Title: United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Text: Ephesians 4:1-13, John 17:20-23, Matthew 12:25,
Date: November 4, 2007
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist Church
Introduction: This Tuesday is Election Day here in Kentucky, and I encourage those of you who are registered to vote to get out and cast your ballot. I personally believe it is not only our constitutional right to vote, but that it is our Christian responsibility to do so.
I must admit that I am concerned about our state and our nation. There are so many issues that are dividing us right now. On the state level there are issues like Expanding Gambling; Liquor by the Drink and Domistic Partnerships.
On the National level there is “Immigration reform; Social Security & Healthcare reform” and of course the most polarizing issue right now is the War in Iraq. I’ve never seen our nation so divided before.
Our forefathers knew how important it was to be united, after signing the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Franklin stood up and said, “Gentlemen, now we must all hang together, or surely we shall all hang separately.”
Our forefathers that founded the Commonwealth of Kentucky also understood this, which is why they chose to put the words, “United we Stand, Divided we Fall” on our state flag.
Jesus certainly understood this. In Matthew 12:25 He said, something similar when he said, “Every Kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”
Of course Jesus knew that this would be true for the Church as well. In the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was arrested Jesus was praying for His Disciples, and for us when he said, “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one- as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and tht you love them as much as you love me.” John 17:20-23 (NLT)
Illustration: One Sunday morning, a Pastor was sharing a “Children’s sermon” with the children of the church. He was talking to them about the importance of loving one another and getting along with one another. He used the passage of scripture that I just read to explain to the children that God wants us all to be one. After he told them this, a three-year-old girl who always listened very carefully to the Pastor’s children’s sermon, and usually had something to add to it, raised her hand and said, “BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE ONE. I WANT TO BE FOUR!”
Unfortunately, some churches don’t want to be one either. In fact, throughout history, ever since the church was established Christians have had trouble getting along. Perhaps no one was more aware of this than the Apostle Paul. He went all over the known world, preaching the gospel and starting churches. To His credit once Paul started a church, he didn’t just forget about them. Instead he did his best to keep in contact with them and help them deal with whatever issues or problems that came up.
In His letter to the churches that were located in the Roman province of Galatia; which was located in the Northern part of Asia Minor. Paul warned all of these churches about the dangers of arguing and fighting among themselves. Listen to what he sold them in Galatians 5:15. He said, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
Illustration: I’ve already mentioned that the War in Iraq is one of the most divisive issues in America right now. It’s very unusual if a day goes by that we don’t hear about an IED or roadside bomb exploding and killing one or more of our brave soldiers.
But if you remember things were different during the First Gulf War, our soldiers fought the Iraqi army and in a matter of days completely destroyed Saddam’s elite Revolutionary Guard. Throughout that war which only lasted a few months our military suffered very few casualties.
In fact one of the most disturbing things that we have since learned about that war was that the majority of our troops weren’t killed by roadside bombs or enemy fire. Instead they were the victims of what is called “friendly fire.”
Friendly fire is a term used to describe an incident in which a soldier is mistakenly shot or killed by his own army.
I would think that this would be something that would be hard for the families of these soldiers to deal with. It’s one thing to lose someone you love during a war, but to think that their death could have been avoided must be extremely difficult to come to grips with.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The War on Terrorism is not the only war we are fighting today. I believe we are involved in a Spiritual War that is heating up and is quickly setting the stage for the Rapture of the Church and the Second Coming of Christ.
Christians around the world continue to face persecution and unfortunately many are killed because of their faith every year. In America, the church seems to be under attack from every side. Yet the biggest threat to the church in America is not the Media, or Secular Humanism, or even Islam. Our biggest threat comes from the inside. The weapons that are being used against the church are not rifles and missiles. It’s our own words and attitudes. Unfortunately too many Christians in America today are being seriously wounded not because of wounds they received from fighting the forces of evil, but from wounds that are a direct result of friendly fire.
