The Joy of Christian Unity

Introduction

One of the awesome things about high school is the sense of community. You are united with several hundred/thousand people and it’s you and your group against all the other schools in your region/conference. As things expand outward a little bit, the same is true. Even if you don’t go to a state university/college, you are united with others based on where you live. You are united with people from Springfield, KC, and St. Louis, even though there are differences, because we all live in Missouri. The same happens whenever we broaden our horizon and consider our entire nation and how we are all Americans, whether we live in Missouri, California, Texas, or New York - we are united.

Every 4 years the eyes of the world fall on the Olympic Games. Even if you are not a sports fan, chances are, you’ve at least watched some Olympic event during your lifetime or you’ve at least heard of the Olympics. The Olympics are a very unifying event for respective countries as people pause what they are doing every 4 years and they gather to support their national team. From soccer, basketball, baseball, track, swimming, gymnastics, and everything in between, the Olympics have something for everyone! A couple of nights ago, after Gabriel had gone to sleep, Lindsey and I were scrolling through some channels and there was a track and field competition on - as someone who ran track and who loves to watch people compete, I was hooked from the get go. Lindsey took a couple of minutes, but she too got into these respective races. After a few minutes it came time for a relay race. In a relay race, regardless of the distance, a team of 4 runners run their respective leg and pass a baton in hopes of finishing before their competitors. As a fan of track and field and with the Olympics coming up, these athletes are fascinating to watch, especially since many of them are running the fastest in their lives. The joy on their faces lightens up the room as they genuinely love working as a team and competing against others. Add in the billions of people who watch these runners and you have quite the spectacle on your hands.

What if, though, in the middle of this race, the runner drops the baton while trying to pass it on to their teammate? That would be quite embarrassing, wouldn’t it? These runners spend 4 years training for this big stage, they practice their handoffs for hours and hours each week and finally, when it is time for their race, they literally drop the baton. Think of the devastation that would fall on these individuals with the eyes of their home country watching them fail in this fashion - this wouldn’t be a very fun situation to be in!

Maybe you’ve never ran in your life, much less ran in a relay race for track and field, but we all know the feeling of dropping the baton. We have moments whenever people are counting on us and we mess up. We have situations where we have something to do and we fall short. We’ve all dropped the baton - we just haven’t had 3 billion people watch us as we do it. Think of the unity that exists for this team of runners - they are united in that they have a common goal: to win the race. Now consider the unity that exists within the Church: we believe in Jesus Christ! In track, in order to reach your goal, you’re going to want a certain type of person on your team. If you want to win a race, you want people who are fast. In the Church, though, we are diverse! Some of us are fast, others are a little slow. Some are older, some are younger. Some are male, others are female. We are diverse, yet we are united by faith in Jesus. This unity brings deep joy into our lives. Just as is the case in track, though, there is a baton that can be dropped. Unity can be broken. The New Testament speaks numerous times on the importance of keeping the unity in the body of Christ

Ephesians 4:3 CSB

3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Unity is a difficult thing and this is why Paul stresses to make every effort to keep it. This morning, we will look at the unity that exists in the Church. In the early church, there were many reasons to be divided and we know that there are plenty of reasons why churches are not united today as well. The challenge before us is simple: keep our eyes on Jesus. Focus on our calling and our purpose. Maintain our unity and have joy in the process!

Acts 4:32–37 CSB

32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. 33 With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. 34 For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Christians are United by Faith in Christ (32-33)

What is the thing that unites people? For some it is a common goal. In his Art of War, the great military mind Sun Tzu notes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Think of how this idea has impacted the world - during World War 2 Germany was the dominant military power in the world and they were at war with the Soviet Union and Great Britain. Fast forward to June of 1941, 2 years after World War 2 had started and the United States gets involved by forming the Grand Alliance. Did the United States enter into this alliance because we were best of friends with the Soviet Union? Absolutely not! This was done because there was a common threat: Germany. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

We see this same thing play itself out in relationships as well. Maybe there is a person who is a jerk to others and several others call this person out and stand up to the bully. Do they do this because they are best friends? Maybe, but not necessarily. They do so because they are united by a cause. They stand up for something because their goal is the same. What happens after they meet their goal? Usually in relationships nothing changes. These strangers go back to being strangers. In World War 2, we know that the United States and the Soviet Union didn’t suddenly become best friends even though we were allies in the 1940s.

How is Christian unity different from other forms of unity?

Notice what our opening verse says: The entire group of those who believed. What is the unifying factor here? These people believe in Jesus Christ! These people trusted in Jesus to provide. They relied on His power. Think of the results whenever we put our absolute and total trust in Jesus - everything in our life changes!

Before you are a Christian, the Bible says that we walked in darkness as children of wrath. We thought and acted differently than we do today. What changed? Christ changed our lives. He opened our eyes. He is the one who creates our unity. Isn’t this a good thing? Feelings, alliances, relationships often come and go. Aren’t you thankful that Christ changes us for all eternity? Aren’t you thankful that Jesus melts the heart of stone and opens calloused, dead eyes to see the truth?

