The Genuine one Accord in the Church is the Practice of the Oneness of the Body of Christ

The genuine one accord in the church is the practice of the oneness of the Body, which is the oneness of the Spirit; we already have the oneness, we just need to keep it, spend it, apply it, and practice it so that we may be in one accord.

This week in our deeper consideration of the vital factors for the practice of the church life we come to The Factor of the Genuine One Accord.

We have the burden, on one hand, to spread the divine truths to all the brothers and sisters in Christ, all the members of the Body of Christ, so that they would enjoy the Lord, experience Christ, grow in life, and be built up as the Body of Christ.

There are many believers in Christ who are lovers and seekers of Christ, and they love the Lord and pursue Him with a pure heart; our desire is to bring the ministry of life to them for them to enjoy the Lord, even more, experience Him according to His divine revelation, and see something of God’s economy and the Body of Christ.

Furthermore, our burden is to strengthen the local churches, that is, to strengthen the local church life in all the localities on earth.

What the Lord desires to gain is the local churches as the testimony of Jesus in all the localities on earth; He wants to gain the church life in locality after locality for the testimony of Jesus.

Are we the testimony of Jesus in our local church? We need to say that, in all good conscience before the Lord, the church life everywhere is not yet where it should be, that is, it is not yet as healthy, strong, rich, prevailing, and impactful as it should be.

So we need to pay attention to the vital factors for the recovery of the church life, and one of the most important factors is the genuine one accord, which is the practice of the oneness of the Body, the oneness of the Spirit.

We need to cooperate with the Lord in a living way so that the church life in all the local churches would be strong, healthy, and this would draw people to the Lord and to His purpose.

May we bring these vital factors to the Lord, and in particular the factor of the one accord, so that we may have the master key to all the blessing in the New Testament.

What we need is not more knowledge, more points, and more doctrines; we need to be before the Lord to practice the church life according to His heart’s desire, and for this, the genuine one accord is a vital factor.

The one accord is the master key to all the blessings in the New Testament; if we lose the one accord, if we have just a hint of divisiveness, separation, or being sectarian, we will miss the Lord’s blessing.

The commanded blessing is upon the brothers who are dwelling together, living together, in oneness and in one accord.

The Genuine One Accord in the Church is the Practice of the Oneness of the Body, which is the Oneness of the Spirit

In Eph. 4:3-6 we see seven one’s; that is the base of the oneness of the church.

The first attribute of the church is the first attribute of the Triune God: oneness; there is one God, and there is one church, and this church is in oneness.

If we don’t have the oneness, we don’t have the church. The church is one, just as God is one, and the top attribute of the church is oneness.

However, even though we have this oneness, we need to practice it; we need to practice, apply, and spend the oneness of the Body, which we already have so that this oneness becomes in our experience the one accord.

In Eph. 4 we see the oneness and we realize the need for our keeping of the oneness; we need to safeguard it and preserve it, guard it and practice it, so that we may have the genuine one accord.

The Lord Jesus prayed for this oneness in John 17; He didn’t teach us concerning oneness, but He prayed concerning it, that we as His disciples will be one, even as He and the Father are one.

The oneness has been given to us; it has been deposited with us, the children of God, and we need to guard it, safe keep it, and practice and apply it.

Unfortunately, the oneness of the Body which was given to the church was not kept and safeguarded by the people of God but rather, it was broken about all kinds of things.

Things such as the world, religion, people’s ambition, different opinions and teachings, many such things have broken the oneness and cut the Body of Christ into millions of peoples, dismembering it.

When this happens, the church is dead, the Body becomes a cut-up corpse, and the Lord does not have a proper testimony. Oh, Lord Jesus!

One of the main things we must do and care for in the genuine church life is to maintain the oneness by practicing the genuine one accord.

In Eph. 4:1 we are told to have a worthy walk, which is the keeping o the oneness; this is the worthy walk of an up-to-standard called one.

We have been called into this oneness; we are called to walk in the oneness of the Spirit, so that we may express it, live it out, and express it in our conduct, our behavior, and living.

When we break the oneness, however, we are not walking worthily of God’s calling.

This means that we shouldn’t live merely as individual Christians but practice the Body life as the Body of Christ.

The first order of the day, our first priority, is to care for the oneness of the Body, which is actually the oneness of the Spirit; this is crucial and vital to the Body of Christ.

If we would do everything with keeping the oneness in view, there will be no division or dissension in the Body.

The oneness of the Triune God has been given to us; actually, this oneness has been enlarged to include us, the believers in Christ. We all have this oneness, for we possess the oneness of the Triune God in the Spirit with our spirit.

Why is it that the Church of God is so broken, damaged, and divided into so many denominations, free groups, and sects? Don’t we all have the oneness?

Yes, we do have the oneness, but we fail to keep it, that is, our top priority is not the keeping of the oneness for the practice of the genuine one accord.

What a shame it is to the Lord that the Body of Christ is divided, broken, and cut into pieces; how much this breaks the Lord’s heart!

May we return to the oneness of the Body of Christ to keep it, practice it, and apply it, so that we may experience the genuine one accord, which will bring in the Lord’s blessing.

It is like we were given one billion dollars and we never spend all this money.

We have been given the oneness of the Triune God to be the oneness of the Spirit, the oneness of the Body; now we need to spend the oneness, apply it, practice it, and remain in the genuine one accord.

May we practice and apply the oneness of the Spirit by our absolute cooperation with the Lord.

May we practice the genuine one accord between brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, between the churches, the co-workers, elders, and all the serving ones.

