In one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t.
"What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus.
"These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold."
"I see," says Linus. "In that case, which channel do you want?"
Turning away, Linus then looks at his own fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?" (Bruce Shelley, What is the Church, p. 38. )
There is nothing better than unity! There is a real power and authority with unity. With unity, there is so much you can accomplish.
Take away the unity, and you lose so much!
In the New Testament Lesson from the Book of Acts, there is that wonderful line in chapter 4 verse 32: "All the believers were one in heart and mind."
Isn’t that a great description of a church? Who would NOT want to be a part of a church where everyone was of one heart and mind?
Early in my ministry, I used to attend meetings of a Presbytery in South Carolina. A Presbytery is a geographical area in which all of the Presbyterian congregations gather together to do the work of the larger church that is usually beyond the resources of a single congregation, such as starting new churches, or maintaining nursing homes.
Sometimes, those meetings would include debates that were hot and heavy. Ministers and elders would argue back and forth on all sorts of issues. But at the end of each and every meeting, we had to stand together and hold hands and sing a song.
Yes, they even made ME sing. They couldn’t require me to sing in tune, they didn’t ask for the impossible. They just required me and everyone else to sing a metrical arrangement of Psalm 133:
Behold how good a thing it is
and how becoming well,
together such as brethren are,
in unity to dwell,
in unity to dwell.
There was something about singing that song that helped us to put away all of our differences, join together, and do Christ’s work TOGETHER. We had a since of unity.
St. Paul often wrote churches letters in which he urged people to have a unity of heart and mind.
In his letter to the Romans, chapter 15, verse 5, Paul said, "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. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."
That is another wonderful verse, "Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you."
We do not always do that in the church. We look around and sometimes we see someone who is Hispanic, or Anglo. Someone who is too white or too black. Someone who is too rich, or too poor. Someone who has an irritating personality. Someone who is too "gung ho" -- or someone who is not passionate enough.
If only we could do as Paul urged us to in Romans, "Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you." Then maybe we could become like that New Testament Church in the Book of Acts in which "All the believers were one in heart and mind."
Shortly after the close of the Civil War, in a fashionable Richmond church, members of the congregation were invited to come to the altar rail to receive Holy Communion.
After several rows of worshipers came and left after receiving Communion side by side, a black man walked down the aisle toward the altar. A tense silence gripped everyone. The Civil War was barely over, and this was a white church in a community of the Deep South. No one else got up to come down to receive the bread and wine, although many had not yet received Communion. The black man started to kneel alone.
Quietly, a tall, graying man with a military bearing stood up and strode down the aisle to the black man’s side. Together, they knelt.
Before the officiating clergyman could continue, people recognized that the person kneeling beside the black man without showing any distinction was General Robert E. Lee. Although Lee said nothing, everyone realized he had shown his faith through his act of joining that lonely black worshiper at the altar.
Lee’s example is an example for all. We must not be content with any system that divides us as fellow Christians. We must seek to demonstrate our essential unity. Only then can we say with honesty that we have become like that New Testament Church in the Book of Acts, in which "All the believers were one in heart and mind."
Whenever I have had a strong disagreement with another Christian, or felt at strong odds against a brother in Christ, I have often stopped and thought about the wonderful sense of humor God has. In all probability, when I die and sit at the Lord’s Table in the Kingdom of Heaven, my seat will be right next to the very people I disagreed with in this world. Why? Because it is God’s will for us to be one in Christ.
When I was in seminary, my Greek professor preached a sermon to the seminary student body. He preached from our reading from the Book of Acts. Now, I admit, that I have forgotten most of the sermons I’ve heard, but I remember that one. The outline was very simple.
Point one was, They lied to God, recalling how Ananias and his wife lied to God about the money they had given to the church.
Point two was, They Died, recalling how the two dropped dead when they were caught in their lie.
Point three was, They Fried in Hell because of their lie.
They lied, died and fried.
Simple outline to a simple sermon.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about the rest of the sermon. So this week, when I began working on this sermon, I wrestled with the question about why was their sin so bad, that they had to die and fry for it?
I mean, lying is a serious problem, but goodness, look at all the other sins we see around us. Look in mirror and think about the sins YOU committed last week.
None of us died and fried because we lied, or cheated, or gossiped, or whatever.
What was so special about this particular sin?
Looking back on the text, the sin of this couple was not that they kept some of this money for themselves. Peter clearly affirms that it was their money and they could have kept some or all of it.
In chapter 5, verse 4, Peter says to Ananias, "Didn’t (the land) belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
Ananias lied about the money, but more than that, he lied about having a unity with the church when he really didn’t have any unity at all.
This passage begins with a wonderful description of a church. In chapter 4 verse 31, it says that the church met for prayer, and "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind."
Ananias did not have that unity of spirit. He wanted others to think that he had this unity of spirit, and since he didn’t have it, he lied about it. He told others that he had this land and sold it and had given the entire amount to the church. But he didn’t give the entire amount away. He kept some. Nothing wrong with that. But to make people believe he had this unity of spirit when he didn’t -- that was a great sin.
And so, as my Greek professor said, he lied, died and fried.
Why is it such a great sin? Because unity in the Church is something that should not be faked. We shouldn’t just sing about it, or talk about. We should have it. We should live it.
When we look at the person in the pew next to us and see someone of a different language, culture, race or economic standing, what we should see is a brother or sister in Christ, with whom we have a sense of unity.
When we see someone in the church and we don’t like the way they dress, or the way they cut their hair, or trim their beard -- or that they even have a beard, that should not bother us at all, because we should have a unity in Christ that transcends all of that.
When we see someone whose personality is too strong for us, or when we see someone who seems too arrogant for us, or when we see someone who seems -- well, just different from what we like to see in people -- what we should see is not the differences that bother us in that person. What we should see is Christ, living in that brother or sister.
In another New Testament letter, we read in Ephesians 4:1-6, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 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."
We as a church can do so much if we are united in one mind and heart.
Good Shepherd has a wonderful group of people here! I firmly believe we are a wonderful church that can do anything God calls us to do. God has given us people of so many wonderful talents and skills. Just think of what we could accomplish if we have a unity of mind and heart!
If we have a sense of unity about what to do with evangelism, we could reach hundreds for Christ.
If we have a sense of unity about what to do with our youth program, we could have the strongest youth ministry in Gwinnett County.
If we have a sense of unity about what to do about anything in our church, we could accomplish so much.
But too often, we let things get in the way of our unity. We get upset about something someone said or did. We let our prejudices get in the way. We let our own selfish desires get in the way.
But, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could be more like that New Testament Church in the Book of Acts, in which "All the believers were one in heart and mind."
The weather has been great this past week, and with all the warm sunshine, it is easy to forget how bad the winters can be – even here, the winters are rarely very difficult, so it really is easy for us to forget about how dangerous winter weather can be in some places. Not long ago, I read about a family in Canada whose little girl wandered out one cold day into the countryside. The family finally realized she was lost and started a search. Then they called the people of the community together. Each went his own way. It became dark and the cold of the Canadian winter settled down. After some time someone suggested the searchers join hands and cover the grass fields. But it was too late. They found the girl curled up, frozen in the cold. The next day in the newspaper, one of the neighbors was interviewed and said, "If only we had joined hands sooner!"
In the church, the time to join hands is now, so that we can become like that New Testament church in which "All the believers were one in heart and mind."
Copyright 2005, Dr. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved.
www.Pittendreigh.com
