“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.” John 17:1b
“Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, or one mind.” Philippians 2:2 Jesus prayed that we might be one. Paul encouraged the Philippian church, and us, to be “of one accord, of one mind.” Both of these texts remind us that we are to stay connected if we are to be effective in declaring the gospel to a lost world. There is no such thing as “solitary Christianity.” We are saved individually, but we are bound together by the Holy Spirit in church fellowship to be what Christ would have us be in this world. In other words, we are to be connected. The first thing that we should do is to stay connected to the main source. How do we make a lamp shine? Do we just turn the switch on? No. The first thing that we must do is to be sure the lamp is connected to the source in order for the electricity to course through the wires and provide the power to shine. In the same way, we need to be connected to Jesus Christ in order for the power of the Holy Spirit to course through us and provide power for us to shine. If we are not careful, we will disconnect from the power source and attempt His work in the flesh. Our connection to each other will be meaningless if we are not connected to the main source. We can stay connected by staying in touch with Him through prayer. Also, we have to stay in His word. The second thing is that we are to stay connected to each other in Christian love and Holy Spirit power. In Philippians 4:2, Paul wrote: “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.” Two women who had effectively served with Paul, for some reason, were out of sorts with each other and because of this the whole Philippian Church was suffering. When we disconnect from each other, our churches suffer as well. As written above, if we are out of sorts with Jesus, we will inevitably be out of sorts with each other. It is Jesus, the love of Jesus and His love in us that keeps us connected. We need to remember that in churches we do not just have fellowship, we are a fellowship. The Greek word translated “fellowship” is “koinonia.” Basically, this word means “partnership.” We are partners in the Lord’s work. Let’s go back to the lamp mentioned earlier. The lamp can be plugged into the right source but still not shine. Why? Perhaps the bulb is loose and not making the needed contact with the electrical source. We can be like that loose bulb if we are not careful. The source is working fine, but we are disconnected. When we are disconnected from each other we cannot shine as we should. How can we reconnect? Paul gave us the answer in Colossians 3:12-14: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies (compassion), kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all things put on charity (love), which is the bond of perfectness.” As partners in Christ’s work, we should love and forgive each other. Are you connected to the source – to Jesus? Are you connected to your fellow Christians? If sharing the gospel is the most important work on earth, shouldn't we make sure that we are connected? Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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