The church is made up of imperfect people. It takes time for people to grow spiritually, and it takes time to renew our minds to think like Christ and not let our carnal nature have the better of us. Nevertheless, the house must be put in order before any church can be an effective witness in society.
1 Corinthians 3:3 (NKJV) for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
If Christians refuse to grow, they will remain as carnal Christians forever and the carnal nature will have ascendency over the new creation. We must be careful not to fall into the same trap as the churches that the Apostle Paul was writing to. We can be proud, opinionated, and critical towards leadership, and we can be judgemental over decisions made and how the ministries are run. We must be especially careful when we are a church filled with people from diverse backgrounds, a variety of cultures, different denominations and different practices or liturgy.
Philippians 2:1-2 (NKJV) Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfil my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
The word “fellowship” is “koinonia” in Greek which means the deepest fellowship with God and fellow believers. The Holy Spirit binds us together with the love of Christ that flows out of our hearts. There will be an absence of strife when we are in deep communion and partnership.
God puts us all under one roof regardless of our backgrounds. It doesn’t matter whether we are Pentecostal, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterians, Brethren, Charismatic, because it is God’s love that is common among us. We are in “koinonia”. It is through this love that we have for one another that we show the world we are disciples of Jesus Christ! Therefore, we should embrace Jesus Christ and place the emphasis of preaching the Gospel as our top priority! It is a wonderful opportunity for us to practise what the Word of God says when it comes to being united as a body of believers.
We can do it because what we have in common is the love of Christ flowing out of our hearts and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Our love for Christ and for one another should be able to bring us together as we grow in our home church. The Holy Spirit will work in us to lay down our differences. We have a supernatural bonding although we are of different nationalities because we are in Christ, and therefore, we are the church as one big united family.
Sermon Series: ServeFest 2023 February
团契
教会是由不完美的人所组成的。人们灵命的成长需要时间。我们需要时间才能更新心意，学会以基督的心为心，而不被堕落的血气战胜。然而，在任何一个教会能够成为社会中有效的见证者之前，必须先整理好自家。
哥林多前书3:3 ：因为你们仍然照着人的标准生活。你们当中有嫉妒，有纷争；难道这不是证明你们是属世的，是依照人的标准生活的吗？
如果基督徒拒绝成长，他们将永远是一个属血气的基督徒，属血气的本性将凌驾于新造之物之上。我们必须警惕不堕入像使徒保罗所致信的教会的光景。我们可能骄傲，充满各种主观意见，不服从教会领袖。我们可能论断他人的决策，甚至对某些事工如何开展而指手画脚。当教会会众们来自多样的生活背景，各种文化，不同的宗派，做法，或敬拜方式时，我们尤其要谨慎。
腓利比书2:1-2 ：所以在基督里若有什么劝勉，爱心有什么安慰，圣灵有什么交通，心中有什么慈悲怜悯，你们就要意念相同，爱心相同，有一样的心思，有一样的意念，使我们的喜乐可以满足。
团契的希腊文是“koinonia”，意思是与上帝和全体信徒们有至深的团契。圣灵以从我们心中溢出的基督的大爱将信徒结合在一起。当我们处于深入的共融和伙伴关系中时，就不会有冲突。
无论我们出身如何，上帝把我们放在同一个屋檐之下，无论我们来自五旬节派，卫理会，浸信会，长老会，兄弟会，或灵恩派，都不重要。因为上帝的爱在我们中间。我们在团契里，藉着对彼此的爱，向世人展现我们是耶稣基督的门徒！因此我们必须拥戴耶稣基督，并且以传扬福音为首要的任务，也是我们操练活出神的话语，展现肢体合一的最佳实践。
我们能做到合一，是因为我们都有着基督的爱从心里流出，都有圣灵里在我们里面的工作。当我们在家庭教会中成长时，我们对基督的爱以及我们对彼此的爱应该能够将我们聚集在一起。圣灵会在我们里面做工，放下我们的分歧我们有超自然的联系，尽管我们来自不同的国籍。因此，我们是一个合一的大家庭教会。
讲章系列：服事招募节 – 一心一意，彼此团结
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