Ten Marks of a Prevailing Church
Mark #4: Uncommon Unity
July 15, 2001
Intro:
A. [Misunderstood Children’s Sermon, Citation: Marilyn McCoy, Chester, Vermont. Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."]
Each Sunday our minister presents a "children’s sermon" to all the young children.
Recently a bright-eyed three-year-old girl listened intently as he explained that God wanted them all to get along and love each other.
"God wants us all to be one," he said.
To which the little girl replied, "But I don’t want to be one. I want to be four!"
1. And Jesus said, "…upon this rock I will build dozens of teeny little churches in every town; and they shall never see beyond their own little stained glassed windows."
2. Clearly that is not what Jesus said, but sadly that is what has happened.
3. We have chosen not to be one and in many cases the gates of hell are prevailing against us.
4. Sadly too many people who call themselves Christians do not understand what the Bible says about unity.
B. But if the church is to be a prevailing church that will prevail against the gates of hell, there must be uncommon unity.
I. The necessity of unity
John 17:20-23, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
A. This was Jesus’ prayer the night before He went to the cross.
1. What was on Jesus’ mind the night before He went to Calvary? Our unity!
2. Jesus was praying that we would be united.
3. Jesus prayed for Himself in verses 1-5, He prayed for the apostles in 6-19, and for those who would believe through the apostles’ message (which is us) in 20-24.
4. Our unity was on His heart before He went to the cross.
5. It makes sense that if He was going to die for us, that He would really want us to be united, wouldn’t it?
6. We have sung that they would know we are Christians by our love, but this passage tells us another way that the world will know that we are Christians: by our unity.
7. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me
8. Jesus prayed that we would be completely united so that the world would know that we were following a super-natural being.
9. Who else could unite people together?
10. Jesus wanted us to be united with all brothers and sisters in Christ, so that the world would believe that we were His.
B. We’ve often wondered why things have gotten in the shape they are in here in the US.
1. Well I’m here to tell you the reason there can be so many who profess to be Christians and this be such an ungodly country is because we are not united!
2. The Greencastle Banner-Graphic has the Religion page every Friday which lists all of the churches in Putnam County—this is terrible because we Christians are this divided!
3. Why are there so many different churches?
4. Why can’t we all worship Christ together?
5. Why do we have to worship in so many different buildings?
6. Is it because we don’t all love Christ?
7. Is it because we don’t all study the same Bible?
8. Or is it because we just can’t get along well enough to worship together?
9. Or is it because more people can’t have power if there were only one church?
10. Or is it because the concerns of Christ the night before He went to the cross really aren’t as important to us like they were to Him?
C. And even more embarrassing than when we can’t get along with other church bodies, is when we can’t even get along within our own body.
1. What’s really awful is when brothers and sisters in Christ in the same local church can’t get along with each other.
2. When Satan can drive a wedge between brothers and sisters in different church bodies, he keeps us from doing great things for God’s Kingdom in extraordinary ways because of our smaller numbers.
3. But then Satan even goes so far as to break down local church bodies so that it becomes families verses families instead of God’s people taking a united stand against Satan.
4. You see when Satan uses the strategic "divide and conquer" method, He DOES prevail against the church.
5. Satan hamstrings us because we can’t even get a local church body united to fight against him.
6. He’s got us fighting against each other and he’s laughing all the way to Judgement Day!
7. But prevailing churches know that if they are united, the gates of hell cannot prevail against it!
8. Prevailing churches understand the absolute necessity of unity!
II. The nature of unity
Ephesians 4:3-6, 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.
A. Now there have been a lot of people that have understood the Biblical importance of unity among Christians and have made that their number one priority.
1. But there becomes a problem when that happens: they often overlook some very important Biblical teachings in order to do that.
2. Because they believe that in order to obtain total unity among all believers, they think that they have to overlook some controversial Biblical issues in order to accomplish this.
3. There are many denominations that have done this; usually they call themselves "United" something or other.
4. I advise you to be very careful about "Unity" or "United" denominations, because very often they water-down some very important Biblical teachings for the sake of unity.
