This sermon was preached by Scotty L Killingsworth to the Evergreen Congregation on Sunday morning November 11, 2003.
Vision Sermon on Unity
Text for the sermon:
Psalm 133 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.
Amos 3:3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?
Ecclesiastes 4:8 There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless—a miserable business! 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: 10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up. 11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
John 17:11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.
John 17:20 “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.
God places the highest value on unity. There is complete unity in the Godhead. When the people of God come together in unity behind a common vision or goal it is a beautiful and powerful thing. My hope and deepest prayer is that we can become a church unified. Unity may be our most obvious missing ingredient.
Evergreen Church has a lot of important parts in place to become a mighty force for good. (1) The most important thing we have going for us is that the hand of God on us. (2) Our property is in an ideal location to take advantage of the rapid growth of the area. (3) We have a great facility that God has given us and we are learning to use it very efficiently. (5) We have the most talented, hard-working and dedicated Vocational Staff anywhere. (6) We are blessed with unlimited potential (fields white unto harvest)
(7) We are unified under a very clear Mission statement and core values. (8) Evergreen Church is filled with willing workers. We have a huge supply of energy to meet needs and serve the community in Jesus’ name. (9) Evergreen is a redeeming church where everyone gets a second chance to reach their spiritual destiny.
What is the vision for Evergreen Church?
Our vision is to become a great north west Greene County church in all ways.
1. Evergreen is becoming a great church in the community. We are in partnership with Willard Central Grade School and help with school supplies and Christmas gifts. Some of you are involved in one of our ministries that seek to bless community heroes like police, firemen and teachers with gifts of appreciation. Others serve at the Kitchen and lead worship at the Victory Mission. Our student ministry provided a meal for the Willard football team and coaches before each game. One Community Group is heavily involved in the Ronald McDonald House. A Small Maintenance And Repair Team is coming together and will soon be open for business to help single parents and those who need a little support with fix up projects around the house. The community involvement list goes one and on.
2. Evergreen is becoming a great church in the area of redeeming lives and families.
In a day when family strife is at epidemic proportions we are taking steps in the area of prevention. Our Community Groups provide support for families in crisis. We have counselors who have volunteered to help. We want to become a church that helps redeem lives and families for the glory of God.
3. We want to become a great church in Christian Care. People must believe that God loves them and that we love them. Our rapid growth over the past few years has challenged us in this area. We have not been able to keep up organizationally, but we are at this time taking steps to increase the infrastructure, and accountability within the church. We are not challenged about loving people; we are challenged in showing that love to everyone consistently. Our big problem in this area is communication. If you need Christian care please tell your Community Group. If you are not yet in a group let the church office know. We have an energetic and caring church staff that is motivated to love you through difficult situations. We have loving and caring Deacons that will join the team of showing love and giving care.
4. We are already a growing church numerically. We are not interested in numbers other than that each one represents a person who is valuable to God and to us. Evergreen has from the first day been a church committed to numerical growth. Over the last couple of years we have slowed down in growth. This leveling time is necessary for us to qualify the quantity of people with which God has entrusted us. We have had to focus on organization, staffing, and other infrastructure issues, but in the next few months I believe we are going to see those efforts begin to pay off in numerical growth caused by our enlarged and improved organization. During my tenure as pastor of Evergreen I believe we will see our Sunday morning worship numbers swell well over one thousand worshippers.
5. Evergreen is becoming a growing church spiritually as new believers begin to feast on the Bread of life-the living Word. We are a Bible believing church and a Bible teaching church. The Word of God fed consistently and honestly produces mature believers. We are reaching out for full devotion to Jesus and the Word of God is the driving force.
6. Evergreen will become a great church in the area of stewardship. We have had a difficult year in this area. We have had to learn to do more with less and that has been good in many ways. Yet your giving during this turbulent financial year has been greater than the year before. We need to celebrate this fact. You have given more this year than ever before.
This year the church staff intentionally sought to raise the value of generosity and the Biblical value of tithing. Some have criticized us for giving too much focus to this area this year. To those who feel this way I feel your pain and ask for your understanding, but also know that we were criticized of giving too little attention to stewardship before this year. Maybe we will be able to find a better balance in 2004.
Great churches are unified churches. Join us in prayer as we put plans in place that if we decide to seek unity will help us move toward unity.
We have step toward unity in giving
We plan to come together in a unified worship service beginning December 7, called a Jubilee service.
We are seeking Gods guidance as we consider unifying our governance under the Biblical model of Elders.
I challenge our Community Group leaders to join me as we reach for unity by amping up our record keeping and accountability.
Unity is not uniformity. Diversity is of high value for a church, but in all our diversity we must be in unity.
Unity opens the door for God to bless Psa. 133:3b “For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
Here is what we can expect to happen when we come together in unity.
