Unity in Diversity
Pastor Ryan Akers
Good morning Sand Lake! Happy Father’s Day! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here this morning to have the opportunity to share God’s Word with you. It’s been a really fun weekend getting to meet and know a bunch of you and then this morning trying to shake a lot of hands and say hi to everyone. My only hope is that you won’t quiz me on your name later. And now that I have just said that I am sure some of you will. 200+ names is a lot to remember in a day.
A couple weeks ago my wife and I were up here and had dinner with the search committee. It was the first time we have been to Wisconsin and of course you hear the name of a state like Wisconsin and you immediately, for some reason, expect to see arctic weather. But when we were here it was sunny and hot. My wife and I were just blown away by how beautiful this area of the country is. I grew up in western Oklahoma where there is absolutely nothing but wheat fields with 100 degree heat and 100 % humidity and coulee to us is just a funny way of describing a box that holds ice and cold drinks. No scenery whatsoever. My wife had it a little bit better than me. She grew up in Colorado Springs, CO and had a beautiful view of Pike’s Peak right out her living room window.
Even though I have never been to Wisconsin I actually have family here. My grandfather, who past away 5 years ago, grew up in West Bend which is on the east side of the state north of Milwaukee. So if any of you are my family that I have never met I just want to say it’s nice to meet you and I’d like to talk to you after the service about the 29 years of Christmas gifts you owe me. ☺
The message this morning is very simply titled Unity in Diversity. Ephesians 4:1(READ). The apostle Paul is the author of this letter. He is speaking to the believers of the church at Ephesus and it’s incredibly important to grasp what he is setting up in this first verse. Paul is suffering for Jesus. He wrote this letter while chained in prison for Jesus. No human suffered more than Paul for the faith. Many have died yes, but most have never endured his constant torture of imprisonment, loneliness, stonings, shipwrecks, whippings, conflict, hunger on and on the list goes. He has endured all of this pain for the cause of Christ. To advance the Gospel. He has led a life worthy of his calling because through all of his suffering and persecution he has remained faithful to Jesus by continuing to preach the Gospel wherever he goes and to encourage the church. Now, in his letter to his fellow believers in Ephesus he is not asking them he is begging them to live a life worthy of their calling just as he has.
What is that calling that Paul is begging us to follow? Jesus said it. Love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. It is also to go and preach the Gospel to all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
This plea from Paul to the believers brings up the BIG QUESTION I have for you this morning. Is your life worthy of the Gospel? Is how you are living your life, how you treat people, love people or don’t, how you talk, act, react worthy of the Gospel? If you have been called by God meaning you are a Christian who has repented and believes in Jesus for salvation and forgiveness of sin then you have a calling to follow and Paul is begging you this morning to make your life worthy of the Gospel by living out that calling.
That means you and I are to be different. We approach life different, look at problems different, speak to people different because we are following the calling of Christ. We are in the world but we are not of the world. We ourselves, each one of us are different but we are brought together by Jesus, formed into one body through Jesus, give our lives to live out God’s calling in order to glorify Jesus. Our ability to unite and work together for one common purpose even though we are so incredibly different as people is one of the reasons I absolutely love the local church. I mean think about this. Everybody in this room has had completely different life experiences. I am someone who is absolutely fascinated by people’s stories. If we get the opportunity to get to know one another beyond just today then you will see that when we hang out I want you to talk about you. I want to know how God saved you and brought you here. I am fascinated to hear about the path God has led you down that have brought you to this place on this Sunday sitting in that chair looking up at me. How did you get here? We have all experienced different hurts, tragedies, gone to different schools, lived in different states, made different choices, had different friends, experienced different up bringing through vastly different home environments and yet here we are all together on June 21st 2009 at Sand Lake Wesleyan Church reading God’s Word united as Christ body. Is it coincidence? Or did God, just maybe, direct our paths to this place at this time for a specific reason?
I don’t believe in coincidence. You aren’t here by accident. We are here together for a purpose and that purpose is to love God, love others and to boldly proclaim his truth which is the good news of salvation found in Jesus Christ. He has brought this group together under this roof because he knew in his divine wisdom that you guys could work together in this community to ensure that the great commission and the great commandment are fulfilled.
Have you always got along? I doubt it. Because we are all so different we will definitely have times of tension, frustration, disagreements. Every one of us approach problems differently and have different opinions on how situations should be handled or what kind of music there should be or what ministries should be started or how money should be spent. And you know what I say about all of that? Awesome. That’s good because it takes all kinds of people with all kinds of gifts and all different personalities and different ways to look at the same situation to fullfill the great commandment and the great commission. It is good because it shows us that there is a place for every one of us in this body and not just a place only for those who think the same, talk the same, and act the same like robots.
