Why Church? To Unify
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John 17:11, 21-22
John 17:11, 21-22
Good morning, church!
We are in our final sermon in our series why church?
When we first started this series we talked about 3 goals and prayers for this series. I hope and pray that these have been accomplished and have become true.
To unify us through a sense of purpose
To motivate us to action through a sense of responsibility
To see the full potential of Christ’s intent for the the church
This has been my prayer for us throughout this series. I desire us to be unified and heading in the same direction and bought into the mission and vision the Lord has given us.
I pray that you feel a sense of responsibility as a member of the body of Christ to ensure that the body is fully functional and living up to the potential that Christ intends for us.
We are wrapping up the final portion of this series looking at 4 things in Scripture that the church is supposed to be or do when we gather.
We have talked about the first three,
to glorify
to edify
to sanctify
This week we are going to talk about the 4th one
To Unify
You don’t have to look far to find that unity is a MAJOR theme throughout the NT. This is one of those biblical topics that one of the hardest parts what figuring out which passage to study for the message today.
A simply word search will show you.
I wrote down 15 verses within a few minute.
Unity is absolutely vital to health and mission of the Church.
Absolutely!
My prayer this morning is that we look at these passages, each of us as individuals, not thinking about the people around us but looking within ourselves and ask “Do I cause unity or division in the church?”
Pray
Pray for Psalm 139:22-23
Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV)
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Pray that we search our own heart not the heart of others.
that we take the log out of our own eye before pointing to the speck in others.
Pray about the importance of being a peacemaker. not keepers but ones who pursue making peace.
Pray about the health of the body being based off the unity within the church.
Turn with me to John 17 again.
Here we have the head of the body, Jesus the Christ, praying for you and me, members of His body.
And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
pay attention to the word used here.
That they may be one! That is certainly a close level of unity!
Not walking side by side. Not able to hang out together once a week.
But ONE, and to prove the depth of the oneness He desires for us is the depth of oneness between God, the Father and God, the Son.
So, the example and possibility of our unity is the unity between Jesus and the Father!
And that’s possible?
Unless Jesus can pray impossible prayers, it must be possible.
Unfortunity, we look at the American church and we see the division and anger and hatred within the church and see that we have far missed the mark of Jesus’ prayer.
If Jesus’ prayer for us is unity, then should come as no surprise that one of the enemies greatest tactics is division.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The enemy desires to us to walk in ways that cause division with others. He also uses our fleshly desires. he tries to get us to pursue the passions of our flesh and when we do that, division and strife follows us.
Turn with me to galatians 5
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Look at the fruit of a person that is walking in the flesh. look at what is produced in their lives.
Enmity, hostility or loves to antagonize other, stirs up
Strife, dissension or makes up conflict
Jealousy, to earnestly desire another’s position or possessions
Fits of anger, short tempered or lashing out at others
Rivalries or constantly pitting people against each other
Division or causing discord or dissension
Envy, selfish ambition or desire
Look at this fruit!
Don’t think about someone else, think about yourself!
Do you cause these things in the church? Do you cause these in your family? Do you cause these in your workplace?
Earnestly ask the Spirit to show you if these describe you!
Wouldn’t you want to know if it is true about you!?
Listen for a second, one of the biggest threats to the American church is not political unrest or government over-reach or suppression of freedoms. The biggest threat to the American Church is members of the body of Christ walking in the flesh opposed to the Spirit of God! The biggest hindrance to the American church is currently not from the outside but from within!
We have all seen it! We are watching it happen in real time!
The third largest denomination in American is currently splitting in half! The United Methodist.
The Southern Baptist, the second largest, is honestly not that far from following the same path in the coming years!
We have seen it more close to home as well!
Churches splitting
Churches hindered by stagnation by fear of change
Churches stuck in tradition over the Word
Churches were a few dominate the rest
Churches dealing with so much within the church that they never reach those outside of the church!
So, much pain.
So, much division.
The church is supposed to be an example to the world that Jesus was sent from God and that He loves us.
Scripture says that our love for one another should be an example to the world that we are following Jesus.
Is that true of the church?
How can we make that true here? As far as we can control, here at Connection Church and Richland, how can we be the fulfillment of Jesus’s prayer for us?
How can we be one with each other as the Father is with the Son?
I have one simple answer for your church. One simple word to tell you how we can be unified with the divine Father and the divine Son.
