Unity: Guard it with your life

To the king of kings.

Holy, you will always be.

Holy, holy forever.

You will always be.

Holy, holy forever.

Well, Father, I thank you again.

And what a wonderful privilege it is to be able to come

and sing of your holiness,

and your sacrifice, and the grace,

and your love, and your mercy.

And Father, we come humbly before you today

because we truly have nothing to give.

Lord, any gift or thing that we can bring before you,

or even ourselves, or it's just not a whole lot.

Lord, we are sinful people.

We've failed many times.

But for some reason you call us to bring ourselves

through your throne and to be living sacrifices.

It's, Lord, the only thing we can bring this morning is our heart.

Whatever condition it may be,

no matter how cleansed or how wretched or dirty or stained,

God is what you've called us to bring.

And if we're not going to humble ourselves before you, Lord,

we're not going to hear from you.

We're not going to have the privilege of meeting with you.

So, Father, I ask that you would,

in the still, small whisper that so often you speak from,

Lord, you would whisper to the depths of our hearts this morning.

That you would reveal yourself to us in a powerful and amazing way.

And, Lord, you would push us through that threshold

just over that edge to be willing to come

and to humble ourselves at the foot of your throne.

And I pray that we would worship you and surrender to you

and adore you and submit ourselves to you in every way that you deserve.

Father, we pray for the long family this morning.

We pray for all of our other shut-ins,

all of our people who can't be here due to other sicknesses.

And, Lord, you know that there's just so many people

dealing with so many issues this morning.

We lift them up to you.

But, God, we know that your Holy Spirit can be with them right now

just as you're with us.

And that's what we humbly ask for.

Father, speak powerfully into our hearts in these moments.

And I pray that we would receive you well.

That we would receive truth.

And, Lord, we would be willing to change and do whatever we need to do

so that we can live according to that truth and service to you.

Father, we love you.

We thank you, and we ask all this in Jesus' precious and holy name.

And all God's people said,

Amen. You may be seated this morning.

I have a couple of messages that I was asked to deliver.

Some will share those with you really quick.

First of all, Ms. Juana Reynolds just wanted to tell everyone

how much she loves and misses you all,

how much she appreciates your church.

And so we just thank her for that this morning.

We love her. We miss her.

And if you don't know, Ms. Juana, you should go visit her sometime.

She's 98, and she's really not able to get out as much anymore as she used to.

But she is a wonderful, wonderful lady.

Also, Pastor Long's wife passed away Friday evening.

She has been battling for quite some time now,

and so it's been a pretty long hard road for them.

But Pastor Hall did want me, or Pastor Long,

did want me to communicate with you how much he has appreciated

the cards, the letters, the food, the gift cards.

Anything that you've done, he wanted to say thank you.

It's been a crazy few weeks.

He has not written down everything that everybody's done,

and so he doesn't remember.

And he just wanted to say, like, he has not forgotten what has been done.

He just has forgotten who has done it, and he wanted to say thank you.

So thank you guys for loving on him.

Remember that when you lose a loved one,

a lot of times the hardest days are after the funeral.

They're going this afternoon to make final arrangements.

Those arrangements will be on Edgar's Funeral Home website in Chesney.

So if you would like to attend or support them in some way,

those arrangements will be on Edgar's Funeral Home website.

It should be this afternoon or maybe tomorrow sometime.

So whenever last week, we're talking about unity.

And as we discussed this one last time,

it is of the utmost importance that we are on guard as a church

to make sure that we are guarding the unity that Christ gives us,

because here's the truth.

We can't conjure up unity ourselves.

I mean, you kind of realize this even from a very small perspective.

I mean, if you talk about a marriage, you know that unity is important.

And even in the context of marriage, there's not always unity in a marriage.

Like it can get hard sometimes.

And even if you as an individual are very much like I'm committed to being unified,

I'm committed to you.

If the other person is not also committed, it's not going to happen.

