INTRODUCTION
„X We have been looking at When God Builds a Church. Today we will move to the principle of harmony.
„X How many of you have been a part of a church, organization, or team where there were problems. People were fighting because they had different ideas about what the organization was supposed to do.
„X It becomes like a tug-of-war.
„X We are blessed to have a good spirit of harmony at ACC. We have wonderful leaders who model it and a great group of people who want to see our church continue to carry out its¡¦ mission to reach lost people with the Gospel.
„X Today I hope as we look at the principle of harmony, that we will all look within ourselves to see what we can to help ACC maintain and promote harmony.
SERMON
I. THE CONCEPT OF HARMONY
1. What is harmony?
„X If we are going to strive for harmony, we need to know what it is.
„X Harmony is defined as follows: 1- Agreement in feeling or opinion, accord, 2- a pleasing combination of elements in a whole.
„X Picture if you will an orchestra. Let¡¦s say they are going to play a Tchaikovsky¡¦s Swain Lake. The performance begins. It is beautiful. Then the strings section decides to play Take Me Out To The Ballpark. The horns decide to play Amazing Grace. The violinist decides to play some fiddle music. What would you have? A mess!
„X When the all the parts of the orchestra are on the same page, the performance is a good one.
„X In sports, if all the players are not headed in the same direction, if each individual player has their own agenda, the team will not succeed. I have seen teams who had individuals who were worried who was getting the points instead of being focused on winning.
„X Within the church, being in harmony means we are all striving for the same goal and of one mind in doing it. We set aside any personal agendas for the good of the church and its mission.
„X The early church in Acts 2 was of one mind. (Acts 2:46). They were marching to the same beat focused on the same goals. God was blessing what they were doing.
2. Why is harmony such an important part of God¡¦s Church?
„X A lack of harmony will damage our mission. If we all have different agendas, it will be hard to focus on what we are called to do.
„X If we have various agendas, it will cause strife within the church. Who wants to come to a fighting church?
„X Let us look at James 4:1-3. READ. People were focused on what they wanted instead of what God wanted.
„X In the night Jesus was to be crucified, Jesus prayed for His disciples. He prayed for one thing, one thing that would show the world that God had truly sent His Son.
„X What was the one thing needed to prove the deity of Jesus? The ability to perform miracles? Powerful preaching? A worship band?
„X Look at John 17:20-21 with me. READ
„X Jesus prayed for harmony!
„X A spirit of harmony will ensure we are all working toward the same goals.
„X The mission of this church is stated in the bulletin each week. The purpose of this church is to glorify God through making disciples of Jesus Christ. When we are a part of the Auburn Christian Church, this should be what we are working toward.
„X If we are in harmony, we will all be striving to fulfill that goal. If our programs are in harmony with the statement, they will help work toward that goal.
„X Our leadership is keenly aware of the purpose of the church and they make decisions based on that purpose. If the leadership is not in harmony, many bad things can happen.
„X I have been around some who think the church should be a political machine or a social change machine. We need to be involved in these things, but we must be in harmony with what we are called to do. As we reach people, some of the other things will start to change one person at a time.
„X We must always be committed to keeping the main thing the main thing.
II. THREATS TO HARMONY
1. False teaching. Acts 20:29-31
„X In Acts 20:29-31 Paul warns the church at Ephesus about people who would come in and try to sway them away with false teaching.
„X ACTS 20:29-31 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
„X False teaching can cause a lot of discord in the church. Our mission is based on our message and if the message is corrupted, then our mission will be corrupted.
„X False teaching must be dealt with quickly so it does not doesn¡¦t fester.
2. Legalistic spirit. Acts 15:1-2, 31
„X Legalism is defined as :strict, literal adherence to the law or to a particular code.
„X Bob Russell says that liberals want to change everything, legalists want to change nothing. The legalist imagines he is standing for truth, when he is usually guarding his precious traditions. They will say you are going liberal when you try to change methods. Remember, the message can never change. Gyms, praise choruses, raising hands are considered wrong. For the legalist, it is my way or you are doctrinally wrong. The legalist believes everything is a doctrinal issue.
