The Point: TO PREVENT FAULTLINES IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WE MUST BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT BUILDING UNITY
ME:
GOOD MORNING, Gateway Church. It is great to have you with us today as we continue in our teaching series ONE. Through this series, we're looking at what it means to become a community of ONE… a community that is UNITED around Jesus.
WEEK 1: YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE. ACT LIKE IT. If we're going to be a community of ONE, we need to recognize what we are - A MASTERPIECE and we need to treat others as the MASTERPIECES they are. (The world is drawn to that kind of love in action.)
WEEK 2: WHEN WE ARE ALL TOGETER, DIFFERENT; WE ARE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF OUR PARTS. We all have different gifts, abilities, talents, interests, passions. And they can all be used to reflect Jesus back to the world around us. When we come together as a community, each doing our 'part' we become greater than the sum of those parts. We become an unstoppable force in our world.
This week, I want to look at the biggest roadblock to seeing that COMMUNITY OF ONE become a reality.
Go ahead and open your bibles to Ephesians 4:1. Page 800 in the house bible.
WE:
Question:
Have you ever had your favorite band break up?
• Beatles (For you 60's music lovers)
• Led Zeppelin or The Who or The Eagles (For you 70's music lovers)
• Guns & Roses (for you 80's hair metal fans)
• The Police (more 80's fans)
• Backstreet Boys (90's boy band fans… blech)
• More recently - for the Millennials - One Direction/Jonas Bros.
It's discouraging and disappointing.
Now, some of those bands got back together and made music again. But it's rarely as good, right?
Or much worse… and far more serious than you're favorite band breaking up, you've seen relationships come apart.
• Your parents' divorce
• Your child's divorce
• YOUR divorce
• Friendship ends
• Siblings don't get along/fight over parents inheritance
• Families fracture over things that shouldn't matter
We've all seen it. And we hate it when things we've grown to love or things we depend on… things we thought would last forever… fall apart.
And often, when we're in the middle of it, we feel like those institutions or those relationships come crashing down suddenly. It seems like, out of the blue, the relationship just crumbled and fell apart and we can't figure out why.
But those seismic events that rip apart your favorite band or that relationship… those seismic events that leave an indelible mark on our lives and - in many cases - leave us with painful scars… Those seismic events are rarely sudden.
Almost always, there have been FAULT LINES below the surface for some time:
• The Beatles didn't break up overnight. There was a lot of frustration and animosity and just the craziness of being the biggest band in the world that finally came to the surface.
• Your parents divorce or your divorce wasn't as sudden as it felt. There were issues that had been below the surface for a long time and they had never been properly addressed
• That falling out you had with your brother or your aunt or your parents or whoever. If you're honest, you can see that there were things going on… little hurts here, wounds there, things said or left unsaid and over time those FAULT LINES finally ruptured.
In geological terms, a FAULT LINE is a fracture along which the crust has moved. ... Seismic waves are generated when the two sides of the fault rapidly slip past each other. For most earthquakes, the faults do not break the surface, so the faults can be "seen" only through analyzing the seismic waves.
FAULT LINES are often invisible… until the earthquake strikes, and everything falls apart. FAULT LINES can be hard to see, but they're there and they're dangerous.
GOD:
What does any of this have to do with being a COMMUNITY OF ONE? Everything! It has EVERYTHING to do with becoming and staying a community of Jesus followers, living in our world as a COMMUNITY OF ONE.
FAULT LINES happen because we are broken and imperfect people who do life with other broken and imperfect people. EVEN IN THE CHURCH.
In fact, these FAULT LINES are the single biggest reason most churches (small 'c') and the Church (big 'C') in North America is failing to have the impact we are called to have. These FAULT LINES are the single biggest reason the Church in America fails to live as a COMMUNITY OF ONE.
One of the reasons the Church in America appears to be defeated is because we are divided.
Or, to put it another way.
A DIVIDED CHURCH IS A DEFEATED CHURCH.
That means we must be very intentional about preventing future and healing current FAULT LINES in our churches. We MUST be intentional about healing and preventing FAULT LINES.
But I've got good news. The Apostle Paul addresses this very thing in his letter to the COMMUNITY of Jesus Followers in the city of Ephesus.
• Ephesians is a letter to a Jesus community made up of both Jews and Gentiles
• These two groups were natural enemies.
o Jews looked down on Gentiles.
• Gentiles didn't have the LAW.
• Gentiles worshiped multiple pagan god's.
• Gentiles practiced all kinds of sexual immorality.
• Gentiles lived 'wild' lives. (drunkenness, orgies, lying to get ahead in business, cheating others, anger, brawling, gossiping, slandering, etc.)
o Gentiles felt the Jews were un-educated backwater hicks with no sophistication
• Jews were a weak, conquered, complaining people who were arrogant, distasteful and largely un-likeable
• Jews were stand-offish and didn't accept or even like other groups, plus they had weird religious ideas and were very judge-y
• These two groups have come together as followers of Jesus in ONE COMMUNITY.
• Much of the letter to this community of Jesus followers is aimed at telling the Jews that Jesus called the Gentiles to be a part of the family of God. And telling the Gentiles that they have been adopted into that family.
• He also spends a good part of this letter telling both of them that being a part of that family means you can't live like you did before.
• Paul is communicating with both groups that, if you are going to be a follower of Jesus, you must come together as a COMMUNITY OF ONE.
And then he says this:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6
Paul writes this letter from prison. He is in prison because of his commitment to JESUS and the way of life Jesus calls His followers to live. And as a prisoner for living a life modeled after Jesus and rooted in his faith in Jesus, Paul is calling these two different groups, who both have faith in Jesus and want to live like Jesus, Paul is calling them to heal the FAULT LINES in their COMMUNITY.
