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Metropolitan K.P. Yohannan: Unity is Vital to Our Calling

Metropolitan K.P. Yohannan: Unity is Vital to Our Calling

Last updated on: December 4, 2020 at 8:58 pm by KP Yohannan

Metropolitan K.P. Yohannan: Unity is Vital to Our Calling 2020-12-04T20:58:47+00:00 KP Yohannan

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WILLS POINT, TX – KP Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World), whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, and Metropolitan of Believers Eastern Church, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide,: shares on the vital importance of unity to our calling as the Bride of Christ.

In these days we are living in, it seems that strife, anger and division are everywhere. While the whole world might agree we are in need of peace and unity, signs of disunity and dissension are everywhere. In the midst of all the chaos, governments turn to force and strict laws to keep people from destroying each other. On a smaller scale, millions of families and married couples have their own difficulties as they seek to find enough common ground to live in peace with each other.

All the while God, on the other hand, expects believers to “be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:2, KJV).

Unity is Vital to Our Calling

Why is unity so important to God? Paul Billheimer explains the reason in his book Destined for the Throne: Before the world began, the Father wanted to find a Bride for His Son, so He created us. God didn’t look for many brides, but only for one Bride. The purpose of the cross is to make millions of people from a million different backgrounds and cultures, though foreign to each other, into one individual—the Bride of Christ.

In the light of this high calling, it is so serious and of utmost importance that each of us is “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit . . .” (Ephesians 4:3).

“Endeavor” is another word for try, attempt, labor, strive, exert and struggle. Just by looking at these synonyms, it is obvious that it is a very deliberate, conscious act. We cannot simply state to one another, “Well, if you agree with what I say and if you eat the same food I like, I will sit at your table and we will have unity.”

In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us in the same text of Scripture exactly what we must do to be able to attain this unity: “I . . . beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1–3). What Paul is expressing is that we should do everything we can, even at the expense of our own feelings, to maintain this unity of the Spirit.

Yielding Ourselves as Christ Did for Us

We find a beautiful picture of what it takes to maintain this kind of unity in Jesus’ last Passover with His disciples. When He took the bread, He said to them: “ . . . this is My body which is broken for you” (1 Corinthians 11:24). If we look closely at a piece of bread, we will find that it is made up of thousands of kernels of grain; however, none of these individual kernels was left whole. They were all ground up into powder and mixed together before a loaf of bread could be formed and baked.

The bread Jesus gave to His disciples was not only a picture of His body being broken on our behalf on the cross of Calvary, but it was equally a picture of what it took for Jesus to become the Bread of Life. He was crushed and powdered as He laid down His own will and learned obedience through the things He suffered.

What about us, the Church? The Bride of Christ is also the Body of Christ. If we are His Body, we must also become bread that God can break to feed the multitudes of our generation. We can only become a loaf of bread to feed the hungry if the oneness of the Spirit is among us. And oneness only comes by yielding ourselves to be ground, powdered and mixed together. Will you yield yourself to Him in your own circumstances?

This week, consider how you can do your part to maintain unity and honor others in the relationships God has given you. Ask the Lord for grace to live in unity even when it is difficult.

About KP Yohannan

KP Yohannan, founder and director GFA World (Gospel for Asia) and Metropolitan of Believers Eastern Church, has written more than 250 books, including Revolution in World Missions, an international bestseller with more than 4 million copies in print. He and his wife, Gisela, have two grown children, Daniel and Sarah, who both serve the Lord with their families.

About Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia is a Christian-based charity serving the “least of these” in Asia since its beginning in 1979, often in places where no one else is serving. Gospel for Asia workers serve on the field as the hands and feet of Christ by ministering to people’s needs so they can understand the love of God for them for the first time. Gospel for Asia helps provide funds for dozens of projects, such as caring for poor children, slum dwellers and widows and orphans; providing clean water by funding wells; supporting medical missions; and meeting the needs of those in leprosy colonies.

Find out more about Gospel for Asia in the video “A Year in Review with K.P. Yohannan.”

Read what George Verwer, Francis Chan, Dr. David Mains and others have to say about GFA World.

Keep encouraged and get your regular dose of challenge through other articles on Patheos by KP Yohannan Metropolitan, or on his blog at kpyohannan.org.

You can learn more about K.P. Yohannan Metropolitan by clicking here.

Previous Post

November 30, 2020

The World Is In Turmoil, But Do ‘One Thing’ for God, Says K.P. Yohannan

Next Post

December 9, 2020 “Neither Do I Condemn You” – Thoughts from Metropolitan K.P. Yohannan

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