Connected in Unity

God’s great desire for His church is that we get along!

Jesus was crystal clear when he said...

John 13:35 KJV

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Of all the tests Jesus could have put forth for others to see if you are a Christian...

How you dress? NOPE

How often you go to church? Nope, but it’s hard to fulfill the test if we are not going.

What you do or don’t drink? Nope, It may be involved if it’s a stumbling block, but nope.

By your judgmental looks as people pass you? Absolutely not!

No Jesus said If you love one another…that is how people will know you are Christ’s disciple.

Ever been to a tense business meeting?

Their not fun, are they?

No, when we get more wrapped up in our preferences rather than loving one another things go wrong!

Have you ever heard Christians gossip about other Christians?

Is that loving one another?

Have you heard someone make a snide or rude comment from a fellow Christian?

This ought not be the way that it is!

When we are part of Jesus’ church, He wants us to be a unifying presence.

Actually, He demands that we are unified!

It’s amazing what we find to become divided over.

I heard about a preacher who was walking across a bridge, and he saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So the preacher ran over and said "Stop! don't do it!" "Why shouldn't I?" he said.

The preacher said, "Well, there's so much to live for!" "Like what?" asked the man.

"Well...are you religious or atheist?" He said, "Religious."

The preacher said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?" He said, "Christian."

The preacher said, "Me too! Are you catholic or protestant?" He said, "Protestant."

The preacher said, "Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" He said, "Baptist!"

The preacher said, “Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist church of God or Baptist church of the Lord?" He said, "Baptist church of God!"

The preacher said, "Me too! Are you original Baptist church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist church of God?" He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God!"

The preacher said, "Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!"

The preacher said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.

Now that might be a slight exaggeration, but honestly only slight.

It has often been said that the Christian army is the only army in the world that shoots its own wounded.

The point is that Unity is not optional.

If we sow the seeds of disunity, we go against the work of God.

That is a dangerous place to be!

Ephesians 4:1-6 shows us not only the call to unity but also the reason for our unity.

I. The Call to Unity

1-3

The Bible tells us to Endeavor to keep the unity.

Christ has already purchased our unity.

We are united!

But we can live in rebellion instead of the redemption that He gave us and then we move away from unity.

Paul gives us here four ways to maintain unity.

A. Humility

v2a

Humility is not thinking low of yourself, it is not thinking of yourself at all.

Or you might also say seeing yourself accurately in light of your sinfulness compared to God’s holiness.

When we get a clear picture of ourselves, we realize we are not what is important!

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says, “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind… … it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.”

I might add, every church as well!

When we get too focused on what we want to happen rather than what God wants to happen we walk away from unity.

B. Meekness

or you could say gentleness.

In our culture today Meekness is considered weakness.

But the truth Meekness is Strength under control.

I often think of Superman as Clark Kent. Outwardly He is the nerdy reporter. Weak and unassuming. But on the inside he is faster than a speeding bullet and stronger than a locomotive.

Someone says something to me in an unkind way and I know I could verbally wipe them off the face of the earth, but I don’t.

Someone pushes their desires in on a situation and I could put my foot down and push back, but I know that it will do more harm than good.

Now there is a point where everyone is so meek that no one says anything.

And that is not what we are talking about either!

It is working together in unity.

Gentleness or meekness shows consideration for the others involved.

And the willingness to wave our own rights for the sake of others.

C. Longsuffering

Forbearance, long–suffering, self–restraint before proceeding to action. The quality of a person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from doing so.

Chance and Biscuit - Chance let’s him jump all over him, claw, bite and all around attack him. Or Chance and Ellie.

We will not alway get along.

We will not always see things the same way.

We will not always agree.

But we can be longsuffering with each other.

Not bite back

Not avenge

but rather suffer-long

After all this is what God has done for us!

2 Peter 3:15 KJV

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

D. Forebear in Love

forebear means - To hold up or back from falling.

We hold one another up in love.

We need to be able to endure wrong rather than respond in a rage.