Psa. 133:1
God promises good and pleasant brotherhood
Hezekiah had 15 years added to his life. This Psalm is called one of the 15 and some believe celebrate each of the 15 added years.
For sure it was one of the Psalms sung by the Levites in Temple worship. It was sung as a responsive song called a Hallel. The Levites would chant or sing a phrase of the Psalm,”How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity”. Then the worshippers would respond by saying, “Hallelujah”.
When brothers don’t live in unity it is everything but good and pleasant. Disunity in a church makes God’s enemies smile because in time the lack of unity will destroy the work of God.
No one expects unbelievers or even God’s enemies to live in unity, but Christian brothers, bonded together by the blood of Jesus, are expected to. When they don’t the convicting power of God is diffused and weakened.
I remember the joy and unity that lived among us when we were building this building. Men, women and children sweated and bled together to make this dream come true. We laughed, ate, sang and prayed together and it was beautiful.
That unity was so contagious that our first full year on this location saw over 150 people join us as members and almost that many more worship with us each Sunday.
As I began taking lessons that would qualify me to pilot small airplanes my instructor told me a story just before we started the plane rolling down the run way. He said there was a student and an instructor doing what we were about to do and they crashed the plane immediately after take off. He said that when they investigated the crash site it was discovered that the instructor had pushed and bent the yoke forward while the student pilot had pulled and bent the yoke backward. Their force in opposing directions had crashed the plane.
America came together in the 40’s and defeated two imperialistic nations. What our nations did when it came together in unity against a common force is clearly in the category of amazing.
When we fought against each other in the great civil strife over states rights we came very near to loosing everything.
So, how then are you going to live and serve God in the Evergreen Church? The choice is yours. If you decide to come together in unity there is no limit to what can be accomplished. We know this, it will be good and pleasant at least.
We have two other promises to look at that unity offers.
Psa. 133:2
God pours out his Spirit in abundance
The oil mentioned in verse two is anointing oil made for ceremonial purposes. Its basic ingredient was olive oil mixed with several sweet smelling spices.
When the Levites lead worship this oil was poured on their heads and it symbolized the Spirit of God. It produced a very pleasant smell all over the Temple area. Aaron was the first Levite so he becomes the archetype for all worship and worship leadership.
The major point of interest is the abundance of the oil. It ran down their heads into their beards. It dripped on their garments. It was abundant and lavish.
When the church comes together in unity the Spirit of God is poured out in abundance.
Its smell fills the temple. It runs down the head and drips into the beard and gets on the clothes of all who are involved. It just gets all over everything. It smells up the entire community of believers and seekers alike. It is pervasive. It is impossible to overlook.
Resources may be tight, but the Spirit of God can be abundant in unity. The music might be simple and meager, but when we worship God in unity the sweet smell of our service rises to the very nostrils of God.
So, then does the lack of unity create the lack of abundance? Does disunity limit the Spirit’s move into the community of believers and seekers alike? Common sense says that unity creates an abundance of the Spirit.
Let us seek unity. Let us ask God to send it among us. Let us covenant together to lay down our lives for each other and to seek the good of others first. Let us bring an end to the power of evil to weaken and destroy our testimony. Let us come together in unity and watch the Spirit of God fly us to our destiny.
Now lets you and I look at the last benefit of unity mentioned in this Psalm.
Psa. 133:3
God promises we will exist in a growth nourishing environment
Mt. Hermon is the tallest point in Palestine. It is snow covered most of the time and is the source of the Jordan River. When the blistering heat of summer oppresses the people they would find cooling refreshment on Hermon’s heights.
The language is poetic because the abundant dew and rain that falls on Hermon doesn’t reach Zion – Jerusalem -, but what a beautiful picture for this Psalm - The hot city of Jerusalem being blessed by the nourishing water of Hermon.
Like a tree planted by the water, Hermon promises a nourishing environment – even life evermore.
The Psalmist is telling us that when unity is in play the environment of the church is one of nourishment. People are filled and blessed and happy when unity pervades.
The promise here is that the Lord bestows his blessing. The people of God come together in unity and God brings the blessing.
Does disunity destroy the nourishing environment of a church? Yes, indeed it does. Disunity dries up the stream of water that the tree grows in. It keeps captives bound in sin. It keeps families in crisis and distress. It allows unbelievers to live undisturbed and unaware of their condition.
So, unity has to be one of the churches highest values. Don’t allow someone to divide us. Refuse to listen to negative and destructive accusations. Learn to love all the brothers and sisters and to prefer them to your selfishness.
Unity brings even life forevermore. Disunity is death.
In conclusion
Two can’t walk together unless they agree. Solomon reminds us that a cord of three strands is not easily broken. Jesus prayed for our unity.
Unity is very valuable to a church. Seek it at all costs. If the enemy has caused you to be filled with destructive divisiveness run to Jesus for help.
If the enemy has kept you from the unity found in Jesus through his death and resurrection run to Jesus for salvation.
