(I went over to the thermostat on the wall that we have on stage)
Over here on the wall we have a box.
I look closely here and I see a number.
It says “70”. What does that mean?
That’s right – it means that that’s the temperature here on stage.
Now is that the temperature on the outside? (It was 35 outside)
No? Why?
Because in this box there is not only a thermometer, but also a thermostat.
A thermometer tells me HOW hot or cold it is on stage.
A thermostat allows me to CONTROL how hot or cold it is.
Now… hold that thought for a moment.
APPLY: Today is a special day for us.
This is our Unity Worship service.
It’s the day when we deliberately gather the people from 3 different languages into ONE combined worship service.
Now, that took some extra work
The English and Spanish worship teams had to get together to practice songs.
We had to go to Burmese congregation and see what songs they knew that we could sing
And we had to buy transmitters so we could translate the worship service into Spanish/Burmese
It is extra work for Mosi (our Burmese translater) and Max (our Spanish translator)
That’s a lot of extra work isn’t it??
But all three congregations saw this as an important time.
A time when we gathered together in unity to worship God.
A time when we declare to the world… we are ONE church!!!!
In our text this morning we have the most unusual command from God.
He commands us to be
“EAGER to MAINTAIN the UNITY of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3
Notice that word EAGER.
God wants us to be eager to be united as Christians.
Whether we speak English/ Spanish/ Burmese – or any of 1000s other languages
Then notice that word “MAINTAIN”
We must not only be eager… we must WORK at maintaining that unity.
And that involves more than just having a unified worship service once a year.
God is commanding us to WORK at being ONE church… all the time.
Now, how are we going to do that?
Ephesians 4:2 tells us we accomplish that “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love”
Now, I’m a preacher and I could preach a whole hour just on that one verse (pause)
But all that can be summed up in one word: Love.
If you love someone you’ll be humble with them.
You’ll be gentle with them.
You’ll be patient with them.
You’ll “put up with them”.
And as Christians we should do love that way because we ALL belong to the same Jesus.
ILLUS: Back in 1945, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Jackie Robinson to play for them. Now people that don’t know much about baseball that may not seem all that important. But back then, it was very important – because Jackie Robinson was a black man… and black men were not allowed to play ball with white men. The owner of the Dodgers told Robinson he intended to change baseball/ break racial barrier. But Robinson would have to expect to be mistreated, insulted and endure potential death threats AND he would not be allowed to fight back or defend himself
Every town the Dodgers traveled to - when Robinson came up to bat - he had to dodge fastballs pitched at his head. And when he played 2nd base, runners would try to cut him with their spikes as they slid into that base. And the crowds would boo him and insult and call him all kinds of nasty things.
In a game they played in Boston during his 2nd year with the Dodgers, the insults and taunts became almost unbearable. It was at that point the short stop… a white southern boy named Pee Wee Reese called time out and walked over to Robinson… and put his arm around him.
In that simple gesture Pee Wee Reese was telling the crowd
“This is my friend. This is my teammate. And I stand with him.”
From that point on the crowd settled down and backed off their insults.
It was such a powerful gesture that there’s a statue in New York that commemorates it.
(http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/04/where_ken_burns_jackie_robinson_documentary_goes_awry.html)
That’s what God is calling US as Christians to do.
God wants us to tell this world (by how we treat each other) that we STAND together.
We are HIS people and we will protect and encourage each other.
You see –the world can be a very harsh and cruel and mean place.
If you are look different…
If you talk different…
If you think different…
People will often mistreat you and reject you.
Because they just don’t like you – you’re different.
But God has made it clear – that’s not supposed to happen in His Church.
Jesus said “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
In 1 John 2:10 we’re told “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.”
And again – “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” 1 John 4:20
Now, why is that so important to God?
It’s important because that’s why He died for you… He loved you.
“For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
You see – as Christians - we are supposed to represent THIS God that loves people.
But churches often don’t do that… they don’t always show love to each other.
Someone once said that
"The church is something like Noah's ark.
If it weren't for the storm outside, you couldn't stand the smell inside."
Too often, Christians stink up the church by how they treat each other.
And the world looks at that and says: "That’s not love! And if these are God’s people and that’s how they treat each other then I don’t want their God."
God knew that was going to happen.
Jesus died to save sinners.
How many of you here are sinners (they all held up their hands)
Too often Christians fall back into their sinful lifestyle and end up not loving each other as they ought.
And when that happens - we stink up His church.
And so God commanded us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:3
ILLUS: Do you remember at the beginning of this sermon that I made a big deal about thermostats?
What do thermostats do? (control how hot or cold it is).
What God’s telling us in Ephesians is – when things get too hot or too cold in the church - He expects YOU (and I) to be thermostats.
He expects us to deliberately and eagerly change the temperature in the room.
God didn’t call you to be a THERMOMETER and sit around and complain about how uncomfortable you are.
