Thank you for being here again one more time
this afternoon as we wrap up the gospel meeting
I Hope and pray that it's been beneficial for
us to study restoring New Testament Christianity
And for us to be reminded of the importance of
going back to the Bible to find everything we
do in our faith doctrine and practice covered
a lot of territory and Tonight I want to go back
and revisit something we talked a little bit
about at the beginning of the meeting and that's
The unity of God's people we live in a world
that is Divided in religion and we want to consider
the question this this afternoon Though this
division abounds is unity really achievable among
Christians today You know, we look at the religious
world around us. We see a lot of division. However,
we look to the New Testament pattern And we see
that the churches we read about in the New Testament,
they were divided only by the distance that was
between them. And you know, the distances between
these congregations in the first century was
a lot longer because they didn't have modern
means and modes of transportation that we have
today. And so we're very blessed to be able to
go and visit other congregations in our area
because we do have modern means of transportation.
But you know, in the first century, Those distances
between these congregations were a lot harder
for them to travel and visit and be together
as God's people as they might have liked to been.
But one of the things we do notice about the
churches of the New Testament, though they were
divided by distance, they taught the same things.
Paul said in Colossians 4 16, when this epistle
is read among you, he told them, cause that it
be read also in the church of the Laodiceans.
that you likewise read the epistle of from Laodicea
Paul wrote a letter to the church at Colossae
also a letter to the church at Laodicea and he's
telling them to exchange their letters that the
both letters would be beneficial to both congregations
because Paul taught the same things Everywhere
he went in every church and they followed the
same rule the same guide that being the Bible
He told the Philippians in Philippians 3 16 nevertheless
Where to we have already attained? Let us walk
by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
Churches of the New Testament walked by the same
rule. They were united in one mind and that was
the mind of Christ. But we look around us today
and we see the opposite of this. Sadly, we see
a lot of disagreements in religion today. We
have denominationalism, which we talked about
earlier in the meeting. It provides a great degree
of the division we have in Christianity today.
And as we've even spoken to during the course
of this meeting, there's even division among
churches of Christ. That's a sad realization
even in churches of Christ today. The division
abounds. You know, that was one of the problems
that Paul addressed in the church at Corinth.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, the division among
the believers. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse
10, Paul said, Now I beseech you, brethren, by
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing and that there be no divisions
among you. He said, but that you be perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. So the religious division that we see
around us today, unfortunately, it has plagued
God's people from the earliest days of the church
as we see in Corinth. But what about unity? division
is the reality that we face today what about
unity is unity even achievable when we're talking
about unity here we're talking about a singular
and oneness of faith we're talking about a singularity
of doctrine a oneness of faith and practice adopting
the same faith doctrine and practice that we
see in the New Testament and all churches in
all places following that one and that same faith.
Is that even achievable? I believe it is achievable
because it's something Paul wrote to the Ephesians
about in Ephesians 4, 4 to 6. It's something
that the first century churches enjoyed. They
enjoyed that unity that we're striving for today.
He told them in Ephesians 4 and 4, there is one
body and one spirit even as you're called and
one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all who is
above all and through all. And in you all, it
is apparent to us that when Paul speaks of this
unity to the church at Ephesus, this was a unity
that they enjoyed in the first century. Now today
we see many different bodies, many different
faiths, many different baptisms. But what we
understand that that is not the will of God for
His church and that's not what Paul wrote about
in Ephesians chapter 4. So the question remains
though division abounds is unity even achievable.
I believe it is I Believe unity is possible and
here's the primary and the main reason why I
believe unity is possible among Christians today
Because it's something that Jesus prayed for
Jesus prayed for the unity of all believers in
John 17 20 to 22 Where Jesus says neither pray
I for these alone. He just prayed for his apostles
He says I'm not just praying for them. I'm praying
also for them which shall believe on me through
their word and I hope that we can see that when
Jesus prays this he's praying it for us because
we have come to believe in Christ Through the
written record and testimony and word of the
Apostles So Jesus is praying for us here He's
praying for all everyone who's ever called themselves
a Christian and what does he pray for that they
all may be one? As thou father art in me and
I and thee that they also may be one in us that
the world may believe that thou has sent me The
glory which thou gave us me I have given them
that they may be one even as we are one So because
Jesus prayed this prayer for unity, I believe
that unity is possible I don't think Jesus prayed
for something that would be completely impossible
or beyond our our reach beyond our grasp When
he prayed for unity, he prayed for something
that was indeed possible. Now just because unity
is possible doesn't always mean it's going to
be simple. In fact, sometimes unity might be
difficult. It might be complicated. Just because
unity is possible doesn't mean it's always going
to be easy. It may be very challenging. It may
be very difficult. And just because unity is
possible doesn't mean it's going to come at a
at a low cost or it'll be cheap to us. It may
come at a high price, and it may be something
that requires a great sacrifice of many people
to attain unto this unity that Jesus prayed for.
