Releasing the Next Generation Part II Sunday September 15, 2002
A Base of Unity
Philippians 4:2
I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. 3Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Last week, at the end of his message, Richard told a number of stories about Elijah and Elisha and how, although Elijah did not do all the things he was commanded to do at Mt Horeb, the one thing he did do which was the most important was to bring up an apprentice to whom he could pass the torch. Elisha then completed the task that Elijah had been called to. Richard pointed out the huge importance in releasing the next generation. That is what I want to talk about today.
What I want to do is to talk once again about releasing the next generation into ministry and leadership in the church.
I preached a sermon on this topic this summer as we sent off Mary and Julie to the Gathering, and as we looked toward sending off the youth to Chicago. One of the words that David Demian had leading up to the Gathering begins by saying:
Walking Backward, Running Forward
A Prophetic Call to Generation X
From the first gathering in Whistler in 1995, our hearts’ longing has been to train and release the younger generation. The Lord has led us on a journey to raise up the covering and protection of true spiritual fathers and mothers in our nation, those who would walk with the younger generation and speak into their lives. This journey reached a climax in September 2001, when more than 110 leaders from across Canada entered a covenant to lay down their lives and ministries for one another to see God’s kingdom advanced in Canada.
Soon after the covenant, the Lord spoke to us that now, with a covering of fathers in place, He desires to release the children to walk with the fathers.
What David was saying was that the next generation could not be released until there was a covering of unity provided by the older, or “boomer” generation. They created a covenant amongst the leaders that would provide this covering. When I watched the video of that covenant, I was thinking (maybe a little cynically,) that that is easy for them to commit to each other, they don’t really have to live with each other! Unity with my Christian brothers and sisters in B.C. is easy compared to unity with the ones I relate to on a daily or weekly basis!
But, I am convinced that God is calling us into the same things at Runnymede that he is calling the people into at the Gatherings.
We too, if we hope to release the next generation into ministry and leadership must strive toward unity we with in the church.
The Larger Ramifications of Unity.
Often when we are at logger heads with another Christian, we think that it is just between them and us. If we have done more reflection on it we recognize that it also between them us and God. Our personal relationship with God is hampered when we are not in unity with his people. These things are true, but there is a wider impact than just our own personal relationships. It effects the whole church.
This is why Paul pleads with these two women in the church at Philippi to be united. It is not just about two women having a tiff – their disagreement will affect the ministry of the church. These were women who worked side by side with Paul to see the cause of the Gospel furthered. And now the church was stymied because of their disagreement.
Unity affects the witness of the church
In John 17, Jesus has a lengthy prayer for himself, for his disciples and for us. At the forefront of his mind in his last moments before the cross is the unity of the future church. He prays for us:
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
People will know that Jesus is the son of God and the messiah if we live in unity!
When there are divisions among the people of God, our witness to the world is severely handicapped – our unity itself is our witness!
Often the first argument against the faith is our disunity.
Euodia and Syntyche’s names were written in the Lamb’s book of life – when a athelete gets a record, but there are extenuating circumstances they get an asterix beside their name, you all most wonder if we make it into heaven and we are not living in unity, if we get an asterix as well
Unity Affects the Manifest Presence of God
Revelation 2
"To the angel[1] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands: I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
You could translate verse 4 “you have forsaken the love you had at first.”
The New Living translation puts it this way “
“4But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!”
The church had become so concerned with the truth and correcting error(which is good) that they stopped trusting even each other. They lost the love they had a first. God says, “unless you pull it together I’m leaving and turning out the lights when I go.”
David Demian talks about how he was traveling and staying with Christian leaders. In one home of a prominent leader, he knew that the husband and wife were having a tiff – they were trying to be hospitable, but you could taste the tension. Needless to say it was not a restful house for David to stay in. He retreated to his room, and tried to figure out how he could get out of the house and into a hotel or something without offending his guest. He prayed to God, “Lord get me out of this situation!” and God responded to him by saying “This is how I feel in the church. Why would I want to stay in a house where you can taste the tension.”
Psalm 133 says
1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
If God bestows his blessing where there is unity, he removes it where there is not.
If we are passing the baton to the Next generation, what kind of legacy are we leaving them? A place that is marked by God’s presence and blessing, or a place that he has to endure on Sunday morning?
As a church that is hungry for the presence of God, it is imperative that come together in unity.
