These Don’t Mix!
"For you are still carnal. For where there are envy,
strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal
and behaving like mere men?"
1 Corinthians 3:3
Some things in life don’t go together: oil and water,
nuts and chewing gum, love and hate, and criticism
and unity. Constructive criticism can lead to greater
unity. When criticisms are motivated by selfishness,
envy, or anger, it can never lead to unity.
What can lead to unity? Service. Take the church at Corinth
for example. The apostle Paul wrote a stern rebuke to the
church about their lack of unity. Men like Paul and
Apollos
came among them as servants (1 Corinthians 3:5) to
build
up a church characterized by unity. The immature
Corinthian
believers ignored a model of servant leadership and
created
cliques in the church based on “envy, strife, and
divisions.”
The other model of service they could have followed was
that
of Christ who came into the world to serve, not to be
served
(Mark 10:45; Philippians 2:7). Servants look first to
interests
of others rather than their own interests (Philippians 2:4),
and unity results.
Unity comes when individual Christians submit their
will and agenda to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
It’s the best way to begin every day.
"In necessary things, unity; in doubtful
things, liberty; in all things, charity."
Richard Baxter