You can't force it.

And if you can't do that with one person that you have professed love to

more than anyone else in the world, what in the world makes you think

that we could have unity or force unity upon one another

with as many different people as we have in this room this morning,

with the other 20-something people that were in our first service this morning,

and all the people who aren't able to be here.

You cannot force it.

It is something that God has to do within our hearts as individuals

that cause us to yearn and long and be willing to sacrifice for that unity

in order for it to take place.

And when it happens, we need to be able to guard it with our lives

because it's special, and it's unique,

and it's not something that we as people can duplicate.

It's something that God has to provide.

And that's why it's so important that we guard it with our lives.

That's the title for today's sermon.

And you may have to guard it with your physical life,

but more than likely you're going to have to guard it figuratively with your life.

Don't make any mistake about it.

When you say that you're a Christian this morning,

don't make any mistake about it that Scripture calls us to even give up

our very physical life for the name of Christ.

That's what we've signed up for as believers.

That's what Jesus did for us.

That's what he's called us to do.

You read every book that's written in the New Testament.

Most of the people who wrote New Testament books died

for the name of Jesus Christ and his gospel.

It's what we're called to.

So don't be super surprised.

But more than likely, figuratively, you will have to guard unity with your life.

That means there's going to be aspects of your life

that you're going to have to sacrifice and put to death

in order to maintain the unity within the body of Christ.

You should know, first and foremost,

before we ever hit a rough spot at Graham Chapel,

that that's going to happen.

And I don't want to lie or fib or anything like that.

You know, like I said, it's not that Graham's perfect.

It's not that we all agree on every single thing.

But I do feel like in this current season,

we do have a sense of unity within our church that is very special

that God has given us, that God can use in incredible ways.

But we have to make sure that we are willing to die to ourselves

in order to maintain that unity.

You know that as believers.

You know that as people.

There are relationships in a marriage or a friendship.

You have to sacrifice for one another.

In order to make it work.

You have to give yourself away in order to make that thing work.

And both people have to be willing to do it.

And so it shouldn't come to any surprise

that as Christ calls us to follow Him,

that one of the greatest callings you have in your life

is to maintain unity within the body of Christ

with your fellow believers.

It's so vitally important.

All right?

Most of you in here today are pretty young.

I'm going to ask you to stand once again.

We've had a busy service.

Let's keep you alive this morning.

Ephesians 4 verses 1 through 6.

Ephesians 4:1–6

Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus.

And the title of this passage is unity in the body.

And let's look at what Paul says to the Ephesians.

Therefore, I, a prisoner of serving the Lord.

So Paul has already been taken into custody.

He's being transported to Rome.

He's still serving God.

He's literally giving up his life to serve Christ.

He's a prisoner now.

Beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling

for you have been called by God.

This morning, make sure you understand as a Christian

that just because you may not be a pastor or a missionary

or have some title, spiritual title to your name,

does not mean that you are not called.

Everybody who professes faith in Jesus Christ

has a calling on their life you have been called by God.

Verse 2, always be humble and gentle.

Be patient with each other,

making allowance for each other's faults

because of your love.

Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit,

binding yourselves together with peace.

For there is one body and one spirit

just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and father of all who is overall in all

and living through all.

Very powerful, short passage

that should remind us this morning that Jesus is enough.

You may be seated.

So as we start talking about what it's going to take for us

to guard the unity that God's given us,

point number one is that we must live worthily.

You must live worthily.

To understand that we as Christians

have the calling on our life to live as Christ lived

is very important.

That Jesus Christ did not just down the cross for your sins

so that you can say, I believe in Jesus,

I got a free ticket to heaven, now I can just keep being me.

No, we are wretched sinners.

The whole idea of giving our hearts,

giving our lives to Christ and following Him

is understanding that who we are as people

is sinful and wretched.

And it doesn't mean that every single thing about you

is sinful and wretched, but a lot of it is.

