Taught at Christian Life Church York PA - Third Sunday in October 1995
UNITY
This morning I'm going to talk about unity. You all know we need unity in the body of Christ, you've all heard the scriptures, "Oh how good and pleasant it is for brethern to dwell in unity, it is like precious oil poured on the head". Unity is plesant, it is sweet. Do you know the word unity only appears three times in the King James, and two of those are in Paul's letters. For those of you who have an NIV, you'll be able to find about a half dozen references. In the KJV, the concept of unity is so often mentioned as being one or oneness. Jesus prayed in John 17:11 "Father make them one as we are one." We all understand the father and the son being one, and we know we need to be one, with Him and with our brothers and sisters. But the challenge isn't here, in the head, or in the heart, we all know we need unity, the challenge is here, when we come together and we work together, to know the unity that Christ desired for his church.
And unity isn't cloning. It isn't looking alike, sounding alike, talking alike, in fact, I'm glad half of you don't look anything like me. If anyone had the right to tell his disciples to be clones, it was Jesus, yet he gently guided his disciples into the paths he knew were right for them. Look at the impetuous, impulsive, Peter, John, the man of love, and Thomas, the one who had to be shown. Could these men be less alike, and yet, they walked with Jesus. And do any of you know why Thomas doubted? Want to know? Go to John 20:24. "Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, wasn't with the disciples when Jesus came." Had he been there he would have believed. Remember, the other disciples had the same doubts, but they were there to see the Lord. Let me tell you, some of you have anemic faith because you're not here. You listen to the devil every time he tells you to stay at home and you miss the good things of God. You need spiritual iron in your diet and to get it you need to be here. Paul said, "forsake not the assembly yourselves together, and so much more as you see the day approach." You all know Jesus is coming? You all know that we don't know the day or hour? You all know it's 1961 years sooner than it was the day the eleven disciples stood on the Mount of Olives and Jesus did a lift off that was more impressive than a Saturn 5B? Now a couple of you said, twelve disciples, no, Judas wasn't with them and they hadn't held a lottery to replace him. And the 1961 years that are behind us are gone, and he is coming back soon. And in spite of that some of you are neglecting the assembling. Some of you skip home groups. You skip services. Some of you skip regular services and come to see a prophet to get a word, and others skip the prophet so they don't get a word. And for years some of you have been just a hop, skip and a jump from having God's best for you. And you'll keep skipping over the blessing till you change.
Let me tell you, there will be signs and wonders and miracles in our midst, we're going to see miracles in this body, God has promised it. I'm going on record that we will see it, and I plan to be a part of it happening. Some of us were privileged to see miracles in the fifties and some of you are going to see them before the end of this century. It is wonderful to see the lame walk, the deaf hear and the blind see. I plan to be here to see it, do you? If you're skipping half of the services, you have a 50-50 chance of migging the day. How will you feel when you get a phone call some Sunday afternoon from someone else in the church and they say, "did you hear about some person coming out of a wheel chair in church this morning?" And you missed it! And you have a 50-50 chance of it happening. You condemned Thomas for wanting to see to believe, but you'll say the same thing. "I'll believe it when I see it." And no matter what, even if it is on video tape, it'll not be as impressive as it was to see. And don't skip home groups, it may happen there. Stephen was something like a home group leader and he started moving in signs and wonders and that drew attention. What if your home group leader were to touch someone and they are healed. And how could you brag about them -- if you weren't there to see it? Unity is coming together in the faith and together is together. You can't sit at home and be together with the body. Jesus said in John 13:35, by this will all men know that you are my disciples because you have love for one another.
So what is unity? It is first being one in the faith. Read Eph. 4:11. That means we all believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His son our Lord, who was conceived by the holy spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He lead a sinless life, he suffered under Pontious Pilate, he was crucified, died was buried. On the third day he rose from the dead, he ascended to heaven from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Anyone recognize where that paraphrase is from? The apostles creed. The Pentecostal church I grew up in didn't use it because it has the phrase, Holy Catholic Church in it. But most churches, including some we look down on subscribe to it. Yet it contains the basis of our faith. There isn't a lot more than is included there. But we make the minors so important that they divide us from our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
But I believe God is calling us to a higher level of unity, of love, as John said, "Love one another, for love is of God." I John 4:7 Let me tell you, this is not only in this church building.
God has been doing a work in my life, I'm about ready to get a name tag that says, "construction zone." And if some of you think going through restoring the foundations is going to change your lives, you are right.
