In the Spirit: Unity

Intro

Watching sports, how do you know what team everyone is on?

By their jersey. 3 teams, home, away, and the zebras

In other sports, you know by the sponsors

Question 1: How many jerseys do you have at home?

I have a lot. Some are jerseys used by teams. Some are memorabilia

How do people know we are team Jesus?

John 13:35 ESV

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

There’s another one we are going to take time to unpack

John 4:23–24 ESV

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but I think we better have a pretty firm grasp on what it means to be in the spirit and in truth

to help unpack, we are going to Ephesians 4

Paul paints a great picture of the church

if you need a bible, we will hook you up

Ephesians 4:1–17 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.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

Question 2: What stands out to you from this passage?

A lot of interesting things happening in this passage.

But we are going to focus on unity

eager to maintain unity

we will build up the body of Christ until we all attain unity of the faith

We are members of each other

Unity is important because we serve one God

This is new, most people in the Ephesian church come out the polytheistic Roman mythology

served different gods, resulting in different worship and different priorities.

serve one God, embodied in the Trinity

unity is important for another reason

Matthew 12:22–30 ESV

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

A divided kingdom can not stand

Jesus was talking about Satan’s kingdom, but it sounds a lot like a warning to the church

if we are pitted against each other, we can’t stand, and we certainly can’t grown

Francis Chan recently said the division within the church is getting worse, and it is causing deep harm

the world is full of hurting people looking for healing and acceptance. If the church is hurting it’s own people, why would anyone want to be a part of that? How can they find healing among people who hurt themselves?

Division causes confusion. How can a group of people led by one God end up on opposite sides of so many issues?

What do we do?

Ephesians 4:3 ESV

eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We become eager to maintain the unity in the body. It starts here at OneChurch

anyone in your campus you need to make amends with?

anyone in the other campus you need to make amends with?

can we create unity with the church’s in our communities?

the Trinity displays perfect unity. When we walk in the spirit, we want unity. We want peace. We become eager about it. The more unified we are, the healthier we are, and healthy things grow.

Question 3: Who do you need to make peace with today?

Let’s pray