Where There Is Unity, God Exists

WHERE UNITY IS, GOD EXISTS (ACTS 6:1-7)

Today my message is on the real church. It’s been said, “Anyone can love the ideal church. The challenge is to love the real church.”

In the church where I was the pastor to the English congregation of a Chinese church, the aging senior pastor on the Chinese side and some deacons had an ugly church fight. The deacons wanted a younger, more dynamic pastor on staff to replace him, but the senior pastor was not prepared or pleased with others to decide his retirement. The controversy was ugly, the conflict was unbearable and the church was unhappy. One angry deacon even threw a pencil at the table in a meeting and told the pastor he was disgusting, repulsive, and classless. After several months, the matter was resolved when the pastor agreed to retire, two deacons agreed to step down for a year and the younger pastor quietly moved to another church.

The church ordained me after the senior pastor’s departure, the two deacons left with less than a dozen out of 200 people. We grew in numbers and later bought our own property.

It’s been said, “To dwell above with the saints we love, That will be grace and glory. To live below with the saints we know; That's another story!” (Chuck Swindoll, Strengthening Your Grip, 32)

The church in Jerusalem experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in chapter 2, a lame man was healed in chapter 3 and the spread of falsehood was averted in chapter 5 (Acts 5:1-10). The next thing the church had to resolve was internal dissension. The church in Jerusalem encountered its first real problem. When they dealt with it in wisdom, the church was strengthen inside and the church kept on growing.

What causes a church or a group to be united or unstable? Why is unity important? How does a church and fellowship work through disagreement and discord?

We Are Put Together by God in His Wisdom Stop the Bleeding

1 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. (Acts 6:1-2)

The church I served the longest in the States was Riverside Chinese Alliance Church, a church of 70-80 people in an unincorporated area of Riverside County, an undeveloped place known for her horses and cows, one hour drive from Los Angeles. Most Chinese people who lived there could speak English. The people were from 12 countries include Chinese from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Cambodia, American-born Chinese, and native Thais and Laotians. On top of that 10% are Caucasians. The sermons that are translated from English to Mandarin must not be too long, around 45 minutes. There was no Chinese restaurant nearby, so we had potluck lunch on Sundays.

As Mother Teresa once said: “By blood and origin, I am Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.” (12/22/933 quoted; reported Newsweek 8/27-9/5/97)

The real church in Jerusalem was confronted with three challenges that remained even today: culture (Greek-speaking and locals), class (widows) and contingency (daily). The church in Jerusalem was comprised of Greek-speaking Jews and Hebrew-speaking Jews, married people and single people, including widows.

The growing church in Jerusalem is often characterized as the early church, the exemplary church and the excellent church, but they were not without problems because as long as there is growth, there is gridlock. The verb “multiply” is monopolized by the book of Acts (Acts 6:1, 7, 7:17, 9:31, 12:24). The phrase “the number of the disciples was multiplied” is repeated in verses 1 and 7. The number of the disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem greatly (Acts 6:7), then the churches throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria were multiplied (Acts 9:31), followed by the word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). For all her great multiplication (v 7), the church had her fair share of factions, faults and frustrations too.

Here are some sayings about people:

“Where there are people, there will be good and bad.”

“Where there are people, there will be messes.”

“Where there are people, there are risks.”

“Where there are people, there will be mistakes.”

“Where there are people, there is politics.”

“Where there are people there are emotions.”

“Where there are people there is trash.”

“Where there are people there must also be rules.”

The two most: