by Mark Hodges
Sixty years ago, a group of Baptists came together to form a fellowship of pastors known today as the Baptist Bible Fellowship. This Fellowship has been successful in training young people for the ministry, starting churches across America, and sending missionaries around the world. Godly men banded together to make a difference to a lost world that was lacking unity and integrity.
This is to be “The Year of Revival” for our Fellowship. One of the key elements to revival in our Fellowship is a walk in unity — unity in doctrinal purity, unity in personal godliness, and unity in our divine purpose. Unity, not uniformity or unanimity. By unity, I mean a oneness of heart on our doctrinal position and our direction (purpose) of this Fellowship.
Most are familiar with the book by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers. The heroes of that story had as their motto “All for one and one for all.” The Apostle Paul challenged the church at Ephesus to adopt a similar motto. Ephesians 4:1-7 says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”
The Lord provides us with seven great possessions for unity: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. Did you notice that everything is about Him? When our lives, our desires, our will, and our interests stop being about Him and start to focus on us, we are headed for trouble!
I believe Satan’s strategy to defeat the church is to divide and conquer. And if he can defeat our churches, he will defeat our Fellowship. Satan’s method is deception and destruction. He wants to deceive us so that he might divide us and, therefore, destroy us.
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds into its flight. The disaster was ultimately blamed on one inexpensive O-ring. Records reveal the space shuttle comprised one million components, yet it took just one to destroy the whole. In our Fellowship and in our churches, Satan is working to find that one whom he can destroy. That is why Paul tells us to exercise the right walk, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love…” and the right work, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Sixty years old now, this great Baptist movement can unite as comrades to be a tremendous testimony to the world. “All for one and one for all.”