Seven Sure Ways to Promote Christian Unity
Ephesians 4:1-3
A Sermon by Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, Oregon

"It is much easier to think and speak of the big things that are "out there" than the sticky, difficult little ones that occur right here among us. Yet unity really starts in the individual congregation... it only takes one cantankerous church member to shatter the unity of an entire congregation."

An author unknown to me wrote the following:

"Several years ago in Del Mar, California, I witnessed a startling exhibit. A man took a glass beaker that had a small neck, but was enlarged to about seven inches in diameter below the neck. The beaker would hold about a quart. The demonstrator used the glass beaker as a hammer to drive a spike into a wooden plank. The glass was so well tempered that the beaker did not break. The man then took a small steel marble the size of a pea and holding it at the neck of the beaker, dropped it inside. When it struck the bottom the glass was shattered and the beaker was broken into nothing but shards by the blow from within." (1)

There is a parallel between that account and the current state of some modern churches. Some churches that pride themselves in being doctrinally tempered so much that they can stand up to all the devil's hammering on the outside, shatter into pieces when problems are introduced from the inside.

I want to speak to you this morning about the unity of the church. It is critically important for us to consider the many attacks on the church from the outside but it is equally important for us to be concerned about problems that are introduced from the inside. It is such "inside" problems that we'll consider in this message.

Please turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians 4:1-3.

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

According to Paul, we are to be diligent about unity!

Let me share with you seven practical things you and I can do to promote Christian unity. The first is that we should:

1. Recognize that God Expects It.

This passage in Ephesians isn't some obscure, little known, hard to understand command! Paul's words are emphatic: "Be diligent!" There is urgency in his words. The NIV translates it, "Make ever effort." The Living Bible says, "Try always." The Williams translation renders it, "Continue with eager earnestness."

If we are unconcerned about the subject of unity we are not reflecting the urgency of the Bible. Why is it so important that we exercise diligence in maintaining unity? Jesus taught in Luke 11:17, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls."

A kingdom or organization that is unified can accomplish much. Likewise, if the same is divided it is hamstrung to accomplish much of anything.

Some time ago I heard an historian say that the American Revolution could have been won in one year instead of eight years of bloody battle if the American colonist had simply been unified. The fact is, some battles are never won for the very reason that there is disunity.

Jesus' prayer for his disciples in John 17:21, just before He went to the cross was, "that they may all be one... so that the world may believe that You sent Me." (NAS Update)

Most Christians know of Jesus' prayer for unity and they long for the unification of all Christians, yet in all their aspirations for worldwide unity, they often failed to:

2. Understand that Worldwide Unity Begins Locally.

It is much easier to think and speak of the big things that are "out there" than the sticky, difficult issues that occur right here among us. Yes, we should be concerned about unity beyond the local body, yet unity really starts in the individual congregation. It only took one steel marble to break the tempered beaker. In the same way it only takes one cantankerous church member to shatter the unity of an entire congregation.

When I was in high school I sang in the choir. The choir always traveled with the concert band. We did programs together so I as a choir member often got to listen to the band. Of course in those days that was like eating chocolate cake because I had another motive besides music when I listened to the band. There was this perky brunette in the fourth row of the band. She played first bassoon. I was totally swept off my feet by this girl every time I heard her play. Don't worry about my wife Kathi. She's OK with my saying this because that was a long time ago. Besides, she was the girl. Anyway, whenever I was around her it seemed like everything harmonized.

Well, almost everything.

You see there was this fellow in the band named Tom. Tom played the oboe and he played it none too well. It seemed like Tom was always about a half step flat. Mr. Madsen, the director would tap his baton on the music stand and say, "Tom, pull it out just a tiny bit more please." Poor Tom. He tried so hard, but the truth was that whenever he started playing the whole band sounded bad.

So it is with the church. It only takes one or two rancorous people and pretty soon the whole band is out of tune.

That's probably why Jesus put reconciliation of problems among us in a higher priority spot than even our worship. Listen to His teaching in Matthew 5:23-24: "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."