But you know, though it's not simple, though
it won't be easy, and though it won't come cheap,
striving for the unity of God's people is worth
it. It's worth it despite all the challenges,
because in 1 Corinthians 1 .13 Paul said, is
Christ divided? He shouldn't be. Christ shouldn't
be divided and neither should his body be divided.
And this is something he tries to help the Corinthian
see. If Paul were alive today, writing to us
today, I think he'd tell us the same thing. Is
Christ divided? Why are we dividing the body
of Christ? It should be united. And we should
be striving to replace that division with togetherness
and unity. Because this is the fact and this
is the reality. Division dishonors Jesus. Division
dishonors Christ. And as he mentioned in his
prayer in John 17, it also weakens our witness
to the world. You know Jesus prayed that we would
be one as him and his father would be one that
the world would believe that God had sent him.
The world has a hard time believing the witness
of Christianity today because Christianity is
so divided. And you got a hundred different preachers
telling people a hundred different things. They
all say they're following the Bible. But they're
teaching different doctrines, preaching different
gospels, that division, that confusion. It does
not honor Christ and it only weakens. It hurts
our witness to a lost and dying world. That's
why we've got to replace division with unity
because unity honors Christ. It honors that bond
that He and His Father had. He said, as you and
I, Father, are one, I want them to be one. Unity
honors Jesus and unity strengthens our witness
to this world. So we're gonna talk about Some
of the things pertaining to unity Some of the
reasons why we believe that unity is indeed possible
among Christians today Unity is achievable if
first we will highly value it It's got to be
valuable to us. It's got to be important to us
But I think as I mentioned earlier in the meeting
all too often we get desensitized To the religious
division we have around us I know that's been
the case for me. At different times I feel like,
if I'm to be honest, I've become desensitized
to all the religious division. It's certainly
not like it was in the days of the children of
Israel in Joshua chapter 22. I want to go back
to Joshua 22 and remind you of some events that
happened in that chapter. You'll remember in
Joshua chapter 22, After Israel had successfully
conquered the promised land and divided the land
among the twelve tribes, two and a half tribes
took their inheritance on the east side of the
Jordan River. That was the tribe of Reuben, the
tribe of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh.
And it was time for the two and a half tribes
to go back to their inheritance on the other
side of the Jordan River. And as they're crossing
the Jordan River to their inheritance, what did
they do? They built an altar. down there by the
River Jordan, and this altar was a replica of
the brass altar for burnt offering there in the
tabernacle of the Lord. They made this altar
look just like the one that they offered their
sacrifices on in the Lord's tabernacle. It was
a replica. Now the other nine and a half tribes
heard that their brethren were down there by
the river building some kind of altar for what
purpose they didn't know, to what God they were
building it to. They did not know, and so, you
know, they did a little bit of maybe jumping
to conclusions, maybe some evil surmising, and
they initially suspected that their brethren
were down there committing a great sin of idolatry
by building this other altar in the land of Israel
when they already had their altar. They had their
altar there in the tabernacle for for burnt offerings.
But now they're down there building another altar,
a second altar in the land of Israel. They didn't
like the sound of that. In fact, they prepared
themselves to go to war with their brethren.
Because they heard they were building another
altar down by the Jordan River. Now, thankfully,
they didn't go to war. Instead, they sent an
emissary. They sent an ambassador to go and see
what was going on. His name was Phineas. Phineas
goes down to the Jordan River and he sees the
altar that they built and if you allow me to
paraphrase He says what are you doing? What are
you doing building this altar down here? Don't
you know God's gonna be angry with us? He said
don't you remember all the times we transgressed
and rebelled against God and the whole nation
suffered and now you've come down here and you're
Transgressing and you're rebelling and you you've
built this other altar and now we're all in trouble
because of your rebellion And that's when the
two and a half tribes, Reuben Gad and half the
tribe of Manasseh, they responded to this accusation.
They said, God forbid that we would build another
altar for burnt offering other than the one we
have in the Lord's Tabernacle. And then they
explain themselves. They say, you know what?
