Unity With One Another

A couple of weeks ago, I showed you a video clip from Remember the Titans. We're going to see another one today. Remember the Titans is one of my favorite movies and it's partly because, it's a sports movie, but partly because it has some deeper issues and it's a true story. It's the true story, if you were here a couple of weeks ago, of the TC Williams High School football team, 1971, which won the state championship in the state of Virginia. But it's more a story of the players overcoming racial tension. It was the first year for desegregation in the public schools in Northern Virginia in 1971. And the story really is about the team as a microcosm of the entire community overcoming racial tension. The first couple of weeks of their practice is a summer camp in Pennsylvania. And as they're going through that camp, the players are really struggling with rooming together, eating together, blacks and whites, thrust together on this team. They really didn't want to be together on. They're really struggling in practice with being a team. And so, early one morning, the coach takes them on a long run. Notice what he says in that run. I'm going to go back and run a little bit. We're just about to walk in. I'm walking a stone. All the city will do our way to the far. And we're going to fall. Oh no. Oh, they're taking the breath. They're taking the breath. Everybody know what this place is? Which is Gettysburg. This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg. 50,000 men died right here on this field. Fighting, the same fight that was still fighting amongst ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubbly with blood, young boys, smoke. And hot lead going right through their bodies. Listed their souls, men, to kill my brother with malice in my heart. Patriot, destroy my family. You listen. Take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together, right now on this hollow ground, we too will be destroyed. Just like that. I don't care if you like each other right now, but you will respect each other. And maybe, I don't know, maybe you will. I'm going to play this game like men. If we don't come together on this hollow ground, then we will be destroyed. Same thing is true of the church. If we do not stay together on this hollow ground, we will be destroyed. That's why among all of the one and others of the New Testament, the next one we find, and a very, very important one, has to do with unity. Unity with one another. Would you open your Bible, please, to the book of Romans? Once again, Romans 15. Romans 15, verse 5, is where we find the next one another mentioned in the New Testament. Romans 15, verse 5 says, may the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus. The various translations render this a little differently, and I think they, putting them all together, really grasped the wholeness of what Paul is saying here. The King James Version says, be like-minded toward one another. The New American Standard says, be of the same mind toward one another, or with one another. The English Standard Version says, to live in such harmony with one another. The New English translation, one of my favorites, says, give you unity with one another. You notice the two directions the translations take. Some of them talk about being like-minded or of the same mind, and the others say, have unity or harmony. And really, both are in the essence of what Paul is saying. If you were to take the actual word for word order of what Paul said in the original language and translate it exactly as he wrote it, it would come out like this. To think the same thing, or to think the same among one another. To think the same among one another. But obviously, Paul's not saying that we have to think alike on every issue. Obviously, that's not his point. Paul's point is not that we must think exactly alike on every issue. He's not saying that in order to have unity in the church, you have to like the same food, like the same cars, like the same clothes, like the same teams. Thankfully, he doesn't say that's a prerequisite for church unity. Some people will not like the right team, the mountaineers, till they get to heaven, I guess. Get a glorified body. No, I'm just kidding. Thankfully, we don't have to like the same teams. We don't have to have the same personalities. We don't have to have the same political affiliation. We don't have to have the same likes and dislikes, interests, hobbies. That's not a requirement for unity in the body. It's not being like-minded or of the same mind in the sense that we see everything exactly the same. God is not looking for cookie-cutter Christians or assembly-line believers. That's not what he's trying to produce. God is looking for people who will focus on a biblical unity and harmony and being of one mind, being like-minded means that we have a harmony and unity that is biblical, that is built around biblical things. When you study the concept of unity in the Bible, two things stand out. As far as being like-minded or of the same mind, that focuses on two things. Number one, that we must have common beliefs. Common doctrinal beliefs. In other words, we must believe the same things about the Bible. Now, there are lots of different doctrinal interpretations and so forth. But two things the apostles make very clear. Two things they focus upon when it comes to unity in the New Testament that we must believe one is the person and work of Christ. Who Jesus is and what He has done for us on the cross. The other is the way of salvation. By grace