Unity in Yeshua

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenism#Ancient_apostolic_churches

Efforts to develop unity among believers world wide must struggle with  perceived needs to preserve traditional institutions and existing power structures.  Thus things get bogged down in endless political intrigues, and preservation of self interest.  Cherished institutions prevent a return to the unity of believers that Jesus prayed for in the garden shortly before His death. 

In fact, unity among believers is a difficult proposition, as Paul discovered in his interaction with believers in Corinth.  

Divisions in the Church

1 Cor 3 But I, brothers,[a] could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled[b] master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you[c] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Yes, believers are the temple of God, living stones built up into a dwelling for God's presence in the Spirit.  One temple. And we are to build up that edifice on the foundation of Jesus the Christ.

From the beginning there were divisions among the followers of Jesus.  There was a big discussion about whether people of other nations, not Jews, should be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses when they became believers in Jesus.  Finally there was a meeting of the Apostles and Elders, at Jerusalem, and a letter was sent out to the churches with instructions regarding keeping the Law. 

Maybe we need to go back to the beginning.  After 70 AD there were no elders and Apostles at Jerusalem.  The gospel went into all the world, expedited by the Roman legal structures and Roman roads, from England to India. 

Constantine attempted to develop some unity based upon the power of the Roman Empire, with councils of church leaders. But differences produced division, and finally the East and West separated. 

It was never intended that the power of world empire, human politics, should be the source of unity for God's people.  The Holy Roman Empire became a scourge against freedom of conscience.  Those persecuted by the political power centered in Rome are the torch of true faith down through the centuries. The history of the Anabaptist is of interest when we discuss unity. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptism

If we are to have a united community of believers, we must agree on fundamental teaching of the scriptures.  There is no unity in diversity.  A fundamental teaching of the Bible is that one who believes in Jesus as the Son of God must repent and be immersed in water because of the believer's faith.  Jesus commanded immersion for believers.  Infants can not believe and repent. 

We need to go back to Jerusalem and encourage Jews to have faith in Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah.  Believing Jews who have faith in Jesus are to be immersed in water, and be added to the Temple of God.   The Temple is not a new structure built of stone, but the House of God built upon the foundation of Yeshua the Messiah. 

This is the house God promised to build when He had the discussion with David about the temple at Jerusalem, speaking through Nathan the Prophet.  

2 Samuel 7  Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.[c] Your throne shall be established forever.’”  

Yeshua today is reigning from the throne of David, and He wants us to bring glory to Him by being united in our faith in Him.  On the day of Pentecost, following the resurrection of Jesus, the gospel went forth from Jerusalem into all the world, inviting believers to unite in God's House. Now we believers are returning to Jerusalem, back to the beginning, to be one in Jesus Christ. Join with us as we go back to the beginning. Together we will build up the House of God upon the foundation of Jesus the Christ. And we will find unity in Him, by the power of His Spirit in us.