Unity E-Book

Conrad Mbewe

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Growing Gospel Integrity
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 114

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Exploring Unity as a Fruit of the Gospel  Christians most effectively serve others and advance God's kingdom when they are in biblical unity with one another. Unfortunately, modern Christians seem to be divided on countless issues related to ministry, culture, the church, and even unity itself. Some prioritize organizational unity over gospel truth, while others only seek unity with those who share their same doctrinal beliefs. In this short, accessible guide, author Conrad Mbewe explores unity as a fruit of the gospel. He finds that biblical unity is only achieved after understanding what God has done through Christ and how it is continuously executed by the Holy Spirit. This biblically centered book encourages readers to respond to Paul's apostolic plea of "standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel" (Phil. 1:27), embracing unity as a valuable, God-given blessing.  - Encourages Unity: Explores unity as a fruit of the gospel that is only understood through what God has done through Christ and executed by the Holy Spirit - Practical Study: This concise guide encourages Christians to stand firm in the spirit and in unity with others  - A Part of the Growing Gospel Integrity Series: Created in partnership with Union School of Theology

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“Conrad Mbewe displays the rare ability to combine simplicity and profundity. Here he turns this gift to a consideration of evangelical unity, to gospel unity—both its indicatives (the unity that has been secured by Christ and worked out in us by the Spirit) and its imperatives (how this great reality must drive us toward intentional living out of such unity). We are soon enabled to see that the duty of unity is not an optional extra for believers but simply the outworking of the gospel in our lives.”

D. A. Carson, Theologian-at-Large, The Gospel Coalition

“All too often, gospel work may be disrupted either by unnecessary division among believers or by failure to separate from those who compromise on biblical truth. Conrad Mbewe takes us back to Scripture to find the wisdom we need to tread the tightrope between overscrupulous schism and oversentimental accommodation. This helpful resource is both biblically faithful and very practical. It is grounded in Mbewe’s love for the church and his passion to see God glorified as his kingdom is extended.”

Sharon James, Social Policy Analyst, The Christian Institute

Unity

Growing Gospel Integrity

Michael Reeves, series editor

Worthy: Living in Light of the Gospel, Sinclair B. Ferguson

Unity: Striving Side by Side for the Gospel, Conrad Mbewe

Courage: How the Gospel Creates Christian Fortitude, Joe Rigney

Humility: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness, Gavin Ortlund

Unity

Striving Side by Side for the Gospel

Conrad Mbewe

Unity: Striving Side by Side for the Gospel

© 2024 by Conrad Mbewe

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8487-9 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8490-9 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8488-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mbewe, Conrad, author.

Title: Unity : striving side by side for the gospel / Conrad Mbewe.

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, [2024] | Series: Growing gospel integrity | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023038806 (print) | LCCN 2023038807 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433584879 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433584886 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433584909 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Church—Unity. | Jesus Christ—Mystical body. | Bible. Philippians I, 27—Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Classification: LCC BV601.5 .M39 2024 (print) | LCC BV601.5 (ebook) | DDC 262/.72—dc23/eng/20231214

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023038806

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023038807

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2024-04-08 11:50:23 AM

To Charles and Mavis Bota

By your example you have taught me

true evangelical catholicity. Thank you for striving

side by side with me for the gospel for forty years.

Contents

Series Preface

Introduction: Avoiding Extreme Views of Christian Unity

Part 1: The Indicatives of Christian Unity

1  Unity Is Accomplished in Christ

2  Unity Is Applied by the Spirit

Part 2: The Imperatives of Christian Unity

3  Unity Is to Be Jealously Guarded by Believers

4  Unity Is to Be Evidenced in Gospel Endeavors

Conclusion: Christian Unity Is Worth Pursuing and Celebrating

Acknowledgments

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

Gospel integrity is, I suggest, the greatest and most vital need of the church today. More than moral behavior and orthodox beliefs, this integrity that we need is a complete alignment of our heads, our hearts, and our lives with the truths of the gospel.

In his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul issues a call to his readers to live as people of the gospel. Spelling out what this means, Paul sets out four marks of gospel integrity.

First, he entreats, “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (1:27a). The people of the gospel should live lives worthy of the gospel.

Second, this means “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (1:27b). In other words, integrity to the gospel requires a united stand of faithfulness together.

Third, knowing that such a stand will mean suffering and conflict (1:29–30), Paul calls the Philippians not to be “frightened in anything” (1:28a). He describes this courage as “a clear sign” of our salvation (1:28b).

Fourth, Paul writes:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (2:1–3)

Paul thus makes it clear that there is no true Christian integrity without humility.

