Have you ever noticed how different church denominations seem to “major” on one certain portion of doctrine?  For example, the Baptists are real focused on salvation, Pentecostals are focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and so on, but none of them seem to be focused on “all” that the Lord Jesus taught?

Now I’m not coming against anyone here, just making an observation that all the denominations need to get together as ONE body in Christ Jesus.  Have you ever considered what the word “denomination” means?  When you do, you will readily see the problem I’m addressing here.  Denomination means: a religious organization whose congregations are united in their adherence to its beliefs and practices, OR it can refer to a unit of value, such as penny, nickel, dime, quarter, dollar, OR the action of classifying something, OR a sub-group of something, OR a branch of, or a division of a larger unit.

Now, let’s consider what is written in the Bible and see whether or not we are doing what it says:
Eph 4:1  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
Eph 4:2  With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Eph 4:3  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Eph 4:4  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
Eph 4:5  One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Notice Paul said “Endeavouring to keep the UNITY of the Spirit in the bond of peace:  what’s the focus here?  UNITY.  Why?  The next verse explains there are not MANY bodies and MANY Holy Spirits, but ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, and ONE God and Father of us all.  So how have we ended up with MANY?   Simply this, we have our FLESHLY desires to deal with, how we tend to always want to be right, and everyone else?  Well, maybe they’re right, but not as right as I am….Hello, I’m helping you here….

Eph 4:7  But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Some will use this verse while trying to “do their own thing”, saying God gave us each different gifts according to their own particular calling or personality.  Yes, it’s true that one may have a gift of being a good administrator, while another may be a teacher, or carpenter, or mechanic, and “one size fits all” definitely does NOT apply to gifts or skills.  But read on:

Eph 4:9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Again, WHY has God given different gifts and administrations within the body of Christ?  So the whole body might profit, just as you need eyes, ears, legs, arms, hands, feet, digestive system, etc, SO THAT THE WHOLE might work effectively.  Each part is necessary for the good of the whole.  What if all were the eye?  Where would be the hearing, and so forth.  What was Paul focusing on here?  UNITY, UNITY, UNITY.  Not denominations, not divisions of the body, not everyone doing their “own thing”.  Till WHEN?

Eph 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Satan is quick to recognize that as “individuals”, he can appeal to our flesh to effectively divide believers one from the other, and the result down through our generations has been “DENOMINATIONS”!  Therefore he uses the old “divide and conquer” technique against us because he knows if we were truly UNITED, he would have much less he could use against us.  So he sends people among us telling us we should be more “tolerant” of other’s ideas, and thus have many abominations crept into the body of Christ.  But when we accept ideas that do not match up with the scriptures, does that make us more united?  NO!  It divides us even further.

If God’s people would come to their senses and realize that Christ Jesus is the HEAD, and that He needs His BODY, we would also realize the body must become ONE in order to be used by the HEAD.  At the present time, we have arms, legs, feet, hands of His Body being cut off from the rest of the body, trying to function on their own separately, and that just does not work!
In a body, though it is made up of many members, ONE blood flows throughout nourishing ALL the body, and it is all moved about and functions as a unit by the HEAD.  When we go off focusing on our own DENOMINATION, we cut ourselves off from the rest of the body.  Supposed your denomination decides to have a pot-luck dinner.  Being of all one mind in that denomination, everybody brings chicken.  Another denomination does likewise and everyone brings mashed potatoes.  Yet another brings the corn, and another the PIE (we all love pie).  But do you think they would invite the OTHER denominations to their pot luck so all could bring their specialties to the feast?  Never happens, folks, face it.

If ALL our denominations would ditch their “EXCLUSIVE” view and come together as a whole, we would get a lot more done for Christ Jesus in the time we have remaining before the trumpet sounds.  Yes, we ARE different members in the Body of Christ, but shouldn’t we be uniting our efforts into one common goal, as ONE body, fighting against the darkness of this world and bringing the light of Christ Jesus to the world?  We could, if all of us decided to be ONE instead of individuals all doing their own thing. Can it happen?  If we will each yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit, because the Bible says there is ONE Holy Spirit, we will ALL be led the same way. There isn’t room in the Body of Christ for division and strife.  It’s all about UNITY!

If I had my way, I would tear down every church sign in the world, and put up a new one on each that simply says CHURCH OF CHRIST JESUS.  There would be no more Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Full Gospel, or any of the other denominations: there would be just ONE church!   Stop letting Satan divide us up.  There is POWER in unity!

What’s the word for today?  ALL TOGETHER NOW!  I’ll do my part, will you do yours?