Dear BPCWA worshipper, It is with much thanksgiving in our hearts that we were once again able to meet in person for our Family Camp. Over the next few weeks, I will summarise the sermons preached at the camp as an important recapturing of key lessons we should not forget, as well as for the benefit of all worshippers. BPCWA is, by God’s mercies, enjoying doctrinal unity and we must continue to stress on such unity. However, we must not underestimate Satan’s wiles to weaken our testimony by sowing seeds of internal disunity and strife. Hence, I invited Rev Ko Lingkang to record the morning devotion messages on the theme “Unity in the Church”, with 4 messages on “The Basis of Unity”, “The Importance of Unity”, “The Cost of Unity”, and “The Blessedness of Unity”. In today’s pastoral, we will look at the first 2 messages on church unity. 

The Basis of Unity. Ephesians 4:1-6 teaches us that we are “one body, and one Spirit” (v4), serving the “One God and Father of all” (v6). What brings us together as a church is that we “are called in one hope” (v4). Genuine believers should all be walking in the same direction with the desire to glorify and obey God. To have unity, we must have “all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (v2). The root of conflicts with one another is often pride, a sin that God hates, and it is a sin that characterises Satan. Lowliness is not to think highly of ourselves. Meekness is power under control, exercising it at the right time for the sake of glorifying God instead of having a mind to prove myself right and another wrong. Longsuffering is required to endure hardship caused by people. Forbearing means tolerating that hardship without losing patience. At times, we may need to eat humble pie for the sake of testimony and unity – forgiving and overlooking instead of fighting back and retaliating.  “Endeavouring to keep the unity” (v3) means actively seeking unity through investing great personal effort. And we do so because we are bound by the Holy Spirit that ties us together. But doctrines must be the basis of what holds us together. We can be guided by one Spirit when the Bible is our guide. Any unity based on our personal preferences, likes, and dislikes, instead of doctrines is fleeting and fragile unity. Our allegiance is to Christ and His truth must be what holds us together. Unity that is not based on God’s Truth is erroneous and is not true unity and we must step out of it.

The Importance of Unity. Paul devoted much time to writing about unity because there were problems even in the early church that threatened the faith and testimony. The Apostles prayed for unity and that showed that unity is in the will of God. Since God is patient with us and instead of being short tempered and agitated, we need to learn patience with one another, being “likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus” (Ro 15:5). Unity is only possible when we have a common purpose and are oriented in the same direction to seek God’s glory and obey His Word. Likemindedness must be Christ-centredness. Bonds of fellowship must be based on spiritual things. Unity is important because we are to “with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ro 15:6). If this is everyone’s desire, there will be no discord, tensions, and grudges. When we have these happening on Sunday, we can’t glorify God even if we’re at worship. We must experience unity every time the church comes together and serves together. We must not have the attitude of I’m better than you because I observe this or that and you don’t. “Receive ye one another” (Ro 15:7) is the command of God. We do this when we take another Christian into our life who may be different from us, and yet welcome them into our lives. We welcome and receive one another because we see how Christ has received us and called us to be one together with Him. We are one in Christ to glorify God. But we can do so only if we receive one another, despite our imperfections. Even as for the thief on the cross, Christ took him into His Father’s house with Him when the thief believed in Christ as his God and Saviour. In addition, there must be strength of bonds for one another and not just a vague acquaintance. We must be willing to serve together, sacrifice, and care for one another in the body with the same strength of bonds we have with Christ because we are in the body of Christ. This does not mean condoning and encouraging faults, but it means being willing to reconcile and forgive. If the unity is in truth, then we must prioritise unity as being important and endeavour to keep unity for the glory of God. We must pray for unity and seek unity.

These are timely lessons for us in BPCWA as God has given us peace to worship and serve Him these years. True unity is only possible with believers when it is based on God’s truth and bonds in Christ. God intends BPCWA, His witness on earth, to have this unity. Unity can, however, be easily fractured by holding on to personal differences and preferences instead of prioritising biblical unity, especially in this current age of “me first” and “rights”. Are you ready to practice lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance toward others instead of just expecting others to practice them toward you? Are you prepared to set aside your pride and welcome others as Christ received you, for the sake of the unity of Christ’s body and glorifying God? As we have seen, unity is not an “ideal”, but it is God’s command to us. Let us endeavour in BPCWA to have this unity.

Eph 4:2-4   With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;  3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor