As we have already covered, God’s unity is a unity of diversity, not a unity by conformity. That is so important to understand. This is a reason why there is so much about the antichrist in the book of Revelation, which is stated in Revelation 1:1 to be “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Discernment to distinguish between that which is of Christ and that which is from the antichrist is crucial. Distinguishing God’s unity from the devil’s is crucial to this.
For those who live in this world that is under the power of the evil one, we must comprehend the nature that is contrary to Christ which has dominated the earth since the fall. We’re called to be freedom fighters to help set this world free from this basic evil. Basic to the freedom we have in Christ is the freedom to be ourselves, who He created us to be. The devil’s attack on this freedom is the pressure to conform.
To a large degree, this foul spirit that so dominates this world now is manifested by a “control spirit” that seeks to bring everything and everyone into conformity to its will. This is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord, as we are told, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Christ came to set us free.
Presently, this evil “control spirit” is in control of many congregations that claim to be the church of Jesus Christ. This is often evidenced by a resistance to change. So, if the people who tend to get upset if things get changed in a church gain control of that church, it will likely be the last place you will find God. Perhaps this is a reason why He is so hard to find in the church. One of the most distressing verses in the Bible is Revelation 3:20, where Jesus is standing outside of the church to see if any will open to Him. Could that be our church?
The church is supposed to be the Lord’s house, not our house. So, a main goal of any seeking to build His house should be to get His design and follow it. What would the church look like if it was built with the sole purpose of being the place the Lord wanted to visit, instead of being built to attract people? It would likely attract many more people than we are attracting now. A main reason for this is how starved people are for liberty, the liberty that is found with the Spirit of the Lord. This freedom will be a basic characteristic of the house that He builds and will dwell in.
We may protest that our church enjoys many of the blessings of the Lord, but the Lord will bless many things He will not inhabit. Only the least converted, or the least mature in Christ, will be satisfied with just the blessings. Of course, we appreciate the blessings, but the greatest blessing in all of creation—and in all of eternity—will be when the Lord is satisfied with His dwelling place and comes to dwell among us.
Going back to the last paragraph, how are some people less converted? When the Lord called someone to be His disciple, the commitment was total. Those who sought to save their lives would lose them. Isn’t that what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, who wanted to be numbered with those who were giving all but “held back part of the price”? How many Christians today are doing the same—holding back part of the price? And how does total commitment, which is total surrender, fit with, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty?”
In Christ, our commitment is to be “dead to this world,” to take up our crosses, and to “die daily,” no longer living for ourselves but for Him. How is that liberty? There is no one freer than those who have died to this world. Do the dead fear rejection, failure, or any other yoke of bondage this present world seeks to place on us? The dead do not fear losing anything, even their lives, which they have already given to Christ. Their lives are no longer their own. This is the ultimate freedom we will find in this present world.
All of our anxieties come from wrongly hanging on to what we said we were giving to the Lord. As we’re told in Philippians 4:6-7, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” By this, we can know that anything we are still anxious about is something we have not yet fully surrendered to God, that we are “holding back part of the price.” As this verse states, when we fully surrender, we will have His peace.
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