Gather for Unity

Good morning and welcome to worship today. It is a joy to be gathered here together as the body of Christ! I am Jay Fraze and I have the honor of being the Sr Pastor here at FUMC. This week, Joey is baptizing little Kimball McCrane in the Sanctuary and in a few moments, I will be baptizing Rebekah Lassarre.

I always love being here in Common Ground. After preaching exclusively Contemporary worship for 8 years, I missed Traditional worship. Now, after 4 years of almost exclusively worshipping in a Traditional service, I miss Contemporary Worship.

I truly feel our church is richly blessed because of the hard work many of you put in through the years to have 2 amazing worship opportunities, 3 if you count the Chapel/Communion service at 8:30 every week. I believe we have the best Traditional Worship experience in Brown County… and… I feel we have the best contemporary worship experience in the county as well.

But we aren’t here to hear me ramble on about how great our church is, we are here to worship our Lord and Savior and we are here to break open God’s Word and let God’s blessings flow over us.

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Today, we are finishing up our Gather Series. This has been a church wide series looking at the reasons we gather together. The first week, Joey shared with you that we gather for encouragement. In Week Two, Debbie shared that we gather for Rhythm.

Last week, veiled within Alex’s message to the Seniors was the theme of strength, that we are stronger together. Like a strand of 3 chords, we are not easily broken, but individually we are vulnerable. When we gather, when we develop a rhythm, a habit of gathering together we draw strength from one another and we encourage one another. We are better together.

AND, finally, we gather for unity!

[Sermon Slide]

As we watch the evening news… When we see the stream of stories populate our news apps, I can’t think of something we need more right now than unity. We live in a divided nation, a divided culture, and even a divided denomination.

We recite our pledge and say that we are one nation under God…

We read Paul’s writing to the Ephesians and are reminded that we are to:

[Ephesians 4: 3-6]

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all,

who is over all, in all, and living through all.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord! And one day, all the disunity we live in will be restored to unity. I look forward to that day.

So in the midst of the disunity of the lives we live, I believe the church can be the one place we gather, even with our differences, even with our disagreements… this is the place we can gather under the banner of the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Believe it or not, the church can be a place where unity, harmony, and togetherness flourish.

As a church, what are some of the things we have in common?

- Our faith

- Our desire to share the gospel with others

- Christ-like love

- Hope

These are just a few of the ideals of what it means to be the gathered community of faith.

And, if you think back to week 2 when we talked about some of the benefits of regularly gathering together, you’ll remember we can also share;

- Fellowship

- Teaching

- Communion

- Prayer

These are all amazing things that the church has in common, things that unify us when we are together. But there is something even greater that we share when we’re together. Yes, the Sunday School answer is always right - Jesus.

When we Gather, Jesus is with us

Jesus Reminds us in Matthew 18:20 that:

“Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Think about this for a moment; When we gather and unify ourselves in the name of Jesus, He gathers with us too. If that’s not a good enough reason to pursue unity then I don’t know what is.

And think about this - it doesn’t take an auditorium full of people. Unity can happen when just 2 of us gather together.

Over coffee.

At a meal.

At a home together.

In a small group.

We don’t have to agree on everything. We don’t have to have the same politics. We don’t have to all love the Cowboys and the Rangers – though I question your faith if you are a Patriots fan…. But, I digress…

What I am saying is that “Unity without diversity is conformity.” We aren’t to conform to one another as we gather, but we are to gather in Jesus name.

There are so many opportunities for us to gather together and experience the presence of Christ, but again, it all happens IN HIS NAME. When we gather, when we come together in Jesus name, we find unity in Jesus and he is with us.

But not only is Jesus with us, but when we gather, God blesses us.

Let’s read another passage from Psalms 133:

[Psalm 133]

Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in harmony!

It is like fine oil on the head,

running down on the beard,

running down Aaron’s beard

over the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon

falling on the mountains of Zion.

For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing

of life forevermore.

The word harmony here is a word that is translated in other places as “bond of perfection,” “complete,” or “same mind.” It is a word carries with it the meaning of “having a similar outlook on life.” It is what we mean when we say we are united in Christ.

I love how this passage describes the way God feels when we are united, when we are in harmony. The Oil flowing down the beard passage is kinda weird to us, but it looks back to the day that Aaron was ordained, or anointed as the first High Priest of God’s People. It was a joyous day. Why, because Aaron, as the High Priest, would bring the very presence of God back to the people as he communed with God in the Tabernacle.

