Unity

Unity.
Sermon Notes – Ps. Jim White
Sunday 11th July 2010
• Last week, having preached about the church becoming radically relevant to our world – and challenging all of us to live from a place of radical love, radical hope, radical mercy and radical grace, straight after the service I had about seven or eight of the men in this church spontaneously come and gather around me to pray and stand with me.

• I sensed it was a time where together we simply acknowledged the faithfulness of God, and what He was doing in our midst... I think they wanted me to know that I don’t stand alone in the call of God for this church – that we are in this together. I felt encouraged, edified, supported and strengthened – and part of something bigger than what any of us could try and manufacture.

• I have been inspired by the men in this church. You mightn’t see them all up the front here – you mightn’t think from looking on with a passing glance that they are anything special – but that unusual and radical demonstration of unity reflects what God has been up to in the hearts of the men in this place. I would even go so far as to say it’s the stuff that revivals are made of.

• Then on Wednesday, with so many women unable to come to the ladies coffee morning at Café 29, Venese thought it would most likely turn out to be a nice, intimate get together of about three or four women – which in itself would have been well worth doing.

• But you can imagine her amazement when nearly twenty ladies turned up. But not only did they turn up – they had a fantastic time of connecting and building relationships over coffee. A number of the ladies were saying later what a very special time it was that they shared together – and everyone seemed to be of one accord.

• Do you know why these very real experiences – not fabricated and not religious experiences – but real experiences are the thing of revivals? Because they flow from the heart of God – from the Father’s heart. And they are the manifestation of answered prayer. Do you know whose prayer? The Lord’s Prayer!

• I don’t mean the Lord’s prayer as in when Jesus was teaching the disciples how to pray, in Matt 6, when He said “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come....” That should by rights be called the disciples prayer.

• I mean the Lord’s prayer, as in when Jesus prayed to His Father for all of His followers – for His church – including us in 2010. It was on the night before He went to the Cross.

• John records it in John 17. The first part of Jesus’ prayer is for Himself – that He would bring glory to God through what He was about to go through. Then He prayed for His disciples – the ones who were standing with Him right at that time.

• But then He goes on to pray for you and I – in verse 20-23. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

• There’s one main thing that Jesus prayed, for those who would believe through the word of the disciples – that’s us – that we would be one – that we would be in unity... but not just for our own sake... for the sake of the gospel. That the world may believe that Jesus was sent by the Father – that the world may know that the Father loved them in just the same way that He loved Jesus His own Son.

• I believe that the experiences I mentioned earlier – with the men spontaneously praying together – and the women connecting with such a sense of unity – is not just the result of a group of people caring about each other. It is more than that. It is something that is generated by the Spirit of God.

• Something like that cannot be fabricated by man – and could never be organised as part of the program of church. It is the vitality of the Spirit of God in the hearts and spirits of men and women.

• And it is exciting because the unity and oneness that Jesus prayed for, is nothing short of the same oneness and unity that is shared between the Father and the Son. It is not merely a unity of organisation, or purpose, or even feelings and affection.

• This is what is meant to be common and normal in the body of Christ – the church. And we are meant to be drawn together in this way because we are drawn to a common centre – Jesus Christ Himself. He is the source and the centre of the power and blessing of unity.

• But it’s not about us as much as it’s about the world that we live in – the world that we are meant to be reaching. True unity – true oneness of Spirit and heart will be a powerful testimony to the world.

• One thing will compel the world to believe – and that is a supernatural oneness in the family of God – centred on Jesus Christ.

• Jesus says the same thing in John 13:35 – “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

• The power of the love of God – as it is shared amongst His believers – is the only hope that we have of being effective witnesses in this world. And the reason is that the world we live in is so often defined by the opposite of love – and hope – and unity.

• Our world is usually defined by conflict, broken relationships, broken people, dysfunctional families, fractured communities, political unrest and division. People live in fear and suspicion of one another and the organisations that are meant to serve them.

• I received an email from a pastor in Armidale this week about the happenings in Canberra with Julia Gillard and the ALP overthrowing Kevin Rudd. It speaks of a party that is full of factions, right wing, left wing, centre-right and centre-left... Regardless of your political persuasion, what is happening in the government right now is a classic example of the conflict and division that the world is now becoming used to.

• And on another level, there has been another young man killed in Afghanistan. A 23 year old from NSW. Whether we know him personally or not, everyone is affected to some degree by the waste of life that is going on because of war and the terror of war.