through faith in Christ alone. Those two things, the apostles pound over and over again and we'll see them a little bit later as we get into the scriptures here. Those are the common beliefs that make us Christians. The way of salvation and the person and work of Christ are absolutely critical. And we must agree on those things. So being like-minded of one mind means to share common beliefs. Secondly, it means to share a common purpose or goal. That we understand what the purpose and goal of the church is. That we are to reach the lost with the gospel. That we are to then build them up as believers in Christ so that they serve Him. So that people, all of us as believers, are equipped and motivated to serve the Lord, mobilize to serve Christ. That's our goal, that's our purpose. To reach the lost, build up believers, serve Christ. Love, grow, serve. That's it. That's clear in the Bible. And that has to be our purpose and our goal. We have to agree on that in order to have unity in the church. Now lots of other things we made this agree on. Whether you're a Mount near a fan or a Hoki fan or a Thundering Hurd fan, or that doesn't really matter. What does matter is that we understand common beliefs in the Bible and we're chasing a common goal and purpose. Doesn't matter what kind of clothes you like to wear or don't like to wear or kinds of music you like or don't like those are not important things. The important thing is that we believe the common beliefs that make us Christians and we chase a common goal and a common purpose. That is biblical unity. That is being like-minded. Now the Bible stresses this quite a bit. And there's no better place to start in talking about united with one another than in Christ's prayer for unity. John chapter 17. So let's flip back to John 17, where we will find Jesus' prayer for unity. Jesus' praying the night before he will go to the cross. He and his disciples have just left the upper room and on their way to the garden of Gethsemane, on their way to cross the Kidren Valley. Jesus is praying this prayer. And as he prays this prayer, he talks to his father in heaven. He begins by describing that he knows he will rejoin the father in his glory in heaven for five verses. And then he begins to pray for the purity and protection of his men, his 11 disciples who are still with him. And in the middle of that prayer for protection and purity for his disciples, look at verse 11, John 17, verse 11, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world. And I am coming to you, holy father. Protect them by the power of your name. The name you gave me so that they may be one as we are one. And then he continues to pray for the purity and protection of the disciples. And then in verse 20, he shifts his focus once again and focuses now on unity. Look at verse 20. My prayer is not for them alone, not for these 11 alone. He says, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message. That's us. And all down through the ages that have believed on Christ through the message of the apostles, recorded in God's Word. Have you ever stopped to think that the night before Jesus died in the upper room, shortly before he would cross the Kidren Valley into the Garden of Gethsemane? He is praying for you, praying for me. Amazing thought, but he was praying for us. And here's what he was praying, verse 21, that all of them may be one father just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I am them and you and me. May they be brought to complete unity, to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me. Several times in these verses, Jesus prays that we will be one, that we will have complete unity. It was the desire of Jesus for unity. The desire expressed in this prayer was that we would be one, just like the father is one, with Christ. That we would have complete unity. That is true for all believers, but it is true especially of the body of Christ. This is the way his larger body, his larger family meets and gatherers. We are one in this local church and it is local churches that are the expression of the bigger body of Christ. That has specific application to the local church. To believers as we gather together in a body like this, Christ prayed that we would be one, that we would be unified. I read a story this week about a lady by the name of Mary Karnie. Mary and her husband Gary were writing to church. They are very close to each other, obviously in the car, but they are miles apart because they have just had one of those arguments on the way to church and they have not gotten it resolved. The problem was however, they were supposed to sing a duet in the morning service when they got to church. In God's amazing sovereignty, He had caused the secretary to make a mistake and do a typo in the bulletin. As they sat there before the service started and Mary is steaming against her husband, she notices in the bulletin beside their name where the word duet is supposed to be is not the word duet, duet, duet, duet, duet, duet. In God's amazing way of orchestrating events, she realizes that they will either get up and do a duet or they will get up and continue the duet. She recognizes the irony in that situation reached out for her husband's hand and pointed out the error in the bulletin. They both had a good laugh and began to reconcile with each other in those moments. It's true in the church. God wants us to have a beautiful duet composed of many, many people. God wants us to sing beautifully together, to work beautifully together, to serve, to worship, to love