Unity

Unity is a pretty much a buzz word these days. Unity means different things to different people. And on some things…if you can’t be part of the “unified,” you’re an outcast.

Unity is an important term to look at though. Why?

Because it is mentioned in one way or another all through our Bible.

Unity, really, is one of the most talked about subjects in all of scripture. God through the whole Old Testament called His people to follow Him, worship only Him…in unity. Moses spoke quite a few times to the whole group of Israelites and encouraged them to be united together…under God’s love and direction.

The push for unity didn’t end in the OT. Jesus begins speaking of the unity of the Kingdom…the new Kingdom He was bringing.

He encouraged unity. Promised that the Spirit of God would be the unifying agent for all of His believers.

Paul and others then, through the other letters in the NT, talk about and implore Christians to be unified. To walk and think and act in unity.

Unity is a big deal to God. And there’s a reason.

Today, we hear this word a lot when it comes to cultural differences…in politics…in academia…there’s a call to be unified in what is popular for today....and that really means…whatever is popular for today. Unity for the country. Unity under a certain political flag. Unity for cultural movements. And …for sure we often hear the phrase…unified against…certain things or ideologies as well.

Now, if we think about it…there’s got to be a reason there’s so much emphasis on unity in the Bible.

Two of my personal main reference points in scripture …and this is just what helps me think when I’m studying. The first is the fall…and what we lost. Closeness/oneness with God, with each other and with creation. And I think we see that today. The second is Jesus’ prayer recorded for us by the apostle John in His account of Jesus…the book of John chapter 17.

What was lost corresponds to what Jesus is praying for in John 17. We lost unity with God and each other…and then in John 17, before His death and resurrection, Jesus prays for our unity with Him and the Father…and with each other.

It looks like this idea of unity is what we’re missing. Unity with the God of the universe. Not that we become one with Him in that we are God alike…no…but that we are as close as we could possibly be …creation with creator. And unity with each other…not divided or divisive. But one with each other in that we all know who the creator is…and we know His love for us in that He sent His son to die for our sin…he died because…we’ve been separated from Him…dis-unified.

So unity is a big deal.

The church is called over and over to be unified. There are warnings over disunity. There are examples given …fingers pointed at disunity and how dangerous it is. There are also examples of unity as well…and it is praised and encouraged.

And I think this makes sense to all of us. It’s just hard to sometimes carry out and discuss.

We’ve just covered nearly 8 weeks of very specific beliefs…truths…that we hold to as a church family. And then we come to the unity of the church. That we believe in the unity of the church and its importance.

When we think about unity we might think that we all need to think and act and look like each other.

You know…dress code and appearance code. Like we all need the same haircut. I think we’d probably all choose mine.

We would need to be unified in our favorite songs and programs. Do everything together…all the time. Eat the same foods.... Yeah I think you’re getting the picture that that’s not possible.

True.

We are all different. But we’re called to unity. Now sometimes when the world looks at us…sometimes they go to those types of things and think we’re just cookie cutter robot followers.

So I think , if you look around…we don’t look alike. If we were to combine all the churches in the area together…we’d really not look alike.

There are some of us that go home for scrambled egg sandwiches and some go to wendy’s and some wait a little bit and go to el camperos. Some of us are old…some are ....older.

Some like the Cleveland Browns and some...

We’re different people. I don’t think that God has called us to be robots or anything similar.

And for certain…if you were to get all the churches together…and look at our worship patterns…wow they would look different too.

So lets start there…we are different. We have uniqueness. And that’s part of creation…I certainly believe that. There’s beauty in uniqueness.

And…we’re still called to be one…unified.

Now…who calls for the church…for believers to be unified? God does…Jesus prays for it.

John 17:21–22 CSB

21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.

Wow. Can you feel Jesus’ heart in those words? Remember what was lost in the beginning…humanity’s oneness, unity, closeness with God. And here we have Jesus praying for that for those who will believe in Him and His purpose for everyone.

This gives me the impression that this isn’t just wisdom for how to have a successful church. There is more to this. So much more...

It’s the reason He sent His son…to be close to us again. And we hear that in Christ’s prayer…I pray that they’ll be unified…as one…so that…others will know about you and me.

The Shema…its a very powerful passage…in the Old Testament. It is a reminder of what is true and what Israel needed to remember at all times…to be unified…to be close to each other and with God.

Here Oh Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One…Love the lord your God with all your heart, soul and might. And then Moses goes on and says…teach this stuff to your kids too…don’t let them forget that this is reality…this is real life. Talk about God, think about Him…because…if not…you’ll all forget and then other things will come up in life as more important…and when that happens, unity with the Lord and with each other will fall apart. Now part of that is Ed’s paraphrase…but this is what it’s about. Unity is what God wants…

In a way…the Israelites ...their unity showed other nations, in that time…their true identity. They followed God…the creator. And so their identity was found in God. They didn’t come up with their own identity. They were God’s children.