You have been contaminated by that sin.

Everything about our hearts and minds have been skewed

by that sin that is within us that we have allowed

into our lives that we've committed willingly against God.

That's what we believe as Christians.

And so for us this morning to know that we are called

to live like Christ, professing His name is not enough.

But Paul begs these people, he says,

look, live a life that is worthy.

Live a life that is worthy of the calling

that God has put on you.

And it does not mean this morning that you can do this

under your own strength.

We've said it many times, I try to say it regularly

because if you are trying to live for God on your own,

you will fail.

If I do it, I will fail.

We are not strong enough to do it on our own.

We need Christ to fill us with the Holy Spirit

and empower us to live in the way that He's called us to.

And part of guarding the unity of the church

with your lives this morning is not just trying

to live like Jesus, but being filled with the Holy Spirit

so that you can live like Jesus.

That when you follow the Gospels and you follow the Scripture

to understand that Jesus Himself being filled

with the Spirit was led.

Being filled with the Spirit had done this.

Everything that Jesus did, He was filled with the Spirit

and we are called to live like Him.

So we as well need to be filled with the Spirit.

We cannot live a life worthy of our calling

without being filled with the Spirit.

It's unattainable.

And so this morning, if we sit here and we think,

oh, well, we can just have unity

because that's what we want and it sounds good,

it's not gonna happen.

You as people, as followers, me, the rest of the staff,

whoever, we have to be filled with the Spirit of God

in order to lead us to the point

where we're willing to give up our lives

and die in many different ways to see that unity wins

because it's what Christ has called us to do.

And I'm gonna tell you, if you're not filled with the Spirit,

there's nothing within your physical body

that is naturally saying, yeah, I'd like to die to things.

I'm okay with dying.

I'm okay with giving up things that I like,

giving up things I enjoy.

Hey, even if it's not bad and I really enjoy it,

I'm still willing to give it up because that's fun.

That does not happen.

There has to be something within you,

inspiring you and strengthening you

and revealing stuff to you that you can't see

with your own eyes to know that you have to die

in order to live for Christ.

And one of the greatest callings that we have in our life

to live in unity with one another will not happen

without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

calling us to die to ourselves.

And when you look at this, in 1 John 1, verse 7,

1 John 1:7

the author writes, but if we are living in the light,

as God is in the light,

then we have fellowship with each other.

So if we're living in the light, we're living in the Spirit,

we're living in fellowship with God,

we're gonna have fellowship with each other,

and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

We're gonna be walking in righteousness and holiness

and purity, and guys, I'm gonna tell you,

that does not happen absent from the Spirit.

When you profess faith in Jesus Christ,

yes, he comes into your heart.

Yes, he cleanses you from your sin.

But to understand the calling in your life

exceeds that infinitely.

That it's not just a matter of in this moment you surrender,

but every day that you surrender.

That every time temptation presents itself

and the opportunity for sin

or the opportunity to be selfish,

and it may not necessarily even look like a sin,

but the opportunity to make choices,

the opportunity to pursue things in life,

the opportunity to be distracted,

that in all of these things,

as we make these decisions,

that the Spirit of God is whispering

to the depths of our heart,

and he's guiding us and he's helping us

not to fall into the trap of being lured away

from our Savior whom we have pledged our life to.

And we can't do that on our own.

We need the Holy Spirit to live in us

so that we can live worthily.

Jesus is enough.

And if Jesus is enough,

then we must live a life

reflecting the fact that he is enough.

That nothing else matters except for Christ.

Nothing else matters except for his church,

his kingdom, his purpose, his plan,

his eternity.

Not my life, not my purpose,

not my plan, not my calling,

not my wants, not my desires.

His.

Jesus should be enough.

But only his Spirit

can help us get to the point

where we're willing to die to ourself

so that we can see

truly that he is enough.

Point number two.

Brothers and sisters in Christ

must be a priority.