This early church was of one heart and mind and held all things in common with one another. This is a hallmark of Christian unity - consider this: If you have 100 people in a local church, you’re going to have 100 hearts and 100 minds. The early church in Acts likely had close to 10,000 followers by this point in time, yet we see that they believed in Jesus and were of one heart and mind. If you’ve never been to a business meeting at church, shame on you - please come on Wednesday - but seriously, in a business meeting or a school board meeting or any sort of meeting, it is rare to have unity on topics. We are blessed by God at this church to have unity and that is something to thank the Lord for - but can you imagine this number of people being united and holding all things in common? I can’t. I can’t imagine 10,000 people getting along to this extent but isn’t this the reality we see in Scripture?

Whenever you love Jesus - you love others, especially His bride, the Church! Our faith in Christ unites us with one another even though we are different. Scripture shares with us the power of love in many different places, and one such place is 1 Peter 4

1 Peter 4:8 CSB

8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Understand what is going on in this early Christian community: They believe in Jesus. Therefore, they are united with one another because their focus is properly placed. Because they are united, they hold all things in common. Again, does this mean that there aren’t different opinions or backgrounds in this community? No - there certainly are! Yet, because they loved Jesus and they shared with one another, they were able to carry out their mission, as verse 33 says, of witnessing for Jesus.

Think of the concept of friendship in today’s terms. Some people claim to be best friends with someone even though they speak really mean things behind their back and abuse that person to their face. Is this genuine friendship? If so, you might need to look for some new friends! Aristotle defined a friend as “one soul dwelling in two bodies.” Now think about this definition for a moment, is this literally true? No. But have you ever had a relationship with someone like this, where it felt as though you were twins of sorts not because of how you looked but because of how you acted and thought? This is a special thing and true, Christlike friendship is beautiful. This is what we see in our text here as these people are true friends with one another. They hold all things in common and they are of the same mind.

This differs from friendship because there are times where even the best of friends don’t have the same mind of view and that’s ok! This goes to show how Christian community is deeper than any other relationship you have. This is because the Lord gives us this special unity and unity in the body is a good thing

Psalm 133:1 CSB

1 How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony!

Are you living together in harmony? If not, let’s do a diagnostic check here. These early Christians are composed of Jews from every nation under heaven as Acts 2 shares with us. The early church didn’t look, act, think, or smell the same way yet, they were united. There is a temptation for Christians today who worship with people who largely do look, act, think, and smell like us to somehow not live in harmony. Why? 3 suggestions:

They don’t truly have faith in Christ.

There are many people who come to church week in and week out who do so out of tradition. I come to church because grandma and grandpa came and my parents came and therefore I come too. It’s just an hour on Sunday and nothing more type of relationship. That’s not what it means to have genuine faith in Jesus Christ - it’s a 24/7/365 thing that changes you permanently! More than just a once a week thing for traditional reasons.

They think they’re always right.

Pride is at the root of a lot of our sinfulness. In the Garden, Satan tempted Eve by saying that if she ate from the apple then she would be just like God and sadly, many people today think that they are exactly like God in that they are always right. They always have the answer. They always know best. For this person, there can only be unity whenever things go their way. If not, there is no harmony because they are right and the other way is wrong.

They misunderstand their purpose.

I think that this is where the majority of our problems come from as genuine believers. Most Christians are humble enough to acknowledge that there are moments where we are 100% wrong. Yet, there are times where we can misunderstand our purpose. We can be tempted to think that church is primarily about tradition and, in doing so, we can forget that church is about giving God glory and sharing the Gospel. We might not always have the same preferences and tastes, but there can be unity and harmony whenever we remain obedient to our purpose.

Christians Share with Others (34-35)

One of the sad developments in recent years is the amount of people around the world who live in poverty. One study 3 years ago noted that nearly half of the world’s population lives on less than $5.50/day. The rich have much and they are getting richer, while the poor continue, somehow, to get poorer and have less. Certainly we don’t have the perfect explanation or solution to this, however we do see something very clear in the book of Acts and throughout the early church: Christians take care of those with needs.

In 2019, there was a church in Kansas that had a special offering on Easter Sunday to go towards paying off medical debt for people all across their state. They didn’t know how much money would be raised or what the effect would be but God showed up in a mighty way and people were generous to give $22,000 to this effort and, in doing so, the congregation erased over $2 million of medical debt and assist 1600 people in the process! Doesn’t that just give you the chills in a good way? This was a large church numerically, but it was composed of people like you and I who don’t have a ton, but they have enough and they understood that their responsibility is to be a generous steward with what God had given to them. Therefore, they gave and God used their giving to help hundreds and hundreds of others in need.

