The Unity Of Love

The Unity of Love

If nothing else, you need to love the sixties and seventies for their awesome sense of style. The band was “The Brotherhood of Man,” the year was 1970, and the message of the song was spelled out in its title “United we stand, divided we fall.”

Interesting tidbit about the song, one of the song’s co-writers, Tony Hillier, worked at Mills Music and was looking for someone to sing the demo of United we stand. And so he used the company’s office boy Reg Dwight for the recording. Reg Dwight would later go on to change his name to Elton John. That was free.

Jesus made a similar observation when he told his followers in Mark 3:24–26 Jesus said “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.”

Jesus’ solution is found in John 17, in what is often called “the High Priestly Prayer.”

Jesus prayed this prayer after the Last Supper and before his arrest, here is a portion of that prayer. John 17:20–23 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

This is week five of our series on Philippians, and today as we move into chapter 2, we discover that one of Paul’s desires for the church and concerns for the church was its unity.

He writes in Philippians 2:2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.

This follows his thoughts from the passage I preached on last week, Philippians 1:27 Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.

The desire and prayer of Jesus was that his people would be united in one spirit and one purpose. The desire and prayer of Paul was that the church of Christ would be united in one spirit and one purpose. And the desire and prayer of Denn is that Cornerstone would be united in one spirit and one purpose.

And if you read through the New Testament, you see the writers broaching this topic time and time again, urging the believers to come together as a unified body.

Sometimes you’ll hear people say that they wish the church today was more like the New Testament Church. The reality is that we are like the New Testament church in many ways. Because 2000 years ago, the church consisted of imperfect people, and that is the reality today as well. And imperfect people will never make a perfect church.

However, to be truthful, I have been a Christ follower for almost forty-five years, and I’ve never seen the church; I’m talking “The Church” as a whole, not Cornerstone here.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the church as fragmented and divided as it is today.

There have always been disagreements in the churches I’ve pastored and in the various churches in the communities where we’ve served. And I’ve often used the words that John Wesley used when at George Whitfield’s funeral. “We agreed to disagree.” And sometimes, we just need to agree to disagree.

As I’ve pastored through the years, I’ve been witness to doctrinal disagreements and stylistic disagreements.

I’ve seen Christians fight about the gifts of the Spirit and whether they were for today.

We’ve fought over what translation of the bible we should read from, whether women should be allowed to preach and whether we should sing contemporary songs or just traditional hymns.

But man, today, we hear those who call themselves Christians fight and split churches over whether we should have worn masks or not during the pandemic. For some, it was a spiritual issue either way.

Some feel that you can’t accept the COVID vaccine and be a Christian, and others feel that if you haven’t had the vaccine, then you’re not a Christian.

South of the border, politics has become a major dividing point in some churches, and even in Canada, the way you vote is seen by some as an indication of your spiritual commitment.