Bearing one Another in Love and Keeping the Oneness in the Uniting Bond of Peace

Keeping the oneness of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3) is not something “too spiritual” for us to understand or practice; rather, we can keep the oneness of the Spirit in a very practical way with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, and in the uniting bond of peace.

In the church life as a living in the Body of Christ and the reality of the one new man we need to constantly come to the Lord, the One who is meek and lowly in heart, to be with all lowliness and meekness toward all the saints.

Our attitude toward the saints matters; we should not have a higher standard for them or have expectations concerning them but rather humble ourselves, love all the saints impartially, and receive all the saints even as the Lord receives them.

Also, if anyone wrong us or speaks things that may offend us, we need to be meek and not take this into consideration.

Regarding our speaking in the church life, especially when we have informal times or interactions with the saints, we should be long-suffering, that is, willing to suffer the restriction of our speaking when it comes to others’ business or anything negative that we heard of or seen in the church life.

We need to bear one another in love, having an attitude of love and care for the saints, and not being suspicious in the church life.

We need to come to the Lord and enjoy Him day-by-day, and then allow His divine virtues to strengthen and uplift our human virtues so that we would be suspicious of the saints neither stir up any concern in them by what we do or say.

Instead of suspicion we should have love for the saints, and instead of doing things that cause others to be concerned for us we should exercise to be in spirit and do everything in oneness with the Lord. Remember, perfect love casts out fear, and love is not suspicious of others (see 1 John 4:18).

Finally, we need to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. We need to have peace with God and peace with all the saints in the church life by being properly related to God and to man.

Bearing One Another in Love by Fighting against Suspicion and Fear in the Church life

A practical way to keep the oneness of the Spirit is by bearing one another in love in the church life. This implies at least two practical matters: we need to not do or say things that would cause concern to the faithful saints, and we should not be suspicious of others or afraid of them in the church life.

If we have our human virtues strengthened and enriched with the divine attributes in the Spirit with our spirit, we will not do or say anything that would stir up the concern of the saints.

Some saints are faithful to the Lord and to His recovery, and they observe the other saints and pray for them; if we do something that would cause them concern, they will be troubled. Just because we do something innocently doesn’t excuse us; we need to always avoid doing things or saying things that would stir up the concern of the saints.

We need to be exercised in our spirit and also exercised in our attitude, speaking, and doing anything in the church life so that we would express Christ and minister Him.

Always say or do something that would cause others to feel peaceful. Always seek to be one with the Lord in everything you do or say in the church life.

On the other hand, we should not be suspicious of the saints, of what they do, where they go, and what they say; we should not have a suspicious atmosphere in the church life.

All saints need to be free to go wherever they want, do whatever they want, and say whatever they want, and on our side we should not over think things or be suspicious of them.

Instead of suspicion and fear, we should have only love toward the saints. Love prevails, and love is the most excellent way for us to do anything or to be anything in the church life (1 Cor. 12:31).

If we are suspicious toward a brother or a sister, our love for them is gone; after suspicion, fear will follow, and we will not be at peace but cause trouble. But in love there is no fear and no suspicion; perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

It is always a temptation to know what others think about us or what’s their attitude toward us, how they consider us, and what others speak concerning us; but we need to reject this temptation for the sake of the Lord’s testimony in the church life (see Eccl. 7:21-22).

We need to resist the temptation to find out what others speak about us, and we should exercise to always speak one with the Lord and do things in His presence and in the Body.

We need to believe before the Lord that all the brothers and sisters are good, they love the Lord, and they want to grow in life. We should never be suspicious of the saints and we should not observe the saints and then talk about them to others.

Uttering our suspicions or doubts concerning what the saints did or what they meant when they said something can damage the church life.

In the church life there’s no police, no FBI or CIA, and definitely no detectives or spies. We are all brothers and sisters, and we need to learn to do a work of building up and not be suspicious, doubtful, or in fear.

In love before the Lord and in love toward others we need to cover the saints and bear with them in love.

Lord Jesus, we want to keep the oneness of the Spirit by bearing one another in love. Lord, keep us turning to You, touching You, and taking You as our life and person as we live a daily Christian life in the church life. Save us from being like a policeman or a detective in the church life. Free us from our doubts and suspicions, and fill us with Your divine love. Lord, we want to love all the saints and care for them in love, not by spying on them or doubting them. Oh Lord, bind Your enemy and release all the saints to do a work of building up in the church!

Being Diligent to Keep the Oneness of the Spirit in the Uniting Bond of Peace

The oneness of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself, and we have this oneness simply by being born again of God. Now all we have to do is keep, preserve by guarding, and safeguard this oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

What is this “uniting bond of peace”? On the cross Christ abolished all the differences between the Gentiles and the Jews that were due to ordinances, and He made peace between us all in His Body. This peace should bind all the believers together and should become the uniting bond among us.

We need to be diligent to have this peace that unites us and binds us together, and for this we need to be open and willing to be worked on by the cross. If we remain on the cross, we will have peace with others, and this peace will become the uniting bond in which we keep the oneness of the Spirit.

We need to have peace both with God (vertically) and with our fellow brothers and sisters (horizontally). We can’t say that we have peace only with God, and this is good enough; we need to have peace with God by confessing our sins and dealing with anything that hinders Him to shine in us, and we need to be diligent to have peace horizontally with the brothers and the sisters in the church life.

We need to be properly related to God and properly related to the saints. We shouldn’t be over-related or under-related to others, but be properly related in a balanced way to the saints in the church life. In all things, we need to stay one with the Lord, on the cross, allowing Him to live in us and be the Peace-maker among us, experiencing Him for the church life as the corporate expression of Christ.

The church life is tested by the peace we have both horizontally and vertically; we need to seek to have peace with God by enjoying Christ and taking Him as our everything, and we need to have peace with all the saints by living out the Christ we enjoyed and being properly related to them in the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Thank You for making peace between us and God and between us and others on the cross. Lord, may Your cross operate in us and among us so that we may be diligent to keep the peace with God and the peace with the saints. Lord, fill the church life with peace. Fill the church life with much enjoyment of Christ and much cooperation with the work of the cross so that all the saints may be properly related to God and to one another.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 1, “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ,” pp. 183-185, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 6 / msg 6, Crucial Experiences in the Practice of the Church Life (3) How to Realize the Church Life in a Practical Way in the Reality of the One New Man (you can buy this morning revival book here).
• Picture credit for 1 John 4:18 and more spiritual quotes on this topic via, Christian Pictures Blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # We’d experience Christ daily, / Him we would constantly pursue. / Our pursuing has a purpose / To build His Body is our view. / Occupy us for Your Body. / Grace supplying, You afford. / Always bearing, always caring, / By Your grace we’d be outpoured. (Song on Bearing one Another)
  # To maintain the sweet communion, / Brotherly love; / Fellowship and healing union, / Brotherly love. / Love believing for the brothers, / Hoping all things for the others, / Suffering all with one another, / Brotherly love. (Hymns #1277)
  # I take Thee for my peace, O Lord. / My heart to keep and fill / Thine own great calm, amid earth’s storms / Shall keep me always still; / And as Thy kingdom doth increase, / So shall Thine ever-deep’ning peace. (Hymns #521)