Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands.
— Revelation 1:11
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
— Philippians 2:14-15
We should realize through these verses that the Lord does not intend the individual lights to shine alone, but desires that the individual lights would together shine as one corporate light. When Paul says we are luminaries in the book of Philippians, he indicates that every believer individually is a light, and yet each luminary lives in oneness with all the other luminaries. In Philippians, Paul reveals how the many lights are able to be this one testimony.
First of all, Paul reveals that the believers are able to live out such oneness by having the same living. We must have one living. Second, Paul reveals that the believers are able to live out this oneness when each believer is pursuing Christ. In this way, each luminary pursues the same goal. Finally, all the believers, as the luminaries, are able to live out this oneness because they participate in the same one fellowship.
Adapted from Oneness and the One Accord, pages 55-56.
Tomorrow: “Pure, Focused, and Joyful (1)”