• I found out this week that it was my cousin’s house that was invaded in Sydney by four men with machetes. Tracey survived the attack, but her son later died in hospital from blood loss. He was murdered in his own home.

• It becomes more than just a horrific story in the news and a terrible thing that happened “in the world” when you realise these are people who are part of your own extended family.

• Where are people going to find a place of inner stability and security, and a place of belonging – a place of unity and love – if not in the house of God and in the lives of those who love God?

• Because we have an Advocate and an Intercessor praying for us. Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven and intercedes on our behalf.

• Can you imagine the prayers of Jesus? If they are anything like the prayer He prayed for us on the night before His crucifixion, they must be powerful.

• Author, Robert McCheyne once said, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference, He is praying for me.”

• And there is no distance in time for Jesus either. The prayer He prayed for us to the Father that we would be one as they are one – is as powerful and relevant today as it ever was 2,000 years ago.

• There’s a website called “oneprayer.com” – and part of its purpose includes this statement: “We pray to Jesus asking Him to answer our prayers – what if we became the answer to His?”

• The answer to His prayer would be that we actually become the one, united body of believers that He called us to be.

• And again – I’m talking about the real deal – not something that is fabricated by man.

• As far as the wider church is concerned, it’s more than having a combined churches meeting every now and then – even though that’s a great start.

• I think we are getting closer to the real deal as a few of the pastors and their wives get together each week at the Salvation Army to pray for Ballina and the church in Ballina together.

• I don’t believe the unity we are called to has anything to do with a relatively new combined organisation called “The World Council of Churches.” The Pentecostal movements weren’t even invited to be part of that.

• Malcolm Muggeridge is another author – a journalist – an agnostic who converted to Christianity in his later life – but he said of the “World Council of Churches” – “They agreed on almost everything because they believed almost nothing.”

• That’s not the true unity of the Spirit that Jesus is talking about.

• But let’s start with where we are at – now and here...

• I want to encourage you, as part of Seacoast Church in Ballina, to continue to seek true unity in the Spirit. It doesn’t mean we all have to the same. That’s never going to happen and neither should it. Unity is not about everyone being the same – it’s about us being one.

• Unity and oneness is about relationship – but relationship that is centred around Jesus Christ – with the purpose of bringing glory to Him.

• Rom 15:5-6 – (NIV) – “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Jesus Christ, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

• Unity has got a lot to do with one heart and one mouth. It’s a heart thing - not just an outer conformity. And I think one mouth is a very apt description. What comes out of our mouth will either unify or divide – lift up or pull down – bring glory to God or not.

• We all know too well the scriptures in James that speak about the tongue. James 1:26 says – “If anyone among you thinks he is religious , and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.” And in James 3:5, “...the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles.”

• I think we could safely update those little scriptures to include not only the tongue, but facebook, twitter, blogging, emails, SMS, Skype, and every other form of technological communication that I am not even aware of.

• Let’s all raise the standard a bit – young and old - and make sure we always lift up purity and righteousness in the way we communicate to one another – whatever form it takes – and pursue this journey to wholeness and unity together.

• Zephaniah 3:9 – (again from the NIV) – this is the prophetic word to God’s people - “Then will I purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.”

• Let that be our prayer – that God would purify our lips. And I think that’s a great description of unity – serving God shoulder to shoulder. Each one taking up their rightful position in the body. Not trying to all be the same – but recognising the value of diversity – and standing together in that diversity.

• I love the way Proverbs describes the way we all should be speaking to one another. Prov 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.” Let’s speak to one another with words that are fitly spoken. Give the Spirit of God something to work with – something that will bring glory to God.

• Ps. 133:1 – “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”

• Phil 2:2 – “Fulfil my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

• Unity of spirit is about glory. Jesus said to His Father – the glory you have given Me, I give to them. The glory is the radiant, magnificent, kingly presence of God – the weight of His presence – the place of His anointing, as Ps 133 testifies... (verse 2) “like precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments, It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountain of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing – life forevermore.”

• Jesus has drawn us into the eternal life and relationship that He shares with His Father. And that’s the glory!

• Isn’t it now up to us to draw others into the same relationship? And doesn’t it make sense that that will happen in a atmosphere and environment of real, fair dinkum unity and oneness amongst the body of Christ? Out of a prayer from the heart of Christ, He made room for us to come. Let’s make room now for others as we become the answer to that prayer.

• Don’t try and all be the same – just receive the blessing of unity – the anointing of the Holy Spirit – and stand together shoulder to shoulder as we reach out to a world that needs to know and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God – sent by the Father to save them.

• Amen!