Him, to grow beautifully together in one as one. And we can either make it a beautiful duet or we can make it a duel, the choice is ours. The desire of Christ, however, in His prayer was for unity. But notice, Jesus also lays out for us the basis for unity. He gives us the grounds on which we have unity in Him. Several times, He mentions it, look at verse 11, Jesus says, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world. And I am coming to you, holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one. Here it is, as we are one. So the basis of our unity is the unity that the Trinity experiences. Notice, He says it again in verse 21, that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us. And then He says it again in verse 22, I've given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be one, as we are one. The basis for our unity is the unity that the Father and the Son, and obviously the Holy Spirit, also have in the Trinity. Now think about that for a moment and you'll realize it's a unity of nature. Theologians describe the unity of the Trinity, the unity of the Godhead in the sense that they share the same essence or same nature. God the Father is God. God the Son is God. God the Holy Spirit is God. They all share the same divine nature. And the Bible uses that as an example of our unity. We all have the same nature. So our unity is found in the sense that, as Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4, we are partakers of the divine nature. We've been given a new nature. We've become Christians, believers. We have a new nature. We are new people in Christ and that's part of what forms our unity. We are believers and so we are believers. We have a unity of nature. But there's more than that in the unity and the Trinity. There is also a doctrinal unity in the Trinity. There are no doctrinal disagreements in the Trinity. And that's the kind of unity they have. It's the kind of unity we must have too. You see, the epistles make this clear. It's not real clear here in John 17, but the epistles make this clear. As the apostles write about the unity in the church, they make it clear there are some people who claim to be Christians that we cannot have unity with. And they basically say it's over two issues. First of all, the person in work of Christ, as I mentioned earlier, Paul talks about this. In Colossians, John really focuses on this in his first two epistles, first John and second John, where he says there are people who claim to be followers of Christ, but they don't believe what the Bible teaches about the person and work of Christ. Who he is and what he has done for us on the cross. When someone does not believe what the Bible teaches about the person and work of Christ, we can't have fellowship with them, even if they claim to be Christians. The second thing the apostles really hammer on is the way of salvation. Paul talks about it in the book of Galatians. He says there are some people who claim to be Christians, but they're presenting another gospel, which is not the true gospel. It mixes works in. It teaches you that in order to get to heaven, not only must you trust in Christ, but you've got to do something yourself too. And so anyone who mixes works with grace for salvation is teaching another gospel, a false gospel. We can't have fellowship with them, we can't have unity with them. Paul makes that clear in the book of Galatians and also in the book of Colossians, where some false teaching was troubling the Colossian church as well. So there must be a biblical basis, a doctrinal basis for unity. Now there are other doctrines that we may different disagree on, although we take a stand on certain doctrines in our constitution that we certainly would not want someone to teach against. I don't want someone to stand up and teach in this congregation, charismatic doctrine. I wouldn't want someone to teach that the church will go through the tribulation or that there is no literal reign of Christ on the earth. I wouldn't want someone to teach that Christ only died for a select few and not the whole world. We do take a stand on some of those doctrines that we would not want someone teaching otherwise in our church, but where we must all come together, where we must all make sure that we're in agreement is on the person in work of Christ and the way of salvation. There has got to be agreement or there can't be unity in the church on those foundational issues. So the basis of our unity is unity of nature, but also unity of belief, unity of doctrine, and that's the basis for our unity. Jesus also gives in his high priestly prayer in John 17, the reason for unity. The reason why unity is so important is the reason Jesus gives in verses 21 and 23. That all of them may be one father just as you are in me and I in you. May they also be in us. Here it is so that the world may believe that you have sent me. That's the reason for the testimony to the world. He says it again in verse 23. I and them, you and me, may they be brought to complete unity. To let the world know that you sent me and it loved them even as you've loved me. The reason for unity in the church is to provide a testimony to the world, thus giving us a platform for evangelistic effectiveness. It gives power to the church. It gives effectiveness to the outreach of the gospel when we are unified. When the church is fighting over issues, when the church is fractured and divided and split and splintered, there's no testimony to the world. That really speaks of anything that is compelling to the world. So