Unity?

Dealing with people is so very difficult, this week on Thursday as I was working on my sermon for today, my computer system went down. I was no longer able to connect to the internet, I was studying for the sermon and I was no longer able to do so. I called the folks at Wild Blue and told them what the problem was and they began to research it from their end. To my surprise they told me that they had canceled my account because I had told them I was moving on June 11th. Now, that would be fine if this were June 10th but this is 2 ½ weeks away from my move. So I began the arduous task of dealing with one person then another, and found out that it would take 2 weeks to re-activate my account at my present location, then another two weeks to shut it down again. Needless to say I was not a very happy person by this time. I told the customer service rep that what they had done was wrong, because I had followed their instructions, and she said that this was true, but, too bad.

At this point I decided that it was time to end the conversation, I told her I was not pleased with the customer service that I felt I was not receiving, and then said that I would appreciate her telling that to her superiors, and that I wished that she would have a good day. So, I ended the call without raising my voice, although I am sure there was some tension apparent by the time I did so. Yvonne said to me as I told her I was going to have to go to Lampasas to arrange for dial up service, “did you pray?” I had to laugh at myself at that point for I had not prayed. As I did so, my anger began to dissipate and I began to feel my tension ease. I suppose that my blood pressure had become elevated as well and in prayer the Lord was able to work to calm that problem as well. I know that this whole moving thing has become a very difficult time for both Yvonne and I, yet it is also a time of prayer and of letting the Spirit work.

That’s what happened in the upper room on that day so long ago, the men and women had come together in that upper room, they were in prayer waiting upon the Lord when the Spirit came upon them. It says there was a sound like a mighty rushing wind and then tongues as of flame appeared upon each of them and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance.

It amazes me that the crowds could be so obtuse as to say the things that they did, accusing the disciples of being drunk at 9:00 in the morning. How did getting drunk give one the ability to speak in a foreign language?

However, let us go back a bit to see that in the upper room was a force already assembled. This was a unified body, in this group of people there was already a unity of purpose and a unity of expectation. These folks all 120 of them came together, it was not to hide out nor was it any longer to cower in fear, it was a coming together to worship, to pray, to fellowship. Just as the temple held the Jewish people together, this upper room had become a sacred place for the followers of the Way. This place had been sanctified by the Last Supper, and by the times of meeting for prayer and the meetings with Jesus who was the sanctifier. Whatever their individual pursuits, be it fishing or wine making, they were one in their waiting for the coming that had been told to them, they were one in their devotion to one another and to their Lord.

Oh that the church today could act in like manner, waiting upon the pleasure of God instead of going off in all directions. How many of the people of the way today take time to pray. As I have already said, I am guilty of letting myself be taken over by the things of the world, forgetting that these things are not really all that important. What is important is that God’s people wait upon His pleasure not our own.

We see too the unity of the body of Christ in what happened in that upper room. The Spirit did not just alight upon the Apostles, it came upon every one of them, the whole church was anointed with the presence of the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability to do. This is how God looks upon the church, not as different denominations, not as clergy and laity, not as individuals but as the body of Christ, all equal no matter the task assigned, all with a ministry to be engaged in, all moving in one accord.