We have not built this altar by the river for
to offer burnt offerings on or to make sacrifices.
That is not the purpose of this altar. And they
explained that we built this altar to be a witness
to your children and to our children and to many
generations to come. That though this river divides
us as a nation, we still serve the same God.
And we didn't want your children in the days
to come to tell our children that they didn't
have any part in the Lord and in His tabernacle
because they lived on the other side of the river.
We thought you know what if your children tied
try to tell our children that our children will
just point to this altar as a memorial a reminder
that we all serve the same God and So the very
thing that they built that their brethren thought
was an act of rebellion and division guess what
it was They were actually trying to be proactive
and maintain the unity of all of God's people.
They were trying to protect against religious
division that might happen in generations to
come. I want to read that part of this from Joshua
20, 22, 12. As I mentioned, the children of Israel
were ready to go to war over that second altar.
They said they built an altar. We got to go down
there. We're going to go to war with our brethren.
But then in verse 29, that's where they explained
God forbid that we would build another altar
to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices and they
explained that This was the final result of what
happened when Phineas heard the purpose behind
that altar The thing pleased the children of
Israel and the children of Israel blessed God
and they did not intend to go up against them
in battle To destroy the land, you know, they
narrowly escaped A civil war. All because of
what? One altar. Isn't it amazing to you in this
story that two altars in the land of Israel was
one too many? Two altars in the land of Israel
was one too many. And yet we look around us and
we see dozens and dozens of different churches.
all divided, all teaching different things, preaching
different Gospels. It's a far cry, isn't it?
From the way they felt about the unity of God's
people back in the days of Joshua. And I'll tell
you something else we see in their example that
I think is worth emulating today. To them, their
unity was worth fighting for. Now the fighting
here I'm talking about is not, you know, getting
physical and getting into a fist fight. I don't
think that's the way we get to unity at all.
But do you notice and do you see in this story
how they were they were willing to fight for
the unity of God's people They just weren't going
to sit back and just say well, oh well Guess
what? I guess we'll be divided. I guess we'll
have two altars No, they took action because
unity was valuable to them It meant something
that they worship the same God that they practice
the same way that it meant something to them
That they guard and safe and keep safe this religious
unity that God had blessed them with and we've
got to do the same We got a highly value unity
like they did if we want to achieve it in religion
today We also have to make sacrifices to attain
unity We're gonna have to make sacrifices if
we want unity everybody will I believe Now I
want you to think about this in terms of the
church being a family the church is the family
of God That's taught in the book of first Timothy
chapter 3 verse 15 Paul tells Timothy if he tarries
long He's writing this so that Timothy may know
how he ought to behave himself in the house of
God Which is the church of God the the the pillar
and ground of the truth that goes on to say to
say Church is the house of God the word house
here means family The church of the Living God
is the house it is the family of God and we understand
what that means because in God's in God's church
In the family of God, we cherish bonds of fellowship
and love. We love one another like brothers,
like sisters, like fathers, like mothers. That's
what Paul explained to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5,
1 to 2. We need to rebuke not an elder, Paul
tells Timothy, but entreat him as a father, younger
men as brethren, elder women as mothers, younger
women as sisters with all purity. We cherish
the strongest of family bonds in the family of
God. And you know how it works in a family? In
our families, everybody has to work together
and make sacrifices for the betterment of the
family. And I think it's the same way in the
church. If we want unity, there may be sacrifices
that we have to make. Now, I'm not saying that
we should ever sacrifice or compromise what we
know the Word of God to teach is true. As Brother
Daniel mentioned to us so well in the opening,
you know, Compromising the truth of God's Word
is no way to gain unity. What do you unite with
if you compromise the Word of God? You're not
uniting with truth. You're uniting with error.
And we can't unite with error. That's like taking
one step forward and then another step back to
unite with error. The basis of our unity has
to be the truth, has to be the Word of God. But
you know, there may be areas where we don't have
to compromise. our faith, our doctrine, our practices,
areas where we can be flexible, areas where we
can sacrifice for the betterment of the entire
family. We have to do that in our own flesh and
blood families and we might have to do that in
the church. Sometimes there's problems in families.
