1 Corinthians 8 – 16

Since God desires that we be united in Christ and maintain that precious unity, we simply cannot treat the Lord’s church like any number of other human groups or institutions of which we are a part.

Since divisiveness due to personal prerogatives and sinful behavior are the source of the discord God abhors in the body of Christ, we simply must find and acceptable alternative to the “human way” which comes so naturally to us.

The Holy Spirit moves the Apostle Paul to lead us in the spiritual way that maintains unity and away from the fleshly way that destroys it.

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:1

Following Paul in following Christ, we change the way we see and understand the church itself. We are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are part of something truly special. We are part of the body of Christ. We are one with Jesus.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14

There is an interconnectedness now at work in us. We are joined not only to Christ, but to one another. We share a common faith, a common future and so we share a common fellowship.

If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

1 Corinthians 12:26-27

Where is Paul leading us as he follows Christ? The way of the flesh leads to division and turmoil. With personal agendas driven by personal ambitions we pursue personal triumphs at the cost of other people. If I win in this way, someone loses. The way of the spirit must be a better way. It’s the way of unity. But, what is it?

And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 12:31 -13:13

We are baptized in one Spirit into the body of Christ. We are one with Christ and one with each other. Christ in one with God and He prayed – John 17 – that we would be one, just as He and the Father are one. He died and rose again to establish this unity between God and man.

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 2:10-11

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:7-8

Is it really that simple? Love is the key to maintaining the precious unity in Christ? Love is the key to removing discord from the body of Christ? Why should this surprise us? We are baptized in one Spirit into the body of Christ. We are one with Christ and one with each other. Christ in one with God and He died and rose again to establish this unity between God and man. God is love … and we are one with Him and with each other.  So, when I love you to benefit you I am unavoidably doing what is beneficial to me…because you and I are one in Christ.

That IS a better way. No, that is a more excellent way.

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!