Be United With One Another Series

One weekend, a pastor was giving a children’s sermon to all the kids in church. A bright-eyed three-year-old girl was listening intently as he explained how God wanted them all to get along and to love one another. She was tracking with her pastor until he said, “God wants us all to be one.” The little girl stood up and loudly protested, “But I don’t want to be one. I want to be four!”

Unfortunately, this girl might be speaking for many of us who don’t want to be one either. It’s much easier to splinter into four groups, or forty groups, or four hundred groups, or 4,000 different groups. While it’s difficult to get an exact count because the number keeps going up, there are thousands of different denominations and religious groups in the United States alone.

Because we’re going through a few of the “one another” statements in our sermon series, I decided to write them all out, but ran out of room. This phrase occurs 100 times in the New Testament, making up 59 specific commands. Last weekend, we handed out puzzle pieces to help establish this truth: God has placed you to live out your purpose in this place for His pleasure. Today, we’ll consider how we can be united with one another.

Let’s begin with a brief survey of some verses which speak of the importance of unity.

• Judges 20:11: “So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.”

• 2 Chronicles 30:12: “…The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD.”

• Psalm 133:1: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.”

• Jeremiah 32:38-39: “And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.”

• John 10:16: “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

• Romans 15:5-6: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• 1 Corinthians 1:10-11: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

• Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

• Philippians 1:27: “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”

• Philippians 2:2: “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

• 1 Peter 3:8: “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.”

How are you doing in your quest for unity within the community of faith? Would you say Edgewood is united as one person so we can, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Are we living together with unity of mind and singleness of heart as we go with the gospel message?

These are tough questions to answer, aren’t they? Left to ourselves, we don’t automatically drift toward unity. In fact, our default setting is disunity. History is littered with a lack of harmony among humans.

The good news is we’re not the first group of believers to display dissonance. Even the disciples, who spent three years with Jesus, demonstrated more discord than accord. James and John caused envy and jealousy when they wanted to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in His coming kingdom.

Unbelievably, right after Jesus celebrated His last supper with His followers, while they were still at the table, Luke 22:24 says, “A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.” After washing their feet and explaining He was about to offer Himself as their sin substitute, they can only think about which one of them was the greatest. Their selfishness led to a “dispute,” which means, “strife, faction and dissension.” More literally it means, “a love of contention.” The disciples were divided on the very night Jesus was preparing to deliver His life for them.