unity is very important for us to have the kind of power in outreach and evangelistic effectiveness that God wants us to have. That's the result of unity. So Christ prayed for us that we would be one that we would have unity in him. He gave us the basis for that unity and he told us the reason for this is so that you'll have power in your testimony to the world. But there's an example of this kind of unity and an example of what it did in the early church in the book of Acts. There's a tremendous exhibit, an example of unity here. In the early chapters of the book of Acts, there is a lot of evidence of this unity that the early church exhibited. We're going to take just a couple of looks at the evidence of this unity in the Acts chapter 2. Let's begin there. The epinecost, Peter has just preached a great sermon where 3,000 people come to know Jesus as their Savior. And the church is launched on the day of epinecost. And from the very beginning they understood the importance and they exhibited the evidence of this unity in chapter 2. Look at verse 42. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayer. These were common things that they focused on, common purposes they focused on. Devoted themselves to that. Look at verse 43. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers worked together, noticed that unity. Had everything in common, verse 45, selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone as he had need. Verse 46, if every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts, they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. Notice the emphasis on being together, whether it's in the temple or in their homes, they ate together, they worshiped together, they shared together, they fellowshiped together. They had communion together. It was together. They were one, this early church, evidence unity in a tremendous way. And that evidence of unity continues right on through the early chapters of the book of Acts. Chapter 4. Look at verse 23 and 24 of chapter 4. After Peter and John had been arrested for preaching in the temple and healing a man in the temple, they had been thrown in prison, they had been warned and threatened and then let go. Notice what happened in verse 23. On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. The next several verses talk about that prayer. But they prayed together again, that unity of purpose and a prayer and of worship was evident there in the early church. Verse 31 says after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke the Word of God boldly and then look at verse 32. All the believers were one in heart and mind. Again, the evidence of that unity, very strong in the early church, but it would be a mistake to think that everything was nice and calm in the early church. It wasn't. There were challenges to this unity. On many fronts, there were challenges to this unity. The early church was not all smooth sailing. They faced many of the same challenges we faced today. In fact, it was very interesting for me this week to study back through the early chapters of the book of Acts and realize all of the ways that Satan tried to disrupt the unity and effectiveness of the early church. Satan is the author of confusion. He is the author of strife and division and he will do anything he can to cause disunity in the local church. He tried numerous tactics in the early church. Let me recount some of them for you. First of all, there were attacks from without. We see that early on. We saw it in chapter 4 where the apostles were arrested, thrown in jail. Then they were warned not to teach in the name of Jesus anymore. Well, obviously they go out the church unites together in prayer and they continue to preach the gospel. In chapter 5, all the apostles are arrested because of preaching in the temple, thrown in prison, an angel lets them out at night. They go back and preach again in the temple. They are arrested again. This time they are phlogged. They are beaten. The persecution steps up a little bit. First time they are just warned and threatened. Now they are beaten. Then in chapter 7, the religious leaders are being challenged by one of the early leaders of the church, possibly a deepened Stephen. They don't arrest him. They pick up stones and stone him to death. The opposition is increasing. The attacks from without are increased. In chapter 8, there is full blown persecution on the church so much so that everybody except the apostles had to flee Jerusalem for their lives. Satan attacked the church from without. You know what? That was only making the church grow stronger and more committed to reaching others with the gospel. So, Satan even before he finished up with that kind of persecution and that would continue on anyway. But even before he finished up with that, he started trying to attack the church from within. In the early chapters of Acts, you will find at least six things that happened in the church from within. That could have destroyed the unity of the early church. The first one was sin. Chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira lie about what they have given to the church. They lie to the apostles because everybody else is selling property and giving the whole proceeds to the church. In the early excitement of people coming to Christ, many people were losing everything they had. So the church was banding together to help each other. There were some who had property were selling it, giving the whole proceeds to the church. Ananias and Sapphira said, we are going to do the same thing. At least