Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Main Idea: If unity in Christ is so important, and our Christian witness depends on it, how far should we go to maintain that unity?

Text:

We’re going to talk this morning about unity.

[Unity Movie Montage]

The cool thing about the church is that even when we’re apart, we can and should have unity. Having church in this format always allows us to do things just a little different, so I like to take advantage of that.

So, to start out, I want to do something that I can only do via video, and not in person, and that’s this. [snaps fingers, clothes instantly change]

[NEW LOOK] I love doing that. Here, let’s do it again. [snaps fingers]

[OLD LOOK] Ok, one more time. [snaps fingers]

[NEW LOOK] Now, you may have noticed that I changed my clothes, but I also changed three other things on the screen. Can you name them all? I’m going to show you one last time, okay? [snaps fingers]

[OLD LOOK] This is what it looked like before. Ok? Get a good look. And… [snaps fingers]

[NEW LOOK] This is what it looks like after. Can you name the other things that changed? I’ll give you just a few more seconds to guess in the comments.

Ok, time’s up. I changed this pillow from Minecraft to purple. And I changed the color behind me from green to purple. And, finally, the Bible on the table changed colors. Did you guess them all? I don’t have any prizes for the winners, but if you got them all, go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back.

Now, we did that this morning because I wanted to point out that it’s good to be different. In fact, God calls us to be different. He doesn’t want us to look the same as we were before we trusted in Jesus. He wants us to change. And as we change, we need to be even more intentional to love one another just as God loves us.

We finished our series through James last week, so I originally planned to start a new sermon series with you this morning, but I’d really like to start it in person with you. So instead, for the next couple weeks, I’m going to ask us some questions to prepare us for that series, and I encourage you to talk about them with the people around you, or in the chat.

Now, I’m going to warn you, these won’t all be easy questions. And I’m positive that many of you will have different opinions about them, and different understandings of how Scripture answers them. So when you share your answer, and when you hear other people’s answers, I encourage you to be gracious and loving, maintaining our unity in Christ.

In John 17:21, Jesus prayed for us, saying:

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21)

Father, help us to be one. Help us to love each other, just as You love us, so that all the world would see Jesus in us. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

So Jesus prayed that we would be one. And the fact that Jesus prayed for it tells me that it’s not something that’s automatic. It’s something that could be lost. So that’s our first question. What does it mean for us to be one, just as Jesus and His Father are one?

What does it mean for us to be one, just as Jesus and His Father are one?

[pause to discuss]

It’s really sad that there are so many denominations that divide us into various churches, beliefs, and practices when Jesus literally prayed that we would be united.

I was in the band in high school, and we played one piece of music that started out as noise. I wish I could remember the name of the song, because I’d play it for you this morning. But basically, at the beginning of the song, everyone was playing random notes, tuning up, practicing little riffs, and it just sounded like chaos. But gradually, one by one, they begin to play the melody and harmonies, until by the end of the song, it sounds like a perfect work of art. That’s what unity is: a variety of instruments, from a variety of backgrounds, coming together to make something beautiful.

So our second question is similar to the first. What would it look like if all Christians were actually united in our devotion to one another?

What would it look like if all Christians were united in our devotion to one another?

[pause to discuss]

Looking at John 17:21 again, I want you to notice the goal of our unity in Christ.

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21)

The goal of our unity is evangelistic. Jesus prayed that we would be one SO THAT the world would believe. And that’s something we should all want. We want the world to believe that Jesus was sent by God the Father. There really is a heaven to be gained, and a hell to escape. So we want people to receive Jesus as the Savior. And Jesus is pointing out through His prayer that one of the greatest barriers to people believing that is our disunity with one another.

So that’s our third question. How might a greater unity among the Body of Christ point others to Jesus?

How might a greater unity among the Body of Christ point others to Jesus?

[pause to discuss]

Like most Baptist churches, we like to vote on things. So in order to decide whether to have church in person or online this morning, we voted in our Facebook group. And interestingly, we had our most divided outcome ever. Our church was split 50/50 on whether to meet online or in person today, and yet we are all here, united in this service right now. That’s a great picture of how we’re to be united. Even when we disagree, we come together.

Now, so far, you’re probably thinking, “Pastor Chris, I thought you said these weren’t going to be easy questions!” And you’re right, so far, these questions have been pretty safe. But I have two more questions that are some of the toughest.

So, if unity in Christ is so important, and our Christian witness depends on it, how far should we go to maintain that unity?

If unity in Christ is so important, and our Christian witness depends on it, how far should we go to maintain that unity?

[pause to discuss]

For example, how often should you bite your tongue? How often should you swallow your pride? This isn’t necessarily a hard question to answer, but it is hard to practice.

And I don’t know the perfect answer to that question. When Paul and Peter had a disagreement, they split ways for a while. When a certain man in the Corinthian church was content to live in sin, Paul even instructed them to hand the man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. So having unity doesn’t mean that we become complacent and complicit about sin.

I don’t know how far we should go to maintain church unity. But I do know how far Jesus went. Jesus went to the cross. He died for our sin, and even for our disunity. And through His wounds, we’re healed.

So, knowing that Jesus died for us, I want to challenge all of us to go that far in sacrificing ourselves for the sake of one another. Our culture today has gotten to the point that we all feel comfortable speaking our mind no matter who we offend, but maybe we need to get back to the biblical virtue of unity.

And I hope you see that this is absolutely necessary not just for the church, but for the world we live in. We’re all sinners, so the only way we’re ever going to get along is for each of us to love each other, even knowing that the people we’re loving will certainly let us down at times.

Being someone dedicated to promoting unity means self sacrifice. It means being okay when non-essential issues don’t go your way. Some of that’s easy. If someone wants to change the Christmas family dinner from ham to lasagna, and you don’t really like lasagna, but most of the family does, you say, “Sounds great!” But sometimes it’s harder. If you know that your young adult child is going to do what they want, whether you agree with them or not, you often need to learn to let them make their own mistakes. And, for the sake of unity, you learn to not say “I told you so.”

So, last question. How can you practically deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus?

How can you practically deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus?

[pause to discuss]

Following Jesus is more than believing in Him. It’s doing the thing He did. It’s loving the sinner. It’s giving your life for the sake of others, not just once at the end of your life, but every day.

That’s a lifelong journey, and it begins by trusting in Jesus’s death and resurrection. Jesus died for your sin to save you, and rose again that you might follow Him, being united with one another as His family, so that the world also may believe in Jesus.