United in Christ: The Power of Spiritual Fellowship

Lets Pray

Last week we looked at how the local body.....church....ekklesia....assembly...church was established by Jesu sThe Church

We looked at how God appointed positions within the church

We looked at how God’s Word....the Bible speaks figuratively and literally and sometimes both at the same time

This week is week 2 of our Why Church? sermon series

Today we look at Unity

We are called out to assemble....be the local church and before we can accomplish God’s work...which we will look at next week....we must be unified.

As is our custom....we turn to God’s Word for direction and instruction

Why Church....Unity

I believe we must start our discussion by understanding

We Are The Church

______________________________

Ephesians 2:18-22

______________________________

Ephesians 2:18–22 ESV

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Unity

Do you see it?

We....Christians have access to the Father through the Holy Spirit!!!!

That makes us fellow citizens.

I want to make sure you understand something.....until salvation you are a sinner

sinners have no direct access to the Father

sinners are cut off from God until the are led to repentance by the Holy Spirit that leads to salvation

So many want to say we are all God’s children and that is false....we are all created by God....formed in our mother’s womb by God but are not a child of God until we find repentance that leads to salvation through the Holy Spirit

Once we are saved we are no longer bound by physical

We are no longer citizens of this world and the flesh

but are now Spiritual citizens of heaven and fellow citizens with all those who have been saved in the past....are saved now or will be saved before Christ returns

one body the Church

Isn’t that cool?????

You and I...Christians....have direct access to God the Father and are fellow citizens of heaven for eternity!!!!

Salvation is the beginning and is where we are united with all believers through Christ Jesus

The next aspect of unity I want to look at is

Fellowship

______________________________

Church....God takes fellowship very seriously

Our future is in fact fellowship

Revelation 21:1-4

______________________________

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

What a beautiful picture of our future

This should be exciting to us that one day we will be there

This should be comforting to us that all of our loved ones who died in Christ are now with Christ and all believers who have died in Christ in heaven

This should encourage us to spread the Gospel and make sure our kids and grandkids know Jesus so they can also join us in this future

I can’t imagine the worship that will be happening all day every day in heaven

I can’t imagine being with God in person

God dwelling with us

His people and our God as He intended it to be at creation

He will wipe away our tears

He has defeated death so there is no more death

there is no mourning

there is no pain

Come Lord Jesus come!!!!!!!!

All together

All in unity

All in peace

that day is coming soon.......but regardless of how long it takes to come it is coming

God gave us a wonderful example....actually He gave us many examples of fellowship from our past in His Word but I want to go to

Acts 2:42-47

______________________________

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

There is a lot to think about and wrestle with.....many read this passage and think they should sell everything and move together with the church in a compound

I don’t think that is what is meant by this scripture.....i think that would be pretty cool but where would opportunity to evangelize be if we were so isolated?

Just something to think on.....

This is however a beautiful example of living sold out for Jesus!!!!

So sold out that stuff doesnt matter to you at all

Since stuff is no longer important to you then you can focus on Jesus, spreading the Gospel, discipleship and people

As I said before this was not done in isolation....how do we know

“the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved”

They had influence on the outside world for sure how else would those being saved be saved?????

The lost saw the fellowship and were drawn to Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does our fellowship draw people to Christ?????? That is a question we must wrestle with every day

Fellowship is so powerful!

Why

Because it is dependent on Jesus!!!!!

Without Jesus I don’t believe people can have true fellowship

Why

Because we are human

we are sinful by nature

we are selfish

we are self-focused and self-centered

because of that at some point it becomes all about us and fellowship is destroyed

What I really want us to see is their unity and mindset in how to approach life

Devoted to Biblical teaching

Devoted to fellowship

Devoted to breaking bread together

Devoted to God and each other

not just on Sunday but every day

Is that a picture of us

CCC

are we

Devoted to Biblical teaching

Devoted to fellowship

Devoted to breaking bread together

Devoted to God and each other

If we only see or talk to each other on Sundays the answer is absolutely not

I challenge you to pray about how God wants you to be devoted!!!!!

God gives us His characteristics that make being unified possible

______________________________

Ephesians 4:1-8

______________________________

Ephesians 4:1–8 ESV

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. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

You and I have been called to unity

You and I have been called to fellowship

God equips us then to walk in that calling by telling us how to have unity....how to walk in our calling

I do not believe these are optional

I do not believe these are suggestions

I believe these are expectations and since they are God’s expectations to not do them is evil and sin

We, the western church, our of our comfort have quit calling sin sin

anything that goes against God’s truth is sin and evil

i dont care what pet name you have for it

I dont care how much you justify it

I dont care who taught it to you

I dont care sin is sin is sin.....if you are not doing what God tells you or doing what God tells you not to do you are sinning and that act is evil.....even if it is perfectly acceptable in society

evil is anything that goes against God’s truth and therefore is sin

it is time we stand on God’s Word and call sin what it is....evil

God gives us the exact characteristics that we must have to be unified as His children

Humility

______________________________

the Greek word translated humility here means humiliation of mind, modesty, humbleness of mind, humility

As I was looking at this in strongs concordance on line....which I showed you how to use last week.....I wanted to share what it has as the outline of Biblical usage for this Greek word translated humility

I having a humble opinion of one’s self

II a deep sense of one’s moral littleness

III modesty, humility, lowliness of mind

Truly realizing who you are without Christ

Today satan and man’s pride have turned humility into something to brag about.....opposite of humble

Jesus says you and are are worthless without Him

John 15:5

______________________________

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from Jesus you and I can do nothing

worthless

useless

can do nothing!!!!!

