Sermon Central
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Unity And Purpose For All
Contributed by Steven Pace on Jul 1, 2003 (message contributor)
Summary: Unity in the body of Christ is something that is not always easy to come by. This sermon addresses the need for unity and forgiveness to all. I hope you find it useful... It has not been edited so correct the mistakes
Unity and Purpose for all
One of the most powerful statements that I ever heard was that the Church is always destroyed from the inside and not the outside. It is destroyed by contention in the church. It is destroyed by self interests. It is destroyed by people that are to busy worrying about what they want and like that they miss the purpose of why God established the church.
Win Arn did a survey among over 1000 churches and their members and found that when he asked the question, “Why does the church exist? 89% said, “The church purpose it to take care of my family’s and my needs. Only 11% said, “The Purpose of the church is to win the world to Jesus Christ.
When the same question was brought to the pastors of the same church he found the exact opposite. 90 % was to win the lost and 10 % to take care of the flock. Why is their disunity in the church? I think that it is because the leadership and the church are not working on the same purpose and each is frustrating the other.
William Barclay said, “Christians are people drawn together because they owe a common debt to the goodness and grace of God.”
Let me give you a little background in the book of Ephesians before we go to our passage today on unity. It is one of the few letters that Paul write that he is not correcting some false teaching. It is a letter of instruction to the church. It is a letter of encouragement and deeper teaching.
The fist 3 chapters of the book of Ephesians deals with “You are a child of God.” It was written to solidify the church and those in it and being part of God’s family. It set up moral values and all the Christ had done for us. He say this proves you are a child of God because of what He did for you.
Verse 4 transitions into… O.K. Now that you’re a Christian ACT LIKE IT!
The main Idea of the 4th chapter is “You should live like the person you have become. Live in unity by God in Christ, we should manifest the spiritual unity by being united in our actions.
Lets Read… EPHESIANS 1:1-6
Do you get it… IT is not about us or our plans. It is about God and His plans. It is about giving up our lives and living our His purpose for them.
4:1 – Live a life worth of the calling I have given you
1. Three year old Johnny falls down on the sidewalk as he is running to greet his father who has just pulled into the driveway. Johnny is tired and hungry. Two year old Susie just took a toy away from him. Because all that, He cries harder than it really warranted.
Daddy picks him up and says “There, there you’re big boy. Act like it.
Who is He (a big boy) How should he acts? (he shouldn’t cry needlessly)
2. Princess Margaret, as a young girl, sits beside her mothe, Queen Elizabeth, at the pricess’s first presentation to the British public. She is called upon to walk to the microphone and say a few words to the gathered dignitaries. As she prepares to stand, her mother says, “You are a princess. Walk like one!”
Who is she (a princess) How should she walk (with dignity)
3. Eighteen-year-old Chruch has gone through twelve of the toughest weeks of anyone’s life in the Marine boot camp in coastal South Carolina. During the last week they are forced to crawl under rolls of barbed wire with live machine gun ammunition blazing just inches over their heads. Chruck freezes. He prepares to sweat. His hads dig into the red clay beneath him as panic sweeps his soul. Just then, a friend crawls up beside him and says, Get a hold of yourself, Chuck. You’re a Marine. Act like one!
Who is He? (a Marine) How should he act under pressure? (with courage)
Linda was a party animal. She was tough and loved to fight. She was know for her craziness and her ability to party with the best of them. She messed with drugs and slept around. She had all the designer clothes and drove a really cool mustang. Then one day she was invited to a friends house for a party. What she didn’t know was that it was a Christian party and the pastor was coming over to talk to them about Jesus. She heard the message and Jesus began to tug at her heart. She remember how she felt a Bible School when she was a kid and at the end of the message she new that there was something missing in her life. She look at her friends and even though the didn’t party or drink or have designer clothes she always noticed that they were happy. She wanted more then anything to have the peace like they had.
