I went there an hour early to pray for unity. As I was on my
knees in desperation crying out to God to intervene The Holy Spirit spoke to me.
He told me to open my eyes and asked me what I could see. A bit puzzled I
opened them thinking I couldn’t really see anything at all. However I responded
with the only thing I could actually see... carpet. God’s reply to that was
‘exactly, and that is what I am doing.’ God then gave me a vision of four
people pulling on a sample piece of carpet that you would get from a carpet
store. No matter how hard they pulled they could not pull it a part. God placed
in my heart that day that He was building our church with that same kind of
tight knit unity that it would be incredibly difficult to tear apart. That
particular meeting still went on to be one of the worst and saddest meetings I
have ever been to but despite that I still held onto the promise that God was
forging something very special in the midst of chaotic disunity.
Years later I, along with my amazing Pastors and our phenomenal
leadership team, stand upon a ‘carpet of unity’ by the absolute grace of God. It
was fought for and to this day we continue to fight to preserve unity for the
sake of the Kingdom.
We don’t want to take this unity for granted and so we seek
to guard it and want to keep growing it. Philippians 2:1-8 gives us some great
points on how to build unity and to also keep it.
Therefore
if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort
from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and
compassion, 2 then
make my joy complete by being like-minded,
having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
4 not looking to your own interests but each
of you to the interests of the others.
1. Same Mind
Having the same mind or being
like-minded is having agreed opinions, the same goals and same mission. A
critical part of this is everyone setting out to have the mind of Christ (1
Corinthians 2:16). When we have the mind of Christ then we will be focussed on
Kingdom things that are important to Jesus.
Being of one mind does not mean
that we always agree on everything but it does mean that we agree on the important
things like major doctrines, vision and mission that God has collectively
called us to. When we have those things set in place the lesser things don’t
divide us but strengthen. Diversity in unity can give a team such incredible
strength as each person gives a different perspective with the heartfelt
motivation to preserve unity in the process.
2. Same Love
Loving the One who loves us is
collectively our number one priority both individually and as a spiritual
family. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was in Matthew 22:37
he replied “Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If everyone is
focussed on loving God first with heart, soul and mind then that love binds us
together.
When we love God like that we
can’t help but also begin loving what is most important to Him: people. The
second greatest commandment is to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. God has
such great love for people that He sent Jesus to restore us back to Him through
the cross and resurrection. Keep loving God and loving people!
3. Same Spirit
Because we have the same mind and
same love we act and behave as one. Our Spirits become aligned and we walk
together in tight spiritual unity. Like in a three legged race where we have to
work together to win or even finish the race, so we need our Spirits to
synchronise in order to walk together in unity.
4. Others first
Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value
others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you
to the interests of the others. - Philippians 2:3,
4
In order to walk in unity it
requires us to lay down our own desires and agendas. Not only does it requires
us to lay them down but even put other people’s interest and preferences before
ours because we value unity more than we do getting our own way.
It means to commit to building
each other up, speaking graciously and highly of one another. When we speak
harshly, disrespectfully or gossip about one another we erode away trust and
unity. Guarding unity also requires a commitment to stop and challenge people
speaking about one another like this, especially about leaders.
If we all choose to put Jesus and
other people first we will preserve unity and honour God
5. Christ-like humility
We must be humble. The opposite
of humility is pride. Pride is the filling of yourself with yourself so that
you get the glory. Humility is the emptying of yourself to be filled with God
so that He gets the glory. It is a lowliness of mind and having the proper view
of yourself rather than an inflated view. Humility is something we should
constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have.
Why is this all important for? Why
should we fight for and walk in unity? The answer can be found in John 17:20-23
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray
also for those who will believe in me through their message, that
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. I
have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I
in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the
world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
The undeniable
sign to a lost world that Jesus is the saviour of humanity and of God’s great
love for them is that we as believers walk in complete unity. It is not
healings or miracles but rather Jesus’ followers walking in unity that will
convince people that Jesus is who He says He is. That should be all the
motivation we need to fight for and preserve unity in God’s church!
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