Introduction: Today we are beginning a series of messages on the importance of love and unity in the Church. The catch phrase which we put out on the marquee this week is: We Fly United and We Love It!
We are going to use similar themes each week to challenge us as a church to examine our relationships with Christ and our relationships with one another. There is not point talking about building relationships with those outside the church if we aren’t committed to building healthy relationships within the church.
I think we all realize that we “supposed” to love another, and that we “should” be united, but what we are “supposed” to do or “should” do are not the same things as what we actually do. Now I have only been here a month, but I’m perceptive enough to know that First Baptist Church struggles with these issues just like most churches do. What I hope is that we can find a common ground on which to begin building a foundation for the future that God has for His church.
Text: Colossians 3:12-14
Paul referred to his readers as “God’s chosen ones, holy and loved.” That is “who” we are “in Christ.” God doesn’t choose based on looks, or talent, or bank statements, God chooses in love. It is because of who “HE” is that we have the possibility of being “holy” and living lives that will honor and glorify Him.
Over the next few weeks we are going to be looking at this passage of scripture and examining how we as believers can be let God’s love unite us to glorify Him and minister to others. We are actually going to start with the last verse in this paragraph and then come back and look at each of the other verses. Why would we start at the end first? Because Paul said, “Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity.” Paul said that “love” was above all—if through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul identified “love” as the key to “unity” then that is where we need to start.
Here is a “key truth” that will guide us in our study:
Love and Unity go “hand-in-hand” without Love there will be no Unity.
What is Love?
1. Love is A SACRIFICE
Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10 HCSB)
Propitiation is not a word we use on a regular basis so we need to know what it means. Basically it means “to appease” or “to satisfy.” Because we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory…and because God is Holy and cannot abide in sin…we need someone to pay the debt that our sin has incurred. We need someone to appease and satisfy our Holy Heavenly Father who we have sinned against. There is only One who can do that—His Son, Jesus Christ.
The New Living Translation helps us see this by stating this verse this way:
God…sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:10 NLT)
God proves His love by His action on our behalf. But it wasn’t just that God sent His Son…Jesus coming wasn’t enough. He had to stand in our place, He had to become the sacrifice for us.
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! (Romans 5:8 HCSB)
God has made the ultimate sacrifice for us, that is not in question. What is in question is what sacrifice have we made? Paul said in Romans 12:1 that we are to present ourselves to the Lord as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him.” How do we do that? One way we do is through loving like He loves. Going back to 1 John 4 we find these words:
Dear friends, if God loved us in this way (through the sacrifice of His Son for our sins), we also must love one another (1 John 4:11 HCSB)
That takes us to second thought about what love is…
2. Love is a COMMAND
I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. (John 13:34 HCSB)
Sometimes I think we are guilty of seeing love as an “option” instead of a command. Jesus never said, “If you want to love….” He “commanded” that we love!
It’s been a long time since I was in the military, but since Blake Jr. joined the Marines there have been many times where I have been reminded about “taking orders”—being “commanded” to do something.
I can still remember an event that happened while I was in boot camp that taught me about following orders. I was walking to the shower one evening and as I passed the office where my drill instructor was he called out, “Inscore drop and give me 50!” I put down my stuff and proceeded to do 50 pushups. When I finished, while still in pushup position I asked, “Permission to take a shower sir?” I can’t quote you his exact reply, but the church equivalent would be something like, “Get your dirty body off my floor sailor.”
At age 18 I was even more hardheaded than I am now, and so after finishing my shower I proceeded to stop and that instructor’s office and requested permission to speak. He asked me what I wanted and I replied that I would like to know why I had to do the pushups. The instructor looked at me, and this was his reply, “Just in case you did Inscore, just in case you did!”
That command didn’t really make sense, but I obeyed it anyway because that was my duty! While I am not trying to associate Jesus’ commands with those of my drill instructor—because Jesus never asks us to do something that doesn’t have a purpose—I will say that many of us would do well to simply obey Jesus’ orders and quit analyzing them to see if we “want” to obey them.
Here’s a thought for you:
“If Jesus has asked you to do something, do you need to pray about whether you should do it?”
I believe the Body of Christ needs a renewed appreciation for God’s love and the fact that He has called us to be living examples of His love.
Going back to our text—Paul said that love is the “perfect bond of unity.” So my question then is…
3. What Can Unity in Love Do
1) It Can PROVE that we are Jesus’ Disciples
Right after commanding His disciples to love one another as He had loved them, Jesus told them what the outcome would be if they obeyed:
By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35 HCSB)
I like what Paul said to the believers in Philippi about unity and love:
Fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. (Philippians 2:2 HCSB)
What might happen if God’s people ever got together and made that a reality! Chuck Colson has said correctly that there are two things that keep people away from church. Can you guess what they are?
That the church if filled with hypocrites
That the people in the church can’t get along
Dr. Francis Schaffer in his book The Church Before the Watching World writes:
“We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of true oneness amongst Christians.”
How do we ever expect to fulfill Christ’s commission if we are not united in love? The answer is—we can’t! And we won’t! But if we do…if we allow God’s love and unity to come together within our Church, not will it prove that we are Jesus’ disciples…
2) It Can PROVIDE us the opportunity to serve Him together.
Do you realize that how we treat one another is a testimony about our relationship with Jesus Christ. When we are united in love—Christ is glorified. When we are divided—He isn’t! I like the words of encouragement that Paul gives in Romans 15—
Now may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you agreement with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice. (Romans 15:5-6 HCSB)
Are we speaking with “one voice” here at First Baptist Church, or are there “many voices” competing to be heard? Whose voice should we all hear? Jesus! Maybe all of us should take that into consideration before we speak—“Is what I’m about to say something that Jesus would say? Or is it something I want?”
Conclusion: That Lord has impressed upon me the fact that if First Baptist Church is going to be the Church He wants it to be we are going to have to come together in unity and love. If we want to make a difference in Crescent City then we are going to have to begin thinking with a united mind, and speaking with a united voice. And it all begins today!
