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Topic: Unity In Righteousness
[DCLM Daily Manna 26 February 2020 Daily Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: John 17:20-26
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 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.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
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 of echelon of the mainstream Christendom today is “ecumenism”. Ecumenism is a derivative of the Greek work “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 denominations are expected to downplay biblical doctrines that divide them in the first instance. Consequently, a mishmash of watered-down Christian standards are foisted upon hapless souls. Jesus Christ as the Saviour is expected to be the unifying factor of ecumenism. According to the ecumenists, faith in Jesus supersedes all the doctrines of Christ.
In the valedictory priestly prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ for His burgeoning Church, He specifically prayed for the sanctification of each member. Genuine sanctification engenders unity. When each member of the church is born-again and sanctified (made holy), there emerges a homogenous existence amongst members of the Church. God and Christ are holy. The prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ was to subsume the Church into that holiness, such that there is a common characteristic in the whole.
Every Christian owes himself an abiding duty of being truly peculiar and unique, a single-minded model of Christ. Our Saviour was united with the father and the Spirit because He was absolutely faithful and obedient to the divine cause. True unity amongst believers thrive only when the heart is contrite and broken in righteousness.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: United in righteousness we stand; united in unrighteousness we fall.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Luke 23-24