we are going to make it look like. We are doing the same thing. They lied, sold their property, made it appear as though they were doing what everyone else was doing while they kept part of it to themselves. That what Peter called a lie to the Holy Spirit cost them their lives. But the church gathered around and was united in that approach to sin. That attack on the church did not work. But right after that there was a dissension. The second attack from within was dissension. Chapter 6, when some of the widows who are Greeks who are Gentiles, feel like they are being neglected in the daily administration of the church. There is a little bit of racial tension here Greek against Jew. Feeling like because of who we are, we are being neglected. Oh, that thing could have really mushroomed and destroyed the unity of the early church, but the apostles dealt with that quickly. There was dissension in the church. And then the third attack from within was suspicion. A man by the name of Saul who was the chief persecutor of the church comes to Christ. And he shows up in Jerusalem sometime after his conversion. And chapter 9 verse 26 says, when he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. But they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple. See the suspicion there. I don't know what these guys motives are. I don't know what he's really trying to do. And there was some suspicion which could have led to an early rupture in the church, but Barnabas enters the picture and says, well, well, wait a second, your leaders in Jerusalem, this guy is for real. And he calls his Paul to be accepted in the church at Jerusalem, but that suspicion of what are they trying to do? What are his motives? What is she? That suspicion can cause fractures in the church. The next problem arose very quickly in chapter 10 with change and a break from the past. Some great change took place in chapter 10. Peter started taking the gospel to the Gentiles. Wow, what a change that was. And what a break from the past that was up to this point, the gospel had only gone to the Jews. And now Peter is taking a tremendous leap, a change, a break from the past. God has clearly led him to do that, but because it's different because it doesn't fit with what's been done in the past. There are many who are critical of that. Chapter 11, verse 1 says, the apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, you went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them. Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened. And when it became clear that God wanted the gospel to go to the Gentiles, even though that was a great break from the past, the tradition of the Jews. Even though it was a change, something new. When people realized that God was leading in that verse 18 says when they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, so then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life and the church moved on. But there could have been a real rupture in the church over this change and break from the past. But there were other problems that came up. Chapter 15, doctrinal confusion. Some of the same ones who were critical of Peter in chapter 11, there were those who believed that in order to become saved, you had to put yourself under the mosaic law. That was part of it. And so all these Gentiles that were getting saved, we must force them to come under the mosaic law. And there were many in the early church who saw that as, whoa, that is way off the path of the gospel. But it was a problem in the early church because of the Jewish background of most of the believers. And so they had to confront that doctrinal confusion, head on, or they could have had a real rupture again in the unity of the church. And then there was personal disagreement, the sixth attack from within was personal disagreement. At the end of chapter 15, Paul and Barnabas have already been on one missionary trip together and they decided to go on a second one. And Paul does not want to take the coworker they had taken on the first trip. Barnabas is nephew, John Mark. Because John Mark let him down on the first trip. So Paul didn't want to take you. And the Bible says it was such a sharp disagreement that they went separate ways. Now thankfully God used both of them. God used Barnabas to take John Mark and build him up in the faith. Barnabas was an encourager. He was a guy who would give someone a second and third and fourth chance, try to build them up and help them. And God eventually used John Mark in a great way, but God also used Paul and Silas as a good team. And thankfully the church at Annie Ock was not forced into making a choice between the two. They evidently supported both of them. But there could have been a rupture in the church over personal disagreements there. You see a lot of the same things the early church struggled with, we still struggle with today. That can cause division in the body of Christ, whether it's sin or suspicion of one another or dissentions that take place because somebody feels like they're not getting a fair shake or change or break from the past or disagreements with one another or even doctoral confusion. Same things we face today that cause divisions. And some of it can become quite ridiculous. I read this week about a church in the Southern part of the United States that exists no longer because of a church fight and division which was traced back to a fellowship meal. And if this particular fellowship meal, a new family in the church coming to their first church fellowship meal, the woman had