A United Church
By
January, 2008
It is so good to see you today as
we enter a new phase of our work. Today
is the twelfth service we've had as a congregation. We have almost gone a quarter and God has
blessed us exceedingly. Signature Inn
worked out very well for us in our initial beginning and I think in the same
way this
And I
hope and pray that all of us will be inviting our friends and family and
setting up Bible studies to reach out to our community with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Then we will see our attendance grow from week to week. That is our
goal and our purpose.
Today
I'm speaking on the subject of "A United Church." There is a difference between union and
unity. Union is a group of people
agreeing to come together, but not necessarily together in spirit, mind, and
heart. But unity is both. Unity is when
people are together in heart, mind, and spirit and then they are also together
in person or union.
The
Bible says that one of the last things that Jesus did before he died was that
he prayed that all of his followers might be one as he and his father are
one. This is found in his great intercessory
prayer in John:
I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe in
Me through their word;
that they all 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.
John 17:20-21
(NKJV)
The
man who founded the YMCA, John R. Mott said, "The price that has been
paid for a divided Christendom is an unbelieving world." There is a lot of truth in that
statement. If we expect the world to
believe in Christ then we must present a united front of people who are one as
the Father and Son is one.
As followers of
Christ we often say
that we want
to be together. We hear it said, "We need to be
together." But because of sin we
often hide from God and from each other.
We actually erect barriers to unity.
This is not good, but you know what is good? David told us what is good:
Behold how good and how pleasant it
is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
Psalms 133:1
(NKJV)
Unity
is good and it is also pleasant. There
are some things that are good that are not pleasant. And then some things are pleasant but which
are not good. For instance, you may go
to your doctor and he may prescribe for you to take two tablespoons of some
medicine each day. As you take it you
may say, "This stuff is awful and I can't stand it." It tastes bad and it is not pleasant to take,
but it is good for you, because it will make you feel better and make you get
well. On the other hand the devil presents sin unto us in such fashion, as it
seems very desirable and pleasant. You
like it, but it is not good for you because it will destroy your soul. But
unity is something that is both good and pleasant. "Behold how good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity." (Psalms 133:1)
UNITY OF
The
first congregation of God’s people, the
Now all who believed were together, and had all things
in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as
anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and
simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:44-47
(NKJV)
Now
let us look at another example,
Now the multitude of those who believed were of one
heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was
his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles
gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon
them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things
that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet; and they distributed to
each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also
named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a
Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Acts 4:32-37
(NKJV)
We observe that
the New Testament church was a church that had unity. They were together. They had all things in common. They were of one heart, one mind, one soul,
and one accord.
Let
us look at some of the ideas, which are expressed in the Scriptures, which we
have just read. The first thing we want
to get over is that unity of heart, mind, and soul. This is what some call a mystical unity. What does mystical unity mean? Mystical unity as commonly defined is unity
that is inward, it is introspective, involves the spirit, the heart, and the
mind more than the outward unity which is physical or material in nature.
This kind of unity is when a diverse
group of people can come together and be melted into one by divine love and
divine origin because this unity comes from God and not from man. This is what we mean when the Bible states
that they were of one heart, one soul and one spirit. It is an inward unity. And my friends, unless we are all united
inwardly in our hearts, minds and souls, we will never be united outwardly. And so I tell you we must begin with our
hearts, we must get our hearts right in the sight of God and man before we can
be united as one body of people.
Unity of Faith
There are three words then that are involved in this
unity. First, it is said the “believers” were of one heart and one soul. This is unity of faith. All the believers were one because they all
believed the same thing. They believed
the same teaching. A common faith among
believers will unite the believers, so we all need to make sure that we are all
together in what we believe. One
doctrine and one teaching which we all understand in one mind and one judgment
and so that is unity of faith.
Unity of Mind and Emotions
In the second place the Scriptures says they were of “one mind and one heart.” Usually when the heart is distinguished from the soul or spirit it refers to the emotional nature, which we all call the sympathetic nature of man. This involves things like love, hate, joy and fear. This is our emotional nature. They had a unity of their emotions because they experienced the love of Christ in their hearts. And it means we must experience love in our hearts for one another and for God.
Unity of Willpower
In
the third place we know that the word “soul or spirit” means they had a
unity of their willpower. This means they
were united in the decision-making process.
We must make decisions as a congregation and as individuals. We must desire and decide to have the unity
of the Spirit because we have the spirit of unity. I believe here at the Heartland
As a prisoner for the Lord,
then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be
completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to one hope when you
were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is
over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6
(NIV)
If
we all live Christian lives that are above board and worthy of the high calling
of God, which we have in Christ Jesus, it will help us to be united. Paul says, “Be completely humble and gentle.” If we're going to have the unity of the
spirit and the spirit of unity, we can’t be harsh and cruel and mean and
vindictive to one another. We must be
kind and gentle and humble. “Be
patient,” says Paul. This means we must
be long suffering toward one another. We
must not have a short fuse in reference to anger. We will not have unity if we
have a short fuse and if we are quick to lose our temper. (And I'm going to have a short fuse if this
fly doesn't quit landing on my nose—Laughter!) Paul says, "Be patient,
bearing with one another in love." What
does that mean?
