we are offering this great tribute. I am trying to say this in a way to liberate us, not bring us under bondage.
Hopefully, the Lord can do it a lot better than I can, as you consider it, meditate, and allow the Lord to speak to you. But there is a consciousness of preferring our brothers and sisters and not thinking so much of ourselves.
It is a laying down of our life. It is preferring them in honor—not in spite of them, but preferring them, honoring them, and lifting them up.
Turn over to Romans 15. There is another “one another” here. In Romans 15:7, it says:
Accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
Accept one another as Christ has accepted us. How did Christ accept us? Just as we were. But He did not keep us there; He started doing a great changing.
So often we can create barriers and criteria for accepting one another. Oh, brothers and sisters, there is this accepting one another in the Lord that will really allow us to enter into more of a fullness. It is accepting one another when people are so different from our own self.
One of the beauties of the body of Christ is that there is a magnificent beauty in the diversity and unity within the body of Christ. Oh, how diverse the body is. But that diversity shows forth its beauty in the unity that it is.
Every member is so unique and so specific, yet as they are brought under that headship, there is a unity that actually magnifies the beauty of the diversity, as we can only see it when it is brought into unity.
In the world, diversity can become chaos. But in the Lord, it is the diversity of His life. As we are speaking today, we are speaking of a diversity of His life expressed in us. It is not the diversity of our own natural life.
It is not the diversity of Mac and himself. We could care less about that; that has to go the way of the cross. But it is the diverse way the Lord chooses to speak through each and every one of us.
Remember, in that grand city at the end, there are those twelve foundation stones. Each one is so unique and beautiful, but they are brought into a oneness because it is Christ being seen through that.
As Christ is seen through you and Christ is seen through me, oh, what a glorious diversity that is. But so often, I have this concept within me of what the Christian life is, of what a Christian looks like, and we can judge right away.
Now, to me, being the old conservative accountant, a Christian is one who is very stoic and very quiet. But if we think back on our Lord, one day outside the temple He stood up, shouted, and cried out:
Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.
It says He was crying out and shouting it. Now, that would not fit within my criteria for what a Christian looks like. Christians do not shout. Christians do not raise their hands. Christians sit, they are very nice, they sing hymns, and they get along very peacefully.
But there is a diversity of the Lord’s life that He wants to have expressed. Again, it is not our natural temperament, but His life being expressed in us as He chooses.
So praise God, we will have those who perhaps talk too loud for us. Maybe His life is expressed one way or another. But as we see Christ in that brother or sister, what acceptance we can then receive.
How can we receive from one another unless we accept one another? By not accepting someone, we are blocking the Lord’s life and blocking fellowship. The way we are strengthened together is through fellowship one with another. But if I do not accept you, I am not going to receive anything from you.
As we allow the Lord’s life to break us free, liberate us, and focus us on Christ in one another—accepting Christ in one another—we can see the strengthening and joy that there is in Him. That is the cross working very practically within us, that His purpose can be accomplished.
If you look over at 1 Corinthians 12, we have already shared how this chapter is so rich in showing forth the fullness of His life. If we look at 1 Corinthians 12:25:
There should be no division in the body,
but that the members should have the same care for one another.
The same care for one another—without prejudice toward one another, each one caring for the other without being prejudicial.
One of the things—and I have shared my guilt before—in working in the bookstore is that at times ones will come in and want a book. Because I think highly of that person, or perhaps that person has a big name, I will bust my gut to get that book for them.
But then someone else may come into the bookstore, and perhaps I do not particularly like them. “Oh, they are nobody,” in my opinion. They ask for a book, and I say, “Well, I do not know if I can get that or not.” That is not really showing the same care for one another.
But praise God, He puts us in these situations and reveals our built-in prejudices, likes, and dislikes so that we can deal with them. It is not a matter of suppressing it, but of saying, “Lord, this is the way I am. Deal with me.”
“I have found myself very prejudiced. I am not caring for this member the same way I am caring for another member. Lord, help me in this way. I say no to my own self and yes to You, so that there can be that release of life.”
Within the body of Christ, we have to respect and honor one another. We do not carry that to an extreme, but there is a caring for one another—a same care for one another.
Would the Lord take care of this in a marvelous way? We can so often overlook certain ones, but the eye of the Shepherd noticed when one sheep out of a hundred was lost.
Do we notice? Are our eyes opened to see the one, perhaps, who is hurting, or are we just focusing upon everyone else who is doing great? Praise God, would the Lord bring our eyes upon the one we could come alongside and care for in very practical ways?
We know the practical ways: phone calls, having meals together, caring for one another, and just reaching out with that particular touch. It is where we get down and walk upon this earth. We walk through things together. We walk with our brothers and sisters in the worthy manner as our Lord walked.
Our Lord accepted each one of those disciples. Again, even though one was going to betray Him, He cared for each one of them in the same way. His death was just as much for Judas as it was for John, His beloved.
Judas did not respond to His death, but He died just as much. One could say that His heart was going out even more for a Judas, because He knew what was going to happen. But He was reaching out. There was no prejudicial care; there was that receiving him and drawing him in.