That is truth....God’s Truth......without Jesus we are evil and sinful and because of our sin deserve to be condemned to hell for eternity to be tormented and worse separated from God for eternity

Jesus says the only proper response to Him is to die to yourself

to die to your flesh

If you are saved you......your flesh....your desires...your wants....they no longer matter

they are all dead with the old you

if you brag about being humble you arent humble and are using the world’s definition to define humble

You don’t like the worship music well get over it....it isnt about you it is about God

you dont like the preaching get over it is not about you but about God

Someone is sitting where you normally sit....get over it and find somewhere else to sit or better yet introduce yourself to them and befriend them

Do you see it....humility must trump you

this really describes the deep sense of one’s moral littleness

you know you are terrible

you know your flesh is evil

you know you can’t do it so you are fully and completely dependent upon God

That breeds unity.....how could you not be unified if the other people come first because you love them as God loves you

When you are humble....God’s empowered humble the rest comes natrually

Gentleness

______________________________

comes from a Greek word meaning mildness, humility, meekness

dont confuse gentleness and meekness as weakness

the world says if you are gentle and meek you must be week

No it is a choice

Jesus will return as a warrior yet He chose to come as a lamb....gentle and meek

Gentleness is a choice

God ahs been revealing to me recently that as I grew up and faced many different hardships and failures in my life

I didnt turn to God but I turned to me and decided it was better to feel nothing than to feel the pain of divorces and rejection and all the things that come with that

My childhood was good

my parents got divorced when I was young and that is when I really began to shut off my feelings because again it was easier

we moved here to Nevada when I was in third grade and I began to attend Nevada in 4th grade

Being the new kid anywhere is hard but in a small town it is hell

you are an outsider

you werent from there so your worth was not very much

I never really felt accepted

Looking back I refused to be accepted because I shut off my feelings so I drove people away

It was easier to drive people away and then complain about them not accepting me than taking a chance on being hurt again by rejection and abandonment

I realized I tend to keep people at arms length instead of truly loving them and giving myself for them as Jesus did for me

I am truly sorry for all these years I havent loved as Jesus loves and I ask your forgiveness

You see without Jesus and His love filling us we cant have the characteristics of unity and have a false unity at best

Patience....Longsuffering

______________________________

I will always love how the KJV translates the greek word for patience

Longsuffering

that is exactly what patience is

it is a choice

a choice to suffer long because of love

God through Paul gives us an example of how we are to treat each other in unity

patient

longsuffering

what does that look like?

bearing with one another in love

Now we do not use the worlds definition of love which condones all things...which says you cant love without complete acceptance of all types of sin

In fact if you stand on God’s truth the world will scream you are hateful

racist

homophobic

the list goes on and on and on

God’s love is based solely on His Truth

Hebrews 3:13

______________________________

Hebrews 3:13 ESV

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Unity

Fellowship

Love

Speaking Truth to help each other avoid decietfulness of sin BUT not giving up on someone either

patient

choosing to suffer long

choosing to bear with one another in love and Truth

you may have to place boundaries in a relationship....that is okay but we still bear with them

we still pray for them

we still give them the truth when prompted by the Holy Spirit

we for sure forgive them and rejoice with them when they come home to Jesus!!!!!

We must be

Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit

______________________________

Is that you?

Eager to be humble

Eager to be gentle

Eager to suffer long

Eager to be patient

Eager to bear with someone in love

Most people......including many Christians....maybe even some of you in this room or with us online are eager to criticize and put down

eager to feel better about themselves by celebrating someone else’s shortcomings and failures

eager to bury someone and run them down

I challenge you to do a social media audit

what does your social media posts

what does the people and things you follow

what does the things you repost say about you and your eagerness

are you truly eager to maintain unity of the Spirit or destroy it

those are the only two options....you are either building up or tearing down

That brings me to the final aspect of unity this morning

What Destroys Unity

______________________________

I Corinthians 3:1-9

______________________________

1 Corinthians 3:1–9 ESV

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 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? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Jealousy and strife

Putting people before God

as humans we are naturally drawn to people we feel have helped us

we want to honor them

we hold them in a special place

God here destroys that logic and practice

people are people

people are servants and fellow workers who just did what God told them and empowered them to do

God and God alone gets the glory

it is dangerous and sinful to look to people and give people the glory that only God deserves

Romans 16:17-20

______________________________

Romans 16:17–20 ESV

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Listen as God grows us

As we invite

as we proclaim the Gospel

as we live a truly repentantive lifestyle

as we live in true unity with one another

that all points people to Christ and people will come and be saved and join us through Christ Jesus

As that happens we must understand the enemy will attack

satan will attack and the first place he will attack is unity

we must be watchful

we must be protective of the naive

the babes in Christ because they are easily deceived

you and I cannot stand for those who cause divisions within the church

you and i cannot stand for those who create obstalces concerning the doctrine....the Gospel

The first place we must look however is inside of us

are we eager to unify or eager to divide and destroy

what does our fruit say

where do you stand

is repentance required this morning?

only you and God know the answer to that question this morning

i pray you respond accordingly

Invitation