Everything in the universe was created for God’s pleasure. He has a plan, and He will accomplish it. No one else can take credit for what He did. He alone is worthy of receiving honor and glory.
God has always known there was the potential for good and evil, righteousness and wickedness. Nevertheless, before he created anything, He already had the plan for redemption in place. God knows the end and the beginning, and He can make everything that happens work for His eternal purpose.
Our responsibility is to trust Him and walk in the way of love, just like Jesus did. If we want to honor Him, we must believe He exists and submit to His authority.
Jesus taught us that the only way to overcome evil is to do what is right in His sight. We can forgive, show mercy, do justly, and separate ourselves from the world’s ways. We honor God when we live His way.
As we have studied this week, the context of this verse highlights the importance of accepting differences among believers, especially in matters of personal conviction. Paul is calling us to prioritize unity and peace over disputable or debatable matters. When we focus on fostering peace, we create an environment where acceptance and mutual growth can flourish. This unity reflects Christ’s love and brings glory to God.
So how do we “make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification”? Dr. Carl summarized this idea so beautifully this past Sunday. He challenged us to remember six things. The final one was to remember the desired result. This is our desired result: peace and mutual edification. Mutual edification is the process of building up one another in faith, encouraging spiritual growth, and strengthening the body of Christ. It involves being supportive and helping each other mature in our walk with God. Mutual edification is a two-way street where everyone involved benefits and grows together. By engaging in mutual edification, we help create a community rooted in love, acceptance, and unity, reflecting the love of Christ.
An interesting point that Dr. Carl taught about this past Sunday was to “remember the risk of harming another’s faith.” When we judge others, we risk alienating and creating barriers to their faith. When we are operating in Christ’s love, acceptance, humility and direction, we can be used powerfully in the lives of others. When correction comes with love, acceptance comes with ease. When we act with judgment, many problems arise. Instead of Godly correction we get condemnation, instead of acceptance we get division.
I would say that one of the things I have struggled with the most in my faith journey is judgment. When I find myself judging others, it often stems from my pride and, more often than not, my insecurity. When I judge others it not only causes harm to those I am judging, but also to myself. When I am not choosing to listen to the Holy Spirit, my pride and insecurity are separating me from Christ in that moment. It all causes a downward spiraling circle, filling me with more judgment and dissension and moving me further from peace.
But when I remove myself from the judgement seat, God goes back to his rightful place as the judge. What stops my downward cycle is confessing my own sin of pride and judgement, choosing empathy and grace, encouraging instead of condemning, and seek forgiveness for myself first. Then I can allow Christ to guide me back to peace.
The key phrases that stick out to me in this verse are to have one mind, to sympathize, to love each other, to be tenderhearted, and to be humble.
Another word for having one mind is like-mindedness. This does not mean we must agree on every issue, but it does mean we share a common purpose and commitment to Christ. This reminds me of a point Dr. Carl taught us this past Sunday — we need to remember the referee. Christ is our common ground, and He will work out all things for His glory.
Sympathizing is understanding and sharing the feelings of others. By putting ourselves in others’ shoes, we can better support and accept one another, especially in times of disagreement.
Love is the foundation of all Christian relationships. Loving one another means we seek the best for each other, forgive freely, and act with kindness and patience. This love and sympathy creates a soft and tender heart. It is easy for me to have conflict when my heart is hardened, it is much harder when I am in authentic relationship with someone, when I love them and sympathize with them, when I pray for them, when I have a tender heart towards them.
Humility involves recognizing our own limitations and valuing others above ourselves. I love the Rick Warren quote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”
Paul is teaching us to accept each other and to build a community that reflects Christ’s love and grace. With sympathy, love, tenderheartedness and humility we partner with Christ in the building up of not only our Cypress Creek community, the the worldwide Church Christ is leading.
I love harmony. Musical harmony is when two or more different musical lines are played or sung at the same time and yet sound beautiful together. Harmony in our community happens when we are individually acting the way God created us, when we are full of the Holy Spirit and operating in our spiritual gifts. This is when we sound the most beautiful, because we have “joined together with one voice”. We complement one another, just as harmonies in a song complement one another.
But Paul acknowledges that we need tools to live in harmony– patience and encouragement. With these two things we can put the needs of others ahead of our own. Christ put others before Himself and sought to serve rather than be served. Adopting this mindset helps us to view others with compassion and grace.
When we come together with one mind and one voice, our worship and our witness become powerful. This unity in Christ shows the world the transformative power of the Gospel.
This verse reminds us that our acceptance of each other should mirror Christ’s acceptance of us. It is a call to unity and love, even when we face differences and disagreements. The church today grapples with a variety of issues, and it is easy to let these differences create divisions, but Paul’s message urges us to take a different path.
With Christ as our model, we are called to move toward unity over uniformity. Unity in the church is not about uniformity of thought, but about coming together in love despite our differences. It is about valuing relationships over being right. Through our act of accepting one another, we are participating in giving glory to God. We are worshiping Him with our love for one another.
As Dr. Carl taught us this Sunday, applying these ideas throughout the week could look like listening for understanding, focusing on the common ground instead of the differences, praying for unity in our community, and acting with grace and kindness. Christ is our ultimate example, and through the power of Christ in our lives we get to participate in this Kingdom work of accepting others.
