Smallest Seed

Image from Dreamstime. That they may be one as you and I are one. This was Jesus' ardent prayer to the Father, asking all believers to be brought into "complete unity," the same unity the Father and Son have. Only through this will the world really see that God sent Jesus and that he loves us in the exact way the Father loves him. I've been urging believers about this since 10 or 15 years ago or so---perfect unity of all believers. In Acts, all believers were in  a near-perfect degree of unity. There was one single church spread out in various localities in the world. Just one church. Though partially united (because Paul said small schisms and divisions were starting in Corinth), they turned the world upside down. In Thessalonica, the complaint against the church was that, "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here." See that impact? What more if the unity was really complete? But church never pursued this unity. The ...

Image from 123RF. Let's not see it with the eyes of the Pharisees and law teachers. It reeks of toleration. They thought Christ mingled with sinners to assure them of God's love even if they continued enjoying sin. And that's how a lot of people see it today. But then, on the other hand, there are church people who shun the company of sinners altogether and would have nothing to do with them. So we have two extremes---those who teach that God tolerates sin and those who are repulsed by sinners. Oh, there's a third extreme---those who don't give a damn. Jesus didn't just fellowship with sinners. He sought to "call" them [Mark 2.17]. We already know this, but often we still miss the point. We see it as the Pharisees and religious leaders did---that Jesus simply enjoyed sinners and he was a bad example because we aren't supposed to be seen with them. I've seen churches put in active ministry or position people wallowing in sin beca...