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?
