In this series "ONE", we are talking about some basic foundational concepts and as we talked about on October 2, UNITY was something that Jesus prayed specifically for YOU, as a Christ follower to have.
That means two things...one, it is important enough to pray for you to God about and two, it's something that needs God's help to achieve.
It's important because at the foundational identity of a Christian is a love that unifies the body of Christ...we won't be who we are or accomplish what we should accomplish OR be identified with Jesus without unity among the body of Christ.
Two, we need God's help to achieve it because it's not achieved by accident. You have to be purposeful in achieving it. When it is threatened, you have to put on your "big boy pants" and protect it...even if it puts you at risk of being made fun of or insulted or being hurt again or whatever, because Jesus never prayed that you'd never be made fun of or that you'd never be insulted or that life would never be hard...in fact, He told you all those things would happen and those things won't damage the church, but broken relationships and disunity will. The reason we hang ourselves out on a limb to protect it is because it's THAT important to maintain.
If you, yes you, don't pursue it, it's not going to happen. Matthew 18 gives us steps to deal with conflict that threatens the unity of the body and in the KJV, it says if your brother has wronged you...take care of it, in private. I believe it says that so no one else will be tainted or tempted to take sides or be effected by the disunity...it's that important.
In Matthew 5, it says that if you bring your tithe to the altar and remember that your brother has a problem with you...as in there's problems between you two, and it's your fault...then go immediately and take care of it. It even says just leave your tithe and take care of that broken relationship immediately...why? Because it's THAT important.
What these two verses show you is that it doesn't matter who's at fault...all that matters is whoever knows it exists, hurt-ER or hurt-EE...they should be leading the charge to eat their pride and get it taken care of. We should be falling all over ourselves to make it right...
Church in the Park was cancelled today due to weather, so we all worshipped at Melbourne Campus today and a quote from the sermon stuck out...
"Every broken relationship is a crack in the foundation of the body of Christ."
Think about that... Do you KNOW about a broken relationship between you and someone in the body of Christ that you aren't actively pursuing resolution to? Then you are watching a crack in the foundation of the church grow wider each minute and Jesus says, "drop what you are doing and take care of it....NOW." Why? Because you HAVE to be willing to chase it and sacrifice for it and grasp it...and that doesn't mean that, even if someone has wronged YOU, it means "wait until they wise up and figure it out"...no. It says it's important enough to drop all that you are doing, even if it's the worship of God and go chase unity down until you catch it...swallow your worthless pride and humble yourself to do it...it's that important...pursue it.
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