You know, a few weeks back

I made you stand up.

I made you go introduce yourself

to somebody you didn't know.

I made several of you squirm.

And I want you to look around

in this room this morning.

And I want you to think really hard

about what it is that you say

that you believe in.

Because I know that each of you

you have friends,

you have people that you prefer

to hang out with

and you have things

that you would prefer to do.

When you look around at the people

in this room this morning

as different as you may be

from one another,

the people who are in this room

that you worship with,

that you call your brothers

and sisters in Christ,

they need to be a priority

in your life.

And it does not mean

that you will be best friends.

It does not mean

that you will go over to each other's

houses necessarily

or spend significant amounts

of time with each other.

But they should be a priority.

You should love them.

You should at least devote your time

to praying for them.

And you say, hey,

I don't know that person's name

but Lord you know that goofy person

who sits over there

and you know who they are.

I'm praying for them.

I don't know what they need

but I pray.

To pray for them.

To lift them up

to be concerned about their life.

Our brothers and sisters

have to be a priority.

Paul lists five things

to the Ephesians

that they need to do

to make one another a priority

and to care for them

the way that we should be

to bring unity.

The first one is

is to be humble with them.

There's no room for pride.

There's no room for pride

inside the body of Christ.

Nothing is more divisive than pride.

Nothing is more repelling

than pride.

So we have to be humble.

Second thing is to be gentle.

You know as you deal

with these people in this room,

some people are going to be

more mature than others

spiritually speaking.

Some people are going to be

more mature than others

worldly speaking.

Some people are going to be

struggling with sin.

Some people are going to be

living in holiness.

We're all going to be

different from one another

so we have to be gentle

with one another

so that we maintain unity.

The moment we become harsh

and demanding

and expressing frustrations

with one another,

that's when unity

starts going out the window.

That's when it changes

from being brothers

and sisters in Christ.

Now I'm mama or daddy

and I'm trying to force you

into doing what I want you to do.

And that goes back

to a sense of pride as well

that I can tell you what to do

rather than being humble

and gentle with you.

The third thing is being patient.

To understand that not everybody

is going to get it right away.

You may have to tell them

a hundred times.

But to be patient with people

who are inside the body,

number four is to make

allowance for their faults.

Everybody in this room

is going to have faults.

Some people are going

to lack social skills.

Some people are going

to lack humility.

Some people are going

to lack kindness.

Some people are going

to lack whatever.

Some people may have

a lifestyle of sin

ingrained in them

and we have to make

allowance for one another

to truly show

the love for Christ

as we maintain

and guard the unity

within the body of Christ.

It is really important

for people to understand.

It's like, dude,

you can go to that church

and they don't treat you

like you should have been

flushed down the toilet.

You don't have to have

your life together.

You don't have to be anything.

You don't have to dress.

You don't have to do anything.

You can just go to that church

and you can be you

and they'll love you

and they'll accept you

and it doesn't mean

that we accept sin

or we put up with wickedness

or anything like that

but there has to be

this understanding of allowance

for each other's faults

because there was a day

and time where I walked

in these doors.

I didn't know how to act.

I didn't know how to talk.

I was not saved.

I didn't believe.

Like I was that person.

There has to be

an allowance for faults

because people need that.

People need to be able

to come in

and become a part of our family.

And the fifth thing is

you got to love them.

Paul talks about the importance

of just simply loving other people

and all of these things

sound difficult.

We're just like,

man, I don't know if I can do that

because people get on the nerves

and it's really hard.

It's like we do this

for people all the time.

The greatest example is kids.

Like I love my kids.

They're almost useless.

Naomi and Perry are just now

getting to the point

where they can kind of contribute

to life.

Like they do chores.

We have them doing things

around the house.

We're kind of slave drivers

a little bit.

It's all right.

They'll live.

A lot of the things that they do,

we have to go back and redo

because they didn't do it well enough

or the right way

or they kind of made more of a mess

than they actually helped with.

