“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and meekness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:1-3).
If I were the devil and wanted to subvert God’s plan to save the world to what end would I direct my efforts? I would subvert the agents, of course, thorough whom God plans to save it.
That’s why we have such a hard time in the most unexpected place—within the church herself. And that’s why we must make “every effort” (a very strong Greek verb) to keep that peace by which the church is bound together—an effort that calls for great humility, meekness, patience, endurance and love. There’s no other way, for it is a failure of these virtues that causes a church to fall.
Satan’s finest scheme is to get a church to go bad from within so God himself must judge her and remove her “lamp stand” (Revelation 2:3). The buildings may stand, the people may gather, the praise band may play, the preacher may preach, but the light will have gone out of that church and she will be of no use in this world.
(I was reminded, however, as I wrote that sentence, of a bank officer I knew, who, upon approving the building plans of one church, said, “Well, if the church goes under we can always turn the building into a dog clinic.”)
God forbid that we should be ignorant of Satan’s devices!
David Roper
8.19.21
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