It's almost as if Paul is saying… "If I can go to prison because of my faith in Jesus and for my life of imitating Jesus that is radically different from the world around us, then surely you can WORK to heal the natural FAULT LINES to become and protect the Jesus Community as a COMMUNITY OF ONE."
• I URGE you. This is no small request. No suggestion made in passing. Paul is URGING… BEGGING… almost DEMANDING…
• Live a life WORTHY of the CALLING - (You're a masterpiece; act like it. Live UP TO YOUR CALLING.)
• Make EVERY EFFORT to keep the UNITY. (Some translations say EAGER TO KEEP THE UNITY)
How do we make every EFFORT to KEEP UNITY.
o HUMBLE - Consider others before yourself
o GENTLE - Kindness, consideration, meekness (not forcing your will, opinion, desires on others.)
o PATIENT - forbearance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs
o BEARING WITH ONE ANOTHER - tolerate, compassion, help carry one another's burdens
o DO THIS OUT OF LOVE
If you want to HEAL current FAULT LINES and PREVENT future ones… then you have to be intentional… you have to do the HARD WORK of being HUMBLE, GENTLE, PATIENT, BEARING EACH OTHER'S BURDENS.
Or to put it another way.
TO PREVENT FAULT LINES IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WE MUST BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT BUILDING UNITY.
And that's THE POINT. TO PREVENT FAULTLINES IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WE MUST BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT BUILDING UNITY. That's the ONE THING I want you to get today: TO PREVENT FAULTLINES IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WE MUST BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT BUILDING UNITY. If you get nothing else, get this: TO PREVENT FAULTLINES IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WE MUST BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT BUILDING UNITY.
So HOW? How do we become intentional about building unity?
HOW DO I BUILD UNITY?
PERSONAL LEVEL
• Consider OTHERS Before YOURSELF.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Philippians 2:3-4
Remember a few weeks ago, we said…
o Do NOTHING out of SELFISH AMBITION
(Partisanship, jockeying for position, campaigning, manipulating to get your way)
o Do NOTHING out of VAIN CONCEIT
(Thinking more highly of yourself than is right. Making sure your pride doesn't get hurt)
Instead of asking "what do I want?" Ask, "what do they need?"
• Practice FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION.
One of the reasons we feel like/see disunity in our families, in our work places, in our social/political interactions (think social media) and in our churches is that most American Christians are 'Worldly.' We don't live differently from the world, we live LIKE the world.
We don’t truly live like Christ, completely sold out to Christ. Rather than graciously forgiving one another, we have a tendency to point out how we've been wronged and insist that those who have wronged us come and make it right. But Paul tells us later in this same chapter.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32
o When you've been wronged.
o When you've been hurt.
o When you've been neglected.
We are called to FORGIVE as CHRIST forgave US… COMPLETELY.
o Not when they say they're sorry.
o Not when they deserve it.
o Not when they feel bad enough.
o Not when they've made up for it.
We are to FORGIVE FULLY and we are to seek RECONCILIATION.
FORGIVENESS = I'm not going to hold this against you.
RECONCILIATION = I'm going to work to restore the broken relationship.
• Stay IN TUNE with the HOLY SPIRIT.
If you want to be in UNITY with the people around you. If you want to be in UNITY with your family and your neighbors and your church community… then you need to stay in tune with the HOLY SPIRIT.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16
When we walk by the SPIRIT… when we stay in tune with the SPIRIT it is so much easier to be in UNITY with those around us. (Gratifying the desires of the flesh - insisting on having MY WAY, being worried about MY EXPECTATIONS, focusing on MY RIGHTS, assuming I should get to EXPRESS MYSELF… that's how FAULT LINES form.)
But when we're IN TUNE with the HOLY SPIRIT… UNITY.
How do I know if I'm in tune with the Holy Spirit? Paul tells us what it looks like.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
When you're in tune with the Spirit and your life looks like love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control FINDING UNITY… BUILDING UNITY… HEALING FAULT LINES becomes a natural consequence.
CHURCH/CORPORATE LEVEL
That's great for my marriage or my relationship with my kids or with that really hard to lover person at work. But, Pastor, how does that apply to the church becoming a COMMUNITY OF ONE?
When you are focused on CONSIDERING OTHERS FIRST…. When you make a habit out of FORGIVENESS and RECONCILIATION… It's really hard to be in DIS-UNITY.
It's really hard for FAULT LINES to develop or to grow.
But the real insurance against FAULT LINES is for us to focus on being IN TUNE with the Holy SPIRIT.
TUNING FORK ILLUSTRATION….
• RELATIVE TUNING: I'm in tune with myself.
• TUNED TO A SINGLE SOURCE: We're all in tune with the source AND with each other.
o Snare drum tuner - my band was in tune with each other… BUT If we were to join up with another group and play with them - it might be a disaster.
o If we all TUNE to a tuning fork (or tuner), then we're all in tune - separately and together.
If we're all in tune with the HOLY SPIRIT, we will be in TUNE with each other. That's how we become a COMMUNITY OF ONE.
SO WHAT?
YOU:
So, what’s the takeaway, Pastor Steve?
On a personal level – where do you need to start building unity?
• Develop the habit of considering others needs ahead of your own wants and needs. Ask the question, “what do they need?”
• Do you need to go to someone and seek/offer FORGIVENESS? Where do you need to get over yourself and work to bring RECONCILIATION?
• Are you in tune with the Holy Spirit? Are you pursuing love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control?
On a corporate level?
Are you working to BUILD UNITY here at Gateway? Are you praying and seeking to be IN TUNE with the Holy Spirit?
THAT’S how we become a COMMUNITY of ONE.
WE:
Let's Pray.
Close with Communion and Prayer