brought a red gelatin salad. And it was one of the favorites of their family and she'd brought it put it in the kitchen and went out to join her husband and family out in the fellowship hall when the preacher said amen everybody darted toward the tables and went through the lines and there's just tremendous food there like ours. Our fellowship meals here and enough for everybody but the husband has been noticed that his wife's red gelatin salad was not on the table. So he asked her what happened to your salad. She said well there must be some mistake. Let me go back in the kitchen. It must have just been left back there. She walked into the kitchen just in time to see the queen of the church kitchen, ladling the last of her gelatin salad down into the disposal. She said what are you doing? I brought that for the meal. That's my that's my gelatin salad. And the queen of the church kitchen said your new around here won't take you too long to learn that in this church we use real whipped cream, not cool whipped. Hit the switch and with a girdle the salad was gone. Well that started a disagreement between families which caused other people in the church to take sides. The church wasn't large enough to split but it did. Neither church was strong enough to continue on its own and that church is out of existence today. It is absolutely foolish to some things people fight over in the church. And it's awful easy for me to look at what others disagree over and think that's foolish and have a blind spot to my own sin and my own selfishness and my own wanting my own way. The example of the early church lots of challenges to the unity of the early church but notice if you will the results of this unity we're not going to take the time to look at all of the passages but just as in Christ's prayer if you trace it through this is a fascinating study by the way. Every one of those attacks on the unity of the church when you find that they dealt with it in a way which maintained the unity the church then was blessed and exploded in more growth. Jesus prayed if they have unity Lord help them to have unity so that the world will know so that they will have evangelistic effectiveness and power and every time the early church dealt with it to preserve the unity of the church there was growth. In chapter 4 there was growth in chapter 5 after the anionias and sapphire thing the Bible says everybody had all of the church after they saw how that was dealt with and many people came to the Lord in chapter 6 after the greece and widows thing. The Bible says after they dealt with it appropriately maintained the unity in the church the word of God spread and even many priests came to the faith in chapter 9 after the suspicion of Paul Paul's accepted into the church the church maintains its unity. The Bible says in verse 31 that they had rest and peace and expanded throughout all the area in chapter 11 after they dealt with the issue of Peter going to the Gentiles and dealt with that in a way that maintained the unity of the church the Bible says in verses 18 through 21 of that chapter that the church spread throughout all some area and into Gentile territories and many more people came to the Lord. Exactly what Jesus prayed happened the fact is we are much more effective when we are pulling together when we're pulling together we can do a lot more we can be much more effective than if we're just trying to do something on our own or we're pushing against someone else. Many of you have probably already seen this on the news on September 12. Young man by the name of Brandon Wright was 21 year old Utah State student writing his motorcycle to the computer lab at Utah State and a BMW pulled out in front of him and a horrible wreck ensued both vehicles caught on fire and Brandon Wright was thrown under the vehicle. We're going to watch what happened this little clip begins with Brandon's uncle thanking the people who stepped in to help will see what happened after that wreck. The family Brandon first and foremost his parents is siblings and everyone else are incredibly thankful for these angels who came to visit a yesterday watching the video it gives us chills because it's 90 seconds after this crash happens. People swarm in and they try want to lift this car and they can't get it and then they all just come forward again and they push it off and they they save his life and they risk their lives doing it. The car could have blown up at any time and it was just amazing that they risk their lives 12 people out of many was risk their lives to save Brandon's life. He knows he's been told what's happened he hasn't seen the video I don't know if and when he will see it but he knows that people saved him yesterday and they are heroes and we are extremely thankful and he never expressed enough appreciation as a family for the people who saved Brandon's life yesterday. Really happy to say that Brandon is doing very well considering what happened there yesterday. He has broken bones and bruises and really crashed but the miraculous thing is there's no head trauma there's no nerve damage he's going to make it out of this fine with some recovery and it will take a recovery period but especially considering the fact that he wasn't wearing a helmet it's a pretty remarkable thing he made through and he knows he's lucky and he's thankful for everyone that helped him. You ever tried to lift the car on your own? Doesn't work very well doesn't and even with all the adrenaline pumping when a few people tried to lift it not possible but you get