Every family has problems. The church has problems
just like every other family. Sometimes in the
family we suffer with disagreements leading to
anger, leading to hurt, leading to bitterness,
and then division in the family in the end. That's
a terrible thing when families are going through
this. Churches have went through a lot of this
same thing. Due to disagreements, there's been
anger. Due to anger, there's been hurt. There's
bitterness and division in far too many churches
today. But how should we treat one another in
the family of God? Bible tells us how to treat
one another in the family of God and this is
the sacrifice we need to be willing to make We
need to do with Ephesians 4 31 and 32 tells us
let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor
That's angry outbursts and evil speaking be put
away from you with all malice. That's hatred
Now look at verse 32. Here's here's the key ingredients
Be be kind one to another tender -hearted forgiving
one another even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. At the end of the day, this is
how we need to treat one another in the family
of God. And you know, I believe when families
have problems, when families have difficulties,
I like to sit down with families when they're
having problems and we work through those problems.
And we've got tools at our disposal given to
us in the Word of God to overcome hurt anger
pride bitterness resentment strife division in
the family and here are some of the tools James
5 16 teaches some as though some of those tools
confess your faults one to another and pray for
one another that you might be healed The healing
here is not physical healing. The healing here
is the healing of relationships that are hurt
due to faults and offenses due to problems bitterness
and anger in the family. When our families are
having problems, what do we need to do? We need
to humble ourselves. We need to be honest. We
need to confess our faults. We need to pray.
We need to forgive. And when we'll do that, we'll
turn those problems around, won't we? And it's
the same way in the church. If we want unity,
we're going to have to be humble. We're going
to have to be honest. We're going to have to
confess fault. We're going to have to pray. We're
going to have to forgive others. Those are very
powerful tools in bringing families together
where there's division. These will be powerful
tools for us in our churches to reach a greater
degree of unity. Here's something else we got
to realize. In our family, sometimes we have
problems. We'd like to fix everybody else in
the family, right? Sometimes I sit down with
families having problems. We go around the room
I let the husband talk and you know what he blames
it on everybody else in the family But him now
let the wife talk guess what she does blames
it on everybody else in the family But her now
let the kids talk they blame it on everybody
else in the family, but them Here's the reality
if we've got a problem in the family or in the
church really the only person we can fix is ourselves
Sometimes the husband says, if everybody else
would just straighten up, we wouldn't have a
problem. Wife says, if everybody else would just
straighten up, we wouldn't have a problem. Well,
reality is we need to stop pointing the finger
at everybody else and look at ourselves and we
need to do what we can do. Because we are the
only person really that we can fix. We can encourage
people to fix themselves. We can encourage people
to change. We can try to... motivate them in
different ways to do that, but at the end of
the day, you can't fix anybody but yourself,
and it needs to start there. We need to truly
examine ourselves, and if we find ways that we
need to make correction to gain a greater degree
of unity in our congregations, that's what we
need to do. We need to be willing to confess
those faults and make those corrections, make
those sacrifices. They are worth it to achieve
unity. Unity is achievable for us today if we
highly value it, if we sacrifice to attain it,
and if we will patiently pursue it. The book
of Ephesians, Ephesians 4 talks about two types
of unity. In Ephesians 4 verse 11 to 13, we're
going to read about the unity of the faith. And
the unity of the faith is realized the more and
the more that we equip and serve and grow together
in Christ. So this needs to be part of our focus
in maintaining unity. Serving one another, equipping
one another, growing together in Jesus. That
strengthens and increases the unity of the faith.
Ephesians 4 11, he gave some apostles, some prophets,
some evangelist pastors and teachers for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the
faith. He gave these offices in the church to
build up, strengthen, and help the body grow.
And that's a process that is ongoing till we
all come in the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man,
unto the measure and the fullness of the stature
of Christ. So the unity of the faith is something
that comes more and more and more in verse 13
as we put into practice verse 12, equip the saints
to do the work of serving and building one another
up. That's the unity of the faith. But there's
another unity that Ephesians 4 speaks of and
that's the unity of the Spirit. The unity of
the Spirit. We need to patiently pursue a greater
degree of that unity of the faith and we need
to endeavor to keep, to guard the unity of the
Spirit that God has given us. God calls us and
we're going to read it in a moment in Ephesians
chapter 4, 1 to 3. He calls us to endeavor to
keep. That word keep means diligently guard and
protect. the unity of the Spirit. When I think
about guarding something, protecting something,
I think about putting it in a bank vault, right?
If I've been given something of great value,
I want to keep it and guard it, protect it. I
would put it in a vault, seal it up, make sure
it was safe, make sure it couldn't be compromised
in any way. And God has given us something truly
valuable and amazing and wonderful when He gave
us the unity of the Spirit, the unity of the
Spirit. It's the second kind of unity that's
mentioned in Ephesians four. Paul says, I therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you, I beg you
that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you're called with all lowliness and meekness
and longsuffering, forbearing one another in
love. Here's what he tells us to do. Endeavoring
to keep to guard to preserve what the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace. We must diligently.
