Text: John 17:20-26 (KJV)
Key Verse: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21)
MESSAGE:
The byword at the top echelon of the mainstream Christendom today is “ecumenism”. Ecumenism is derivative of a Greek word “oikoueme”, which denotes universality, in this case of Christianity. The Church today is desirous of unity in the body of Christ. Since the Reformation Schism of the 1500s, and the later splintering of the Protestant Movement into different denominations, there exist today a new spirit of reconciliation, forgiveness and fellowship. The slogan of “ecumenism” is “service unites but doctrine divides”.
All the denominations are expected to downplay on the biblical doctrines that divided them in the first instance. Consequently, you will discover under the ecclesiastical canopy, people who believe in eternal security, those who propagate polygamy and polyandry, those who are championing the cause of same-sex marriage, those who do not accept that there is hell-fire somewhere. According to the ecumenists, faith In Christ supersedes all the doctrine of Christ.
In the valedictory priestly prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ for His burgeoning Church, He specifically prayed for the sanctification of each member of the Church. It is the sanctification that brings the unity; when each member of the Church is born-again and sanctified (made holy), there exists homogeneous characteristic between each member of the Church, Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven. The prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ was to subsume the Church into that holiness, so that there is a common characteristic in the whole.
Jesus Christ paid the supreme price with His blood so that we can be united in righteousness, not in unrighteousness.
Thought For The Day: Unity in righteousness, we stand; unity in unrighteousness, we fall.
The Bible In One Year: 1 Kings 21–22