At times, as we look at Paul and Peter and the different ones, there were ones who did not agree with them, but it did not affect their ministry, their caring for one another, or their love.
If Paul had been affected by what people thought of him, he would have rejected many assemblies. If Paul had really been affected by those in Corinth, he would not have bothered to write two long letters to them.
But he showed that same care for Corinth, who said, “Paul, we are not even for you. I like Apollos. I like Peter. You can talk real loud when you are far away, but when you come here, you are such a little wimp.” Some of them were badmouthing Paul all the time, but it did not affect his care for them or his accepting them.
In our natural sense, we could say Paul would go to Ephesus and spend his whole life there, because they loved him, there was such high teaching, and they had such a heart. He could pour his heart out.
Paul even says that when he was trying to share with the Corinthians, because of where they were, he was restricted. He could not open his whole heart. But he still cared, was still accepting, and was still coming alongside them that they could enter into all the Lord had for them.
Oh, may we learn to really do that—accepting one another.
In Galatians, it continues along this theme. If you look at Galatians 5:13:
For you were called to freedom, brethren;
only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love serve one another.
Through love, serve one another. We have been granted a great freedom, and praise God for that freedom. But even in this freedom, where all things are lawful, not all things are profitable. I mean—whoops—where all things are lawful, not all things are profitable.
As we are serving one another and caring for one another, are we really doing it out of that heart of love? Or are we just using our freedom to serve ourselves and make our choices? Are we conscious of how the choices we make impact our brothers and sisters?
Would the Lord make it fresh that we could really serve one another—not in ourselves, not as an opportunity for our flesh, and not as an opportunity to puff ourselves up? Our service is not to exalt ourselves.
It is not to exalt our flesh and say, “Oh, look what a great service I am doing.” Our service is not to be seen by man. Our service is a life laid down. It is offering that cup of cold water.
I think it is precious in Matthew, where it says at the end, “Come over here.” I know it is speaking of nations, but we can apply that principle to individuals. It says, “You offered Me that cup of cold water. You clothed Me when I was naked. You came alongside; you visited Me.”
They said, “When did we do that?” There is that naturalness of life that just goes out in caring for one another and serving one another—not for our sake, but for His sake.
Why are we serving one another? Why are we accepting one another? Why are we encouraging one another? It is all with that goal in view: His life being expressed amongst the people, that we might be seen as the testimony of Jesus in the hour in which we are living.
Would the Lord continue to encourage us so much? If we look over at Ephesians 4, we read these verses at the beginning. How precious they are.
Ephesians 4:1 speaks of walking in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Praise God, our Lord walked in that worthy manner. Walking in a worthy manner is walking the way of the cross—of that life laid down and entering into the joy and victory of our Master.
How is that walk characterized? If we look at verse 2:
With all humility and gentleness,
with patience,
showing forbearance to one another in love.
I love that in the New American Standard it puts that little word in there: “showing forbearance to one another.” Some of the other translations do not have that word “showing”; they simply say to be forbearing with one another.
But to me, “showing forbearance” speaks of the visible—how it is seen that we are forbearing and long-suffering with one another. If you have been in church life more than a week, you know what long-suffering is. Some of you have been around us for many years and have been long-suffering with one another.
But praise God, there is something within us that enables us to continue on. Whenever we think of our long-suffering, it does not take long to stop and think of our Lord’s long-suffering.
Our Lord said to the disciples, “You have been with Me so long, and you do not know Me? You have been with Me so long, and you do not know the Father?” It was as though He had been pouring His life out.
But praise God, He did not stop and leave them. He continued on and showed them more of Himself. Oh, would that forbearing spirit be known one to another?
At times, it is putting up with all the differences that we have. It is not the putting up with and tolerating of sin or the tolerating of our natural life, but it is the tolerating of the diversity of the Lord’s life in one another.
Verse 3 speaks of maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We have that unity. Sometimes the hardest thing for us to stay together on as believers is what we believe, because there are so many different interpretations. But praise God, He is bringing us to that unity of the faith.
As we look around the room this morning, there are probably many different interpretations concerning, say, our Lord’s return. How many raptures are there? Is there one rapture? Is it pre-millennial? Does everybody go before that? Is it post-tribulation? Do we all go through the tribulation? Are there multiple raptures?
We do not know all these things. We each have interpretations, but praise God, we allow the Lord to keep us in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We are not talking about accepting a diversity of heresies. It is accepting the diversity of interpretations that there are within the body of Christ. We know certain teachings are wrong because they go against the person and work of our Lord. We are not talking about tolerating that.
But we are talking about allowing the expression where we have differences concerning the Lord’s working, what He is doing, and when He is coming back, just to use that interpretation. We do not allow that to divide us. We focus upon the Lord and allow Him to keep us in all the goodness that we have in Him.
It is a precious testimony. Many of us have heard of John Bunyan, who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. He was a great Baptist in those days, who fully believed in the immersion baptism of believers. He was a true Baptist in and out.
But one of his testimonies was that he was not going to allow water to divide him from his brother or sister. If there was a believer who had another belief, he was not going to allow that to divide him from that brother.
