Page 126 - Ephesians

Some go out on busy street corners for years at a time, wearing
strange clothing. You might not want to identify with them. Then
you aren’t living up to your blessed responsibility. It’s not up to
you to change them. God is changing us, and we’re coming to
the unity of the faith. But until then, we preserve the unity of the
Spirit, and recognize our basic oneness with every Christian.

Let me ask this question. Do you handle matters of your faith in
such a way, that it promotes the unity of the Spirit? Think about
that for a moment. Or does your handling of the unity of the faith
cause divisions and splits? Just glance at verse 4 & 5. I’m going
to give an example here. “One baptism”. My head was
swimming when I was studying the commentators. God says
there’s one baptism, but when I read the commentators I came up
with twenty baptisms. They can’t agree on one baptism. Some
people say it’s water baptism, some say it’s the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. You realize these days that baptism, especially water
baptism, is dynamite in the church of God. Nobody seems to
agree on baptism. There are big splits all over the place.

I’m not asking you what you believe about water baptism, or about
the baptism of the Holy Spirit because that’s not my concern. My
concern is this. Do you hold what you believe about baptism, in
such a way, that it promotes unity? Or does your belief cause
splits and hurt the people of God? Your blessed responsibility is
to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is a
way to handle all those matters of faith in a common denominator
way, stressing the great principles of God, so that it promotes
unity.

When I think of baptism, what’s the difference if it’s the Holy Spirit
baptism, or water baptism? One is the symbol for the other. One
is the expression of the inward, and one the outward. “You don’t
believe in pouring. I believe in pouring; let’s divide.” “I believe in
sprinkling.” “Sprinkling? That’s not in the Bible. I believe in
immersion, and going under all the way.” And they are dividing
and they are splitting. Churches are splitting over such things as
that. “Is your view divisive, or does it help unite the people of
God?” Concerning matters of faith, we haven’t arrived. We’re on