The Unity Of The Spirit

THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT

Text: Psalm 133:1-3, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."

Ecclesiastes 4:12c, "...a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

According to Mt. 12:25; Mark 3:25; and, Luke 11:17 a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Unity, being unified, is a strength that gives our enemies second thoughts.

Satan dreads the unity of the true Christians and works day and night to undo it.

The adversary of our souls is looking to, makeing eloborate plans to, attempting to

blow our spiritual houses in. He wants to devour God's finest creation--man!

Illustration: A lad in his Sunday School Class must have misunderstood what the teacher

said regarding the wording of 1Peter 5:8. Upon trying to convey to his parents what

he had learned that day in Sunday School; he said that there is a mean creature in the

universe called the "double" and we must be cautious.

The evil one called Satan and the Devil is always lurking--waiting to pounce upon the

saints of God. He will double cross, double and redouble his slimy assaults upon every

dedicated, and sanctified, and conscientious Christian who is diligently serving and

worshipping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "Double," therefore is a fitting description

of the enemy of our souls. Stay in unity (Ps. 133), stay in the boat, stay with the bunch.

Indeed! A threefold cord in not easily broken.

It is imperative that the Bride of Christ, the Church, understands and practices the concept of the

unity of the Spirit (Holy Spirit). Unity is one thing that will convince others that the church has

something beautiful the ungodly do not have.

Now, immediately we have seen two benefits of spiritual unity in the church that Jesus is building!

How rare & exotic (strange & exciting) a plant it (unity) is on Earth. The psalmist decription was

shown in Ps. 133:1a, "...how good and...pleasant..." is this unity of the Spirit.

To better appreciate what we are discussing, let us digress for a moment to what is recorded in

the early chapters of the Bible Book of Genesis.

Shadows of Cain & Abel are always nearby.

1. Man's first sin separated man from God (Genesis 3:6).

2. Man's second sin separated man from man (Genesis 4:8).

3. Cain's angry act put a temporary end to the brotherhood of men.

4. Christ's accomplishment on the Cross of Calvary bridges the gap.

a) vertically

b) horizontally

Romans 6:23 states: "For the wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God is eternal life

through Jesus Christ our Lord."

This is one of several passages in God's Holy Writ that quickly lends itself to a three point outline.Preachers and Bible teachers appreciate things like this for their writing and speaking purposes.

If we can picture a giant letter H and place on the left leg the first part of the above verse, "For the wages of sin is death," we will have part of the picture. Now place the second phrase, "but the gift of God is eternal life," on the right leg, excluding the word "but." Next imagine the word "but" inscribed on the horizontal bar of our letter H. We now see a need for somewhere to place the third phrase of out text. So what do we see so far? We see on the left that sin pays wages and those wages are death (the death of Rev. 21:8). That is a negative picture. Here is the positivepicture on the right declaring there is a "gift of God." That gift is called eternal life, sins forgiven and holiness imparted, which is life in God's Spirit and presence. But wait!

There is more. Who or what enables the transition from "wages of sin" to "God's gift of eternal life?" I am glad you asked! Again I ask that we use our imaginations where now we see above the letter H, in the form of an arch connecting the left and right legs. Upon that arch now bridging the gap we see the third phrase of the verse, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." What a wonderful blessing the Heavenly Father has provided to mankind. You see, salvation from sin and its penalty is now availabe--I John 1:9,"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."Romans 10:13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."