What that means is that if you come to worship and somewhere in the middle of things, perhaps before communion or in the midst of the singing, or even during the preaching, you remember that spat or unresolved issue you had with another Christian a couple of days ago, you should get up from here right now and leave. Go look that brother or sister up and try to get things reconciled!

It does little good for us to pray Jesus' prayer for unity of all Christians when we won't keep things together with those who are closest to us.

Sadly, many times Christians don't take this issue seriously. "Let them come to me," they think to themselves. All the while the watching world winces at the off-key "music" the church produces - and ends up wanting no part of it. Sometimes I can hardly blame them.

A third thing you and I can do to promote unity in the church is to:

3. Let Go of Old Grudges.

Now there's a crummy subject!

Have you ever heard of the Hatfields and the McCoys, those feuding clans from the backwoods of Kentucky? I wonder if you have ever heard the outcome of the feud.

The March 14th, 1988 issue of USA Today carried the story of how the feud was finally settled. Her is an excerpt:

"It hit the newspaper front pages in the 1880's when the Hatfield clan feuded with the McCoy clan from across the border in Kentucky. Historians disagree on the cause of the feud - which captured the imagination of the nation during a ten-year run. Some cite Civil War tensions: McCoys sympathized with the Union, Hatfields with the Confederacy. Others say it began when the McCoys blamed the Hatfields for stealing hogs. As many as 100 men, women and children died.

"In May of 1976, Jim McCoy and Willis Hatfield - the last two survivors of the original families - shook hands at a public ceremony dedicating a monument to six of the victims. McCoy died February 11, 1984, at the age of 99. He bore no grudges and had his burial handled by the Hatfield Funeral Home in Toler, Kentucky." (2)

Here is what the Bible says to Christians in Ephesians 4:31: "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice."

The world "malice" means "ill will, spite, hatred."

Like the case with the Hatfields and the McCoys, old grudges caused by long passed hurts can go on for years in the church - sometimes after those who originally experienced them are dead and gone and most have even forgotten what the original issues were!

Here is a question for you: How long should a Christian bear a grudge against a brother or sister in Christ? Here is the Bible's answer from 1 John 2:9: "The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now."

How long should we bear a grudge? I guess it just depends upon how long we want to be in the dark!

We simply have to let go of old grudges.

A fourth thing you and I can do to promote unity is to:

4. Resist Jumping to Conclusions about Each Other.

A man named John was driving home late one night when he picked up a hitchhiker. As they rode along he began to be suspicious of his passenger. John checked to see if his wallet was safe in the pocket of his coat that was in the seat between them, but it wasn't there! In a sudden, surprising burst, He slammed on his brakes, ordered the hitchhiker out, and said, "Hand over my wallet immediately!" The frightened hitchhiker handed over a billfold and John drove off. When he arrived home he started to tell his wife what had happened but she interrupted him and said, "Before I forget, John, do you know that you left your wallet at home on the dresser this morning?"

Jumping to conclusions - the Bible calls it "evil surmising" in 1 Timothy 6:4. You hear something about someone and assume the worst even though you wouldn't have enough evidence to convict if someone pressed you. People do it all the time! Christians do it all the time!

Yet the Bible teaches that a person is innocent until proven guilty. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 to believe the very best we can about one another.

Two boys on the school playground were discussing a classmate. One of them remarked, "He's no good at sports." The other quickly responded, "Yes, but he always plays fair." The critical one added, "He not very smart either." His friend countered, "That may be true, but he studies hard." The boy with the mean tongue was becoming exasperated with the attitude of the other. "Well," he sneered, "did you ever notice how ragged his clothes are?" The other boy replied kindly, "Yes, but did you ever notice, they're always clean?" Every negative observation was countered with a truthful positive one.

That passage in 1 Corinthians 13 that I mentioned, by the way, is in verse 7. It says, "Love... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

What a marvelous teaching this is but how contrary it is to human nature! We tend to think the worst about others, not the best.

Mark Twain once said, "It takes an enemy and a friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart. The one to slander you, and the other to get the news and believe it."

We need to resist jumping to conclusions about one another. I'll believe in you until I simply have no other choice.

A fifth thing you and I can do to promote unity is to:

5. Avoid Tale-bearing.