„X I know of a church leader in a different church who got mad because the piano player was softly playing in the background while scripture was being read by the preacher. When the preacher did not agree with him, the leader said playing music in the background was adding to the word of God which was wrong.
„X In Acts 15, the Jewish Christians wanted the new gentile Christians to be circumcised before they could become Christians. READ ACTS 15:1-2.
„X The church acted quickly to find a solution, in verse 31 we are told the people rejoiced over the resolution of the problem.
„X A church cannot let legalism dictate the direction of the church.
„X Legalism can be fixed if we understand people¡¦s natural resistance to change. We need to determine if the issue is scriptural or traditional. It is like a person who is against Saturday evening worship because we are supposed to worship on the Sabbath. OPPS, the Sabbath is Saturday.
„X We can fix legalism by moving forward at a slower pace so change can sink in and we need to realistically count the cost of change. If 2 people are upset, you deal with it and move on, but if 50% of the church is up in arms, you better look at it closely.
3. Criticism. Galatians 5:15
„X Criticism is not a spiritual gift.
„X GAL 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
„X Bill Cosby said, ¡§I do not know what the secret to success is, but I¡¦ll tell you the key to failure; try to please everyone.
„X We cannot please everyone; some will not like everything being done. We have to do what is best for the church in the end.
„X Do you find yourself only speaking out to complain? Some will let critics stop everything in its¡¦ tracks. A spirit of criticism can damage harmony.
4. Uncontrolled ego.
„X Saul is an example of a person who had an ego out of control. He was king and he had a tendency to do what he wanted instead of what God asked him to do. 1 Samuel 15 is an example.
„X After doing a job for a long time and after stepping down, a person can cause trouble be always questioning the way the new person is doing the job, telling everyone, ¡§I did not do it like that.¡¨ Our ego can cause problems with harmony.
III. STEPS TO MAINTAIN HARMONY
1. Keep the ego under control.
„X Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in ¡¥71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn¡¦t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a ¡§genius mind¡¨ when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, ¡§I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.¡¨
„X It would have been easy for Staubach to undercut the coach in the huddle, but he kept his ego in check for the good of the team. We need to understand we are playing on God¡¦s team, so we need to check the egos in at the door.
2. Be flexible.
„X Sometimes the plan is great, but the time is not right. Sometimes it is better to let something die on its own rather than to shot it yourself. I know churches that are inflexible, and then they wonder why people leave.
„X We should be willing to exercise some give and take at times. Do not always draw a line in the sand.
3. Develop a sense of humor.
„X PRO 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
„X Sometimes we take things too seriously. When things do not go well, we can let that disrupt harmony. Sometimes you just have to sit back and laugh.
4. Respect leaders. Hebrews 13:17
„X HEB 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
„X Let me ask you, is the only time you talk with Mark, Miles, Fred, Lou, and Mike when you have something to complain?
„X When was the last time you went up to them and thanked them for the work they do?
„X They were selected to lead the church. Respect them, these men want to do what is best for this church, they want this church to reach as many people as possible. They make decisions based on that. Maybe you do not understand why they did something. Respect their decisions.
5. Avoid confrontation if possible. Titus 3:9
„X Do not get tangled up in useless discussion and arguments.
„X TITUS 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
6. Practice servant hood. John 13
„X The disciples had a tendency to fight over who was the greatest. They had problems with focus. In John 13 Jesus washed the disciples feet to model to them the principle of servanthood.
„X If you are serving God together, it is hard to be out of harmony.
7. Be quick to forgive.
„X When Jesus was arrested, the disciples left Jesus as fast as they could. Peter even denied Jesus three times after boldly proclaiming he would die for Jesus.
„X When Jesus came back from the dead, did He hold a grudge against the chicken disciples? No, He forgave them. He did not mock them with chicken calls, He did not throw their fleeing up in there faces, He forgave them.
„X Be quick to forgive a brother or sister who wronged you.
CONCLUSION
„X We are all in the same boat. If we are going to get where we need to be, we all need to be rowing in the same direction.\
„X When God Builds a Church, harmony is established and we are called to maintain it.
„X We need to make sure we put the interests of God¡¦s church ahead of any personal agendas we have.
„X Harmony will go along way in helping us build God¡¦s church!
