The Blessing of Unity

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

We're going to talk about the blessing of unity. Let's read Psalm 133, verse 1, and verse 3. In the English Stamp Version it says, Behold how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. For there God has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. Let me read those same verses to you from the New Living Translation. How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony, and there the Lord has pronounced His blessing, even life everlasting. We see from these verses that God wants us to live in unity. He says it's good and pleasant, or wonderful and pleasant. When we are in unity, God commands his blessing. This applies to our marriages, our families, and our churches. When we are in unity, God commands his blessing. Paul, writing specifically to the church in Corinth, but also by extension to every local church today, said in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. Let me read the same verse to you out of the Passion Translation. I urge you, my brothers and sisters, for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree, to live in unity with one another, and to put to rest any division that attempts to tear you apart. Be restored as one united body, living in perfect harmony. Form a consistent choreography among yourselves, having a common perspective with shared values. What a wonderful verse. I believe that God is calling us as local churches to walk in unity with one another. Please turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, and I'd like to share four thoughts with you from this chapter on unity. Number one, Jesus' prayer for us is that we are one or that we walk in unity. Let's first look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 4 to verse 6. It says, There is one body and one spirit, just as you are called to the one hope that belongs to our call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Here we see the answer to Jesus' prayer, where Paul speaking to the church in Ephesus says, This is who we are. We've been made to drink of one spirit. We have one faith, we have one Lord, we have one Father who is over all, through all, and in all. And this is an answer to the prayer that Jesus prayed in John chapter 17, verse 20 and 21, which is known as part of the high priestly prayer of Jesus. Let's read it. Jesus prayed, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Unity in a local church is God's heart, it's Jesus' prayer. That's what He's praying for for us. We also see from the verses that we've read that it's a witness to the world that Jesus has been sent by the Father and that we belong to him. They'll know us by our love and our unity as a local church. And I want to encourage us, let us pray for unity in our churches. So, first of all, we saw that Jesus' prayer for the church, for us, is that we would be one, that we would walk in unity. Number two, we must seek to maintain the unity of the spirit. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 2 and 3. It says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Now I want you to notice the word maintain. It's not something that we need to achieve, but it's something that we already have. We have been made one in Christ. We have one Lord, one Savior, one Father, one Holy Spirit. We've all received one baptism and we all follow Him. And as a result, we are one. That includes everyone in our local church and every believer in the town or the city in which our local church is based, and indeed every Christian globally. We have already been given unity of the Spirit, and we are encouraged to be eager to maintain this unity, and we do this by being humble, by being gentle, by being patient, by bearing with one another in love and walking in peace. I like the way John Stott said unity is not something we are called to create, but rather to preserve. So so far we've seen Jesus prayed that we would be one, that we would walk in unity. Let's be an answer to his prayer. Secondly, we see that we have already been given the unity of the Spirit and that we should be eager to maintain it. Number three, we must seek to attain the unity of the faith. Let's look at Ephesians chapter four, verse thirteen. It says, Until we attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now I want you to notice in this case, the unity of the faith, it's something that we are encouraged to attain, not maintain, it's something we are to seek and we are to pursue. And that unity of the faith comes as we grow in our knowledge of the Son of God and we become mature as Christians. Unity of the faith doesn't mean we agree on everything, it means we agree on the essentials and that we're able to grow together as followers of Jesus Christ. Now in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 through to verse 16, we see the progression as we start to attain the unity of the faith and we grow in our relationship with God. First of all, we see that God has given ministry gifts, apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers whose role is to equip the saints, edify the body so that the body grows in our relationship with God, that we grow mature in our faith as followers of Jesus, and then eventually we see in verse 15 and 16 that we come to the place where we are building one another up in love. And it's important for us to recognize that God has placed these gifts in the body. That is so that you and I can grow, mature, be built up and equipped to be followers of Jesus Christ, to become disciples of Jesus, and eventually disciples who in turn make disciples for Christ. Saint Augustine said this in essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity. Who is Jesus? How are we saved? By grace through faith. Where do we get truth? From the Bible. Why are we on earth to share the gospel with the whole world? To fulfill the Great Commission. These are the essentials of our faith, and we should have unity in those. There are many non-essentials. There are many things that are not clear in Scripture, and people have different opinions or interpretations or traditions. And I would say in these non-essentials, we should have liberty. They are not as important as the essentials. But in all things, even where we disagree, we should have charity or love. We should keep the main thing the main thing. And when we disagree or have a different opinion on something, we should be kind and generous in our love for others. So let's grow together in our unity in a local church. Let's take advantage of the ministry gifts that we have, the opportunities we have to grow in our relationship with God and the word of God and times of worship and prayer so that we become mature and are able to build one another up in love. So, to recap quickly, we've seen that Jesus is praying that we are one and that we're in unity. Secondly, we've seen that we have been given the unity of the Spirit. It's something that we should maintain, and like a vehicle needs to be maintained, we should maintain the unity in our local church. And then we've seen that we should attain to the unity of the faith. We should grow in our relationship with God, spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let's keep building one another up in love. And number four, let's not give the devil an opportunity to destroy our unity. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 27 and verse 30, we read, give no opportunity to the devil, and do not grieve the Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. And it's easy for us to give the devil an opportunity to, as some versions say, to have a foothold in our lives, in our churches, where perhaps we walk in unforgiveness, we take offense, we allow bitterness to grow in us, and that gives the devil a foothold and it grieves the Spirit of God. It turns the tap off of God's blessing because where there is unity, he commands his blessing. So the question has to be asked: what do we do if we somehow, in our ignorance, have given the devil an opportunity to destroy unity in our local church or grieve the Holy Spirit? Well, it continues in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 31 and 32. We have clear instruction. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. We should live ready to forgive. And the antidote for bitterness, the antidote for difficulties and challenges and disunity is to start with forgiveness, letting it drop, forgiving one another. To the extent that God has forgiven us. How much has Jesus forgiven you and I of? When I look at my life, I can say He has been generous and kind to me. And I should extend that forgiveness and kindness with the same attitude that I have received it from Jesus. Let's live ready to forgive in our local churches. So today we've seen four things. Jesus is praying for unity in our churches. Number two, we should maintain the unity of the Spirit. Number three, we should seek to attain the unity of the faith. We should grow in our relationship with God. Don't just settle, let's keep growing. And number four, we must not let the enemy have an opportunity to destroy the unity in our local churches. We shouldn't grieve the Holy Spirit, but we should walk in forgiveness towards one another. We should live ready to forgive. So we're now going to pray. And as we do, I would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit what does he want you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon? Let's pray. Father God, thank you that Jesus prayed and is praying today for unity in our churches. Thank you that we have been given the unity of the Spirit. Please help us to maintain that, to treasure it, because it's something that is good, wonderful, and pleasant. Help us to grow in our faith so that we together may grow in relationship with God and attain the unity of the faith. That no one would be left behind, but that we would grow together. And I ask, Lord Jesus, that if there are areas in our lives where perhaps we've allowed the enemy to have a foothold or grieved your Holy Spirit, that you would help us to put those things aside and to walk in forgiveness and kindness to others. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Holy Spirit, tell us what you want us to do as a result of what we've heard in today's sermon. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.