The real question is are we driven by the gospel or by our own personal wants and desires? Because a church driven by the people and not by the gospel is a church that will not stand. But a church and its people who are unified by Jesus living lives worthy of the gospel just as Paul did will see miracles happen they never thought possible. Sand Lake, are you living a life worthy of the Gospel? Right about now you might be wondering, “How do I live a life that is worthy of the Gospel?” Lucky for you Paul tells us the how in VSS. 2-3. Paul list 5 things we can check ourselves on. Sort of a spiritual self-examination. You can look at these and ask yourself, “Do I see these virtues coming out of my life?” If you do then you are well on your way to living a life worthy of the Gospel.
Humility- Is your life full of humility or is it full of pride and arrogance? Humility is the flagship of all Christian virtues. Phil. 2:3 says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” Humility characterized our savior. Jesus says in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” I Peter 5:5-6 says, “…serve each other in humility, for ‘God opposes the proud but favors the humble.’ So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.” Do we live our lives treating others better than ourselves or are we proud? We want the attention. We want people to look at us and how great a leader we are. Or we are proud in that we think we are always right and you are always wrong? Or we are proud in how much money we give or how many ministries we volunteer in or how holy we are? The people I have looked up to the most as spiritual mentors have always been first and foremost the most humble people I have known. Are you proud or are you humble? Humility is essential if there is to be unity in the body among such diverse people.
Gentle- A gentle person does not let emotions control them. They are servants of others. Jesus said he was humble and gentle. Paul uses the idea of being gentle in 2 Timothy. He is speaking about how pastors and church leaders are to deal with those who oppose the Gospel. He says, “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth.” When we describe someone as gentle we also tend to assume they are weak. Men especially don’t want to be known as gentle. We want to be known as strong, tough, macho, and rugged. But being a person who is gentle is not a sign of weakness. On the contrary understanding and living a life where you treat others gently is a sign of strength. The weak person is the one who is controlled by their emotions. The gentle person is strong because they can control their emotions. Chuck Swindoll once said, “ In our rough and rugged individualism, we think of gentleness as weakness, being soft, and virtually spineless. Not so! …Gentleness includes such enviable qualities as having strength under control, being calm and peaceful when surrounded by a heated atmosphere, emitting a soothing effect on those who may be angry or otherwise beside themselves, and possessing tact and gracious courtesy that causes others to retain their self-esteem and dignity…Instead of losing, the gentle gain. Instead of being ripped off and taken advantage of, they come out ahead!” Are you a person who is humble and gentle to all? Control not by your emotions but controlled by the Holy Spirit? If so you are well on your way.
Patience- “Be patient with each other.” This means don’t have a short fuse. Don’t jump the gun. Don’t assume something to be true when you don’t have all the facts. Are you a patient person or are you normally one that is quick to anger. I used to struggle with patience. To a degree it is still something I have to work through. But, not in the way I used to. There are times when I get impatient. (Timely person, mom always making us wait for her) Spiritually- impatient waiting for God to answer me, or impatient with a person who continues to struggle, why don’t they see the light? Impatient with criticism- (best advice given- wait 3 days)
All of that used to get to me but the Lord has revealed something to me about having patience especially with people. God has been incredibly patient with me, what in the world gives me the right to ever be impatient with anyone? God waited patiently for me to believe in him. To repent, ask for forgiveness and submit to his authority. God still to this day is patient with me. When I sin, give into temptation it is my loving and patient God who is there for me. He is not quick to anger. He doesn’t say,” Well I have forgiven you this sin 30 times forget it you are a lost cause I have lost patience with you.” Instead he loves me. He picks me back up and he brushes me off. He sends me on my way to try again, to live and love for him again. Our God is so patient with us. He has saved us from hell. How could we ever believe that we have the right to get impatient with anyone? We can’t. We must be patient with all people. Why? Because all people are imperfect. Mistakes will always happen. People will let you down. Until Jesus comes again sin will abound in man.
Becoming a parent has taught me so much about my relationship with God and patience. I look at my children and I know that if I were put into a situation where I had to choose to save my life or my children’s lives I would always choose to save my children and sacrifice my own. And what I find fascinating about parenting is that even though my children have blatantly disobeyed many times, multiple times a day at the end of the day I would still, without a second of hesitation, give my life for them. Why? Because I love them with a love that is beyond comprehension. It is unconditional. It is this love that allows me to have unending patience for my children. It is this love that helps me wake up everyday and continue to teach them, guide them, give them advice hoping they will listen and obey because I know what is the correct path for them to take in life and it is this same love on an even greater level that God has shown to us. Even though you and I blatantly disobey him every day, go against his will for us, at the end of the day Jesus still died for us. He is still patient with us, he still longs for us to come to him and become his children. That love and patience is what we must show others. People make mistakes, we must be patient.