Then you have Mount Hermon – home today of the Mount Hermon Ski Resort. Yes, there is a Ski Resort in Israel. The mountain is over 9000’ in elevation and is covered with snow most of the year. As the snow melts, it filters through the rocks and comes out of the bottom of the mountain as streams and rivers that merge to form the Jordan River. The dew, the snow, the rains that fall on Mount Hermon don’t fall anywhere else in Israel, and yet, they supply all of Israel with water from the Jordan river.

The precipitation on Hermon is a blessing to the entire nation.

Then at the very end of the passage we see that God bestowed a blessing… when we live in unity God bestows a blessing on us like the dew of the mountain that nourishes the nation. God blesses us as Israel was blessed when Aaron was anointed High Priest and brought the presence of God to the people. Why, because Emmanuel – God is with us.

When we gather, Christ is with us…

When we gather, God bestows a blessing on us…

This is what we strive for, this is what we desire, but what do we do when we don’t seem to be united? What should we do when we aren’t feeling unified with other believers? How should we respond when we feel divided? How can we get back to the place of unity where the blessing of God abounds in the presence of Christ?

Can I be honest with you? We are living in a time of disunity in the church. Not this local church, not us here at First Methodist Brownwood, but I mean the denomination of the United Methodist Church. It is my hope and prayer that the disunity doesn’t spill into this local church as conversations begin and news outlets begin to carry stories of churches disaffiliating from the UMC and what that means.

One of the churches I pastored years ago had split – 20 years before I was even their pastor, they had split and another independent church formed down the road. Now you might think 20 years would be long enough to get past the pain of that split, but these people were still hurtting. The other church and the Methodist Church had been through a couple of pastors since the split, so I got with the pastor of the independent church, and we started talking about what we could do. We ended up changing the narrative. We started talking about how, what was once a terrible thing, the split, God has used as a blessing as the Kingdom of God had grown. Where one church worshiped in one way and reached about 50 people a week, now we have 2 churches, worshipping in different styles with each of them reaching 60 or more each week.

God’s Kingdom had more than doubled… That was a blessing not a curse. That was something we should rejoice not lament.

But, to get there, people had to forgive one another. People had to stop sulking about what had happened and accept that we are one in Christ. We worked together to minister to the community and we found harmony.

I know, that’s all find and dandy. But what does that have to do with me? Right?

Have you been hurt by someone? Did someone say or do something that hurt your feelings, something that embarrassed you? Something that offended you?

You are probably thinking of someone right now… I want you to consider forgiving them. I want you to start praying about it and asking God to help you forgive them.

Let me ask it this way,

Is holding onto the anger and resentment worth the loss of the blessing we get when we are united in Christ? Is it worth loosing harmony over?

As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

This isn’t a new issue. The Bible shows us that we as the People of God have been struggling with peace and harmony, division and unity for over 2000 years! And Paul reminds us of the importance of unity in Ephesians 4, here is the rest of what I read earlier:

Ephesians 4:1-6

“As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

As a parent, we want what is best for our children do we not? God is no different, God wants the best for us and all through Scripture we read that Unity is God’s best for us.

When we gather together in unity, Christ is with us, God blesses us, and we live out the life God intended for us, our best life.

As we wrap up this series, I want to encourage you. You are on the right track.

Beyond these walls, fewer and fewer people are attending church.

Beyond these walls, fewer and fewer people are professing Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

But you have chosen the better path. You have chosen to unite together in Christian love, to encourage one another, to build a rhythm of life together as followers of Christ, to strengthen one another as we work together to build God’s kingdom.

You are the exception. Did you realize, that today, across Brownwood and Early, there will be about 5000 people in worship, you are among those. But here is the staggering fact, as we gather, 5000 strong, united as followers of Christ worshipping in a variety of ways across this community…

There are over 15,000 people not in worship. There are some 15,000 people who have made the conscious decision not to unite together with other believers.

Here is the reality, with exceptionalism comes responsibility.

As we develop the rhythm of gathering for strength, as we unite under the name of Jesus Christ and receive God’s blessing, as we gather to encourage one another we need to be sharing the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

I am so excited to be a part of a church that does this. I am so excited to be a part of a church who wants to make new disciples by helping others to know, love, and serve God.

I am so excited to be a part of a church that in the month of May will baptize 5 people.

I am so proud of this church and the 9 professions of faith so far this year!

But, there is more to be done. You have a blessing to share with the world.

And today, we will gather together to encourage one who has been blessed as we baptize Rebekah.

Would you pray with me?