"Unity in the Spirit" Kathryn Kuhlman Ephesians 4:3-4 There is Only One Church

For just a few minutes, I want to speak on something that I feel is most important. And I'm going to use as my scripture the third verse of the fourth chapter of Ephesians. Beloved, no nation is stronger than her spiritual forces. Spiritual forces are no stronger than their unity in the spirit here on earth. And I believe that with every atom of my being. Let me read the third verse in this fourth chapter of Ephesians. of peace. Note the exact wording of this statement. It is not the unity of the body which we are to keep. The Holy Spirit keeps that. For we have nothing to do with the keeping of the unity of the body. Always remember that. It's the Holy Spirit that keeps the unity of the body. in you and Christ in me, in all regenerated people, is the secret of the unity of the body. And this is beautifully set forth in the Old Testament tabernacle, a symbol of the church here on earth. Those of you who've been following me in my previous messages will remember that I taught you that the Old Testament tabernacle was a symbol of the church, Christ's church here on earth. The tabernacle consisted of 48 boards built on 96 sockets of silver, which were made of redemption money. We did it in the 30th and 38th chapters of Exodus. Every man was redeemed. with half a shekel of silver. And if 685 ,000 people gave one half shekel of silver, the amount of silver must have weighed about one half ton. Think of it. Now, this mass of silver was cast into sockets and formed the foundation of the tabernacle, upon which the boards of the tabernacle See something here that's very marvelous. The boards represented believers being formed into one body. And the silver foundation is typical of redemption. The foundation of the church. Now, let's go a step further. These boards were held together, unified, by an invisible rod which passed through the heart of each board. You see what it means? The invisible rod represents the invisible Christ dwelling within every believer. That's what that scripture means. Christ in you. The hope of glory. That's it. Now the unity of believers began on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to indwell and empower. And from that day to the present day, every believer has been united in the body of Christ. The unity being preserved by the indwelling Holy Spirit in every redeemed heart. And so that's the reason Paul tells us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now, how do we keep the unity of the Spirit? We do so when we meet a believer in the Lord and recognize him as our brother, regardless of race. regardless of nationality or social position. For remember something, if he trusts Christ as his Savior, if his sins are covered with the blood, if the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, has cleansed him from all sin, regardless of his nationality, regardless of his race, Regardless of his position in life, he is a member of the body of Christ. He has been born into his church. And he is your brother. He is my brother. And we need to preserve that unity in the spirit right here on earth. And when we do, the world will feel our influence as Christians and not until. And it's just like that. An incident in the life of a great saint of God, a minister who was holding a campaign in Chicago near the close of World War I. He gave this testimony that made a profound impression. as he told it years later. He said, I attended a dinner. It was nearing the close of World War I. And he said, at the dinner, there was present representatives from every nation in the world. Religious leaders, spiritual leaders, presiding over the meeting was a Christian. Hebrew. Next to him sat a German. The minister to whom I refer was an Englishman. And he sat next to an Irishman. Think of that. An Englishman. Seated between an Irishman and a German at a time like that. At the close of World War I. Then there was an Italian, an Austrian, a Russian, a Japanese, a Chinese, and so on. Clear around the table. People from every country were there. Canada, Spain, the United States, Mexico. Were they scrapping? Were they fighting? Not at all. They were having the most blessed fellowship that believers could possibly have here on earth. Why? They were united in one spirit in Christ. That's why. He said the German turned to him and said, Just think of it, brother. And he said, he turned to the Irishman and said, Mike, aren't we having a grand time? And to think that a Christian Hebrew presided at that dinner. At the close of the dinner, he said they stood with linked hands. For he said our hearts had already been linked together as one. And instead we sang, blessed be the tide that binds our hearts in Christian love. Do you want to know what we need in Christendom today, that very same spirit? We've gotten so narrow. We've gotten so bigotent. We've gotten so far away from Christ's teaching. We've gotten so far. Off of the track, we've gotten so far away from brotherly love. We've gotten to hate instead of love. It seems to me there's so little unity, so little oneness in the spirit among God's children. That's the reason we have very little influence. over the unsaved man, the unregenerated man today. He doesn't see unity among us. He doesn't see the oneness in the Spirit among us. He cannot feel our influence. He cannot see Christ in our lives. And sometimes we're doing more damage to the cause of Christ than we're doing good. endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Oh, that's wonderful. That's thrilling. We, members of the body of Christ, by the baptism of the Spirit, you will never walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called unless... you'll recognize the unity of the Spirit and endeavor to keep that unity. Don't let's stop there. Go on to the next verse. Verse 4. I read, There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope. of your calling. The ground for this unity about which we've been thinking is set forth in this verse. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. Let's take it. There is one body. Only one. Not two. Not three. One. There is one body. We're not told to make one body. No. Sometimes we try to. Sometimes we work so hard. trying to make one body. No. There is, the Scripture says, one body now. The body of Christ. We're not told to make one body. The Spirit of God has done that. There is one body. You were born... into that body. Regardless of who you are, if you've had that new birth experience, you had been born into that body which now exists. And that body is the church of Jesus Christ. The body is composed of individuals who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Every believer in Christ regardless of nationality is a member of the church which is his body. There is one Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Why? Oh, here's something very thrilling that we give to you in just a second, and I pray that the Holy Spirit shall make it so plain to you. For these are the things of the Spirit. and are only spiritually revealed. And I pray that the Holy Spirit shall give you the capacity to see and recognize the things of the Spirit. Go back to that first verse. I therefore, it's Paul speaking, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Walk worthy, beloved, of being an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. Walk worthy of your vocation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Walk worthy of being a member of his body. What worthy of your vocation as a member of his church. I shall never forget an expression Mama used to use when I was a little girl. She would say, Catherine, you know, that's not very becoming to a young lady. That old -fashioned word, becoming. Some of our actions are very much unbecoming to a member of the body of Christ. Some of the little petty things we do. Our smugness sometimes is very unbecoming to a member of his church. Larry, unbecoming to our vocation. Remember to whom you belong. I pray that there shall be a unity among the members of his body. A unity, a oneness among those of us who are members of his church, born into his church. that we shall strive to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, that we might walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. Yes, beloved. No nation is stronger than her spiritual forces. And the spiritual forces... are no stronger than their unity in the spirit here on earth. God bless you. Amen.