We come the New Testament…and believe me…the idea of unity is huge to the church and we could probably do a year’s worth of teaching on unity alone…it goes so many places.

This next passage is one of many calls for unity for unity in the church in the New Testament.

This is Paul talking to the church in Ephesus.

Ephesians 4:3 CSB

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

This one little verse is packed with stuff for us....as a church family and as part of Jesus’ whole world church family.

This one little verse gives us … ok it says every effort. Paul isn’t talking about about a half hearted or half selfish attempt at unity. Every effort. Who’s unity?…the unity of the Holy Spirit…how? through the bond of peace.

Paul’s emphasizing this here for some reasons...

Here’s why…let’s just look at some of the examples we have in scripture where there was disunity in the church.

Ok…right away …right after the Holy Spirit introduced Himself and began the church at Pentecost… we see something begin to happen …inside the church. Disunity.

Greek widows and Hebrew widows are being cared for through a distribution food…collected by way of the members of the church…well, kind of…it was found that the Greek widows were being left out…intentional? Who knows…but the feeling was…Hey, we’re being left out. I thought this Jesus loved everyone…dissension …so what did this look like to a watching world? Not great…probably didn’t help the church…they needed some direction and help…probably some correction was needed....which is never fun.

The church in Rome had some difficulty with unity. Some of the newer Christians liked to worship on Sunday…some on Saturday…which for many was Sabath..it was important to them. Some ate only vegetables some ate whatever…Paul had to step in and say…hey…stop it. Whatever you do…do it with a clear conscience and do it for the Lord. That’s what we all can agree on. Unity!

The Corinth church had some deeper issues. They had some who wanted to teach things different than God’s truth. They had what we might call…new knowledge…cultural changes means the church should change. They were calling out their favorite teachers…and then saying these are the people who you “should” listen to…(which unsaid means don’t listen to the others) Paul again stepped in and said…stop. Hold to truth. Be humble. You’re all one body with many different gifts and abilities…and they all come from…if they match with God and His character and His purpose…then these differences are from the Holy Spirit. There’s no reason to be selfish with life if you’re being given life through the spirit.

It is in Corinthians that Paul does his famous ....Jesus is the head …the church is the body passage. Every part of the body is important of the body is important. And every part does a specific thing and is unique…the eye can’t just run off and say…now I’m the body…no… and we all follow …humbly…Jesus…who is the head.

In this Paul gives a great picture of unity....through the Holy Spirit…living in and under Jesus and His love.

We move and live as the Holy Spirit directs.

1 Corinthians 12:13 CSB

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

So the last two weeks we’ve looked at truth about the Holy Spirit. I think we see another aspect of Him today. He’s the glue, the gel that holds us all together.

Bit cinch sack…cord…example

Now…does this mean that we can’t go out of sync with the Holy Spirit and do our own thing? That very well might be divisive for the church. We still have free will. We can do things on our own…say things to others on our own…hold different foundational beliefs on our own…And if we act out of unity…we may very well cause someone to look at the church…through our behaviors and say…yeah…that looks just like everyone else.

James, the half brother of Jesus wrote it this way in his letter to the churches. James 4:1

James 4:1 (CSB)

1 What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you?

How do we combat this fight inside of us?

I read this example disunity: There can be union without unity: tie two cats together by their tails and throw them over a clothesline.

The world sometimes looks at the church and says…wow. Not much difference. And to be sure, we are not to look like the world. In fact we are to look very different. Paul wrote to the Christian Church in Rome…Do not be conformed but be transformed…mind and heart. The Holy Spirit enables that to happen so we see truth. Hold on to truth. And when others don’t…we’re forgiving, gentle, compassionate, patient, loving, caring…I think its in those last things…which are very much fruits or outcomes of living along-side God’s spirit which help us look....very different from the world. Unity

Unity …together bound and stuck together by the Spirit of God. So that.... let’s reference Jesus’ prayer for unity…so that....

A help…that Paul wrote about...

Philippians 2:2–5 (ESV)

2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus...

And with the Holy Spirit in us…we have the mind of Christ readily available! Amen?!

Why??? Unity?

John 17:23 (CSB)

23 ...that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.

One scholar I read this week said it this way...

The world should look at the church and say, “There’s something unnatural happening here.”

In his book The Pursuit of God, author A.W. Tozer wrote the following:

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be...”

We individually make the choice to follow, humbly, giving up ourselves daily…and in doing so allow the spirit to tie us together as an incredible church family. Closer to each other than could ever be expected.

Our goal…live in the spirit…as much as we possibly can. He unifies us…and in that…we can, not by our own power, but we can show the world that there is a God who loves them.