Each of you will make mistakes within this body of believers. You will say things you wish you wouldn’t have. You will selfishly push things to happen that God has not blessed. You will insult others whether on accident or on purpose. You will lose your cool, get in arguments, debate and openly disagree. It will always be like this. Believe it or not no matter who stands up here as the pastor they too will make mistakes. They will say and do things they shouldn’t have said and done. But we must be above the world which says eye for an eye and we must be like Jesus who fulfilled the law and said love everyone, be patient to all, turn the other cheek, and live with humility by treating others as better than yourself. Going along with patience Paul next says, “make allowance for each other’s faults.” As I said mistakes will happen. The church remains unified not because mistakes never happen and it’s a perfect church. Unity in the body remains because the people have learned how to deal with difficulty and disagreements as one. (School closing- smeared in the paper by Christians, gave them $100,000 in equipment- could have made it an us verses them but instead we chose to love and we helped them) Relationships were mended, forgiveness was given, and allowance was made for others mistakes. Why? I already said it. But I will let the bible say it for me. Romans 3, “ “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
God loved us all so much that he died for us. Likewise we must not let ourselves grow so angry, so arrogant, so impatient, and so stubborn that we refuse to make allowance for others when they make mistakes because we ourselves are just as guilty. We too deserve the worst of all punishments. Paul the Apostle to whom all Christians look to as an example of faith. The man who wrote most of the New Testament said of himself I Timothy 1:5, “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.”
Finally Paul says we do all of this because of love. We are humble, gentle, patient, forgiving because of love. Not a love that is based on conditions that says if you do this then I will love you. If you obey me then I will love you. It is instead a love like God has given us. Free gift. No strings attached. Full of grace and mercy. Now here is the thing you have to grasp. There is nothing you can do to earn these virtues. There is no amount of works that you could accomplish to give you humility or patience. You can never work hard enough to earn gentleness and love. So quit trying. If you want to be a person who lives a life worthy of the Gospel then you must be a person who is completely surrendered to Jesus. If the sin of arrogance, anger, stubbornness, gossip, and revenge are ravaging your life this morning I would implore you to come to the cross and repent. Ask the lord to forgive you and then go and make peace with whomever you need to make peace with. It is only through Jesus we have any hope in this life. It is only through Jesus that we have any chance of becoming the men or women that God so patiently desires for us to become.
Without peace in the body we can never be unified. We can never truly do God’s work. Paul says that in verse 3, “3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” The body of Christ will be unified when the individuals in that body are living lives worthy of the Gospel. Lives of humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. When they come together they are bound by peace. Will trouble arise? You bet. No doubt. Why? Because you and I face a spiritual battle. Sin still exists. Temptation still exists. We still live as imperfect people capable of falling at any moment. But here is the really cool thing. When you fall into temptation. And give into gossip, anger, impatience, prides on and on the list goes you don’t have to fight it alone. You can joyfully give thanks to God for his forgiveness and for leading you to a place like Sand Lake Wesleyan Church where people do not judge you, they love you. When you fall they don’t condemn you they pray for you, pick you right back up and help you keep moving forward. When we disagree we don’t form factions and cliques. That’s the world’s way of dealing with problems. That’s the coward’s way. No, because you are my brother in Christ or my sister in Christ, and because I love God with all my heart soul and mind and because I want you to grow into the man or woman God desires for you to be and because I want to live a life worthy of the Gospel I refuse to do what the world would do by gossiping and forming cliques in the body and instead I will come to you be honest with you pray with you and together with the help of the Holy Spirit we will overcome whatever difficulty or disagreement we have. Because people are going to hell everyday and life is too short to waste my time and your time and especially God’s time arguing and not getting along with the people that will no doubt be my next-door neighbor in eternity.
Paul says in verse 5, “For there is one body and one spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.”
There is one life, one chance. We are all different yet we are united because we worship together as one body. We worship one God, we all hope for the same glorious ending in heaven. We celebrate the same faith and hope in the one true savior Jesus and we are all admitted into the church by one baptism. Are you living a life worthy of the Gospel, worthy of your calling? Or is anger, hate, gossip, tension, and sin separating you from God, your family or even your church family? My passion as a pastor is to develop in the church body what I call an atmosphere of confession. Where we as the body can openly and honestly speak our minds and hearts to other Christians. Where we can confess our sins to one another without fear of judgment and condemnation and where the believers will rally around us, pray over us and help us overcome the sin that is holding us back from living our lives worthy of the Gospel. After all if you can’t be honest with another believer and openly talk about your disagreements and your sins who in the world are you supposed to talk to? Be humble, be gentle, be patient, make allowance for others mistakes, and above all else, love, just as Jesus has loved us.
I told you I was going to preach this morning. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. I don’t know what’s going on in your life. I don’t know what’s going on in this church. This is simply the message God has laid on my heart to preach.
I hope and pray that God has spoken to you this morning. I hope you will answer the spirit if he is speaking to you and if you find yourself guilty of the sin I have spoken about, if you find yourself guilty of not living your life in such a way worthy of the gospel, if you find yourself not putting God first in everything this morning that you would cry out to him. Repent. Give your life to him and serve him with everything you have. Whether I become your next pastor or not I desperately want to see you, my brothers and sisters in Christ destroy this city with the love of Jesus.
Thank you.
