The greatest danger facing the church today is an attack on the authority of the Word of God. There has become a gentle coldness and indifference to biblical truth and God’s standards of righteousness. We want to live like we want to live, we want to act like we want to act, we want to do what we want to do. And because of our own agendas, we have brought in attitudes that affect the unity of the church.
The reason that there is an attack on the church, is because many folk don’t want to endure sound doctrine. The bible says but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; Some folk want to do what they want to do and leave God’s plans out of His church.
When we leave God’s plan out of the church it will cause disruption, weakening and even destroy a church.
You see, the strength of the church is not based upon the membership of the church. It is not base upon how great the preachers are. It’s not based upon how good the choir sounds. The church’s strength is based upon the person that founded the church. It is in Jesus Chris that we live, and we move and have our being. The foundation of the church and yours and my faith must be built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and his righteousness.
Paul saw this problem in all the church that he ministered and he noted the problem in each of his biblical letters to the church. In other words, there were divisions in the church. There were big I’s and little U’s. There were some who thought they owned the church. There were some who thought that they were the only ones that were right.
One of the problems that Paul pointed out is that Christians ought to dwell together in unity.
Paul pointed out that the church is not about self. Self is all about the individual. But the Kingdom is about the body. As Ephesians 4:4 says, "We are all one body." The Church isn’t made up of a lot of disconnected folk. The Church is not you over there doing your thing and me over here doing my thing. Imagine if your hand suddenly decided that it didn’t want to work with your arm. Or your leg didn’t want to work with your knee. But, when every part is working together in unity. You become one body with many members.
I’ve always been fascinated by the early church as described in the book of Acts. The early church was a strong and powerful unit of simple, ordinary and like minded folk who loved God with all their heart.
If we take a closer look at the book of Acts, we see that the early church believers were doing some amazing things.
They were anointed and full of the Holy Spirit
They were preaching the Word of God with boldness
Miracles, Signs and Wonders followed the preaching of the Word.
Thousands were being saved and added to the church
People gave themselves and their possessions for the cause of Christ.
They were so united that they were filled with the Holy Spirit that they turned their world upside down.
I wonder why the same things are not happeing in our churches today.
The bible declares that Jesus never changes, He cannot change, He is the same yesterday and today and forevermore. God never changes, he says that I am God and I change not.
We have more information than ever before.
We have greater teachers than ever before.
We have more people than ever before.
Each one of us is unique. We’re unique in our appearance, unique in our character. We are unique in our gifts, unique in our maturity, unique in our abilities and unique in many other ways.
In the book of Acts there is one phase that appears again and again, and that term is “one accord.” The early church was on one accord. They were united. They had things in common.
The phase “one accord” is actually repeated 11 times in the book of acts and only 1 other time in the New Testament.
The early church was on one accord and I believe that unity was one of the reasons that the blessings and the power of God fell down upon it. The bible says “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”.
These believers had one mind, one purpose, one heart.
If we want to see the power of God manifested in our church today, we need to be a church that is on one accord.
In Psalm 122 the Bible says “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.”
Unity is God’s plan for His people. The word unity means oneness, harmony, agreement. In the English language it also means oneness. That’s where we get the word unicycle which means one wheel. That’s where we get the word uniform which means one form.
That’s where we get the word unicorn, which means one horn. We are to gather together in one Spirit, one focus and one mince. We are many people from many backgrounds and many differing opinions. It’s hard enough to get along with ourselves much less a group of 2 or more.
Unity means more than simply belonging to the same church. Unity requires the binding together of faith and hearts; becoming of one mind before God. Unity means having that love that runs from heart to heart and from breath to breath. Unity means being bound so close that one can’t fall without the other.
The early church, was a united church, they were a church on one accord. They were a church that went to the next level. They were a church that progressed. They were a church where Godly Progress was the top priority.
I want to point out 3 areas in which the early church was united.
1. They were united in prayer
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, needs to be united in prayer. We need to be united in prayer, because we understand that the battle is not ours, it’s the Lord.
Do you remember when the 120 were in the upper room, the Bible says in Acts 1:14, they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.
When Peter and John were released from prison the Bible says “They lifted up their voice to God on one accord.”
When the early church were on one accord and in one place, praying, something happened in that place. God showed up. We as a church need to get on one accord and cry out to God. Without the Lord, the church is powerless and ineffective.
Everything we do must be immersed in prayer.
2. The second thing we find out about the early church, is that they were not only united in prayer, but they were also united in vision and purpose.
Acts 2:1 says: When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all on one accord in one place.
This group of people were different in many ways, yet, they were on one accord.
The church today, needs to be untied in Vision, Purpose and direction. The moment we loose sight of the purpose that God has for His church, we will begin to turn on each other. The moment the church losses sight of the vision and purpose that God has given, the moment the church looses sight of the kingdom values, then division will begin to creep in.
The church ought to be the place:
Where we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth
Where we grow and mature and become more and more like Jesus
Where we encourage and build up one another
Where we minister and serve
The church ought to be the place:
Where we reach out to those who are perishing
To those who are hurting
To those who are lost and without hope
3. Not only was the early church united in prayer, not only was the early church united in vision and purpose, but the early church was united in faith.
Where there is a church in unity, where there is a church on one accord, where there is a church that stands united in faith, many will be saved.
The bible says in Philippians 2:3-4, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; bue in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Jesus is all knowing, I like that because I’m serving a God that is not ignorant. He cannot be deceived. You can deceive me, but not him. He knows us from the inside out and from the outside in. He knows your name, your address, your e-mail, your IM, he even knows your password. He is an all knowing God. You can’t dispute him, because nobody has the knowledge that God possesses.
In order to have unity in the church, there is a need to have God-give vision. God gives the vision to one to share with all. He does not give one vision to the deacons, and one vision to the mothers, and one vision to the choir and on vision to the ushers, that will cause di-vision. We serve a God of unity and not division. We serve a God of order.
God has given Progress a vision and it is up to us to “Catch the Vision.” We ought to write the vision, make it plain, that we may run and not faint, though the vision is only for a while, it shall speak and not lie. For if the Lord said it, you can count on it. He will do just what he said.
The vision for this church is a body of believers making a difference in our community. A vision where the word of God is lived in daily lives. A vision of a body of believers trusting in God. A vision where believers are winning souls for God. A body of believers that are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and preaching deliverance to those held in bondage.
This building is not the vision. It’s just a tool that God has given us to utilize to bring the vision to pass. If you are getting tired and you thing this is hard, just wait. This is just boot camp, spring training. The real spiritual warfare has not begun.
The bible says that Satan goes to and fro as a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour. Satan is the enemy. I’m not the enemy, ain’t no use of you fighting me. The devil is the enemy. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
But, we have to learn how to join forces, team up, work in partnership, pool our resources, cooperate with one another and collaborate with God.
When the church comes together in unity the Spirit of God is poured out in abundance. Finances may be tight, but the spirit of God can be abundant in unity.
We may not have a big choir, but when you come together in unity, the spirit of God will anoint the voices and musicians.
We may not have a beautiful building, but when we come together in unity the spirit of God will open up the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing.
