PERFECT HARMONY
ROMANS 12:16
Introduction: In music harmony is the blending of simultaneous sounds of different pitch or quality, making chords pleasing to the ear. Harmony is a pleasing or congruent combination of elements in a whole. Harmony is not the playing of a singular note but of different notes blending together to convey the beautiful music of the composer. The church is called by God as a body of different members of every size, shade, shape, and temperament to blend together in perfect harmony to deliver the beautiful music of the Divine Composer.
I. Harmony in our Devotion (our Love for Christ)
A. Colossians 3:14 “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
B. The one beat of the church’s heart should be the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart of the church is Christ.
C. Ephesians 4:4-5a “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord…”
D. The church needs to love Christ unconditionally resulting in worship that never ends, and an intimate prayer life; making Him a part everything in our lives.
E. 1 John 4:17-21 “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
F. To love God is to delight in God and demonstrated by two things – obedience to His commands and love for the Body of Christ – the church.
G. 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.”
H. The expressions of the church’s love can be and are as diversified as the members of the church. As such there must be the harmonious recognition and acceptance of these differences as being equally valid expressions of love and worship.
II. Harmony in our Direction (our commitment to Christ)
A. Philippians 1:27 “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,
B. The heart of the church is Christ and the focus of the church is the building of the kingdom.
C. One thousand church attendees were asked the question, "Why does the church exist?" Eighty-nine percent said that the church’s purpose was “to take care of MY family’s and MY spiritual needs.” Only eleven percent said that the purpose of the church was “to win the world for Jesus Christ.” - Spirit of Revival & Awakening, June 1999, p. 27-28.
D. Jesus commissioned his followers to carry on the same mission to which his life was dedicated. The church’s purpose is to express and carry out the will of Jesus Christ, the Head of the body.
E. Romans 12:4-9a “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy.”
F. God made each of us different for a reason. Just as an orchestra is enhanced by the various instruments, so the body of Christ forms a melodious whole when it works together as God intended. God made you unique. He will use that uniqueness to reveal himself to others if you let him.
G. Diversity is necessary to the functioning of the church and its work in the world. Each of us is given unique gifts by the Holy Spirit, and we should desire that each of us utilize our gifts.
III. Harmony in our Desire (our prayer to Christ)
A. Acts 4:23-31 “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord (in a wonderful harmony of prayer) and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have said: ’Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ "For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
B. Who can say what power a church could develop and exercise if it gave itself to the work of prayer day and night for God’s power on His servants and His word, and for the glorifying of God in the salvation of souls? Most churches think their members are gathered into one simply to take care of and build up each other. They do not know that God rules the world by the prayers of His saints, that prayer is the power by which Satan is conquered, that by prayer the Church on earth has as its disposal the powers of the heavenly world. – Andrew Murray, The Power of Unified Prayer
C. Matthew 18:19 “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”
D. God delights in the unity of His people, and He does everything in His power to promote that unity, and so He especially honors unity in prayer. There is power in the prayer of one true believer: there is far more power in the united prayer of two, and greater power in the united prayer of still more. But it must be real unity. This comes out in the exact words our Lord uses. He says, "If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." It is one of the most frequently misquoted and most constantly abused promises in the whole Bible. It is often quoted as if it read this way, "If two of you on earth agree to ask anything, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." But it actually reads, "If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." Someone may say, "I do not see any essential difference." Let me explain it to you. Someone else has a burden on his heart, he comes to you and asks you to unite with him in praying for deliverance and you consent, and you both pray for it. Now you are "agreed" in praying, but you are not agreed at all "about anything" you ask. He asks for it because he intensely desires it; you ask for it simply because he asks you to ask for it. You are not at all agreed "about anything" you ask. But when God, by His Holy Spirit, puts the same burden on two hearts, and they thus in the unity of the Spirit pray for the same thing, there is not power enough on earth or in hell to keep them from getting it. Our Heavenly Father will do for them the thing that they ask.” – RA Torrey, How to Pray
IV. Harmony in our Declaration (our message of Christ)
A. 1 Corinthians 1:10 “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
B. There is only one message that unites God’s people and fulfills the church’s mission. Only one message saves sinners, and brings them safely into the presence of God. We have only one message to proclaim – the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s why the church is here – to deliver the message that is the hope of the world.
C. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
D. “The commission and command—‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15)—is given not to the apostles exclusively, but to the whole church and all its members. Every member has the right and the obligation to make known this great salvation to his fellow humans.” – copied
E. Each of the Gospels has its own emphasis on the ministry of Christ. Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, emphasizes Jesus’ fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, proving that He is the long-awaited Messiah, the King of the Jews. Mark writes a fast-paced, condensed account, presenting Jesus as the Obedient Servant recording Jesus’ miraculous deeds and not recording His long discourses. Luke portrays Jesus the Son of Man, the Perfect Man, as the remedy of the world’s ills, emphasizing His perfect humanity and humane concern for the weak, the suffering, and the outcast. John emphasizes Jesus’ deity, the Son of God, by selecting many conversations and sayings of Jesus on the subject and also including “signs” that prove He is the Son of God. The Four Gospels work together to provide a complete testimony of Jesus, a beautiful portrait of the God-Man. Although the Gospels differ slightly in theme, the central Subject is the same. All present Jesus as the One who died to save sinners. All record His resurrection. Whether the writers presented Jesus as the King, the Servant, the Son of Man, or the Son of God, they had the common goal—that people believe in Him. – copied
F. The method and manner of presentation may vary but message must always be one!
