The boundary of oneness can only be maintained with a price. Do not think that you can be one by having more love and forbearance. There is no such thing. The basis of oneness is the removal of sin. Anything that offends Christian oneness must be removed. Today Christians are not one not because there is a lack of love but because sin has not been removed. It is true that many people have considerable human patience and affection. But such things are useless in achieving oneness.
Today when God opens a person’s eyes to see the Body, the boundary of the church, and the oneness among Christians, and when this person disentangles himself from all human affection and tolerance, he will spontaneously take a step forward in his pursuit of the Lord. If you cannot go on, you can only blame your eyes for the lack of light and your heart for not being single enough. Do not blame those who have gone on. You must realize that only those who have a desire to depart from sins, unrighteousness, and dishonor, and who will give up the affection of the brothers and take a stand for the Body, will have eyes to see. Today it does not matter how much others embrace you with human affection or talk to you about oneness. You have to pay the price; you must depart from unrighteousness. You must see the Body of Christ. You must sacrifice human affection and love. Once you sacrifice them, spontaneously you will be one with others who take the same stand. The basis of oneness is the forsaking of unrighteousness, not the forbearance or endurance of unrighteousness.
Everywhere we find unrighteousnesses, offenses, and trespasses against the Body of Christ. If a person is faithful and obedient, you can join yourself to him. But if you want to maintain any other type of oneness, you must be prepared to be defiled with sins and unrighteousnesses. If you do that, you can, of course, be one with those who practice such things.
Many people condemn those who have separated themselves for not having enough forbearance, love, or patience. But no, the ones who have separated themselves are not lacking in patience; rather, those who have not separated themselves are lacking in obedience. Those who have left are not short of love, but those who remain are short of light before God. Those who leave are not hardened in heart, but those who remain are wavering before God.
If God’s children will all rise up to condemn sin, there will be oneness in our Christian fellowship. If they will all judge sin, there will be Christian oneness. If all of God’s people will submit to God, we will see the oneness of the Body. Spontaneously the flesh, the sects, and the divisions will disappear, and God’s children will become one.
The basis of oneness is not the forbearance of sin. The basis of oneness is the judgment of sin. There is no possibility of oneness between those who judge and those who do not. If you want to be one with all the children of God, you must take a stand together with all the children of God in judging sin. If they judge sin and you do not, how can you be one with them? Those who walk out are not wrong; those who remain are wrong. Those who judge sin are right; they are one with all those who judge sin throughout the world. We ask God to have mercy on those who will not judge sin, so that they also will rise up to judge sin. We ask God to show them that oneness and light are possible only outside of organizations, methods, associations, and sects. The Body of Christ is the unique sphere of the oneness among God’s children.