Let me read one of Aesop’s Greek fables;
In the forest, there lived four oxen. They were very good friends and always
went together to graze in the fields. However, every time they went, a hungry
lion tried to attack them. The lion longed for their meat. But they withstood
his attack by fighting him as a team. They attacked him with their horns and
the lion fled to another forest. One day, the four oxen fought among
themselves. They started going to the forest separately.
When the lion returned, he saw that
the group was divided. He planned to take advantage of this situation. Finding
the first ox grazing in the fields alone, he crept from behind and ate him up.
The next day, he attacked the second ox and killed it too. This way he killed
the third and the fourth ox too. Had the four oxen stayed together, they
wouldn’t have lost their lives. Moral Lesson: "United we live, divided we
will be killed.”[1] From where came the
popular phrase, "United we stand, divided we fall".
This phrase has been used in mottos, from nations and states to songs. You
may be familiar with a popular song "United We Stand" written by Tony
Hiller and
Peter Simmons and was first recorded in 1970 by The Brotherhood of Man.
I was very familiar with this phrase growing up in India British Empire . It was our unity that
brought us independence. The basic concept however is that unless people are
united, it is easy to destroy them. Is there a biblical basis for this concept
of unity? What is the power of Unity? What breaks unity? If unity is imperative
for any nation, society and church’s survival how then can we achieve such
unity? Let’s begin with the biblical base of unity.
I. THE BIBLICAL BASIS OF UNITY:
Repeatedly, throughout the Bible we see the concept of unity
and the call for unity. We see this concept of unity played out in the
beginning of creation itself. When God created the world He just called things
to come into existence all by Himself by His shear power and command. When all
he said was let there be light, there was light. But when it came to creating
the master piece of all of his creation He did not do it independently. He
consulted with the other two persons in the Godhead namely the Son and the Holy
Spirit.. He said, “Let us make man in our Image, in our likeness and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Gen1:26
The creation account of man tells us two things. Firstly, God
was, is and always lives in unity and His desire for us is that we too would
live in unity. Secondly, it is not to one man or woman God gave the
responsibility to rule or to take care of the world, but to all mankind. It is
a collective responsibility. Each of us has a role to play in the welfare of
the world. The survival of the planet earth depends on our unity and collaborative
effort. How do we define unity? Unity is the state or quality of being one; oneness,
mutual agreement, and harmony. Let’s talk about the power of unity.
II. THE POWER OF UNITY:
We can learn great lessons of unity and its power simply by
observing the nature. For example a single snow flake that looks beautiful and
innocent. If it remains on its own it can easily fly away or quickly melt away.
On it’s own it does no harm and poses no threat to any one does it? But when it unites with other snow flakes,
they gain more strength and power. Those of us who live in New
England know the power of the accumulation of “snow flakes” They
have the power to work havoc and bring a whole administration to halt.
If that is the power of the united snow flakes can you
imagine the power generated when people are united? Even God takes note of this
power. Remember the first ever human construction of a tower in Gen 11th
Chapter? This is a classical example of the power of unity. At some point in
time after the flood the whole world had one language and a common speech. As
men moved eastward they found a plain in Shinar
Their united effort caught God’s attention, so he took a tour
from heaven to see this impressive human construction. The Lord knew the power
of unity so He said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have
begun to do this then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come
let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each
other.” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they
stopped building the city. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of
the whole earth.”
Unfortunately
the unity that was displayed in Genesis 11 in the long run was not good for the
people who were building a tower and most certainly it was not in line with
God’s global purposes. Therefore He attacked their unity (of wrong reasons) by
confusing a key ingredient that fosters unity “common language.” Not only does God
know the power of unity but also the intent of the devil. Satan works overtime to
destroy the unity among believers in the body of Christ. He creates division
through gossip and misunderstanding. He breaks down the communication among us.
Instead of fighting the devil we end up fighting each other.
Wait
a minute! Let’s not be too quick to blame the devil for the disunity in the
Church. Could our own actions are lack of them cause disunity in any way. What
do you think are the unity breakers? In Philippians 2:1-3, we read what breaks
the unity among the believers. “If you have any encouragement from being
united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the
Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being
like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing
out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better
than yourselves.”
Let’s
take this scripture apart for a moment. Paul explains to the believers what
contributes to Christian unity in the church as well as what breaks that unity.
Firstly, unity in the church flows from individuals being united with Christ.
This personal
union is a basic reality of salvation. Secondly, to be in Christ is to be
saved. Thirdly, from our close relationship with Christ the savior flows: love,
comfort, encouragement, tenderness and compassion. When we fail to operate in
those qualities we will be moving towards disunity.
Fourthly, selfish
ambition and conceit are the mortal enemies of unity and harmony in the Church.
In Gal 5:20 “selfish ambition” is listed among the acts of the sinful nature.
Fifthly, the only thing that protects unity is humility which is the source of
Christian unity.
According to
Paul a humble person consider others better than himself. It does not mean that
he sees everyone else is more superior or talented, but through Christian love
he sees others as worthy of respect and preferential treatment. In my years of
ministry I have noticed how some thriving ministers fell, ministries closed and
churches split because of pride and selfishness. Sadly whenever that happens it
hurts ever body even more so the name of Jesus Christ is blasphemed. Therefore
let’s beware of the unity breakers.
We read
that the early believers were often together in prayer. Just as humility, prayer is one of the basics
of unity. When we as Gods children get
to know our Heavenly Father better, if we grow more and more aware that the One
for whom nothing, absolutely nothing is too difficult waits to hear what the
Evangelical Church of Atlantic unitedly wants to ask of Him and believe Him
for. I believe we will see God do great things in and through this Church. Friends, I believe if we collectively take a
stand in prayer against the destruction the enemy is working in our society, if
we put our differences aside and fervently call on God for intervention we will
see God’s work and deliverance in unprecedented ways in our days. How can we
foster such unity that the Bible describes? The scripture gives us several
principles in achieving that unity.
III. BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES FOR UNITY:
During his ministry on earth Jesus
had to put up with a bunch of selfish and power mongering disciples. He knew
very well that discrepancies and disagreements would erupt among his disciples
once he had departed from the earth so he earnestly prayed for them. In John
17:17, Jesus prayed that the father would sanctify the disciples by the truth
before he would make them one. The first principle in achieving Biblical unity
is to have the mind of Christ. As Christ prayed to the father that his
disciples would be brought to complete unity (John 17:23), let’s also cry out
to God to bring our church to complete unity.
Secondly, we recognize that God is
the master builder and we all are hired workers. Paul recognized that he and the apostles were
servants of Christ and each were assigned specific tasks to perform. Similarly we
too must humbly recognize that we are hired workers by God to work in his
vineyard. We are his servants called out to do his work. When we are faithful
in serving the master in our assigned tasks one day God will reward us
according to our labor.
Thirdly we recognize and respect
one another. Finally, Coordination, Communication and Cohesion are other
essentials principles in achieving and maintaining biblical unity. Unity is far
more important to the life of the Church than the individual strengths of its
leaders. The Lord has called all of us to be a part of this awesome work of
building His Kingdom.
The growth of our Church depends on
all of us praying and working together in unity. We desperately need unity at
all cost. Therefore as far as it lies in us let’s work towards building and
maintaining unity. When we are committed to just do that, God has promised to
pour down his blessings on all of us. In closing let me urge you as the Apostle
Paul urged the believers in Ephesus .
“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.” Eph 4:1-6 Amen
