Good morning, brothers and sisters, may the grace and peace of our Lord be with you!<\/p>\n
In the book of Amos, there is a famous verse that speaks about two walking together.\u00a0 Here is the verse in its entire context:<\/p>\n
Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?\u00a0 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? If a\u00a0trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? Surely the Lord\u00a0God\u00a0does nothing, unless\u00a0He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. Here are nine rhetorical questions in a row, using repetition and metaphors to emphasize that the Lord and His servants are of one heart!\u00a0 What the Lord God does, He will reveal to His servants (Amos 3:7); when the servants prophesy, it is because the Lord God has spoken (Amos 3:8).\u00a0 In order to walk together with the Lord, one must first be united with the Lord.\u00a0 Once we apply this principle to\u00a0koinonia<\/em>, everything becomes clear\u2014the fellowship of born-again believers is one body, and this body walks together in unity with the Lord.\u00a0 This is a cause and effect\u2014because we are united with the Lord, therefore it is possible to walk together with Him.<\/p>\n This is the reason why the Bible repeatedly emphasizes purity.\u00a0 Purity is what allows us to have the life of God, to have the mind of God, to have the heart of God, and to walk together with God.\u00a0 The opposite of purity is impurity, and if a church is impure, and the people are not of like minds, how can the church walk together in unity with the Lord?\u00a0 The Old Testament uses the word \u201choly\u201d to signify purity.\u00a0 To serve as a reminder of purity in daily living, God also commanded that certain plants, animals, and objects should not be mixed or used together.<\/p>\n Then the\u00a0Lord\u00a0spoke to Moses, saying:\u00a0 \u201cSpeak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, \u2018You shall be holy, for I the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God am holy.\u201d (Lev 19:1-2)<\/em><\/p>\n You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or\u00a0all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled. In the same way, the New Testament also reiterates the importance of holiness and purity:<\/p>\n You also, as living stones,\u00a0are being built up as a\u00a0spiritual house for a\u00a0holy\u00a0priesthood<\/u>, to\u00a0offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 But you are\u00a0a chosen race, a\u00a0royal\u00a0priesthood, a\u00a0holy nation<\/u>,\u00a0a people for\u00a0God\u2019s\u00a0own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you\u00a0out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Pet 2:5,9)<\/em><\/p>\n Do not be\u00a0bound together with\u00a0unbelievers; for what\u00a0partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship (koinonia) has light with darkness?\u00a0Or what\u00a0harmony has Christ with\u00a0Belial (another name for Satan), or\u00a0what has a\u00a0believer in common with an\u00a0unbeliever?\u00a0(2 Cor 6:14-15)<\/em><\/p>\n Speaking of the church, please note that a member and a congregation are different.\u00a0 \u201cThe church\u201d refers to its members, not to the congregation.\u00a0 Members of the church must meet the requirements of the Bible and so members could be limited in number.\u00a0 The congregation can be as large as possible.\u00a0 \u00a0The congregation represents a door opening out to the world, because all are welcome to come in and hear the gospel, and everyone is invited to come in and seek Jesus.\u00a0 Church members, on the other hand, are members of the body of Christ, and is a group of people connected to Christ and to each other.\u00a0 A church that is pure may not seem like it from the outside, because there are many people coming and going, and everyone is welcome to attend.\u00a0 However, the internal core of the church must be made up of a group of faithful Christ-followers.<\/p>\n Allow me to clarify something:\u00a0 \u201cPurity\u201d is not limited to a privileged few, but is wide-reaching to many. In our daily lives, the best things that are most widely sought after are items that are pure and unpolluted.\u00a0 For example, purified water, purified air, clean fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 Pure gold, pure diamonds, pure wool\u2026the purer an object is, the higher its value.\u00a0 Most people don\u2019t want to drink unclean water, breathe polluted air, or eat vegetables that have pesticides in them.\u00a0 They do so only because they do not have access to the pure options, or because the price for obtaining the pure versions is too high.<\/p>\n God is the purest of the pure, yet He accepted the sinners of the world.\u00a0 His own purity was not polluted, and those who received Him could do so \u201cwithout money and without cost\u201d (Is 55:1, refer to Is 55:1-7).\u00a0 Jesus Christ is the purest of the pure, yet He walked on this sinful earth.\u00a0 His own purity was not defiled, and He freely gave salvation to us.\u00a0 Brothers and sisters, not only is God in His three persons the purest of the pure, but His purity was able to reach the widest audience.\u00a0 And to think that it actually costs us nothing to receive this purity:\u00a0 Freely you have received, freely give!\u00a0 The early church was pure, but they did not close the door and just hang out among themselves.\u00a0 Rather, they became powerful witnesses for the Lord, and gained the favor of the people.\u00a0 As a result,<\/p>\n The word of God kept on spreading; and\u00a0the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to\u00a0the faith. (Acts 6:7)<\/em><\/p>\n Priests were originally just religious people; they believed in the Jewish religion.\u00a0 When the word of God spread, these religious people became Christ-believers.\u00a0 Why must we distinguish between Christ-believers and religious people?\u00a0 Because if we don\u2019t, then religious people will never be saved, and the church will never be pure.\u00a0 Such a church cannot walk together in unity with God.\u00a0\u00a0Koinonia\u00a0<\/em>is \u201cbeing of the same mind, united in spirit, intent on one purpose\u201d, and this can be achieved only when everyone is \u201cin Christ\u201d:<\/p>\n Therefore if there is any encouragement\u00a0in Christ<\/u>, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any\u00a0fellowship of the Spirit, if any\u00a0affection and compassion,\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>make my joy complete\u00a0by\u00a0being of the same mind<\/u>, maintaining the same love,\u00a0united in spirit, intent on one purpose<\/u>. (Php 2:1-2)<\/em><\/p>\n Praise the Lord, His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Is 55:9).\u00a0 Blessed is the church who walks with the Lord!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning, brothers and sisters, may the grace and peace of our Lord be with you! Walking Together in Unity In the book of Amos, there is a famous verse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,57,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotionals","category-koinonia","category-pastor-warren-wang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1376"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1960,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1376\/revisions\/1960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWill a young lion\u00a0cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?\u00a0 Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth, where there is no\u00a0trap for it?\u00a0 Will a snare spring up from the earth, if it has caught nothing at all?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
\nIf there is calamity in a city, will not the\u00a0Lord\u00a0have done\u00a0it?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nA lion has roared!\u00a0 Who will not fear?
\nThe Lord\u00a0God\u00a0has spoken!\u00a0 Who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:3-8)<\/em><\/p>\nThe Bible emphasizes purity<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n<\/em>You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
\n<\/em>You shall not wear a material mixed of wool and linen together. (Dt 22:9-11)<\/em><\/p>\nPurity is not limited, but wide-reaching<\/strong><\/h3>\n