One rhyme said it
well, "to live above with those we love, oh, how that will be glory. To
live below with those we know, now that's another story." It's true . . .
but it shouldn't be. At the conclusion
of Jesus' great prayer, He prays for those who would believe because of the
message of the disciples. . . .He prays for us. He prays for the church. The
one request that stands out (because it is repeated three times!) is that His
followers be united as One.
We are not called
to create unity . . . we are called to maintain it. However, before we can
maintain the unity that comes from being related to each other in Christ, we
must repair some of the damage we have done. Let's talk about maintaining unity
in our church and community. Here are two Good Reasons for Unity:
1. The greatest tool of evangelism is
the love we show for each other.(vv 21 & 23) Unity is the bedrock of
evangelism. People understand the love of God when they see that love manifested
in His people. What happens more
often is people are turning away from the gospel because of the
bickering between Christians.
2. We
need each other. In 1 Corinthians Paul likens us to a body, a family. We
need the comfort, instruction, gifts the other possesses. We also are depriving
ourselves of great joy when we divide.
Our differences serve a very important function:
1
Differences keep
us from grievous error.
2
Differences force
us to think about what we believe.
3 Differences expose us to joys we would not have
discovered without them. Differences do not destroy
us . . . they strengthen us.
Let's not allow division to destroy the work of Christ any longer. Amen?