This is not a rare instance in the history of the church. This is the norm. In the ancient world, the church was the way that widows, orphans, and the poorest of poor were ministered to and fed. Consider the early church here in our text, verse 34 says that there was not a needy person among them. Does this mean that every single Christian was a millionaire because God blessed them financially like Pastor Joel from Houston talks about? No. They didn’t have needs because other people sold land and laid it at the feet of the apostles. There were rich and there were poor in the early church but did only the rich people give? No. Verse 32 shares this with us, “no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own.” Everyone held everything in common all the time. This wasn’t just one or two very wealthy and generous people, this was 10,000 people who were all generous, regardless of their wealth!

This wasn’t something where Christians were commanded to sell off their land and give it to the church - this was voluntary. It is also something that Christ challenges of His church

Luke 12:32–33 CSB

32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, because your Father delights to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

This is an extraordinary example of giving - this is not the norm for people today, but the normative, important, and applicable part for us to understand is simply that we are to share with others. To quote Tony Merida, “When God’s grace is at work, people get generous.”

Are you a generous person? Christian generosity doesn’t always make sense because it’s different than the world’s generosity. Sure, we don’t have the large excesses that some people might, but we have more than enough. Take the story of the widows mite for example

Luke 21:1–4 CSB

1 He looked up and saw the rich dropping their offerings into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow dropping in two tiny coins. 3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

Friends, we are called to give and to help those with needs. This isn’t a bad thing. It shouldn’t be looked at as something we have to do, it is a joy that we get to do. It is an act of worship. We have been given grace from our King and He has given to us far more than we deserve, and one of the ways that we go about serving Him is with our possessions. We give back. This is the pattern laid out before us by the early church and it is something that we continue to do today!

An Example of Godly Stewardship (36-37)

Luke concludes this chapter by giving an example of a godly steward named Joseph who we know better as Barnabas. Barnabas appears 23 times in the book of Acts and this man is a dedicated follower of Christ. Later on in this book we will see that this man vouches for Paul after his Damascus road experience, he is a person who is patient, humble, courageous, and faithful, but here Luke takes time to note that he was generous. He was obedient in sharing the Gospel and taking the good news from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Think of how you know this individual. You don’t know him as Joseph of Cyprus, you know him as Barnabas. Why is this the case? This man was so full of encouragement for others that we know him by his nickname rather than his actual name!

We talked about legacies on Mother’s Day and the legacy that you will leave behind… Can you imagine being so encouraging to others that people many generations later speak about you not by your given name but as the Son of Encouragement? That blows our mind! Think though, what would your nickname be in the eyes of others?

Would people say that you are a faithful follower of Christ? Are you a great encourager? Are you a good leader? Are you a generous servant?

Look at Barnabas here. He sells a field and brought the money to the feet of the apostles. Did he have to sell his field? No. Did he have to bring the money before the feet of the apostles? No. In today’s terms, if you donate enough money, you can get a building named after you. If you give enough money, you can be put onto all sorts of boards and positions of authority - that’s not what Barnabas is in it for, though. He’s not in it for the spotlight or credit, he is in it to further the Gospel and assist those with needs. Isn’t this our commission as well? Shouldn’t this be our goal and attitude in giving today?

It’s not about us. It’s never been about us. It’s all about Jesus. As one song puts it,

“God you don’t need me

but somehow You want me

Oh how You love me

Somehow that leads me

to open my hands up

and give you control”

A former Sunday school teacher of mine put it well whenever he said, “God doesn’t need our money.” God could snap His fingers and the world would be saved, bills would be paid, lives would be changed forevermore. He doesn’t need us - but He uses us. He wants us. Are we willing to be generous stewards and trust Him with all we are and all that we have?

Are we willing to help others and maintain our unity as Christ calls us to do? Are we seeking to serve others instead of being served ourselves? Are we pointing people to Jesus Christ and the hope that only He can provide? Let our legacy be one of encouragement, unity, friendship, and godly stewardship just like Barnabas!

Conclusion

To quote from the Father of modern missions William Carey, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” Unity isn’t something to be taken lightly. Unity isn’t something that we create ourselves. Unity is something found in Christ and it was bought with a price - the life of the 2nd person of the Trinity. Because of this, we can’t just coast and call it good. We can’t look around in our world and community and see needs and fail to fulfill our commission as Christians and meet those needs as we can. We look to Christ. We believe in Him. He unites us. We come together in worship, we give of what we have and we pray that God uses that to share the Gospel, to help those with needs, to grow the Kingdom, and to work in ways that we can’t even imagine.

We expect great things from God but we also know that our responsibility is to give. Our responsibility is to keep this unity in the church. To share the Gospel. To share the great grace and peace that only He can bring. Did you know that this is what we do as Southern Baptists?

Paul Chitwood, President of the IMB, shared these statistics two weeks ago: in 2020, 750,000 people heard the Gospel overseas. 144,000 repented of their sins and placed their faith in Christ. 86,000 were baptized. 18,000 churches were planted! The Gospel is being proclaimed. Churches are being planted. Lives are being changed! This should cause us to rejoice and praise the Lord. It should also cause us to continue to seek intentional ways that we can give and support the advance of the Gospel.

Choose Joy - maintain Gospel unity and make much of Jesus Christ.