But they're just now getting

to the point

where they can kind of contribute.

Poor Hattie does not contribute.

Hattie just takes.

Hattie just tears up.

And the fact that they do that

and who they are

does not change the fact

that we love them.

Like they offer us nothing

but we love them.

It's such a weird concept.

And then we look at the people

across from one another

in this room or even out in the world

or in the workplace

and we say they offer me nothing

therefore I give them nothing.

What a terrible attitude to have.

For Jesus to say

for even I did not come to be served

but to serve others

and to give my life

as a ransom for many.

Who are we to think

that if our Savior

that we so proudly speak His name

and so proudly wear His badges,

His cross on our necks

and on our shirts

and yet we have the attitude

to say well I'm not sacrificing

for that person.

That there would even be one person

that we're not willing

to sacrifice or die for in some way

because they're not worth it

or they have nothing to offer.

They have nothing to give me

or benefit me in any way.

What a terrible attitude to have

to know that Jesus died

for everyone knowing that most people

would still refuse Him

and never accept Him

and He did it anyway

and yet we say that we are little Christ.

We look like Christ.

We act like Christ

because that's what the name Christian bears.

That if we say we are a Christian

that we live and act and look like Christ.

And yet it sounds so crazy to think

that we would be humble

and gentle and patient

and allow people's faults

and to love them to spot

what they probably cannot give us

or offer us.

In 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 8 through 9

1 Peter 3:8–9

Peter said finally

all of you should be of one mind

and sympathize with each other

to not look at people and be frustrated

but to look at people and sympathize with them.

No, you shouldn't feel sorry for them

because they're not like you

and be the religious leader who said

Lord thank you for not letting me be like them

and thank you for not letting me be like them

but you look at them

and you sympathize with them

because maybe the Lord revealed something to you

that He hasn't revealed to them yet.

Love each other as brothers and sisters

and that's such a weird thing to think about

because I don't know if there's anybody

who can be more cruel to each other

than brothers and sisters.

It's like you know exactly what to do

to anger and frustrate and annoy one another

as brothers and sisters

but yet we are called to be brothers

and sisters in Christ.

The people who literally

aggravate the snot out of each other the most

are the ones that we're supposed to act like

because the truth is

is that the absence of problems is not our testimony.

That if we are actually brothers and sisters in Christ

more than likely there's going to be people here

that aggravate you to death

and that's okay.

And they're going to say things to hurt and offend you

and that's okay

because Lord knows your brothers and sisters

in real life have, right?

And yet for some weird reason

even though there's been times

you've wanted to strangle them

you still love them

because they're your brother and sister

and that's what we're called to be as Christians.

You know as one of those things

as much as I dislike my brothers

my sisters, my two older sisters

they actually would beat people up for me.

It's like they would beat me up

but no one else was allowed to.

They would beat other people up for me.

It's a weird thing to think about

but there's going to be times when we don't get along.

There's going to be times we disagree

but to call in on our life to love one another

and to serve one another

does not disappear because of that.

Point three, we have to make every effort to be united.

You got to make every effort in your life

for this to happen

and that means to sacrifice, to give, to serve.

Last week we talked about this passage

that talked about aiming for it.

If you don't aim for it, you won't hit it.

If you don't strive for it, it's not going to happen.

If you don't die for it, it's not going to live.

You have to die in order to live.

Everything about Christianity is something has to die

so that something else can live.

I don't know if you've ever thought about that before

but everything about Christianity is something has to die

so that something can live.

And in the Old Testament it was animals.

Animals died so that the people of Israel could live.

So they could walk in harmony with God.

And in the New Testament Jesus died for us

so that we could live.

Our God died for us so that we could live.

And in turn we are called to die to ourselves

so that we can live.

We take up our cross so that we can live.

We sacrifice, we die so that we can live.

Unity will not live if we don't die so that it can live.

We will have to die.

