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keep the main thing the main thing. “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.” (14:4)
Today My sermon, United In Christ gets its inspiration fromRomans 15. Listen to this key verse, verse 5: “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Let me begin with this short prayer for unity, found in our hymnal.
O Lord, may it never be said of us, “this is the body of Christ, broken by you. Amen.”
Unity. It is a goal of the church; and it is a central theme of Paul in most of his letters to the churches. And it naturally follows from all that Paul has written to the Romans about their faith. Being secure as Christians, and in our standing with God, we are much better at forgiving one another, forbearing with one another, and working toward unity.
Utica; MVCC Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship: a mission trip to Boston. A rental car. And “Charlie,” with questionable motives. We were obligated to allow him to come. We were in for the ride of our lives. He was an agnostic, and with him coming, our little rented station wagon became full: 6 people, and he sat in the back, center. I’ll come back to this story.
Unity is what is lacking, when Christians stop growing spiritually. Strife can be sown by a few individuals; but it takes root when the church as a whole begins to get used to it, believe it is normal, and thinks that in order to be “kind” Christians, we have to pander to the weak ones among us. Those who sow anger, hatred, power struggles, and gossip are only hurting the church they say they love, and are damaging the witness of the Church for others. But the reason they are doing this is because they have no root in themselves, as loved and accepted by God. This spiritual insecurity results in a person lashing out at others in order to feel good.
Unity in the church reflects the godhead.
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