Work to guard and maintain this unity of the
spirit. Now. This is a type of unity this unity
of the spirit It's a type of unity that God makes
and God gives us. We don't make this kind of
unity God gave us this unity when we when we
were baptized into Christ 1st Corinthians 12
13 for as many of you as have been baptized or
escalations 3 sorry for 1st Corinthians 12 13
for by one spirit are we all baptized into one
body For by one spirit are we all baptized into
one body I believe that's the unity of the spirit
that the Bible speaking of here in Ephesians
chapter 4 when we came into the family of God
through Baptism God united us with our brothers
and sisters in the church We didn't make that
happen. The Lord added us to the church. He gave
us brothers and sisters It was a gift from him
to put us into the family of God That's the unity
of the Spirit that God makes and God gives us.
He gives it to us and He tells us, look, this
is a precious gift. You've got to guard it and
protect it and do everything you can to keep
and maintain it. And that's what we do with the
unity of the Spirit. And then we go forward from
there striving for a greater degree of the unity
of the faith as we grow in knowledge, grow in
understanding. We work patiently together, becoming
more like Jesus. That's how we acquire a greater
degree of the unity of the faith. So for all
of these reasons that we've talked about from
the Word of God this afternoon, yes, I believe
unity of all believers is possible. I believe
it's possible. To achieve it, we're going to
have to surrender our individual will to the
Word of God. Again, I don't want you to go away
from here thinking that compromise, that it's
worth it to compromise the Word of God in order
to gain unity, okay? Compromising the Word of
God is not the right way to achieve unity. But
in every area that we possibly can, surrender
our will to the will of God as it's revealed
in the Word. That's a sacrifice and a surrender.
We need to be willing to make to achieve unity
and Here's something else to consider as we wrap
up, but you know, I believe that unity within
the body It's not it's not optional It's not
optional it's something that is Required the
Lord requires it the Lord demands it the Lord
wants it There's several ingredients that are
going to be necessary for us to realize it and
we read them a moment ago. I'll revisit them
in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 to 2. We'll achieve
this unity if we'll pursue it with all loneliness
and meekness, with long suffering, that's patient
endurance, forbearing one another, forbearing
one another in love. If we'll cultivate these
things in our hearts, I believe that will put
us in a position Where we are ready we are willing
and we are able to do our part We can only do
our part right? We can't do everybody else's
part, but we this will put us in a position to
be able to do our part To be part of the solution
that unity is rather than being part of the problem
that division has created among us So as I close
this afternoon, I think it would be appropriate
for us as we consider these things to pray to
God, you know, we need God's help. We can't do
this on our own. It seems like a daunting task
to overcome so much religious division that we
see around us. But we serve a God for which nothing
is impossible for Him. All things are possible
with God and we need His help in regaining the
unity that God wants among His people. So let's
have a prayer right now, a prayer for the unity
of God's people. Would you pray with me? Father
in heaven we come humbly and boldly before you
this afternoon acknowledging you as the only
true and living God Father we're thankful that
we can come to you and We can find strength we
can find motivation We can find the ability father
to do things that seem hard that seem difficult
that seem impossible to us But we trust that
nothing is impossible with you father. We pray
for the unity of all of God's people We pray
that you will help us father to cultivate hearts
and minds that are ready willing and able to
seek for to strive for and to achieve and and
realize a greater degree of unity in our homes
and our families and our congregations Throughout
the church at large with the other congregations
in our area We we pray that for all people who
call themselves Christians that they would come
together around your word We would sacrifice
our will, Father, to pick up and embrace your
will as it's revealed in your word. Help us to
not lean on our own understanding, not to prioritize
our own thoughts, our own feelings, our own opinions,
our own preferences, but to sacrifice it all
at the altar, Father, so that we can have this
unity that we know you want us to have. Thank
you for helping us do our part. To be a part
of the solution and not a part of the problem
of division Continue to bless this congregation
as they continue to serve you to look to you
To practice the teachings of your word and to
do so with a sincere heart Thank you Lord for
all your love your mercy and your grace help
us to show that love in that mercy to others
We love you so much. Thank you for your love
for us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen Thank you
for your attention this afternoon. Thank you
for your participation throughout the course
of this meeting. May God richly bless each and
every one of you