And you can't fake it.

Like we said earlier, you can't conjure it up.

You can't make it happen.

You can't force it.

It's going to be an act of faith.

You're going to have to step out and believe that God can do this,

that God can maintain this, that God can see this happen.

And there are going to be things in your life

that you will have to die to, people that you will have to humble yourself before

and love in spite of many things to see unity brought and maintained in your life.

Paul also talks about being bound in peace.

You know, peace is a wonderful thing.

It's one of the things we probably take for granted more than anything else

because when peace is there, we're all happy.

Things are good.

Everyone's satisfied.

When peace is taken away, everybody's miserable, right?

I don't know if you've ever experienced that where peace is taken out of your home,

peace is taken out of a friendship or relationship,

and then all of a sudden it's like, ew, what happened?

Peace is a wonderful gift.

And in Psalm 133, verses 1-3, King David wrote,

Psalms 133 · chapter mention

How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony.

Even the king, even David, could not force peace.

For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron's head

that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe.

Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion,

and there the Lord pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting.

Peace is powerful.

It's precious.

It's something that you cannot get on your own.

And when it exists, people are drawn to it because it's not so easily available.

It's rare.

And like we said earlier, it's not the absence of problems.

Peace is not the absence of problems.

Peace is the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It doesn't matter what situation or circumstance or what's going on in your life.

You can have peace through the power of God that supersedes anything anyone can understand or reason with.

Peace is not a place.

It's not a season.

It's not circumstances.

Peace is given by God.

And in the worst times in your life, you can have peace.

And even in the midst of disagreements and arguments and times of hurt and pain,

and maybe we're not all getting along, peace can still reign if Christ still reigns.

But we have to make the decision in our life as followers of Christ.

How important is it to me to maintain one of the most important things that God has called us to do,

which is to maintain the peace that He's given us in our lives.

We're not going to agree on everything.

We're not going to have the same ideas and same preferences on everything.

But remember this, there's one body.

One spirit, one glorious hope for the future, and we're all looking forward to the same thing.

When we all die and we cross over to that other side, it's going to be one heaven, one God,

one song of worship, and we'll all be singing it together.

And all the things that we fought about or disagreed on on the other side

or all the things we didn't said to hurt one another,

or all the things that have happened to us in this life, it's not going to matter.

Because the truth is, Jesus is enough.

And we'll see it so clearly then that Jesus is enough.

We have to live it by faith now, but then we'll see exactly why, in that day, why Jesus is enough.

The greatest testimony that you will give to the world is not that we're perfect.

It's not that we don't have problems or we don't have disagreements.

Our greatest testimony will be the manner in which we deal with them.

The fact that we can disagree and still have peace and unity.

The fact that we can hurt one another and still have peace and unity.

But it means that somebody has to be humble.

Somebody has to be patient.

Somebody has to die in order for that to happen.

And no, we're not going to run around and kill somebody.

We're not talking about that.

You have to die to yourself.

You have to be willing to sacrifice something in you in order to see that happen.

But it's exactly what God has called us to do.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you again for the opportunity to be in your house and to worship.

Thank you again for our body of believers.

And Lord, by no means are we perfect.

By no means is our church perfect.

But Lord, I do believe that you have given us a wonderful season of unity in this time.

But Father, it's not here by accident.

And it's not here because we made it happen.

Lord, it's here because you have been present among us and you have been speaking.

And Lord, there have been people responding to you.

There have been people submitting to you.

And Lord, in the midst of that, peace can reign because your Holy Spirit can reign.

And Father, I pray as we leave this place that we will continue to surrender ourselves to you,

not just in this place, not just on Sunday morning, but God,

that every moment of our life, everywhere we go, every place we're at,

every relationship that we're in, that we would surrender ourselves to you

and that we would be willing to cut anything out of our life,

to die to it, to see that you reign and you are supreme

and you are the God that we say you are.

Father, we thank you and we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.