Keeping Harmony In The Church Series

INTRODUCTION

„X We have been looking at When God Builds a Church. Today we will move to the principle of harmony.

„X How many of you have been a part of a church, organization, or team where there were problems. People were fighting because they had different ideas about what the organization was supposed to do.

„X It becomes like a tug-of-war.

„X We are blessed to have a good spirit of harmony at ACC. We have wonderful leaders who model it and a great group of people who want to see our church continue to carry out its¡¦ mission to reach lost people with the Gospel.

„X Today I hope as we look at the principle of harmony, that we will all look within ourselves to see what we can to help ACC maintain and promote harmony.

SERMON

I. THE CONCEPT OF HARMONY

1. What is harmony?

„X If we are going to strive for harmony, we need to know what it is.

„X Harmony is defined as follows: 1- Agreement in feeling or opinion, accord, 2- a pleasing combination of elements in a whole.

„X Picture if you will an orchestra. Let¡¦s say they are going to play a Tchaikovsky¡¦s Swain Lake. The performance begins. It is beautiful. Then the strings section decides to play Take Me Out To The Ballpark. The horns decide to play Amazing Grace. The violinist decides to play some fiddle music. What would you have? A mess!

„X When the all the parts of the orchestra are on the same page, the performance is a good one.

„X In sports, if all the players are not headed in the same direction, if each individual player has their own agenda, the team will not succeed. I have seen teams who had individuals who were worried who was getting the points instead of being focused on winning.

„X Within the church, being in harmony means we are all striving for the same goal and of one mind in doing it. We set aside any personal agendas for the good of the church and its mission.

„X The early church in Acts 2 was of one mind. (Acts 2:46). They were marching to the same beat focused on the same goals. God was blessing what they were doing.

2. Why is harmony such an important part of God¡¦s Church?

„X A lack of harmony will damage our mission. If we all have different agendas, it will be hard to focus on what we are called to do.

„X If we have various agendas, it will cause strife within the church. Who wants to come to a fighting church?

„X Let us look at James 4:1-3. READ. People were focused on what they wanted instead of what God wanted.

„X In the night Jesus was to be crucified, Jesus prayed for His disciples. He prayed for one thing, one thing that would show the world that God had truly sent His Son.

„X What was the one thing needed to prove the deity of Jesus? The ability to perform miracles? Powerful preaching? A worship band?

„X Look at John 17:20-21 with me. READ

„X Jesus prayed for harmony!

„X A spirit of harmony will ensure we are all working toward the same goals.

„X The mission of this church is stated in the bulletin each week. The purpose of this church is to glorify God through making disciples of Jesus Christ. When we are a part of the Auburn Christian Church, this should be what we are working toward.

„X If we are in harmony, we will all be striving to fulfill that goal. If our programs are in harmony with the statement, they will help work toward that goal.

„X Our leadership is keenly aware of the purpose of the church and they make decisions based on that purpose. If the leadership is not in harmony, many bad things can happen.

„X I have been around some who think the church should be a political machine or a social change machine. We need to be involved in these things, but we must be in harmony with what we are called to do. As we reach people, some of the other things will start to change one person at a time.

„X We must always be committed to keeping the main thing the main thing.

II. THREATS TO HARMONY

1. False teaching. Acts 20:29-31

„X In Acts 20:29-31 Paul warns the church at Ephesus about people who would come in and try to sway them away with false teaching.

„X ACTS 20:29-31 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.