When I was a young man I heard a sermon in
The Unity of the Spirit
What is the unity of the spirit? It is one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father. (Ephesians 4:4-6.) There are seven planks in our platform of divine unity. But you can have everything right and if one does not have the spirit of unity there will never be the unity of the spirit. These early believers were united together because they had the spirit of unity and they had the unity of the Spirit. And they declared their unity publicly by sharing their lives, their fortunes, and their material blessings with one another.
So, the first point I want to get over today is a united church is a congregation united in mind, soul and spirit. It has the unity of the Spirit because it has the spirit of unity.
UNITY OF THE LEADERS
Next, we note that the leaders of the church were united
together. They were united in their vision, and their purpose and their decisions
they were making to spread the gospel of the
“With great
power the apostles continued
to
testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and
much grace was upon them all.”
Acts
(NIV)
The leaders of the Heartland
The early church did that, and I like the statement here that it was with great power that they did this. We have the power of God with us today. The Greek word for power is dunamis, from which we get the word dynamite. The gospel of Christ is God's power or dynamite to blast sin out of our lives:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith;
as it is written, “The just
shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17
(NKJV)
Do we believe we have the power of God with us today? The apostles had great power and how did they use this power? They testified to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we need to go out and preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the very central power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:1-6.)
They had a common purpose in preaching that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. Now we notice that the Bible says they accomplished this with great power and with “great grace.” What is grace? The common definition usually presented is "grace is the unmerited favor of God," and that is true. Grace is the favor of God, which he bestows upon us, which we cannot in any way merit or earn. I read another definition and it is in the form of an acrostic. Let each letter in the word grace stand for the definition:
G—GOD’S
R—RICHES
A—AT
C—CHRIST'S
E—EXPENSE
What is grace? It is "God's riches at Christ’s expense." In other words he had to die for us to enjoy God's riches. This is stated In Ephesians:
Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in
the heavenly places in Christ,
Ephesians 1:3
(NKJV)
In Him we have
redemption through His blood,
the
forgiveness of sins,
according
to the riches of His grace.
Ephesians 1:7
(NKJV)
Grace is God's riches at Christ’s expense. So that is what it means when the scripture says the apostles testified of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and great grace was upon them all. Great riches and favor from God was upon them all. My friends we want this church to have God's great riches and grace to be showered upon us because without it we cannot accomplish anything.
There's nothing like a church that is united in
purpose. As long as we are united in our
vision and our purpose there is no power, there are no people that can stop
what we're trying to accomplish. There is life, power and purpose in the whole
body when we can all be united together. This is what we call body life. Have you thought about the life of your own
body? Your body doesn't have any real
power until your whole body is working together to accomplish something. Your body, soul, and spirit must all work
together to accomplish anything useful.
So at the Heartland
It is very important to have the inward unity. Mystical unity is inward, introspective and involves the heart, the mind, and the spirit. But we must move from the inward unity to a more practical unity of purpose. And that means that we all have to make a decision individually and collectively in our hearts to pull together for a common purpose. For example, this morning for our first service in this school, many of you got here early and helped to set up. We also need to stay after the service for a few minutes and set things back as they were. But not only in the physical and material things, but also in every aspect of our work and worship we must all get our hearts and heads together and pull together for a common purpose! We must pull together. We can’t have half of us pulling in one direction and the other half going in another direction. We must all pull in the same direction. The early church with its apostles, ministers and members were all pulling together for their great purpose. They demonstrated this unity by sharing in their material possessions.
UNITY OF
MATERIAL BLESSINGS
In third
place, let us observe the unity of the
There were no
needy persons among them.
For from time to
time those who owned lands or houses sold them,
brought
the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet,
and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
Acts 4:34-35
(NIV)
Now notice this is not communism. We all know that communism has been a complete failure. It has been thrown on the scrap heap of history. Karl Marx, Lenin and Stalin and that group of intellectuals that foisted that false system of economics upon the Russian people and upon other societies has utterly failed. The idea was to give power to the proletariat or worker. But the worker didn't have any more than he ever had. It was supposed to go into a big pot and then be divided up equally so everyone would have the same. But it didn't work that way. Certain people were wealthy and the worker had very little just like he always had. He almost starved to death.
Here
in Acts what was taking place was not communism. This is something people were allowed to do
freely because they wanted to, because it was in their heart to do this, and
not because it was being imposed upon them by raw power from without. It is not communism. These early Christians had a unity of their
material possessions because they had the love of Christ in their hearts. There was a spontaneous expression of unity
because of what guided them in their heart.
They had “the unity of the spirit” and “the spirit of unity.” They cared for each other and when they saw
that their brothers and sisters in Christ were in need, their great hearts just
overflowed with love, and they went out and sold their land and houses and
possessions and they shared with those who had need. They gave of their material possessions. This was imposed upon them from within their
heart and not from without by raw power.
