Working For The Lord In Unity
by Gary M. Johnsen
Writing to the church at Colossae (Chapters 3:1- 4:1) the Apostle Paul makes an all inclusive statement. He emphasized that all who were “raised together with Christ” (3:1), regardless of life’s roles (i.e. wives/husbands; servants/masters), should be focused on working for the Lord. More specifically, even in submissive roles to our fellow man, we are to work with “singleness of heart, fearing the Lord… work heartily as unto the Lord … ye serve the Lord Christ.”
To the Ephesians (Chapter 4:1-16), he wrote, teamwork would manifest itself by “that which every joint supplieth” and find the Lord’s church “giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” In fact, such diligence would encourage the “work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ … unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Such maturity on the part of individuals in Christ would go far toward eliminating the wiles of error that would plague any congregation.
Certainly these comments by the Apostle appear idealistic, nearly unattainable when one considers those who make up the body of Christ (the church) came from the world of sinners (Romans 3:23). Even now, we acknowledge freely that for the Christian to say we do “no sin” is to make Him a liar and His word is not in us (I John 1:8-10).
Therefore, such unity seems uselessly hindered by honestly acknowledging additional mongrel religious backgrounds, past and present poor habits, as well as consequences from the past lives of many individuals.
Yet, in the face of such unifying hardships, we see Jesus choose twelve men of varied backgrounds with appearances of incompatibility and doomed for failure. Consider among the twelve trained by Jesus were a publican (tax collector) who served the oppressive government, a zealot who wanted to overthrow the same government, a thief, uneducated fishermen known in part as the “sons of thunder.” All, it seems, wanted position in the Lord’s kingdom (Matthew 20:20-24).
The character flaws of the twelve are such that normally would destroy any real possibility of unity with the Lord, let alone with each other. However, Jesus trained them in three years or less, sending them forth with His teaching (The Gospel) that ultimately turned the world upside down spreading it through the whole creation under heaven (Colossians 1:22-23) making faithful disciples who would teach others also (II Timothy 2:2).
Jesus taught his followers from the inside out. He appealed to the inward spiritual man of the heart. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) taught the character of those who would constitute the Kingdom of God would conform to a standard of God’s righteousness (Matthew 5:6, 20; 6:33) exemplified by the Son of Man and who would in fact deny themselves and become his followers (Matthew 16:24).
As believers having obeyed the Gospel, we must come to the realization that we are working together with God (Philippians 2:12-18). Only when we recognize who we are working for in reality, do we have the proper motivation to deny ourselves and serve the higher standard set before us and follow Jesus wherever he leads us. True disciples abide in his word (John 8:31-32), are separated from the world and find themselves in complete unity with God and their brethren regardless of previous character flaws (John 17:14-22).
It is written, “I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow-workers” (I Corinthians 3:4-9).
Let us never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people in submission to the teaching of God can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has done so!
Who are we working for in this life? Let us be found working hard (not hardly working); “knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:24).