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One size fits all...
Donna & I were supposed to speak this morning about the “Battle of the sexes...”, but we have postponed it until next week.
We want to share with you about a topic that could become a hot button issue quite quickly in our homes if we let it.
That’s for next week.
Last week we looked at suffering: our suffering for doing good or bad, and the suffering that Jesus endured on our behalf.
This morning, I want to look at what God’s calling is for each of us.
Let’s read 1 Peter 3:8-12
Peter starts this section with an encouragement and exhortation, “Finally, all of you...” God’s calling isn’t optional.
He calls all of us to live a life that is pleasing to him.
God’s desire for us as Christians is to be sold out and completely His.
God is a jealous God.
What this means is that God isn’t pleased when our hearts are divided.
His will is that our hearts are only His.
This morning, we are going to look at five essential keys to unity.
In verse 8, Peter speaks of these keys.
God’s desire is that His body is unified.
We as part of this body need to be unified as well.
Ephesians 4:11-13
In Matthew 12 Jesus was accused of being demon possessed after He had cast a demon out of a blind and mute man.
Here is Jesus’ response.
In this case, Jesus was referring to Satan’s kingdom, but it also refers to families, and I believe that we could ascertain that this would also refer to churches.
Five keys to unity
1. Be like-minded
Said another way, it can be said this way, “Be of one mind.”
(Life Application)
We can’t be pulling in opposite directions.
We need to be in harmony with each other.
Maybe you were in beginner or junior band, you might have been the 2nd trumpet, or the 2nd clarinet.
When you had your recital, you didn’t all have the same notes to play, but you had to watch the conductor to see when you were supposed to come in and play your notes.
If you came in when you wanted to, and you didn’t come in at the right time, the performance would struggle.
It could be earth shattering.
I was the number clarinet.
We as Christians are called to follow the lead of our conductor, Jesus Christ.
If we follow His voice and are obedient to Him, we can live in harmony together.
An orchestra isn’t just about one instrument, but it’s about a symphony that works in harmony together.
This brings great enjoyment to the audience.
When we as Christians work like this symphony, we bring much glory and honour to the Lord.
2. Be sympathetic
Barnes notes says this, to sympathize is to “enter... into one another's feelings.”
When a family has a new baby, it’s can be easy to rejoice and be happy for the new mom & dad.
It can also be difficult if you have been trying to have a baby, but have been riddled with one miscarriage after another.
When a tragedy takes place and a family and somebody is taken too soon, we can feel sorry for those who have lost loved ones.
I think that this is still different than those examples.
This is more than just feeling sorry for somebody that is going through a hard time or to be happy for somebody.
This is feeling what they feel.
This is like walking in the other person’s shoes.
This kind of sympathy is doing whatever is within our power to help somebody who is in need.
This might include resources, money, time, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.
Hebrews 4:15 says this about Jesus,
Jesus doesn’t just feel sorry for us, He empathizes with us in our time of weakness.
Jesus is touched with the feelings of your infirmities.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3. Love one another...
Strong’s Concordance says to “Love like a brother.”
As Christians we often call each other brothers or sisters because we are a part of the family of God.
There used to be a saying that blood is thicker than water.
Sometimes brothers could be fighting amongst themselves, but if somebody did something to your brother, you are family first, you stick up for your brother.
I have high school and even Bible College friends that I would still consider friends, but many of them, I haven’t seen since school.
Family is family.
We rejoice when our family does well.
We love our family no matter what.
As Christians, we are family.
We are called to love each other.
Romans 12:10
As Christians, we are called to have agape love, that’s sacrificial love for each other.
Jesus said, John 15:12
We need that same love that sent Jesus to the cross to die for us.
We aren’t a social club, but I think that sometimes social clubs have that camaraderie that makes them want to be together.
Sometimes we might think that we don’t have much in common with other people in the church.
Maybe we just don’t have the time to get involved in other people’s lives.
It’s just going to take too much time.
I’ve been burned before and I’m not sure that it’s worth trying again.
Have you ever been to a church, or even at some gathering, and you just felt like an outsider.
You just weren’t sure if you belonged.
It seemed very cliquey.
Can you imagine moving into a new town and trying to make new friends?
You’re a Christian and you know that you should find a new church to attend, but when you go, you just aren’t sure if you are welcome.
Someone might come up and say hi, but quickly goes off and starts visiting with somebody else that they know better, and you are left standing with that awkward feeling that you just aren’t sure if you belong.
I’ve had that feeling before in different places, but I pray that people never get that feeling when they come to LifePoint Church or LeRoy Community Church.
We should be the most welcoming people around.
We should give people the feeling that they want to be a part of our church because we are family.
Many churches are very friendly and they would consider themselves to be friendly.
There are many deep friendships within the church family, but to try to break in the circle can be hard.
Let’s be careful not to let our circles of friendship become hard to belong.
Many people should feel that they can belong even before they believe.
4. Be compassionate
To be compassionate means to have tender hearts.
To have tender hearts means to be conscious of others’ needs but includes a drive to alleviate the need in some way.
Believers ought to be deeply touched and moved by the hurts, pain, needs, and joys of fellow believers and then act to help them.
They should be affectionate and sensitive, quick to give emotional support.
As a boy, I grew up with the attitude that I needed to be tough.
Boys shouldn’t cry.
I don’t think that I learned this at home, but I probably learned some of this behavior on the school bus or on the play ground.
Tears were associated with weakness.
I would hear some kids getting taunted with words like, “Don’t be a cry baby”, I probably could have been accused, and been guilty of saying those words.
By buying into the belief that you need to be tough, we can fall into the trap where we become jaded and calloused.
We can hide our emotions.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I want to encourage you as well as myself to never lose that heart of compassion, even if it is for somebody that has hurt us.
In Genesis 45, we have the story of Joseph.
I talked a little about Joseph’s suffering last week.
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