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God's Plan for Man: Unity Psalm 133.1-3 Introduction:
When speaking of God’s plan for man I almost forgot this subject. The Bible
speaks about unity and fellowship. Those two words go together. When there is
unity there is fellowship and when one is lacking the other will be also. I)
Causes of Division and Strife A)
Sin 1. Sin separates man from God,.
a. Adam and Eve were
cast out of the Garden of Eden
b. Impossible to have fellowship with God and be in sin, Isaiah
59.1-3 2.
Sin separates man from his fellowman
a. Cain killed his brother Abel
b. It caused David to kill Uriah the Hittite B)
False worship 1.
In the Patriarchal Age some worshipped God according to His word and others did
not.
a. Noah and Abraham worshipped God while others worshipped
idols.
b. We read of the ‘gods on the others side of the River, or the gods of
the Amorites” in Joshua 24.15 2.
Paul makes this point in 2 Corinthians
6.14ff. 3.
There are all kinds of false religions out there, those cause man to be
separated from God, John 4.24
a. Jesus was not
saying this to some gentile bowing down to an idol but to a Samaritan that was
worshipping the true God. Her problem was her worship was not according to
truth.
b. Sadly many may be bowing down to their creator but not
according to His will. C)
Having two different laws creates enmity 1.
Jews were under the Law of Moses and the Gentiles were not. 2.
Both could serve the same God but this created a distrust and rivalry between
the two.
a. Remember the case of Jonah?
b. He did not want to go to 3.
The problem in this case is not with God’s law of Moses or how he was dealing
with the gentiles but man’s attitude toward his fellowman. 4.
We no longer have two separate laws but just one, Ephesians
2.14-18 II)
God’s Plan for Unity A)
Seen in Jesus’ prayer, John 17.20-21 1.
Unity is desired by Jesus and God for all His servants. 2,
Jesus came to reconcile man to God, 2
Corinthians 5.17-20
a. Unity between man fails when God is left out of the picture.
b. We see religious division today in world religions and even in so
called Christian religions.
c. Why? Because it has the wrong basis, instead of man it should be God. 1 John 1.3 B)
All speak the same thing, 1 Corinthians 1.10 1.
This means we all recognize the word of God as our standard of authority. 2.
The problem today is people want to have their own doctrine instead of God’s
word. 3.
What would happen if we all agreed to go only by the Bible? 1 Peter 4.11.
a. Is there any thing wrong with only going by the Bible? 1
Cor. 4.6.
b. How many doctrines did Jesus leave us? Ephesians
4.says there is “one faith”
so He left us one. C)
We allow Jesus to be the head of His body and the King of His Kingdom 1.
He is the head of His body, Colossians
1.18 2.
He is the only King and Potentate of His kingdom, 1
Timothy 6.15
a. The church refers to the people that are saved.
b. The Kingdom refers to the rule and authority of Christ. 3.
How many kingdoms did Jesus establish? While the church and the kingdom are not
the same they were both established by Jesus and are connected. Colossians 1.13, 14. D)
We work together inside the body of Christ 1.
The term body is used to show unity and importance of each member. 2.
Problem at 3.
The body is used to illustrate what Paul is saying because the body has
different parts and each part does some thing unique for the body. 4.
So it is with the body of Christ. In the New Testament some had spiritual gifts.
This created some problems because some thought their spiritual gift was better
or more important someone else’s spiritual gift. 5.
Paul pointed out that all spiritual gifts came from God, 1 Corinthians 12.4 6.
None of those people had worked to obtain their gift. 7.
Their gifts were not a rival to each other but an aid, each one had a purpose
and ultimately they were all to edify the body.
a. All the parts are to work together for the good of the body.
b. What if every Christian did this in the church?
c. We all studied our Bibles for the answer of God and then did our
best to work together. E)
We love one another as Christ loved us 1.
See the love of Christ in His death on the cross, John
15.13
a. Paul in Romans makes the point that God sent Jesus to die for us while
we were still His enemies, Romans 5.8 2.
We are told to love one another this way, 1
John 3.16
a. You can tell when people really care about each other.
b. They pray for one another, they rejoice with one another, they talk
and communicate with one another. 3.
They grow up with one another, Ephesians
4.15-16 Conclusion:
Unity is God based not man based. But when man obeys God he is united not only
with his God but also other children of God. That will happen only when we allow
God to be God, obey His word, speak the same thing, let Christ be the head of
His body and King of His Kingdom, work together, and love one another. |