I took my car to the shop the other day for a new exhaust. The shop is only about 5 miles from my house. As I drove, I must have passed twenty churches. Baptist churches, Methodist churches, Presbyterian churches, Assembly of God churches, Lutheran churches, no name churches, you name it. Some of them were side by side. One thing I believe this points to is the fact that the Body of Christ is fragmented and not in one accord. Imagine what could happen if we were to get on one accord. We could reach the whole world. Unfortunately, at the moment, we’re not walking in unity.
We don’t agree on salvation. We don’t agree on the "infilling" of the Holy Spirit. We don’t agree on water baptism. We don’t agree on worship, etc. There are all kinds of misinformation and false teaching in so many churches today. And it’s keeping the “Church” divided while people are dying without hope and going to hell.
Ephesians 4:11 says, 11 and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
So the Word says that it’s possible for us to come to the unity of the faith. We can get in one accord. That’s God’s will. The problem is, however, that too many of us Christians are not lining our will up with the will of God. We have our own agendas. And, so we fuss and we fight and argue and have foolish dissensions. The Word of God is not something by which we live our lives. We adhere more closely to traditions and personal preferences. We want a “feel good religion”. That’s one reason so many in the Body of Christ are running to healing conferences and prosperity conferences any number of other conferences. Why? Because they don’t have the Word within them to be their source of life and truth.
They keep looking for something or someone to give them a “feel good” jolt. And as a result, they’re tossed to and fro with every little different thing we hear. They think, "whatever's hot right now in the Body of Christ. That's where I'm at." And all the while, the body of Christ is fragmenting and breaking apart.
But as Bob Dylan once sang, “The Times They Are a Changing”. I see a new awakening with this generation today. They don’t have any hang-ups. They don't care about color or what you look like. They are turning away from denominational dogma and simply seeking to know Jesus and make Him known. They are seeking a fresh awareness of the Holy Spirit and taking God at His Word. I believe reaching the unity of the faith and experiencing healing and wholeness is going to start with these young people. They’re not hung up on tradition, they just want to get you saved.
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