Some of you here this morning are bearing the scars of friendly fire? And unfortunately some of you here this morning are probably responsible for those scars. In order for God to be able to use this church the way He wants to we are going to have to put our differences aside and unite against the forces of evil and those who would like to destroy us. (Now would be a good time to say Amen.)
When a church is Healthy, and is allowing the Holy Spirit to empower and enable them to do the task God has called them to do there is nothing that God cannot do through it. Jesus Himself said the Gates of Hell would not be able to stand up against His Church. Unfortunately, there aren’t many churches in America that are Healthy enough and strong enough to storm the gates of Hell.
More churches than ever before are spiritually sick and are suffering from the effects of friendly fire. Jealousy, Gossip, strife, bitterness and anger are present at epidemic levels in many churches today. Paul refers to these things as “the acts of the flesh or acts of the sinful nature.” When these things are more prevalent in a church than “Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” then for all practical purposes God can no longer use that church to build up His Kingdom.
So my question to you today is how can we keep this from happening to Sulphur Spring Baptist Church. I believe the answer can be found in the Bible. Turn with me if you will to Ephesians 4:1-6. (Read)
1. In verse 1 Paul urges every believer to live a certain way. He says we are to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Now what does he mean by that?
I believe He is telling us that everything we say and do should bring honor and glory to Christ.
Do you understand why living a life worthy of your calling is so important?
It’s because the number #1 reason people don’t want to become Christians or have anything to do with Church isn’t because our high schools and colleges are teaching evolution. It’s not because of the postmodern secular society that we live in. The greatest cause of unbelief in the world, and the #1 reason people don’t want to give their life to Christ, or have anything to do with Church is the poor testimony of those of us who claim to be Christians. Too many of us who preach about “Loving God and Loving your neighbor as you do yourself,” don’t practice what we preach. And far too often churches that know the importance of Unity end up being divided over some of the most trivial and unimportant things.
Bertrand Russell, who was a famous Atheist philosopher, once said that all we as Christians would have to do to change the world would be to practice what we preach.”
That’s what Paul is urging us to do in verse 1. “We’re to live a life worthy of our calling in Christ.”
2. Now notice in verse 2, Paul begins to tell us exactly how to do that. He says we’re not just to be humble, we’re to be “completely humble.”
Throughout Scripture we are told to humble ourselves before God, and to practice humility. Jesus taught His disciples this important lesson when He washed their feet.
In 1st Corinthians Paul teaches us that we are One body made up of many parts and that no one part is more important than the other.
In fact in Philippians Paul says that we should practice humility and consider others better than ourselves.
3. After instructing us to be completely humble, Paul urges us to BE GENTLE.
I mentioned gentleness a few minutes ago when I was referring to the Fruit of the Spirit. Gentleness could also be translated meekness. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,”
Meekness is a term that is often misunderstood in Scripture. To be meek doesn’t mean that you have to let everybody run over you. In fact the word we usually translate meekness literally means “strength under control.” The word was used to describe wild horses that had been broken and trained. One commentator writes, “meekness is the quality of a strong personality who is nevertheless master of himself and the servant of others.”
4. NEXT, PAUL TELLS US THAT WE ARE TO BE PATIENT.
Patience truly is a virtue. Paul is encouraging us to be patient with people. It might be your spouse, one of your children, or perhaps a close friend that seems to try your patience. Which reminds me of this
A man arrived home from work one afternoon to find his son sitting on the front steps with his face in his hands. It was obvious that something was bothering the boy so the man asked him what was wrong. The boy looked up and said, “Well, just between us, dad, I’m having trouble getting along with your wife.”
To be patient means to be long-suffering. Let’s face it sometimes people can be difficult. There are going to be times when they irritate you and get under your skin. There will be other times they will disappoint you or let you down. And unfortunately sometimes people will even say or do things that will hurt you.
That’s why at the end of verse 2 Paul tells us to “bear with one another in love.”
This literally means to suffer with one another. At times life can be tough, and that includes our Relationships. Dealing with people will not always be easy. But to live a life worthy of our calling means we’ll be humble, gentle and patient with one another. And we’ll bear with each other in love, offering them forgiveness and grace just as Christ did for us.
