Sermon Tone Analysis

Do you know what our national motto is?

You can find it on all of our currency.

Our national motto is “In God We Trust.”

But that hasn’t always been our motto.

As a matter of fact, it didn’t become our motto until 1956.

Do you know what it was before that?

Here’s a hint—it’s also on all of our currency, but it’s in Latin.

Our original national motto was “E Pluribus Unum.”

Do you know what it means?

It means “Out of many, one.”

In 1776, that motto was suggested to a committee that had been formed to develop our national seal.

So from America’s founding, we’ve been looking for unity.

Interestingly enough, E Pluribus Unum came from the cover of a popular tabloid magazine that compiled a bunch of articles from different sources.

Kind of like Drudge Report or Huffington Post does today.

But just saying the names of those two websites reminds us that we’re not as unified as our founding fathers hoped we’d be.

In our country today, we’re divided over politics.

We’re divided over race.

We’re divided over gender.

We’re divided over religion.

It seems as if we’re becoming more and more divided every day.

When we see battles over everything from Supreme Court appointments to budgets to Twitter wars, it makes us long for a little bit of unity.

But lack of unity isn’t just a problem in our country.

Lack of unity is a problem in our homes too.

Strife between couples.

Strife between parents and kids.

Strife between siblings.

It’s far easier to find a home in turmoil than it is to find a peaceful, harmonious home in our world today.

Many people—even some of you in here long for unity in your home.

With all the disunity and strife that’s in our world and in our homes, it’s no surprise that disunity has crept into the church.

But that’s really understating it, isn’t it?

Disunity hasn’t just crept into the church.

Disunity has invaded and taken root in many churches.

So much so that many churches are known more for their fighting than they are for their gospel witness.

I’m firmly convinced that many of our unchurched neighbors are actually de-churched rather than unchurched.

Unchurched means that they don’t go to church because they’re just not interested.

De-churched means they don’t go to church because they’ve had bad church experiences—like strife or fighting or just plain ugliness.

And some of the hardest people to reach are de-churched people.

Unfortunately, in our community, we’re seeing what happens to the second and third generation of de-churched people.

It’s an absolute tragedy.

I thank God that He has brought this church out from a period of disunity.

It was a tragic time and our hearts are broken from the fallout of those who are now de-churched because of it.

I thank God that He has brought us out of that and given us a wonderful time of unity and peace and growth.

But we need to know how that happens.

Unity doesn’t just appear out of thin air.

Unity is something we pray for and trust the Lord for.

But unity is also something God calls us to actively strive for.

Whether we’re talking unity in our church or unity in our homes—unity doesn’t just come naturally.

Unity takes effort.

Our passage this morning is kind of a summary passage.

Luke includes these brief summaries throughout Acts as transitions from one phase of the early church’s history to the next one.

Here we have the transition from the start of the church to the stability of the church.

The start of the church was marked with miracles and excitement and exponential growth.

In the coming weeks, we’ll see some difficulties start to show themselves.

Trials and tests are coming.

They always are, aren’t they?

They were coming for the church in Jerusalem.

And they’re coming here.

I wish that wasn’t the case.

I wish we could always continue in the smooth waters we’ve been sailing on for the past 2 ½ years.

But we know that’s not going to be the case.

God will allow tests and trials to come our way.

He’ll do it for our good and for His glory.

He’ll do it to strengthen us and keep us from becoming stagnant and complacent.

He’ll do it to keep us on mission.

And He’ll do it to strengthen our unity.

Remember this—bonds that have been forged in the fire are unbreakable.

So whether we’re talking in our church or in our homes—the bonds of our unity will be strengthened when they’re tested in the fires of trials and tests.

Trials and tests were coming to the church at Jerusalem.

Their unity was going to be tested.

So before it was, Luke summed up the reasons for their unity.

The first reason for their unity was that they embodied selflessness.

Look at verse 32:

ACTS 4:32

As we mentioned a few weeks ago when we looked at Luke’s last transition passage back in 2:43-47, this wasn’t some new experiment in socialism.

The first church wasn’t a commune.

And their actions weren’t the government’s actions.

These were the people of the church willingly and selflessly coming together to meet each other’s needs.

Listen to me—unity requires selflessness.

There’s no escaping it.

If we want to continue experiencing unity in here and even see our unity grow—each of us who have willingly covenanted together as members of this church must embody selflessness.

If you want to experience unity in your marriage—each of you must embody selflessness.

If you want to be of one heart and soul, you must embody selflessness.

So what does that look like?

It looks like Jesus.

In Philippians 2:2-8, the Apostle Paul says, “complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

What does it look like to embody selflessness?

It looks like service.

It looks like giving.

It looks like seeking other people’s preferences above your own.

It looks like counting other people’s needs and wants and desires are more significant than your own.

It’s seeing your money, and time, and gifts, and talents, and home, and privacy, and space, and preferences, and taste, and style as not your own.

It means seeing all of those things as gifts from God to be shared with each other for the edification and upbuilding of this body… and to be shared with others to bring new life to our neighbors and the nations.

Is there risk involved?

Of course there is—because we’re dealing with sinful people in a sin-scarred world.

Selflessness requires vulnerability.

When you empty yourself, you open yourself up to the possibility of being taken advantage of.