The Test of Unity

Test of Unity

I. This is Only A Test

-Throughout the month of January, we’ve been in a series called “This is Only a Test.”

-Adam & Eve, Abraham & Jesus, Joseph, Moses

God permits tests to develop our character and establish our credibility.

-Today, we’re going to look at a new and final test of our series: The Test of Unity.

-Unity in 2020

-Unity isn’t uniformity

-Unity, simply put, is “the state of being joined as a whole.”

Illustration: Unity in marriage. Her: nature park, me: SMG and action movies. We “refuel” differently, but we are unified in the mission of our marriage.

-Can we, as individuals see the Kingdom come in spite of our differences?

-Matthew 16:18 of a church that “the gates of hell will not prevail against,” then the Church would have to value unity.

-So in its infancy, the early church took the test of unity in a significant event, which we’ll visit in a second.

PRAY.

II. The Early Church

Summary of early church leading up to this event:

Now, the early Church’s “launch services” were everything a pastor FASTS and PRAYS for (­CARD):

· The Jewish attendees of this gathering were “cut to the heart” (2:36-38).

· 3,000 people were baptized & saved (2:41)

· Meeting in the temple – irritating Sanhedrin (4:1-2)

· Acts 4:4 says Peter was preaching and 5,000 men believed (4:4)

· “Multiplied greatly”-There was supernatural multiplication of souls, not merely addition. This. Was. Revival. (6:7)

-This Church was experiencing massive growth, and growing churches are targets for attack:

· From the outside (religious leaders)

-Bent on tradition

-Perceiving this new “Jesus movement” as a threat & heresy.

-Persecution

· From the inside (somebody started complaining)

-Differing opinions

The honeymoon was over. Let’s read what all the fuss was about.

III. Acts 6:1

Acts 6:1 But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food.

Summary of the problem

· Greek word for complaint is murmuring.

· Church was only 6 months old & the complaint was serious and legitimate.

· Two kinds of Jews (Hellenistic Jews and Hebrew Jews)

· Hebrew Jews were descendants of people who left Babylon and rebuilt the wall, temple etc.

· Hellenistic Jews lived outside of Judea and embraced the Greek culture. Hebrew Jews regarded Hellenistic Jews as “sell-outs.”

· Both groups, however, were Messianic “Christian” Jews.

· So Hellenistic Jews were considered “second class”

· Church had to pass this test

—>Which brings me to the first point…

IV. Unity is possible even in the midst of diversity.

-The Body of Christ can thrive in the midst of diversity.

Diversity:

· It can thrive where there are Racial (other countries as well) differences.

Illustration: CFNI worship service

· Generational differences.

· 21 Days

· Jms. 2:1-3, James talks of both rich and poor believers, and how important it is to not show partiality to one economic group over the other.

· Would you believe that there are actually Christians who like cats? :-P And yet we can still walk in unity in spite of those differences.

· Actual disagreements that church members have fought over:

Illustration:

· Argument over the appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard

· A fight over which picture of Jesus to put in the foyer

· A disagreement over using the term “pot blessing” instead of “potluck”

· A fight over whether or not to sing “Happy Birthday” each week

· Two different churches reported fights over the type of coffee. In one of the churches, they moved from Folgers to a stronger Starbucks brand. In the other church, they simply moved to a stronger blend. Members left the church in the latter example.

· An argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs at the church meal

· A petition to have all church staff clean shaven.

Punchline—>: As humorous and sad as these are, they do expose dissension that arises when we lose sight of the mission.

· Differences of opinion: Romans 14, I Corinthians 8 --debates arose about eating certain foods and following certain Jewish dietary restrictions.

Rom. 14:20

“Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the person who eats and causes offense.”

· Eating the meat doesn’t take away from or add to the finished work of Jesus.

· We will always have opportunities to be offended. At some point, though, we have to decide what’s more important than “my way.”

It’s possible to tear down the work of God by stressing opinions over Kingdom culture.

· Don’t boil down finished work of Jesus to trivial issues.

· Big idea: Winning argument or winning brother: win brother

—>Which brings me to my second and final point.

V. Unity is achieved when the focus is to love one another.

· Let’s see what happens when believers choose to love one another to see His Kingdom come:

· Read Acts 6:2-7

2 So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.

3 And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility.

4 Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”

5 Everyone liked this idea, and they chose the following: Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit), Philip, Procorus (Pra-cure-us), Nicanor (Ny-Cuh-nor), Timon (Ty-mon), Parmenas (Par-ma-nus), and Nicolas of Antioch (an earlier convert to the Jewish faith).

6 These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them.

7 So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.

· The Twelve, acknowledging legitimacy

· The mandate of the Church was and is to love people

· Prayer and ministry of the Word: 12 did not want to Church to become food distr. hub and neglect prayer & Word

· Men of good repute (character): Trustworthy to handle finances & food

· Mission (ministry): Nen of HS & wisdom—did not have to be 5Fold ministers

The same Holy Spirit who anoints pastors, teachers, etc.

BRIEFLY Illustrate: My mom’s dr. felt called to be a doctor in the way a pastor or missionary is called.

· Commissioned to serve: Verse 6 says Apostles laid hands & prayed

V5: “Everyone liked this idea.” Showed that they truly loved one another and the Lord.

· Back to the foundation of Jesus’ ministry: LOVE one another, in the name of Jesus.

Illustration from Chicken Soup by - John W. Schlatter (true story)

· Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder.

· Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he volunteered to help carry part of the burden.

· As they walked, Mark discovered the other student’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history. He also discovered that Bill was having a lot of trouble, not only with most of his schoolwork, but at home.

· They arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke. The time passed quickly as they shared small talk and a few laughs, then Mark went home.

· Now, at school, Mark and Bill never passed without hellos. They even ate lunch together a few times and had other brief contacts over the high school years.

· Finally, the long awaited senior year came and, three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could meet. When they did, Bill reminded him of the day, several years ago, when they had first met.

· “Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?” asked Bill.

· Mark responded, “No, not really…why?”

· “Well,” Bill said quietly, “I had cleaned out my locker because I didn’t want to leave a mess for anyone else. You see, I had already stored away enough of my mother’s sleeping pills to commit suicide. After we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had taken my life, I would have missed that time and so many other times that might follow – it gave me hope. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my stuff that day, you did a lot more – you saved my life.”

· PunchlineWhen we get back to the mission of loving others, we can walk in unity as the mighty force that God designed the Church to be.

VI. Altar—Loving One Another

· Each week, I send out emails

· How do I articulate that we don’t see them as numbers, but as ministers=

· I never want our volunteers to feel like they’re “cogs in a wheel.”

· We need our volunteers

· GrowthTrack

· Stephen and Philip served in the shadows, but God used them greatly.

· Christians, united in vision, serving in their space effect change

· Not just Pastors

· Stacie Rasco, Jeff Atchley, Soares, Mahler, Alvey, Green, Rhodes

· Here’s the point: we have to be unified again. Just imagine what we could accomplish if we all decided to live on purpose, together.