He said, “Some of my Presbyterian people only believe in sprinkling, but I am not going to allow a little bit of water to divide what the Lord has joined together.”
There are things we have to be careful about regarding what we divide over. There are false teachings and other things; that is a separate matter. But praise God, He brings us into that, and we forbear with one another in that bond of peace until we come into that unity of the faith one day in Him.
Let me move along here. Look over in Hebrews 3. We will skip a few more. There is one in 1 Thessalonians 5:15, if you want to write it down. It says, “Seek what is good for one another.” Seek what is good for one another. Really go out, and as you are caring for one another, seek what is good for them.
An encouragement in Hebrews 3:13 says, “Encourage one another day after day.” It is precious. The thing that touches me so much in this encouragement of one another day after day is simply the fact that, if we are to encourage one another day after day, we have to be in contact with that person every day.
It says to encourage one another daily, or day after day. You have to be in contact. You have to be related. You have to be seeing how ones are doing—not encouraging each other monthly or weekly, but day after day, willingly entering into all the joy the Lord has for us.
We look over in James 5. We have another great encouragement here, and I know this one does not apply to any of us here. But for some other believers outside the ones who meet here, this one might apply. It is in James 5:9:
Do not complain, brethren, against one another,
that you yourselves may not be judged;
behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.
I know we never complain against one another. But do not complain against one another, that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.
That is a good thought, sometimes a terrifying thought, to have in your mind. The next time you start to think about complaining or murmuring against one another, remember: the Judge is standing right at the door.
The fear of God is a good thing. We see what a wonderful work He is doing.
The fear of God is a whole other subject, but if you really want to know the fear of God, it is simply one of the manifestations of the love of God. The more we know of the love of God, the more we will know of the fear of God.
But as we see here, do not complain; do not murmur. So often, the thing we are complaining about is really something within us.
I brought this up Friday night at one of our Friday night meetings. We were talking about how at times we can get angry in certain situations. A brother stopped and shared how the Lord had worked in his life to really ask, “Lord, why am I getting angry? What is the source?”
It is really bringing it back to something within me. Again, if we find ourselves angry or complaining against the brethren, that is probably a red flag that the Lord is trying to touch something in our life. Would we be able to have that ear to hear what is being said?
Well, let us close by looking at 1 Peter 4. As I said, there are many others of these, but if we look at 1 Peter 4, we will look at verses 7 through 11.
As we know, we are living in these end days. In 1 Peter 4:7, it says:
The end of all things is at hand;
therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit
for the purpose of prayer.
It is wonderful how, in these days, as we are going through these difficult times, much of it is to bring us back to a point of prayer. That is one of the reasons we really encourage ones to gather on Wednesday night.
Because of the times in which we are living, we as the people of God should be caught up in a spirit of intercession and prayer for the Lord’s interest in this hour. The days are short, and we really need to be caring.
All this pressure and the difficulties of the times are to bring us into Christ’s heart. That sound judgment is having the mind of Christ. That sober spirit is allowing His life to control us, so that as we come together for prayer, it is with purpose and with heart for His will to be done upon earth as it is in heaven.
As it says:
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another,
because love covers a multitude of sins.
Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
Keep fervent, brethren. Keep our love hot and glowing for one another. I love that Romans 12 talks about being hospitable, and Peter talks about being hospitable without complaint.
Peter and his wife were probably hospitable people, so they were tested there. They probably had people in their home, and at times we can—well, I guess I have to be careful about having people in our home, since we have people here this weekend. So, uh, I do not want to—
We stayed in their home, so they are getting revenge on us now.
But we see how we have to be hospitable without complaining, because it is the love of Christ, the entertaining of angels, and caring for one another.
Verse 10 continues, speaking to each one of us very specifically:
As each one has received a special gift,
employ it in serving one another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Or, the abundant grace of God—being those good stewards. Last weekend there was a conference on spiritual stewardship, and we look forward to hearing the messages, for those of us who could not attend.
But we would be good stewards. We would be trustworthy and prudent with what has been entrusted to us, especially with this manifold, very abundant grace of God.
Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God;
whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies;
so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.
As we speak here at the end of Christ being glorified—that through all things God may be glorified—the only way to glory is the way that our Lord went.
How did our Lord reach glory? He went the way of the cross. How do we enter into the glory of the Lord? By going the way of the cross.
As we have this calling upon our life as a body of Christ, as a church of God, would we be those who find ourselves willing to go the way of the cross? Not for ourselves, but that His life could be expressed within us, and that we, as those living stones, can be built together.
This becomes very practical. Again, as we think upon this matter of the cross working within us, we pray that as we have these times, we could consider and continue meditating on how we would see in a further way that joy set before us.
Where we find ourselves resisting the work of the cross, where we find difficult brothers and sisters, would we see them as our treasure? Would we see how precious they are? Together, may the Lord bring us into the oneness that we have in Him.
I would like for us to close with that hymn that we started with. Maybe it will be a little more familiar to us this time. If we could sing this hymn again to close: “Christian Hearts in Love United.”