enough people working together and the effectiveness and power is heightened. That's exactly what the Bible teaches will be the result of unity when we are working together when we are pushing together when we're pulling together we can do things we could never do separately. That's what the early church did that's what Jesus prayed would happen the early church's example of unity is powerful so much so that Paul in his writings places an emphasis on unity. I mean when you read the epistles of Paul and you hear this coming up over and over and over and over again you begin to realize wait a second this is pretty important. If Paul would address this with most every church he wrote to this is pretty important. I want us to take a sampling of the times Paul mentions this before you get a feel and a flavor for the power of this Romans chapter 12 and verse 16 these verses will be on the screen we'll move through them quickly. Live in harmony with one another Paul says to the church at Rome do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position do not be conceded. Live in harmony in chapter 14 and verse 19 he tells the same church let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification we saw the verse in chapter 15 but let's look at the next verse 15 5 and 6. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mine toward each other that Christ Jesus had and here's verse 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ but Paul stresses it to the Corinthian church as well which really needed it. First Corinthians chapter 1 he says my brothers and sisters some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you what I mean is this one of you says I follow Paul another says I follow a policy. another I follow Seaphos and still another I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? And then he expands on this in chapter 3 again with this church where he says, for when one says I follow Paul and another I follow a Paulus, are you not mere human beings? What do you mean there's? Aren't you acting like just fleshly, carnal, unsaved people? What after all is a Paulus? What is Paul only servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task? I plan to see a Paulus watered it, but God has been making it grow so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have noticed the unity, one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we art, notice again the unity co-workers in God's service, you are God's field, God's building. Paul stresses the same thing to the next church he writes to, not in chronological order, but in the order of our Bible. Galatians chapter 5, he says, if you bite and devour each other, watch out or you'll be destroyed by each other, because on to say, let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other, the opposite of unity. He writes to the Ephesians the same thing, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. He writes to the Philippians the same thing, Philippians 1, whatever happens he says to them, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit striving together as one for the faith of the gospel. Says it again in chapter 2 to this same church, then make my joy complete by being the white mind of having the same love, being one in Spirit and of one mind. He calls out to ladies at the end of this book in chapter 4, and he says, I plead with Eodia and I plead with Sintica to be of the same mind in the Lord. He writes to the Colossians again the same emphasis on unity, Colossians 3, here in the family of God, in the body of Christ, here in the church. There's no Gentile or Jew, no circumcised or uncircumcised, no barbarian, sithian, slave or free, but Christ is all. And in all, there's no racial, ethnic distinction, nothing like that in the body of Christ. And he goes on to say because of that in verse 15, let the peace of Christ rule. Make the decisions in your hearts because, or since, as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. I mean over and over and over again, Paul is stressing this need for unity in the body of Christ. So the church must have unity to have a dynamic witness for Christ. That is clear in the Bible. It's clear from the prayer of Jesus, it's clear from the example of the early church, it's clear from the teaching of Paul that the church cannot function as it should unless we are united with one another. Now I thank God for the great unity we have enjoyed through the years here. Preacher Jimmy, our founding and beloved pastor, pastor here 37 years, and the church had steady, solid growth and blessing and testimony in the community. And God has continued to bless us through the years with unity in this church. And I am so thankful for that. But unity is something that is very fragile. And when I preach a message like this on unity, it's not because there's stuff going on that you don't know about, but I do. And it's about ready to rip the church apart. It's not that. It's that I recognize unity is something that is very fragile. It must be worked at to maintain it. And so let me just make you aware of issues on the horizon right now, issues that we face right now that if we don't handle them properly could cause disunity, could cause a rupture in the unity of this church, traditional contemporary. You know the Bible doesn't say anything about style of worship or style of music. It talks about the content and it talks about the heart of worship. And both styles are legitimate expressions of a heart for God. So traditional service people shouldn't look at people in this service