The Door to Christian Unity

by: Robert (Bob) Somerville and Paul Jablonowski

 

The Christian community gathering for the Feast of Passover could be the DOOR to celebrating Christian unity. Why? Because we have a common bond with each other through Messiah's blood which is upon each of our hearts. Hebrews 2:11-12 says, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”

 

If we have invited Jesus into our hearts to come and dine with us, how can we in good faith shut each other out? Yet this is exactly what we do when we fail to walk through the door of opportunity for close fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Passover was intended to be a family affair! The Christ our Passover event celebrates our common heritage through the blood of Jesus. This feast day is not man conceived, it is God ordained and biblically defined to give focus to the all-important blood of Jesus as our basis for unity and forgiveness. John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”

 

Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20) Jesus really longs to have fellowship with each of us personally and with His body corporately. The problem is one of trust in “opening the door.” We are often fearful that if we really get close to Jesus, He may not like us or be looking for an opportunity to correct or judge us. This is not the case. What Jesus really wants to do is to be a friend in whom we can confide because He too was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” (Isaiah 53:3).

 

Regrettably this same lack of trust holds true among us - His followers. Too many Christians fear rejection from other Christians because of our differences or because of an attitude of spiritual superiority. We must remember that salvation is through the shed blood of Messiah Jesus, and keeping this focus is the best way we can have unity without compromise. We do not have to compromise our doctrinal positions in order to acknowledge brotherhood in Jesus. He shed His blood for our unity as he prayed, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.” (John 17:23)

 

In Israel at the first Passover God told Moses, “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper DOOR post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." (Exodus 12:3,7)

 

Why the blood on the door posts? Why not the window? The door, as a symbol, is profound. The blood placed upon the passage way is even more so. It was the shed blood of a lamb that was placed on the doorposts of every house that saved them individually as well as corporately. Israel as a nation had a common bond through the blood, regardless of their tribal identity. Today, the body of Christ has the same common bond through the blood of Jesus on the doorposts of our heart, regardless of our denominational identity.

 

To the faithful church in Philadelphia God said in Revelation 3:8, “I have set before you an OPEN DOOR, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” It seems the annual Christ Our Passover banquet has proven to be an open door for unity in the body of Christ. The spirit of unity without compromise increases each year. God's people want to see the denominational walls come down and brothers and sisters demonstrating love and acceptance of each other through corporate worship and a fellowship meal.

 

2 Chronicles 30:12 says, “In Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them UNITY OF MIND to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.”  This unity of mind only comes when we have mutual love one to another. Our sincere prayer is that the Christ Our Passover unity banquet will serve as the door to help contain the love that is being developed here in His church at Huntsville.