It means sticking together through thick and thin. This is the “for better or for worse” part of marriage that can be applied to the church.
And please notice that it’s not out of obligation that we do this but out of love. Paul is consistent when it comes to this. Listen to what he said in the third chapter of Colossians. “you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:12-14 (NLT)
With all that in mind, Paul now takes us to the next level. And that is a call for unity within the church.
In verse 3 he tells us to make every effort, to keep the unity of the Spirit.” Paul is saying that we need to be diligent and committed to keeping the unity of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it should be one of our highest priorities.
Now I think it is important here to point out that it is not our responsibility as Christians to create the unity, but to keep it.
There’s a huge difference. Paul says, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” So what’s the basis of this unity? What’s it founded upon? That’s what Paul spells out for us next.
In verses 4-6 Paul offers the seven essential ingredients of Christian unity.
With that in mind, Let’s read these verses again.
“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 4:4-6 (NIV)
One body, One Spirit, One hope, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism and one God and Father of us all. Which simply means, we’re family. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior they immediately become part of “The Family of God.”
Before I close this morning I want to share a couple of things with you about what it means to be a part of the family of God.
A few years ago the Special Olympics were being held in Seattle, Washington. Nine physically or mentally challenged runners lined up at the starting line for the 100 meter run. At the sound of the gun, all the runners began to run as fast as they could. That is all, “except for one boy who stumbled, out of the starting blocks.” He fell down and began to cry. The other eight runners heard the boy crying and immediately stopped running and turned around to see what was wrong.
Then everyone in the crowd was stunned to see all 8 of them walk back to the place where the boy was lying on the ground and help him back to his feet. One girl with Down syndrome kissed him and said, “That will make it better.” Then all nine of them linked arms and walked together to the finish line.
Everyone in the stadium stood up and began to cheer. They gave them a standing ovation that lasted 10 minutes.
The University of Texas and Texas A&M are arch-rivals. (like UK and U of L) Every year for many years before their annual football game, Texas A&M had a pep rally which included a huge bonfire. You may recall that a few years ago, the bon fire collapsed a number of Texas A&M students were actually killed as a result. As a sign of their support and shared grief at this tragic loss of life, a number of University of Texas students attended the memorial service at Texas A&M.
One of them was Eric Opiela, who was serving at the time as the Vice-President of the University of Texas Student Body. Eric wrote an article for the school newspaper about memorial service he attended at Texas A & M. This is what he said.
“I had the great privilege of attending the memorial service at A&M tonight and was deeply moved by the events I experienced. The A&M student body is truly one of the greatest treasures of our State. As part of the University of Texas delegation, we sat on the floor of Reed Arena, and immediately following the end of the service, I heard this rustling sound behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw 20,000 students spontaneously putting their arms around their neighbor’s shoulders, forming a great circle around the arena.
The mass stood there in pin-drop silence for close to five minutes, then, from somewhere, someone began to quietly hum “Amazing Grace.” Within seconds, the whole arena was singing. I tried to sing too- but I was too choked up.
This event brought me to tears. It was one of the defining moments of my college career. I learned something tonight. For all us Longhorns who discount A&M in our never-ending rivalry, we need to realize one thing. Aggieland is a special place, with special people. (Why?) Because, it is a family….It is a family that cares for its own, a family that reaches out, a family that is unified in the face of adversity.”
To me both of these incidents are great examples of what it’s supposed to be like to be a member of the Family of God. We’re all wounded. We’re all challenged in one way or another. But God, in his infinite mercy and grace, has allowed us to become part of his family through our faith in Jesus Christ. And it’s with our spiritual family that we journey through life helping each other along the way.
Why then should we make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit?
Because we’re all part of one body; because one and the same Spirit dwells in everyone of us, because we all have one common hope; one common Lord; one common faith; one common baptism; and we all bow down and worship the same God and Father.
“United we Stand, Divided we Fall.”