And that is through the divine, Holy Spirit.
Apart from the Spirit of God, it is impossible.
Let me show you in Scripture.
Continue in Galatians 5:16-17
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Okay, so if you as a member of the body and want to walk opposed to enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, division and envy,
if you want to be opposed to those things invading our church then you must strive to walk with the Spirit and allow Him to produce the fruit of the Spirit within your life.
You can not produce these things yourself, remember what come out of you when you follow your desires...
Keep your mind on the Spirit, walk with Him daily, hourly, minutely.
keep in step with Him
Another verse that tells us that unity is through the Spirit is
turn with me
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is a bond of peace that the Holy Spirit can bring to the church.
It is possible that the divine Spirit and bring about a divine unity like the oneness of the Father and the Son!
with Him it IS POSSIBLE
But this verse is very interesting!
It says, eager to maintain!
So, this unity, this bond of peace must be eagerly maintained.
This unity of the Spirit must be maintenanced regularly.
This bond of peace brought by the Spirit, sometimes needs to be repaired or upgraded.
The word maintain in Greek means to guard, keep watch over, to protect.
Unity of the Spirit is a fight between the flesh and the Spirit within each of us!
Remember, in June I preached a message called What is a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church?
I said that its not a Spirit-filled service or Spirit led leaders, but a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led church is when the each member of the body of Christ was let by and walked in the Spirit, because YOU are the church! You are the body of Christ!
This is a group effort! If we want to be unified, if we want to fight division within our church, we must each pursue a life that is led by the Holy Spirit!
The verses prior to verse 3, tells us ways that we can help this out in our lives and interactions with each other and 4 out of 5 of them are fruit of the Spirit!
Verse 1 says, walk in a manner worthy of your calling. The second great commandment of Jesus is to love your neighbor as yourself. We must love each other with the love that is produced by the fruit of the Spirit. We must walk our lives killing sin and the desires of our flesh. We must walk in a manner worthy of our calling.
Verse 2 says with all humility. I’m going to tell you something that your not going to like.
There are times in life that, You might be wrong...
You might not know the right answer for every question...
Someone else might be right and have the right answer.
Or this, someone else might be gifted to do that and not you.
Verse 7 says that grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Verse 11 goes on to describe that some are called to be apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers.
Which means some of you are not...
Apart of humility in the church is trusting the gifts of the Spirit that are produced in others.
Humility to the Holy Spirit is vital to the unity of the body of Christ.
Verse 3 says gentleness, meaning to speak to build someone up as opposed to tearing them down. To speak to others as though you love them...
He says with patience. Waiting for the Holy Spirit to lead others on His timeline and not yours. Trusting the Spirit to work in others in HIS time and in His ways.
Bearing with one another with love, basically means to not expect perfection from someone. Its remembering that we are all humans and each of us are going to slip into the flesh from time to time. Each of us are going to make the wrong decisions. Bearing with one another is not setting a higher bar of expectation than we set for ourselves.
We want grace when we mess up but demand justice when others make mistakes.
These are mindsets that the Spirit of God desires to produce in us as we walk in Him.
But these all require maintenance from time to time.
Sometimes they need improvements.
Sometimes they need repair from damage.
My prayer is that we will all be eager to maintain this unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace that He can bring.
Our eagerness must surpass the uncomfortability of addressing division.
We must have the courage to pray that we would each be filled with the Holy Spirit and come together in love, humility, gentleness, patience and grace to maintain our unity in the divine Spirit of God.
The Spirit before, the Spirit during and the Spirit afterwards.
Our unity, inside the church, is supposed to be a sign to the world of the oneness with God the Father and Jesus.
Our unity is supposed to show the world that God really did send His Son Jesus into the world to die for our sins.
Our unity is supposed to show the world the love that God has for His Son, His Church and the lost and dying in the world.
We MUST be eager to maintain this unity of the Spirit so that the world will know God.
That our community will come to Christ.
So that when we pursue the mission of Connection Church of Connection people with Jesus, they see us coming from a unified, loving church family.
This is what we must fight for church.
We must be unified in walking in the Spirit, trusting in the giftings of others, and fighting for unity.
It is one of the reasons we gather. It is one of the reasons, Why we have Church.
Pray
After prayer, announce our Serve September plans.