Don’t Sink!
areas around his nation, he set his attention on the Baltic Sea. To control these waters, he needed a formidable navy, and he was convinced the jewel of that navy should be one of the biggest warships ever created. The ship that was built to fulfill his plan was the warship, Vasa. The Vasa was a huge ship. The ship was so large that it required the use of 1000 oak trees in its construction, the mast was over 150 feet tall (roughly equivalent to a 15 story building) it sported 64 cannons, which was nearly twice as any other ship at the time. The Vasa was to be one of the largest and most feared ships ever to sail the Baltic sea.
Unity
In the book of Philippians, Paul is writing one of the few letters that wrote without any words of condemnation. This was a great local church. But even in this great church, Paul sensed the need to stress something that no church can survive without UNITY.
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. – Philippians 1:27-28
A great church needs right doctrine, a real love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and a passion for souls. If a local church is going to be considered to be great (by God), it needs at least those three things; however even if a church has those three things, if it is not unified, it can’t survive and just like the Vasa, that local church will sink!
Unity Stressed in Scripture
Unity is stressed throughout the scriptures. It is essential to God that we are a unified body. We need to be of one mind and one purpose as a church
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! – Psalms 133:1
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. – 1 Corinthians 1:10
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. – Ephesians 4:1-6
Why Is Unity Necessary?
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. – John 17:20-21
Unity Is Necessary So That We May Be In Him.
If we are not in unity with one another, then we are not operating as a group of people that are in Jesus. Arguments are usually worse when the authority figure is not present. When a local church is arguing with each other all of the time, that is a sign that the Lord is not in the room. A church that continually contends is not concerned with what the Lord wants.
A lack of unity demonstrates that they are not on the same page with the Lord.
Unity Demonstrates That You Belong To The Lord
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. – John 17:23
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. – John 13:34-35
Unity and love for one another is the mark of who we are and to whom we belong. The world will recognize who we belong to If we love each other because that is not how the world operates. The world and the world system are only concerned with themselves and only work with others if there is a personal benefit to them. As a local church, if we will remain unified, even when the personal benefits appear to be non-existent, that will show the world that we are in fact, different.
Unity Gives Courage
And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. – Philippians 1:28
Unity will give you the courage necessary to face all of your enemies. Unity speaks volumes to a world filled with hate; they don’t see much of that behavior. Our unity overpowers the fear of what our enemies might do.
The Apostle Paul was challenging the local church to stand shoulder to shoulder and side by side. When we do, no opponent will be able to prevail. Standing side by side is what we are called to do.
How To Be Unified
The single most important thing that a local church must do as individuals, after salvation, is that they must all decide to love one another.
The command to Christians to love one another is repeated in twelve different New Testament verses:
- John 13:34
- John 15:12
- John 15:17
- Romans 13:8
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9
- 1 Peter 1:22
- 1 John 3:11
- 1 John 3:23
- 1 John 4:7
- 1 John 4:11
- 1 John 4:12
- 2 John 1:5
Loving one another is emphasized so many times because it is hard to do. Sometimes it is hard to like one another, let alone love each other.
People will do or say things that will get on your nerves, and sometimes people will refrain from doing or saying something that will get them on your wrong side if you allow them too.
Charity
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins – 1 Peter 4:8
Charity will cover a multitude of sins. Charity is a stronger word than love. Charity compels you into action. If you love someone, you will forgive them.
If you don’t love others, you won’t be willing to forgive, and you will be considered to be a disobedient servant because you are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to love one another:
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. – John 13:34
Language Is Important
You are also commanded by the Apostle Paul to watch your communication. He says that you are not to have any corrupt communication. Just as corrupt or corroded plumbing will make a mess, corrupt communication in the local church will make a mess.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:29-32
Don’t use language that tears people down, instead, look for ways to encourage and build them up. If you tear down those who God has built up, you will grieve the Holy Spirit.
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. – Ephesians 5:1-2
We as the local church should be imitators of the Lord, who gave himself up for us as:
- An Offering
- A Sacrifice
- A sweet smelling savor to God
Don’t miss that last part. When Jesus loved us and gave himself up for us, he lifted up a sweet-smelling offering and sacrifice to God.
When we forgive others and cover a multitude of sins, we smell good to God.
As Grasshoppers
In the book of Numbers, Moses sent twelve spies into the promised land. Two of those spies (Joshua and Caleb) turned out to be good spies; the other ten spies flunked out.
Upon returning from the promised land, Joshua and Caleb said no problem with the help of God we can take the land, but the other ten spies were afraid of the giants:
And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. – Numbers 13:25-33
They compared themselves to grasshoppers, meaning that the inhabitants of the promised land would squash them like bugs.
They didn’t know much about grasshoppers, because when grasshoppers get unified, there isn’t anything they can’t do.
When the local church gets unified, when they stand shoulder to shoulder, there isn’t anything that we can’t accomplish with the Lord’s help.
Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.