5. But you see that unity just for the sake of unity is not unity at all.
6. It makes everything uniform but not necessarily unified.
B. Therefore, unity should be based on what the Bible says.
1. In other words, things that aren’t Biblical commands should be discarded or played down for the sake of unity.
2. But things that are Biblical commands should not be discarded or played down just for the sake of unity.
3. For example is the ordinance of Communion…
a. We partake of communion every Lord’s Day.
b. Some partake of communion quarterly, others do it monthly.
c. Does the Bible set a specific time for which Communion should be observed?
d. No, Acts says the first church observed it weekly in the temple courts and daily from house to house, but it does not command a time-table.
e. So should we have unity with those who only take communion monthly—absolutely.
C. So if unity should be based on something and not just "Christianity" and however anyone may want to define that term, what are the specific things that unity should be based on?
1. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 how to define what that unity should be base on…
2. 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.
3. We should be united with those who believe there is only one body (that is Christ’s body or the true "Church")—we therefore cannot be united with those who believe that there is more than one church because there are people who worship in lots of different buildings who are part of the real church and there are people who worship in every building that are not part of the true church. There is only one body.
4. We should unite with those who believe there is only one Spirit—we therefore cannot unite with those who are constantly disagreeing and trying to stir up controversy and division because if there are strong disagreements, there are two spirits and one or both of those spirits is not the HS.
5. We should be united with people who believe there is only one hope of eternal life—which is through Jesus Christ—we therefore cannot be united with Muslims and Buddhist or anyone else who believes there is more than one hope of eternal life (even if they call themselves Christians!).
6. We should be united with people who believe their is only one Lord—which is Jesus Christ as well—we therefore can’t be united with anyone who tells us that there is more than one person we must obey.
7. We should be united with people who believe their is only one faith—which is faith in God through Christ.
8. We should be united with people who believe there is only one baptism.
9. We should be united with people who believe there only one God.
10. We should be united with people who believe there is a God who is Supreme—over all and through all and in all.
11. Are there other churches that believe these things besides just ours? Absolutely!
12. Should we therefore be striving for unity with those people in those church bodies? Absolutely!
13. 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.
14. If they believe those things their saved!
15. If they believe those things they’re our brothers and sisters in Christ!
16. If they believe those things, they’re family!
17. If they believe those things, we should be united with them!
18. But if they don’t believe ALL of those things we should not unite with them just for the sake of unity!
19. Why? Because the old saying is true: You have to stand for something or else you’ll fall for anything.
20. We could be united without believing those things and we’d be united all the way to hell!
21. So we need to unite with all who believe 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.
III. The nurture of unity
Ephesians 4:3, Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
A. Do Christians have any part in unity?
1. The reason I ask this is because Christ has given us the HS.
2. The HS is not divided.
3. Therefore if we have the HS, we have unity.
4. All we can do is mess it up by dividing.
5. If it is divided, its our fault.
6. If it is united it is Christ’s doing.
7. So we clearly have a responsibility to do everything we can to maintain the unity that Christ has given us and He has so earnestly prayed for.
8. That’s what Paul says in Ephesians 4:3, Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
9. It is the responsibility of every believer to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
10. Prevailing churches know that every believer has to be on guard for the subtle ways that Satan attempts to drive a wedge between us and destroy the unity that Christ has given us.
11. Prevailing churches understand the absolute necessity of protecting our unity so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against us!
B. So I want to suggest four character traits that each of us need to develop in order to nurture the unity of the body of Christ….
Unity trait #1 Humility
Romans 12:16, Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
1. No matter what we may think of another person or their opinions or their ways of doing things, if they believe the things in Ephesians 4, they are a brother or sister for which Christ died and has made a part of His body.
2. They are as valuable to our body as a toe or a finger or an eye.
3. We need to have the humility to treat them as Christ would treat them—He would love them and wash their feet.
4. We need to have the humility to submit ourselves to them even if they don’t put any money in the offering plate.
5. We need to have the humility to submit to them even if they are new to the church and you’ve been here a long time.
6. We need to have the humility to submit to them even if they don’t seem to do as much work as you do.
7. We need to have the humility to submit to them even if they do things differently than you do them.
8. We need to have the humility to go to their house and clean their toilet for them.
9. We need to have the humility to greet them and sincerely ask how they are doing and to pray for their well-being.
10. You see when we develop this kind of humility it makes it very difficult for Satan to drive a wedge between us.
11. When we first think of humility, most of us automatically assume that we are already humble.
12. But the truth is that we are not near humble enough yet to keep Satan for driving a wedge between us and some people.
