Riding around Israel on the bus system for the past few weeks has come to be seen as both a richly rewarding as well as a uniquely challenging experience - all at the same time. Challenging from a physical standpoint as everything in this country is built for smaller people, but rewarding from being able to witness the uniqueness that accompanies these people who have been called of God to be a light to the nations of the world.
There are always four seats toward the front of every bus that face to the rear. Most folks pass them by, assumedly, because they would rather stand than ride backwards. But, they do offer a bit more leg room and being seated just behind the driver affords a vantage point to observe the people of this land in a more natural setting than you would otherwise normally find.
On this day, an attractive young Israeli woman in her late twenties to early thirties was sitting alone with an empty seat next to her and across the aisle was another, slightly older woman with an empty seat alongside her as well. At one juncture, a group of five men dressed in typical orthodox style boarded the bus, standing in the aisle as we lurched forward.
While all Jewish are considered orthodox, there are particular sects who choose a stricter interpretation of the Torah (the first five books of the bible) in every aspect of their life and are easily recognized all over Jerusalem by their white shirts, long black coats, pants and wide-brimmed black hats.
The tenants of their belief do not allow these particular orthodox men to be seated next to any woman other than their wives, so they usually stand if there are no available seats where they can sit next to each other. We traveled along for a block or so, when the young woman mentioned earlier very unobtrusively arose, vacated her seat thereby creating two empty seats next to each other and settled in next to the older woman, thereby allowing two of the standing orthodox men to quickly fill the empty seats.
This young woman who (most notably by the way she was dressed) was not of an observant orthodox sect, managed to put all of her belief system aside to extend a kindness to accommodate some of her people in their belief system that was not required of nor asked for, acknowledged or thanked. She just did it.
Most believers can easily quote John 3:16,
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
There are few, however, who can as readily quote 1John 3:16,
"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
For too long and for too often, we (the Body) have only wanted to hang with folks who believe the same way we do. Consequently, we are continually being divided and separated over stuff the Lord wants us to lay down for the sake of unity. The Power of (Acts 5:16) accompanied the early church because they understood the concept of "bearing one another's burdens" to fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) to mean more than forgiving and covering sin (as important a concept as that is). Laying something down does not mean disavowing it, but simply to not allow that thing we hold dear for ourselves to separate us from the Love of Christ which is to be exemplified in our actions toward another believer.
Surprisingly, in the council at Jerusalem (Acts 15:5), the scripture says that it was a sect of the Pharisees, who were believers and afforded a seat at that council, who brought up the whole issue of whether the new Gentile believers should be circumcised or not. Those Pharisees mentioned here did not give up the doctrine for themselves, but came into agreement with the rest to lay it down for the benefit of other, newer believers.
It is amazing to see the record of how all these believers in the early church with different values could put aside their individual doctrinal observances to live and walk together in the unity they found solely in Y'shua. In (Acts 5:12), the reason the Power of the Lord was so prevalent was because they understood what it meant - practically - to be "of one accord."
Who is a member of this Body? Romans 10:9-10 tells us that it is whoever "believes in his heart and confesses with his mouth." The Lord is making it very simple to come into this Kingdom - it is we who make it difficult to remain with one another. Y'shua said in John 14:2 that "In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." That indicates to me that there will be many places in the Kingdom I won't necessarily frequent, but, it does not invalidate any of them - they are all still part of Him. My left ear lobe will probably never touch or find anything in common with the little toe on my right foot, except that they are part of the same body, the same person that holds each of them in place.
The scripture teaches that our unity is not in doctrine, Ephesians 4:3 admonishes us to "keep (present tense - what is already here) the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" until we all come "into the unity of faith" (future tense), Ephesians 4:13. The unity of the Spirit and the unity of faith are two separate issues. This is why Paul admonishes us to lay aside different doctrines in order to advance into the maturity of the Spirit (Hebrews 6:1-2). Our unity is in our shared "knowing" of this Person, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Everything else is considered doctrine and, while those doctrines may be meaningful to the individual believer, trying to extend them over the entire Body of Christ will never cause us to come into unity. It does not invalidate those things we hold dear as individual believers - the Holy Spirit is just calling us to reach to a higher standard of excellence and maturity so that Y'shua can be lifted up higher than and above our individual differences (John 12:32).
By now, you have probably heard of the recent turmoil that ravaged through Kenya in East Africa. Here is an account from a brother who lives there, Onesmus Mwanzia, about the unity of Spirit 35 different congregations were compelled to walk in that unleashed the Power of the Holy Spirit to stem the killing and devastation that came upon the believers in their land -
"Due to the election we had last week in our country Kenya! There was misunderstanding between the elected president and the opposition leaders. Because of that, it has caused a lot of violence and death, people are displaced and others their houses are set on fire… deaths and killings have been reported yesterday in the morning, shops, houses and vehicles are been burnt, Raping and looting, No food, shelter and clothing. People are traveling but under great fear and tight security. Yesterday, 1st of January, we met at 3:00pm with other denominations within the town and prayed for peace in Kenya. We were around 35 Pastors and their congregations."
This is a letter of response from a friend in Greenville, Texas:
"Dear Brother Onesmus, I am a friend of Harold Smith's in the US and he forwarded me your note to him. We have been reading and hearing of the turmoil in Kenya. Indeed it is the work of the enemy. Yes, we must stand against it as you are doing and the other thing that we must do which is even more powerful is to become united with all the brothers and sisters in the Spirit. In the face of unity of the brothers Psalm 133 states. 'Behold, How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!' verse 3b reads, 'for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.' In the face of unity among the people of God, a command comes forth from heaven...life! Life to the Hebrews meant healing, deliverance, provision, and salvation. It was all encompassing. When we are one with the Lord and with each other, we have power over the enemy that is unmatched. As you come together with your brothers and sisters from all churches, seek unity and speak life into your nation from that position of authority and power. We will stand with you in this time. Shaking is coming to the whole earth and how you deal with it there will be an example and foundation upon which the rest of the Body of Christ can learn how to deal with it as it appears in our area of the world. It is coming upon the whole earth. Thanks for being an example for us to learn from." Perry Smith
On January 7, Brother Onesmus wrote back:
"For the last 6 days we have been praying for our Nation Kenya, Our God has intervened to bring Peace and Unity in Kenya. Where there have been killings, burning of houses, vehicles, petrol stations, shops and our Brothers and Sisters have been displaced in deferent places in this country, thank God, now we have a reason to Glorify our God because He has now restored peace in most parts of our country and there is calm."
These brothers need our prayers and continued support in the spirit as there is still turmoil in various regions of Kenya. They remain with an enormous task ahead of them, but as the Body of Christ becomes willing to lay down the doctrines and differences that have for so long separated us, as we choose to walk together in the oneness that is found only in Christ and Him crucified, we will begin to see the Power of the Holy Spirit move and manifest Himself through His Body in ways never before seen or imagined by this generation. It is in this remnant of believers who will humble themselves before the One True God who lives and dwells within each of us who are called by His Name, that we will see His Coming through His Body into this earthly realm. It begins with each of us, individually, just doing it.