I'm really committed to the RTF, but don't any of you go through it unless you want to. Unless you want to change, unless you want to confront yourself and see yourself. You'll come out of RFT changed, but if you go in for the wrong reason, you may not come out better. But if you go in right and put forth an effort, you will come out better. But then why wouldn't you want to be better than you are?
But if you think that's the end of the change, think again. I believe there have been more changes in me SINCE the RTF than during. You really want to change, sit on the other side of the room, you be the guide to take someone through the process. And Dee and I have had the privilege of accompanying a beautiful couple on this journey in the last two months, and that has brought even more changes in me. My background is dogmatic, critical pentecostalism. The preacher taught it and I learned it real good. And at times I have had a hard time with people, I'd get judgemental. The night before the first session with this couple, I was reviewing the RTF material and their information. I found myself wiping back tears because I could see hurts heaped on them by others.
Unity will not come in the body until we change! Unity will not come in the body until each of us finds a place in our hearts for more love for each other. We'll have to clear out all of the prejudice, pride, hate, hurt, malace, envy, jealousy and allow God to replace it with His love. Paul said, show me your faith without works and I'll show you my faith with works. Faith without works is dead! And sometimes to love we must have faith to see our brothers and sisters in the Lord as God sees them.
I'm going to do something here, I want to tell you about some people here that you don't know. Let me show how little you know about the outside, to give you an idea how little you know about them.
John Lehman has apple trees. Paulette is good at colors and decorating. Josh Harcourt thinks math is not hard. Mike Matson is a real encourager. Vilma is a good cook. Michael Newsome is a ping pong player. Melvin plays a guitar. I could list a bunch more.
Think if you don't know this about these people, how much do you know about their spiritual walk? If you want to see unity, let it begin with you. You need to begin to pray for others, start with your home group, it's hard to pray for everyone in the church, try something easier. Take a list of the names, you should all have a prayer chain list and pray over each one. And if there is someone in the group you can't appreciate as much as the others, spend three times as much time on them. Follow me on this. Take two times as much time to pray for them as for the others, and one time more to pray for your own eyes to be opened to see them as God sees them. That may not be enough, but it's a good place to start. If you are open to God, he'll open your eyes and guide you.
And love without works is a sham! It is saying to your brother or sister "I love you" and then not giving yourself to the person to prove it. And this is most prevelant in the home, brethern, this should not be. God ordained two places of refuge for individuals, two places to be protected and nurtured, the home and the church. And we have made them both a place where predators prey on the helpless. How can you show love to your spiritual brothers and sisters in the church if you can't show love at home. We all really know this can't happen.
Now I'm going to get really practical. Most problems in interpersonal relations, in the church, in the home, in the work place, wherever, come from a couple of basic violations. And the most frequent is bad communication or worse yet, none. In Matt, Jesus said that if you have a problem with your brother, go to him. The scripture also says, don't let the sun go down on your wrath. That scripture is in Eph 4 26, just 15 verses after the discourse on the five fold ministry who's purpose is to see us come into the unity of the faith.
Yet when you have a problem with someone in the church too many of you go to everyone else in the church for advice on what to do. And you ask at least one gossip who goes and tells the other person a half truth about what you said. Or you call fire down on them. That's a business term, you complain to their boss and get him to deep fry them. And of course that gets back to them, and then you wonder why the next time you go to them for something they put up a wall and hide behind it. They shouldn't put up the wall, I'm not justifying it, but do you really blame them? You'd do the same thing. Why do you think your brother or sister'll not act the same way? If I get hurt every time I get involved with someone, I get defensive, and don't pretend to be so spiritual, you do too. Another way we trangress is to do something that impacts a person and tell everyone but them, and they find out second handed. Even the world tries to avoid this.
You wonder why you have a problem with people yet you have violated the teaching of Jesus. Isn't this predictable? The reason most of you are afraid of going to someone when you have a problem is because you just might have been one hundredth of a percent wrong and will have to admit it.
We all want to be loved and we all need to be handled with care.
Or we have a brother or sister in the lord who comes to us and says, "is there something wrong?" And you say, "Nothing." And you know you're lying when you say it. You'll not fess up to what is happening. And you miss a blessing and you steal a blessing from the other person, because if you had talked it out, both of you would have been blessed by a better relationship. Let me tell you, it works in the church, it works at home and it works at work, and the safest places to try is at home and in the church. You know, here I have to love you whether I want to or not. And I've found out that I want to because it is really hard to love you if I don't want to, and relatively easy if I do. I don't like to make life hard for myself.
