UNITY IN JESUS: a practical difficulty 10-23-22

UNITY IN JESUS: a practical difficulty 10-23-22

 

Unity

 

Jesus example for us

 

We are all children of God.

We are all one.

We are heirs.

 

The truth has to be lived out in reality.  Too often Christianity is something we have only intermittent commitment to.

 

A little boy on a farm illustrated this concept of Christianity. One day the pastor came to visit and was sitting in the living room visiting with the boy’s mother. The preacher was seated in a corner chair, so the boy did not see him as he came running into the room with a rat by the tail.

 

The boy said, “Mama, I found this rat and I hit him with a board, and then I threw him against the barn, and then I kicked him, and then I stomped him…”

 

At that moment, the boy caught a glimpse of the preacher, so he turned to the preacher and continued, “and then, Pastor, the Lord called him home” 

 

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

                             1 Corinthians 1:10-13 NIV

 

I.  AGREEMENT

 

“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

                             2 Timothy 1:13-14 NIV

 

               A.  With one another

                          1.  Brothers and sisters

                              2.  In Christ

               B.  In what you say

 

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”

                             1 Timothy 4:13 NIV

                          1.  Doctrine

                              2.  The name of Jesus

 

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

                             2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV

 

II.  NO DIVISIONS

 

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.

 

The next week, the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (AND LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper,

 

"Please wake me at 5:00 AM."

 

The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and that he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife didn’t get him up when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said,

 

"It is 5:00 AM. Wake up"

 

               A.  NO divisions

 

“In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.”

                             1 Corinthians 11:17-18 NIV

 

“But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”

                             1 Corinthians 12:24b-25 NIV

 

          B.  Perfectly united

 

Oneness

 

A three-year-old girl was listening intently to the children’s sermon one Sunday morning at her church. The minister explained that God wants everyone to get along and love each other.

 

“God wants us all to be one,” he said.

 

To which the little girl replied, “But I don’t want to be one. I want to be four!”...

 

              C.  United in mind and thought

 

III.  QUARRELS

 

In Winchester, Ohio there’s a church called the Bethlehem Church of Christ. It’s been in existence for over 150 years, and over the years different events have been recorded in their “history” book. One of their recent ministers was reading back over the different entries in this book when he ran across the following item from the year 1840:

 

“We had fighting right here at home. The Democrats and Republicans were so bitter against one another, it broke the church up.”

 

One eyewitness reported a fist fight over the issue: “Two of our best men fought to a finish. One wanted to know if the other had enough. He said he had, so he let him up.”

 

According to a survey conducted in 2004, preachers from across the nation were asked what topic they felt hadn’t been properly covered in their Bible college training and the top answer was:

 

Conflict management - 31%.

                              (From a sermon by Teddy Walker, The Spirit of Korah, 6/30/2010)

 

        A.  Following humans

       B.  “Following Christ”

 

How many different ways are there to eat an Oreo? Some of us simply start eating it, nibbling at it as if we had all the time in the world. Some of us will twist it apart and lick the filling out first. Some of us will get a glass of milk and hold the Oreo in there until it almost ready to fall apart, and at the last minute pull it out and eat the whole thing in one bite!

 

Does it really matter how we eat the Oreo? In the end, the Oreo is still being eaten!

 

               C.  Is Christ divided?

                              1.  We are the body of Christ

                              2.  We are united like He is united with His Father.

 

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

                              John 17:22-23a NIV

 

CONCLUSION

 

We need to be in agreement united in mind and thought.  We need to have no divisions.  We need to have no quarrels.

 

CHALLENGE

 

What will you do with what you have just heard?  How will you respond to the Holy Spirit working within you?  The Challenge is intended to give us an opportunity to contemplate what God is calling us to do in our lives.  Consider these questions and write down your answers.  

 

               1.  How do you know what we should agree upon?

               2.  Why does Paul connect agreement and what we say?

               3.  What causes division in the church?

               4.  How do we become perfectly united in mind and thought?

               5.  Are you currently involved in a quarrel with someone in the body of Christ?

 

INVITATION

 

It is our custom to offer an "invitation" following the preaching of the Word.  You may want to follow Jesus.  You may want to proclaim your faith.  You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things and start doing Godly things).  Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways, you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.  If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make a decision in your life, you can come forward now.  If you would like, I would be honored to speak with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.