The simple aim of this series is to reissue Paul’s gospel-based call to an integrity that means living worthily, unitedly, courageously, and humbly. We need to recognize, however, that these four marks are not abstract moral qualities or virtues. What Paul has in mind are, quite specifically, marks and manifestations of integrity to the gospel. As such, the books in this series will unpack how the gospel fuels and shapes those qualities in us.

Through this little series, may God be glorified, and may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (4:23).

Michael Reeves

Series Editor

Introduction

Avoiding Extreme Views of Christian Unity

As human beings created by a triune God, we are social creatures. We are meant to relate to other humans in a spirit of unity and mutual benevolence. We thrive best when we are in company with others and working together for the common good. Peaceful coexistence is of the very essence of our humanity, hence the well-known phrase “No man is an island.” We want to dwell in a peaceful environment. The subject of peace and unity is vital for us as human beings.

With the entrance of sin into the world, however, one of the areas of human existence most affected has been our ability to coexist in the very atmosphere that we all should long for. Sin has made us so selfish that it jeopardizes our efforts to live together in harmony. As we shall learn in this book, the coming of Christ not only reconciles us to God but also reconciles us to one another. The church, therefore, should be the place where this deep desire among human beings is realized. While unity is realized to a large extent among genuine Christians, there is a lot we need to do to realize this more fully in actual experience, as we shall see.

R. B. Kuiper wrote in his classic The Glorious Body of Christ:

The plight of the Christian church seems almost as sad as that of the world. To all appearances it, too, is a house divided against itself. It resembles a beautiful vase that, fallen from its perch, lies shattered in a thousand pieces. It is like a grand structure transformed by an exploding bomb into a tangled heap of wreckage. Unbelievable though it may seem, the church of Jesus Christ is really one.1

It is this unity that we need to pursue.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he was full of joy because of what this church meant to him. It was the church that sponsored his missionary work as he made his way into Europe. Even when he was imprisoned, this church sent him some much-needed supplies. At the time of his writing the letter, they even sent him one of their most able men, Epaphroditus, so that he could minister to Paul while he was in prison (2:25). Yet he knew that the church would be hindered in its work if it became disunited. So he wanted them to not take unity for granted. Already two ladies in the church whose partnership in the gospel he treasured appeared to have been quarreling, and this reached the ears of Paul while he was in prison. So he appealed to them:

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. (4:2–3)

Central to the book you are reading is Philippians 1:27. It is an appeal for the church in Philippi to ensure that it would remain united both in fellowship and in ministry. Paul made this appeal based on the gospel. He wanted the Christians in Philippi to live lives worthy of the gospel they had come to know. He wrote,

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

It was as the Philippians remained gospel-centered that they would stand firm in one spirit and strive side by side for the same gospel. This would happen whether the apostle Paul was among them or not.

This gospel-centered unity—or evangelical unity—needs to be emphasized among Christians no less today. You don’t have to be in the church very long before you notice two wrong and opposite—even dangerous—outlooks on Christian unity.

Unity as Merely Organizational?

There are those whose chief concern is merely organizational. They want all who claim to be Christians and Christian churches to come together into some form of global Christian church. Appeal is often made to the words of Jesus in his high priestly prayer, where he said to God the Father, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through [my disciples’] word, that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20–21). The argument is often made that this visible global unity will have an evangelistic allure, as was stated in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, surely, who would not want that?

What those who make this appeal often forget is that this unity is meant for those “who will believe in me through [my disciples’] word.” It is a unity of those who have truly believed in the gospel. Whereas belief is in the heart and we should be inclined to accept those who claim to believe, their belief must be based on the gospel as it is revealed in Scripture. This gospel is based squarely on the finished work of Christ by the grace of God without human works added to it. So, for instance, we cannot be in unity with those who believe that the Virgin Mary is a co-redeemer with the Lord Jesus Christ or that we should be praying to her to appeal to her son to have mercy on us. That is a false gospel; it does not save. The unity that our Lord desires is based on what the apostles would proclaim, and we have it in the Scriptures.

There is another dividing line that those who cite John 17 often overlook. It is the fact that although faith is in the heart and therefore cannot be seen, it produces fruit that must be seen. When individuals are converted, they experience a spiritual transformation that is evident to those around them. Jesus saves from sin. If that has not happened, then people who make a claim to Christianity make a false claim, however sincere they may be. It was the apostle Paul who said to Titus, his protégé, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11–12). The grace of God in salvation produces the fruit of holiness. We have no right to include in Christian fellowship individuals and churches that have long abandoned godliness. In fact, if we take the apostle Paul seriously, individuals who show a stubborn affinity for sin must be expelled from the church (see 1 Cor. 6:9–13).

Lastly, advocates for a unity that is merely organizational also forget a crucial phrase in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17. Let me quote verses 20–21 in full. Jesus prayed: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you