And when we disagree we set ourselves on our position and say we couldn't possibly bend that far. Let me show you an illustration. (Get a couple to stand up here, one on each side of the church. Address the husband. How far will you have to walk to get to her? Then tell the wife to walk toward the husband when he starts walking toward her. And tell her to embrace him, keep in mind you're in the front of the church. Tell the husband to start walking to his wife. Thank them.)
And we come together and there are those who have needs, who need ministry and we can't wait for them. Paul said we should wait for one another, yet when this happens often the church turns into a coffee clatch. We need to wait for one another in prayer. I once thought most of you didn't care, but now I'm beginning to believe Satan has deceived many of you so that your believe your prayers can't contribute anything, so you don't participate. You need to see yourself as God sees you, then just maybe you will see the others here as God sees them.
Let me assure you, the problem is not only that you don't see others as God sees them, you don't even see yourself as God sees you. If Satan can lie to you about yourself, how much more can he lie to you about your brother and sister? If he can convince you that you are unlikeable, you are going to approach others as if you know they'll not like you. So you start off any encounter by tainting it with fear and doubt. It's like throwing a shovel full of mud in a swimming pool and wondering why it looks dirty.
We desperately need each other. There is not one person here that I don't need in some way. And I'll be real with you, there are probably a half dozen or so that I'd have to scratch my head to come up with something if I had to, and by the end of 1996 I will look back and see at least a couple of that group that I needed during that year! The bible says bear one another's burdens. In the Book of Ecc. chapter 4 and verses 7-12, there is a discussion of needing one another, it talks of having reason for existance, support, and help if there are two. If one falls down will be be able to get up unless there is another to help him. I think of mountain climbers, with the pitons and ropes, climbing, supporting each other, each one responsible for the other, their very lives depending on the other. I think of Arctic and Antarctic explorers who pulled each other through the cold and the ice, where one alone would have died. Of two seater fighter and bomber aircraft like the stelth bomber that have a better chance of survival in battle because there are two sets of eyes and two men thinking, planning and working together. Of infantry men, placed in foxholes by twos, not just because two can cover each other better, but also because fear has less a chance to take hold if there is someone else near. And every one of these applies in the church. If there are two, one can help the other when he falls. Two can better look for the wiles of the devil. What one may not see, the other may. When together, the devil has less chance to bring his guns of fear to bear.
And that scripture in Ecc. ends, a three fold cord is not easily broken. The whole tretise has been on two, now it mentions three. Why? I think it points to the church. Although two can be effective, three are even stronger. Why? For the same reason men in battle are spotted to cover each other. We use that word in the church too, cover. In battle it is to protect the other, and in the church it is the same. In air combat, the planes are paired to take advantage of the protection the other can provide. And those pairs of aircraft are frequently flown with 4 groups of two each because of the mutual protection the formation can afford.
In the sheep pasture, in a hostile sky, on the battle field and in the church, it is the stray that becomes the enemy's prey.
There are eight things that will bring unity..
Forgiveness - Get it over with, get it out of your system.
Kindness - I saw a sign, commit random acts of kindness.
Gentleness - Be easy on your brother.
Humility - Know who you are, and who your brother is.
Patience - Cut your brother some slack if he isn't as fast as you are.
Compassion - Feel for him. Cry with him, laugh with him.
Forberance - Defer and prefer.
Love - Last but certainly not least.
And the unity is needed to glorify God. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples that you have love one for another. I'm going to finish with one of the shortest chapters in the new testement, yet it is one of the biggest. Turn with me to I Cor. 12:30. You can't start with the first verse of that chapter and understand it, you have to begin with the last couple of verses in the previous chapter.
After thoroughly discussing spiritual gifts and their importance, the apostle Paul taught on unity and love. In I Cor 12:30 he said, "eagerly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way."
Then he launches into chapter 13.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol.
Without love, I am a bunch of irritating noise.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
Without love, I can be super spiritual, super smart, and perform miracles but I still am nothing. When ministry becomes more important than people it is no longer ministry.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
What I do that is not done in love does not have profit to me.
Charity suffereth long. and is kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.
Doth not behave itself unseemingly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.
Charity keeps the mind pure.
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.
Beareth all things, believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things.
Charity never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they will fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there he knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For now we know in part, and we prophecy in part, but when that which is perfect shall come, than that which is in part shall vanish away.
When I was a child, a spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.
A child tends to see himself and be selfish, as we mature we should learn to be concerned about others.
For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. now I know in part, but then I shall know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, but the greatest of these is charity.
Copyright 1995 Ralph E. Brandt, York PA ------------------
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