This spirit needs to be expressed over and over again. I want us to know and believe that our
material possessions are not ours exclusively.
Now in our relationships with each other we do own certain things, such
as your car, your house, your furniture, and many other things. But we cannot
look upon any of them as ours exclusively.
We need to look upon them as gifts, which God has given to us to be
stewards over. We are overseers. We are to oversee those material possessions.
They are for our joy and for the good of our families, but they are also for
the sharing of the gospel and for those in need. And so they are not ours
exclusively. They are ours for a season
and to prove that they are not ours exclusively, when we leave this earth we do
not take any of these things with us. If they were ours exclusively we would
just take them into the next world, but they stay right here when we leave this
world.
Now godliness with
contentment is great gain.
For we brought
nothing into this world,
and
it is certain we can carry nothing out.
And having food
and clothing,
with
these we shall be content.
1
Timothy 6:6-8
(NKJV)
So God gives them unto us, and the early church understood that the material things they had were not there's exclusively. And with the love of God in their hearts, they shared their material blessings freely with those who were in need. And may we all be reminded that if the love of God be in the heart, and if Christ controls your heart, then Christ will also control your treasure, as Jesus said:
"Do not
store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where
moth and rust destroy,
and
where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven,
where
moth and rust do not destroy,
and
where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
(NIV)
Where your heart is there will your treasure be also. Where your treasure is that is where your heart will be. So we just ask, "Is your treasure here upon the earth?” Then that is where your heart will be. “Is your treasure in heaven?” That is where your heart will be. “Is your heart on the earth?” That is where your treasure will be? “Is your heart in heaven?” That is where your treasure is. For where your heart is there will your treasure be also. We need to put treasure in heaven. Do you think that the early church was putting treasure in heaven? Yes! And so we all need to have a unity in the sharing of our material possessions.
I want to commend the church here at Heartland for your generous contributions. We have already built up a sizable amount to be used eventually toward acquiring property and having a building and grounds were we can use them seven days a week. And so I commend you because it shows that you're not selfish, and that your heart is in heaven and that you are laying up treasures in heaven as our Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
Now, I want to give you an illustration. It is always easier if we can break something down in the form of an illustration. Let us observe the giving of Barnabas:
Joseph, a Levite
from
whom
the apostles called Barnabas
(which means Son of Encouragement),
sold
a field he owned and brought the money
and
put it at the apostles' feet.
Acts 4:36-37
(NIV)
We notice Joseph was called Barnabas. Joseph was given a new name and his new name was Barnabas. In ancient times names meant something. And in his case, his new name meant “Son of encouragement.” Do you realize that every time we read about Barnabas he is always encouraging someone? Are you an encourager of people? Are you an encourager of your husband, your wife, and your family? Are you an encourager of your brother and sister in Christ? Are you an encourager of your friends, family, neighbors, and work associates? Are you the kind of person who is a discourager? Do people want to run away when they see you coming? We should all be like Barnabas! When they see us coming people should say, “I love to be around that person because he encourages me in my life, my spirit, my attitude, and my heart. Barnabas was an encourager. And the first time we read about him he was encouraging people by sharing his material possessions. He had such a large liberal heart that he sold a possession which he had and laid the price at the apostles’ feet, so distribution could be made to all who had need.
In Acts the ninth chapter we read of Saul of Tarsus, a
persecutor of the church. He had Christians put to death. But he was converted at
Later Paul and Barnabas went on an evangelistic journey
that lasted about two or three years. (Acts 13, 14.)
When they started out on this journey they took John Mark, nephew to Barnabas. But John Mark quit the work when they reached
Barnabas could have been cruel and mean-spirited. He could have said to Paul, "I remember
when you made some mistakes by putting Christians to death. I remember when they wouldn't have anything
to do with you at
But Paul had a point. He didn’t want to jeopardize the work. But Barnabas had a better spirit in this case. Barnabas in effect was saying, "John Mark, I see qualities in you that other people do not see. You made a mistake but I believe you can overcome it. Barnabas proved to have the better spirit, because later on Paul wrote to his associates and said, “Bring John Mark, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.” John Mark has proved himself. He has proved himself largely because Barnabas was an encourager of men. Let us be sons and daughters of encouragement. Let us encourage one another like Barnabas did. And let us have this unity of the Spirit and the spirit of unity.
EXHORTATION
We are encouraging you today. If you believe in Jesus Christ with all your heart, if you're willing to change your mind in reference to sin, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, we're encouraging you right now when we stand to sing this song, to come forward and confess the name of Jesus Christ and be baptized or immersed in water for the remission of sin. That is what the Bible promises.
And we're encouraging you if you have been a faithful Christian at one time, but like John Mark, you have made a mistake, you have lost heart and have gone back into the world, and you are no longer a faithful child of God, we're encouraging you right now to come back and confess your sins. If you have fallen away, we will pray with you and for you, and the Lord has promised that he will love you and forgive you and reinstate your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Will you do that as we stand and sing this song of encouragement? *
*Shelby G. Floyd delivered this
sermon at the Heartland Church of Christ,