He called us to get up out of our seats and change the temperature in the room.
And the only way you & I are going to do that is to bear with one another in love.
To be humble and gentle and patient with each other
God wants us to be EAGER to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This idea of unity in His church is VERY important to God.
And here in Ephesians God explains that just HOW important that Unity is.
We’re told that unity is at the heart of everything He’s done with us:
“There is ONE body Ephesians 4:4
How many bodies do YOU have? (One)
Jesus only has ONE body too – it's called the church.
Do you know how many bodies I have?
Only one.
If I had another body, do you think I’d be wearing this one?
If I had another one in the closet – it would be handsome and be rippling with muscles.
(I struck a pose)
Actually it’s not all that much different than the body I have now!
There’s only ONE body for Jesus… it's His ONE Church.
And that one Body (the Church) has ONE Spirit. Ephesians 4:4
The Spirit of God is our power source – that’s how we “plug in” to God.
Look at these electrical plugs along the wall.
I could plug a fan into the one on this side and you could plug a heater in on that side.
But we’d all drawing the electricity from one source.
The Spanish Church meets at 1 pm
The Burmese at 2pm
And the English speaking church meets at other times
But we’re all plugged in to the same Spirit.
“You were called to the ONE hope that belongs to your call” Ephesians 4:4
We have ONE HOPE and that hope is our resurrection from the dead and eternity with Jesus in heaven. You can’t get that HOPE anywhere else but in Jesus.
No one else gives that promise… no one else can give us that guarantee.
And our guarantee of Hope in the resurrection and eternal life is based on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.
He made a promise: “"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1-3
THAT’S OUR HOPE… and it’s based on Christ’s promise,
We have “ONE Lord” Ephesians 4:5
That’s Jesus.
He owns EVERYTHING,
He owns you.
He owns me.
He owns this building,
He owns our families, He owns our cars, our houses.
You name it… He owns it.
Every church MUST ANSWER to Jesus… because He is LORD
I don’t run this church.
The Elders don’t run this church.
There’s NO family rich enough or powerful enough to run this church.
Do you know why?
It’s because this church belongs to Jesus… He is LORD!
We have “ONE faith” Ephesians 4:5
Our faith is in Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead.
BUT some people put their faith in themselves. They believe their “good deeds” will make them “righteousness”.
But the Bible tells us – you and I can never be good enough, to be good enough.
We’ve all sinned.
We’ve all messed up.
And that sin has left a dark stain on our hearts
It’s a stain that our good deeds will never erase.
But do you know what WILL erase that sin?
The Blood of Jesus.
ILLUS: I once read an atheist who made fun of that idea.
He noted that blood doesn’t cleanse anything.
It always stains what it comes into contact with. And the stain that blood leaves can’t be removed by anything.
As I thought about that I got to thinking about the cleansers I have under my sink.
There are various soaps and disinfectants and bleaches.
And I noticed the stronger the cleanser … the more warnings are on the bottle.
The strongest cleansers - stain and damage things they’re not designed to be used on.
Blood was only designed by God to cleanse ONE THING – our sins.
It will damage and stain anything else it comes into contact with.
Our ONE FAITH is in the Blood of Jesus
We have one Lord, One Faith… and we have “ONE baptism” Ephesians 4:5
Romans 6:5 says that when we’re baptized into Christ “we have been UNITED with (Jesus)… in his death, (and) we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”
Our ONE FAITH is in that ONE LORD (Jesus) and our faith in Jesus is visualized for us in Baptism.
To become Christians God tells us we need to be BURIED in the waters of baptism.
We physically take part in Jesus’ death and burial.
But that’s not all… we also come up out of that water to walk in newness of life.
That’s the promise of our future resurrection from the dead.
And lastly, we have ONE God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Ephesians 4:6
Without God and His mercy - you and I would not have any of what we’ve just mentioned.
He bought our salvation with blood of His Son.
And He did that because He LOVED us.
1 John 4:19 says “We love because He FIRST loved us.”
And because He loved us and He bought us, He now expects us to love each other - just as He loved us.
He expects us to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
CLOSE: Years ago the Special Olympics was held in Seattle, Washington. One of the races was a 100 yard dash where nine physically and mentally disabled young people gathered at the starting line.
The gun went off, and the nine began to run (as best as they) could toward the finish line. It wasn’t exactly in a dash, but they were obviously enjoying themselves.
Then one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times and began to cry.
The other eight heard the boy cry.
They slowed down and looked back.
Then they all turned around and went back. Every one of them.
One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said,
"This will make it better."
Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line together.
They say that that day everyone in the stadium stood, and cheered for what seemed like forever.
What those children did that day… is what God calls us to do.
God calls us to love each other so much that when one of us stumbles and falls… we all turn back to help them up. And we link arms and walk together toward the gates of heaven.
And when we do that - all of heaven stands and cheers for what seems like forever.
INVITATION