and say, well they're not as spiritual as we are. They're just, they're little wild out there. And people in this service who may prefer contemporary worship should not look at traditional service people and say, well those old stodgy people don't know what their life of the spirit is all about. No, don't create those kinds of divisions. Style of worship is a personal preference and both styles can be beautiful adequate heartfelt expressions of loving Christ. So let's let them alone as far as the battle between the two. No need to do that. I can sing how great thou art and be moved to tears at that old hymn. I can sing all the contemporary songs we sing here and sometimes I have to stop singing because my heart is so full. Same thing. But if the focus is on God, it's not on the style. Don't make a division over the style. We have Bible fellowships. We're starting small groups. Both of those are expressions of opportunities to grow. Not one better than the other. It's not like well Bible fellowships are doing it right. No, small groups will really do it. That's not the issue. Some folks may want a more relational, casual setting like a small group. Others want the more structured setting of a Bible fellowship. Both are wonderful opportunities for people to grow and we ought to make both of them as good as we possibly can. We need to be no tension between the two. No division, no strife. We have a variety of church ministries here at the chapel. And there's no reason for any of those ministries to pit themselves against each other. There's no reason for anybody to think of my ministry as being more important than anybody else's ministry. This is what one's really doing the job. By the way, there are no my ministries in this church. There are God's ministries. Different people who may lead them. That's wonderful. But there's no ministry in this church. It's mine. There's nothing in this church. It's mine. Nothing in this church that's yours. It's God's. He's the head. We're just the bodily members that carry out his instructions. So it's all his. So there ought to be no conflict between ministries in the church. There are lots of personal issues that we can bring into the family of God. Disagreements, suspicions, the sentience that we can bring into the family and cause division with. There ought to be none of that. There are different styles and ministries even of the pastors in this church. We're all very different. They have noticed. We're all very different. And that's a good thing. Because it brings fresh perspectives to every time we put our heads together to seek to do ministry here. But there can't be anything in the church like what was going on in Corinth. Well, I like so and so better. I think he's do I. No, no, that's the Paul Apollos, Cephas Christ deal, just like it was going on in Corinth. There should be none of that in the body of Christ. We have different personalities. We have different gifts. We have different focus in our ministries. We don't all do the same things. We can't. We're a team. We're supposed to be doing different things. And so there's no there should be no party spirit of choosing one pastor over another or even us feeling like one of us is more important than the other. It should be none of that. We're in a building program yet. Notice most churches, the number one calls of strife in a church is a building program. You do understand, don't you, that nobody gets everything they want in a building program. You do understand that, don't you? So if when the whole thing is done, you don't like the color of the carpet or you don't like the kind of thing, the light that was put up or the color of whatever, or whatever it may be, I thought it was going to be. Please understand nobody gets everything they want at a building program. I won't get everything I want. Neither will the chairman of the building committee. Neither will anybody else in this church. Not the way those things work, but we can't let those kinds of things cause division and strife. We must recognize the importance is not over what kind of building we have. That's just a tool. The importance is common beliefs and the the personal work of Christ and the gospel, the way of salvation and a personal goal, a united goal and purpose of reaching the lost for Christ, building up believers in Him, causing us to serve Him. That's what we're all about. It's not the building. It's the beliefs and the purposes of this church. That is what brings us unity. May God help us to be aware of anything that Satan may try to do like you did in the early church to tear us up and tear us apart. May God help us to defeat that and maintain the unity. Keep the focus on what we need to keep the focus on. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the example of the early church and the great unity that was there in the body of Christ. And I pray, Father, that we would experience and express that same unity today. May we recognize that it is not important that we all agree on everything, but that we have the same goal, purpose, and that sharing common beliefs in the person and work of Christ and the way of salvation we move forward to a common belief. We move forward to accomplish what you would have us to here. Thank you, Father, for the unity you've given us through the years, and we pray that you will always protect us from Satan's strategies to create discord and dissension in this body. May we move forward as one, effectively and powerfully reaching our world. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.