The two walking back to Emmaus that day were not only one as husband and wife but both were concerned about the same thing; they both
discussed, deliberated and lamented over the same subject. They were going to the same place. Both had one thing on their minds and hearts while walking together in the same direction; no division stood between them.
“Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place?” (Amos 3:3, MSG)
“Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3, NKJV)
This is an excellent picture of what God has called us to as disciples of Christ. It says in Scripture to be of the same mind, same purpose, and same Spirit, even (Philippians 2).
The church today has many different viewpoints and individual perspectives, often resulting in many agreements and disagreements. These, in turn, have resulted in around 45,000 different denominations worldwide,1Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary – How Do you Define a “Denomination”. 2019 statistics. https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/research/quick-facts/not to mention the numerous smaller church splits that have arisen from differences of opinion on multiple subjects, views on Scripture, political affiliations, how we do church, or our practices concerning the faith. Mostly, they are all personal opinions, or preferences, or doctrinally based divisions.
Some say that perfect unity in the here and now seems imaginary or an impossibility this side of heaven. Surely, when Jesus prayed His great John 17 prayer about us being one with each other as Jesus is with His Father, this was not mere fantastic thinking, wishful or otherwise. I agree; it does and has seemed to be a distant possibility at times.
However, as impossible as all this may seem, surely, we who are called to live by faith can, for a moment, catch a glimpse of this unified church through the eyes of God. What, exactly, was Jesus saying? What did He mean when He prayed for this kind of oneness?
As He had prayed, it was for the same oneness that Jesus and His Father enjoyed—a oneness in Spirit. It didn’t take long before Jesus’ prayer was answered, and this answer came on the day of Pentecost. All who have now received Christ as Lord share that one Spirit!
We were all born from above of the one heavenly Father, the Father of our spirits (Heb 12:9). The Holy Spirit came, bringing with Him the power of an altogether other life, which now lives inside each one of us. This life unites us into one body, Christ’s body, now being members of one another, no longer separate, but one!
- We have one head – Eph 1:22, 4:15, 5:23; Col 1:18.
- We have one mind – John 15:15; Acts 1:14; 2:46; 1 Cor 2:16.
- We have one body – 1 Cor 12:12, 27; Eph 1:23.
- We have one Spirit – 1 Cor 12:11-13, 2 Cor 13:14; Eph 2:18.
- We have one purpose – Phil 2:2, Eph 4:13; Acts 7:26.
- We have one calling – Acts 2:1; Eph 1:18; 4:1,4; 2 Tim 1:9; Heb 3:1.
- We have one life – Phil 1:21, Eph 2:20, John 14:6.
- We have one Lord – Acts 2:36; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 4.
- We have one faith – Eph 4:13; Jude 1:3.
- We have one hope – Eph 4; Tit 1:3; 2:13.
- We have one baptism – 1 Cor 12:13; Eph 4; Gal 3:27.
- We have one Father – Matt 6:9; Eph 4; Gal 3:26.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
The problem of our multifarious separations has not arisen from what Christ has done but from another source. That source does not originate from the life of God.
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? (James 4:1-12)
That source is entirely different from God’s life. By not recognising this, or not paying it due attention, we continue to divide and separate with no real pressing need to amend what has been broken. We place our personal preferences, values, likes, dislikes, and doctrinal interpretations above the call to unity. We either disregard, neglect, ignore, or miss the mark entirely due to being uninformed concerning the single unifying factor of our oneness, Christ Jesus Himself!
The house founded upon the rock stood. The storms that rage and beat against the church are often far from natural. They are more like what the disciples and Jesus experienced while in the boat as they crossed the lake, only to meet the demoniac on the other side. The enemy hates Jesus and therefore hates the church that fully represents Him, especially when she starts to walk in the unifying power of the cross.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25)
Jesus Christ is the church’s one foundation and the cross is what holds the whole building together (1 Corinthians 3:11).
When the tabernacle was built, the first thing you encountered when entering through its outer curtain was the altar; this was the place of sacrifice. If we choose to follow Jesus, He first asks us to take up our cross and follow Him. You see, the OT altar foreshadowed the NT cross.
Only the cross standing at the entrance to the New Testament tabernacle (the church) will make any offering upon the altar sweet to God. The divisions we have caused, experienced, or witnessed too many times, have contributed to the many splintered groups within God’s family worldwide.
The Father seeks to have a people for Himself who will walk in agreement with Him, hand in hand. If we are going to the same place as He is, then surely we, with God, need to agree, not the other way around. To this end, we are called. Once again…
“Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?” (Amos 3:3, NLT)
A church built upon the Rock is built upon Christ. A people who leave their opinions and differences at the foot of the cross (the Altar) or at the door before entering into the divinely obtained fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit is undoubtedly the minimum requirement of those called to be disciples. Are our opinions worth more than potentially wounding or dividing from our brother or sister for whom Christ died? This is where the bitter cup of self-denial must be drunk to be one as Jesus so prayed.
Brothers and sisters, let us take a leaf from the book of the two walking home to Emmaus. Although saddened, they were still one in their sadness. In their grief-stricken state, they were still one in their grief. While their dreams had been shattered, they were still of one heart in their loss. They were not divided; they remained one!
It was only a short time before these two disciples returned to Jerusalem from where they had just come. They both now had the same message of renewed hope. Both carried the same purpose of heart and the same sense of urgency. Each wore the same self-denying attitude: to immediately turn around and hurry back in the night, nearly 20 kilometres (twelve miles) to the city. Why? For the same purpose: to tell their brethren of the ONE risen Lord!
The good news is that the church is already one with God, precisely like Jesus and the Father are one. This reality must be spiritually enlivened to our hearts by the Holy Spirit to understand the high value this truth holds for God. Once enlightened, we, like the merchant, will be prepared to sell all, so we might obtain such a highly prized pearl.
The one hope we long for, the one God-given purpose for the church on earth today, is for her to walk in the reality and power of this oneness before the world and the unseen realms. We openly demonstrate that we are His disciples when we love one another in this way.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3 NASB95)