How do you react when something goes wrong in a store?

or a restaurant?

Do the people around you know you are a Christian by the way you respond?

Does your posture toward others do more to maintain the unity or does it create disunity?

II. The Ground of Unity

vs. 4-6

We are not talking about unity for unity sake.

This kind can bring disaster too!

We could in unity allow sin to happen in our church

We could brush it under the rug and just pretend it didn’t happen.

This is not the unity that God is calling us to.

Not it is unity that is unified with the Holy Spirit of God!

One body

One Spirit

One Hope

One Lord

One Faith

One Baptism

One God and Father of all

So if we are one body, we have to be unified in right - because we are to be unified with God.

So we stand on the truth of God’s revealed Word!

If some come in and try to change our beliefs we have to remain in unity with God and His word.

The Trinity

The Virgin Birth

Limited Atonement or the Whosoever Believeth

Freedom to Sharing the Gospel (children and adult alike)

Romans 12:18 KJV

18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Unless it is a matter of doctrine, live at peace!

It’s not worth the consequences

III. The Killer of Unity

In Romans 1, there is a very depressing section of scripture.

It lists many unrighteous acts:

Romans 1:29–31 KJV

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

What a horrible list!

And right in the middle of this list is the word translated in the King James Version as whisperers.

The Greek word psithuristes it means gossipers.

The best definition I have heard of Gossip is, “talking about or listening to something to which I am not part of the problem or part of the solution.”

Gossip is destructive in any church!

God says it is listed right in with fornication, murder, deceit and haters of God!

James in his epistle didn’t mince words when he wrote about the negative power of the tongue.

James 3:6 KJV

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

So how do we prevent this from killing the unity of our church?

First, don’t be the source of gossip.

talk to the ones that can do something about the situation.

Second, If someone begins to share gossip with you, gently rebuke them.

You don’t have to be harsh, just kindly say you would rather not hear about something where you are not part of the problem or part of the solution.

The problem is we all love to be in the know!

All of us do!

Layman for the first time in many years - I was no longer in the know!

If our members would just stand up for right, soon everyone would know that gossip is not tolerated in our church!

It’s so harmful!

“Oh they will never find out I said this” Oh yes they will…it gets around!

Do you want to see this church grow?

1 Peter 3:10 KJV

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

Be a unifyer, not a divider!

IV. The First Step to Unity

If we are going to have unity there can’t be anything in the way!

In the beginning of the church when it was growing by leaps and bounds one thing stands out when talking about this church.

They were of one heart and soul - they were unified.

They were all of one accord.

But how does it get there.

One of the first steps toward unity is Forgiveness.

We talked about it a couple of weeks ago.

We are all human, so there will be offenses!

So we need to make those things right, don’t let time be the healer of those wounds because sometimes those wounds get infected with bitterness.

Mark 11:25 KJV

25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

We see here: if we want our prayers answered we must forgive!

The Bible says,

Matthew 5:7 KJV

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

1 Peter 3:8–9 KJV

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: 9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

It comes down to the golden rule!

Matthew 7:12 KJV

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Conclusion

Every local church is made up of imperfect members and imperfect pastors.

We will make mistakes.

We will all sin.

Yes, we are all hypocrites to one extent or another!

Church unity is torn apart when members refuse to forgive, when any member is too prideful to grant forgiveness.

So, church membership is different than that of a social club or country club.

Church membership is about sacrificing, giving and forgiving.

Just as we did last week I would like each of us to make a pledge to God that we will take what we are learning about church membership and apply it to our lives.

Take a look at this second pledge, think carefully about the words in the Bible about church unity.

Pray before and after you make the pledge.

Seek God’s strength to help you keep this pledge.

I am a church member. I will seek to be a source of unity in my church. I know there are no perfect pastors, or church members. But neither am I. I will not be a source of gossip or dissension. One of the greatest contributions I can make is to do all I can in God’s power to help keep the church in unity for the sake of the gospel.