Unity affects the covering we give the next generation.
Ephesians 6 reminds us that we are in a Spiritual Battle in the heavenly realms. We are not just hoping to hand the baton to the next generation, we are handing the sword to continue the battle. Jesus teaches us that a house divided against itself will fall. The reason the Fascists won the Spanish Civil war was not because they had the stronger army, it was because as soon as the Anti-Fascist alliance started to defeat the Fascists, they started to fight each other.
Lord Nelson of England was about to enter an important battle. He heard that two of his officers were at odds with each other. He called them in and said, Gentlemen, give me your hands. The two captains put their hands in the Commander’s hands, and he squeezed them with a tight grip. Men, he said, Remember the ENEMY is OUT THERE!...
Paul tells us that in our anger with one another, we can give the Devil a foot hold – We as the fathers and mothers of the church want to remove all the foot holds that we can in order to hand the church often the next generation.
The parents must stay unified for the sake of the children.
How do we get there?
Coming Together
To express our unity, we must actually spend time together – I once knew of a man who lived in Canada and his wife lived in Scotland. They only saw each other for about 3 weeks of the year. He was such a grumpy guy that we used to joke that the distance is what saved their marriage. But the reality is that it doesn’t sound like much of a marriage at all. To live in unity we must live together!
Acts 2:46-7
. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The reality is that this is the great part about unity
Worship together, Eat together, Pray together, get together!
Small groups
Church Socials
But unity is not just getting together and being nice – Unity is about a commitment to each other that is so tight that we will work out our differences with one another.
Mercy
There are times when we don’t get along with people, not because they have actually harmed us, they just bug us. This is where mercy is needed. Mercy is simply accepting people as a work in progress – it is setting aside our opinion of their irksome behavior so we can get on with the real work of the church – glorifying God.
We hope that people cut us some slack in or lives, and we should do the same for others.
Romans 15:5-7
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God”
It is only in the view of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ that we can have the mercy and grace that we need to accept his people.
Forgiveness
There are other times when we have experienced real harm. This is when forgiveness is needed. Forgiveness does not excuse the other person’s behaiviour, it doesn’t act like it never happened. It actually deals with the behavior.
Forgiveness says: You did me wrong and it hurt me, but I will not hold it against you, and I will not retaliate in any way.
Luke 17
. 3So watch yourselves. "Rebuke a brother or sister who sins, and if they repent, forgive them. 4If anyone sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ’I repent,’ you must forgive them."
5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
6He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ’Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.
Forgiveness is not easy, but it is necessary. There is a great deal more to say about it. I preached a series about it 3 years ago. You may want to get the tapes. Also, John Arrnot has a great booklet about that you may want to read.
Repentance
Want to see the devil fall? Repent
The devil uses sin to keep us separate from God and from others. Our greatest attack against the deivil are two simple words spoken to a friend we’ve harmed: “I’m sorry”
Do you remember that old saying “Love means never having to say your sorry”
If you’ve ever lived with someone who refuses to say sorry, you know that it is not a very loving situation.
Say you’re sorry!
Conflict Resolution
The Bible gives us a way to deal with conflict – not by trying to be nice and sweeping it under the carpet.
Matthew 18
15"If your brother or sister sins against you,[2] go and show them their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ’every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[3] 17If they refuse to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Notice that when you have a disagreement, what you are to do is first, go to that person along and try to work it out, face to face. What the way of the world is, is to go to five other people and tell them about the kind of person the one who harmed you is. This just escalates the problem. It doesn’t fix it.
The assumption is that there will be conflict in the church, and conflict can be a good thing – the Chinese symbol for conflict is the combination of the symbol for danger and the symbol for opportunity – a dangerous opportunity. Some of the best decisions can be born out of conflict.
This also means that if you are unhappy in the church, you should put up and shut up. The show of support, prayer and blessing that you folks gave us a few weeks ago was amazing. I especially appreciated Darlene’s prayer about criticism. But that does not mean that we can’t deal with our issues for fear of coming across as critical. A unity that has a sea of discontent brewing under it is no unity at all. That is why the leadership is asking for your true opinion on the questionnaires – we are not just expecting glowing reports.
True unity takes work. It should bring joy, but it can at times be painful. But it is so key to the future of this church, to the next generation and most of all to the glory of God.
Colossians 3
12Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