Unity trait #2: Flexibility
Romans 14:19, Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
1. Pride and stubbornness are two of the greatest threats to unity.
2. Paul says that we should do what ever leads to peace and mutual edification.
3. We should do and say whatever will bring peace and be what’s best for everyone.
4. We can’t just stubbornly say, "I don’t like it."
5. We can’t just stubbornly say, "That’s not the way we used to do it."
6. We can’t just stubbornly say, "I disagree."
7. We’ve got to be flexible in things that aren’t of spiritual significance.
8. We’ve got to be flexible in things that aren’t the essentials that are listed in Ephesians 4.
9. We’ve got to be flexible on new ways of doing things.
10. We’ve got to be flexible on doing things in ways that will reach more people.
11. None of us like change, but things change everyday and we are more flexible in nearly everything else than we are flexible about things in the church.
12. We need to make every effort to do what leads to peace.
13. And we need to make every effort to do what is best for the body of Christ.
Unity trait#3: Maturity
1. I don’t mean to be overly critical, but the truth is that when folks allow Satan use them to drive a wedge amongst brothers and sisters in Christ, they are immature.
2. We need to grow up in Christ.
3. And growing in Christ means maintaining unity.
4. So I want to mention three areas of maturity that I believe will help us maintain unity…
a. Avoid foolish controversy.
Titus 3:9, But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.
1) Controversy leads to division.
2) We need to mature by learning how to speak and act in ways that don’t lead to controversy.
3) I think most of us are beginning to understand the importance of getting to know each other better.
4) Getting to know each other better will help us in this area because we will learn what types of things offend other people and we will learn to avoid those things.
5) We need to avoid foolish controversy so that we can be of one heart and one mind.
b. Be an encourager.
1 Thessalonians 5:11, Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1) Nothing will allow Satan to divide and conquer better than a person who criticizes and gossips about other brothers and sisters.
2) Therefore in order to guard against becoming critical and negative, we need to look for the good in others and encourage them as often as we can.
3) When we criticize we hasten death and disunity.
4) When we encourage, we breath life and unity.
5) Becoming an encourager is a mark of maturity that will nurture unity.
c. Be a servant.
Philippians 1:27, Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel
1) Being a servant is sign of maturity.
2) Being a servant to others promotes unity.
3) Washing someone’s feet or their toilet produces humility which promotes unity.
4) Being a servant will help us to contend as one man for the gospel.
5) Being a servant will help us storm the gates of hell.
d. Forgive others.
Ephesians 4:32, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
1) One thing that will prevent people from being united is unwillingness to forgive.
2) When I was a youth minister in Oklahoma, the preacher I worked with told me that the church had split about 10 years prior, but the split church failed and rather than "be a Baptist" they came back to the church.
3) But although they came back, they refused to forgive.
4) Unforgiveness is a tool of the Devil to divide and conquer the body of Christ.
5) We need to forgive, just as God forgave us.
6) The ability to forgive is a mark of maturity that help maintain unity.
Transition: In order to mature, we all need to avoid foolish controversies, be encouragers, be servants, and be quick to forgive.
Conclusion:
A. [illustration]
The story is told of a time when a little child in an African tribe wandered off into the tall jungle grass and could not be found, although the tribe searched all day.
The next day the tribal members all held hands and walked through the grass together.
This enabled them to find the child, but due to the cold night he had not survived.
In her anguish and through tears, the mother cried, "If only we would have held hands sooner."
It is not enough that we all share a common goal.
We must all work together to accomplish it without hesitation.
B. Because all too often the church is all working for the same goal of trying to seek and save the lost, but because we have not joined hands and searched together, not one-but thousands are dying before we can save them!
1. Philippians 1:27, Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.
2. So we all must understand the necessity of unity.
3. We all must understand the true nature of unity.
4. And we all must make every effort to nurture unity.
5. We cannot allow Satan to drive a wedge between us.
6. We therefore must work on humility, flexibility, and maturity.
7. It is not enough that we share the common goal of seeking and saving the lost.
8. We must all join hands and work together to accomplish this goal!
C. Song of commitment: "They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love."