May we safeguard this oneness so that the Lord may gain an anti-testimony among us, a testimony of oneness against all the division in the Church.

May we be diligent and vigilant to exercise the oneness, apply it, and practice it, for at the moment that we’re not watchful, some divisive factors may come between us.

Thank You, Lord, for giving us the oneness of the Spirit, the oneness of the Body of Christ. Hallelujah, the oneness of the Triune God has been enlarged to include us, the believers in Christ, so that we may all be one, even as the Triune God is one. Amen, Lord, we want to practice the oneness of the Spirit, apply it, and spend it by living in the genuine one accord. We want to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace so that there would be the genuine one accord among us and You would pour out Your blessing. We put ourselves aside, and we deny our self, reject our ambition and opinions, and we pay attention to the primary matter of the oneness of the Body. Oh Lord, may we remain vigilant and be diligent to apply ourselves all the time to the oneness of the Body so that there would be no division among us but rather, we would practice the genuine one accord!

We Apply the Oneness of the Body of Christ by Practicing the Genuine One Accord in the Church Life

How can we practice the oneness? It seems that, in ourselves, we are so different, both outwardly and inwardly.

How can the Lord gain the one Body of Christ with the practice of the oneness of the Body?

It is only by our realizing that we already have the oneness of the Body; Eph. 4:4-5 shows us that our practice of the oneness is based upon the attribute of the oneness of the church.

Hallelujah, there is one Spirit, one Lord, one God, one Body, one faith, one baptism, and one hope, and we have the oneness of the Body of Christ!

The practice of the genuine one accord in the church is actually the application of the oneness (Acts 1:14; 2:46).

We don’t keep the oneness merely by talking about it but by applying it and practising it; when we have the genuine one accord in the church life, oneness is applied and practiced.

In Acts 1:14 we see that, even before Pentecost, the one hundred and twenty gathered together day by day to pray in one accord, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus. They continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer.

The way we practice the oneness of the Body is first by prayer; it has to start with prayer, for genuine prayer ushers us into the mingled spirit, where the true oneness is.

Oneness is not in our mind or emotion or will; oneness is not in our soul but in our spirit, and when we practice the oneness, even our soul will become one.

Our soul must be one, but we’re so much in the self, so we are diversely minded, we emote differently, and our choices are our own; we need to come back to the spirit first!

Before we do anything, we need to fellowship with the Lord and with one another, coordinate together, and pray to turn from our mind, from everything that divides us, turning to our spirit!

This was the key to the one accord for the early church; it wasn’t merely the gathering in the homes and breaking bread but it was they’re continuing steadfastly in the one accord in prayer.

The one accord before the Pentecost was because they had the indwelling Spirit of life, and after the Pentecost, they continued with the outpoured Spirit upon them.

Hallelujah, we as believers in Christ were in one Spirit all baptized into one body, and we were given to drink of the one Spirit; we are in the Spirit, and the Spirit Himself is our oneness.

The practice of the oneness is with the one accord; when we practice the oneness, it becomes the one accord (Acts 15:25).

We need to practice the genuine one accord every day with everyone in the church life; the Lord stressed this and the apostles practiced this.

In John we see the Lord emphasizing the oneness, but in Acts what is emphasized is the one accord (John 10:30; 17:11, 21-23; Acts 1:14; 2:46; 4:24; 15:25).

Before His death, before the Lord became the Spirit of life through death and resurrection, He prayed for the oneness among the disciples; then, after He was resurrected and ascended, He was poured out upon them as the Spirit, and they practiced the genuine one accord.

The landmark that divides the Gospels and the Acts is the one accord among the one hundred and twenty; they had become one in the Body, and in that oneness, they continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer.

When the apostles and the believers practiced the church life, they practiced it in the one accord (Acts 2:46; 4:24; 5:12).

The key is the practice of the one accord; we need to practice the church life in the one accord.

Our one accord is not based on being the same race or part of the same family; it’s not the race, colour, or background that makes us one, but the divine life which we all possess.

When we come together to pray, we must forget everything else and just pray in one accord.

The Lord prayed for the oneness in John 17 but in Matt. 18:19 He spoke of two praying in one accord, in harmony. The way to practice the one accord is to pray in the spirit, pray in one accord.

Thank You, Lord for the one Spirit, one Lord, one God, one Body, one faith, one baptism, and one hope so that we all may be one! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are one with Christ and one with one another in Spirit! We want to practice and apply this in our daily life, Lord, and in our church life. May we learn to stop and fellowship with the Lord and with the saints in prayer before we do anything. May we come back to the Spirit, remain in the mingled spirit, and apply the oneness of the Body in the church life. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to practice the genuine one accord in the church by applying and practicing the oneness of the Spirit, the oneness of the Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1986, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1),” ch. 1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 5, The Factor of the Genuine One Accord.
• Recommended further reading: see, Practicing the Oneness to Bring in God’s Blessing, via ministry books.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Building God and man in one / Is their work before the Lord; / In this fellowship divine / Saints are built in one accord. (Hymns #849)
  – The unity of Church is but / The saints in oneness living; / The Spirit which indwelleth them / This oneness ever giving. / Thus it is realized and called / The unity of Spirit; / ’Tis based upon the common faith / Which all the saints inherit. (Hymns #831)
  – Being diligent to keep the oneness / Of the Spirit / In the uniting bond of peace: / One Body and one Spirit, / Even as also you were called / In one hope, in one hope of your calling; / One Lord, one faith, one baptism; / One God and Father of all, / Who is over all and through all and in all. (Scripture song)