One Accord

Acts 1:14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

This quality is attributed to the Church even before the greatest gift, the Holy Spirit is given. It was days after Jesus had ascended and now all of them had a single intention which was Christ first achievement after His resurrection. The election of Mathias could have been done when Jesus was present or after the Holy Spirit was given to them, but it was done in this tiny ten day gap using lots. We do not see lots anywhere else in the Bible after this incident because the Holy Spirit had driven people everywhere. This was the human decision which God had approved because they had made this decision in one accord.

In Philippians 2:1,2, we read that even if we have received a small amount of mercy, grace or love from God, we are expected to show that in amounts of unity to God. We can see similar utterances from Christ as “forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”. The relationship and fellowship with other is where we display our gratitude towards Christ. Paul continues in the verses asking us to consider others more important than ourselves. Selfish ambitions and conceit will come to us but we should ensure that we do not let those feelings act anything in our lives.

The purpose of the fellowship or the church is given in verse 11, where every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord and the name Jesus should be exalted above all other names. This eternal purpose should be fulfilled in every church or otherwise, that church loses its identity.  To have the Lord’s Name lifted up, the Church should emphasize the fellowship. In Ephesians 3:9-11, we read the mystery of Fellowship which makes the wisdom of God known among all the powers of heaven through the Church. The mystery is that the gentiles are fellow partakers of the promise in Christ along with the Jews.  The Church has this purpose to be served and so, every person in the Church should have one mindedness for this purpose. Any deviation from this purpose will cause the Church to lose its motive and become a place of entertainment.

The early church’s display can be seen in Acts 2:42 where they were devoted to fellowship as much as doctrine. Just because we know something better than another person does not make us superior in any way in the church. A person who is devoted to fellowship gets higher responsibilities and that’s why Jesus is very much impressed with people who are humble. How great is the wisdom of God that He first humbled Himself so that everybody would do the same and thus lifting high His own name because people become victorious in His Name.

As per 1 Cor 1:10, the completeness of a church is seen in unity. For this not only the whole Church would have one mind but also one judgement. There is no point in a person being part of a church without agreeing with others. As per 1 Cor 12:4 onwards, God gives different gifts to each person so that the Church will collaborate together and be built. But when all of us expect the same gift from God, the presence of these gifts is ignored. Verse 10 speaks about the gift of discerning of spirits which is very much required in this age as many people come and deceive us as per 1 John 4:1. If one person recommends not going behind particular preachers, we should atleast consider if what they say is right or wrong. If discernment is not present, the unity of Church will break as many false doctrines will enter the Church.

One mindedness has another problem where a single person individually cannot have a single mind. When we go out to the world, the mind changes to worldly priorities and makes us wander. For this reason, we can read that including family of Jesus, every disciple had to stay in one place and wait till the greater gift arrived. But we visit plenty of places and have various kinds of fellowships which confuse us and make us lose our fellowship with God. The method given to us that is not to go behind any preacher or pastor, but to wait together as a Church in unity. In John 17:20-23, we read Jesus’s expectation that we should be one as God the Father and Jesus the Son are one.

Amen.