Four Keys to Unity, and What Division Costs

Sermon outline

A God-given vision can only advance in unity, so come off the fence and into one heart and one mind with the body, because unity draws God's grace and division stops progress.

1. Can two walk together unless they agree?

   People can live in the same house or sit in the same church without being in unity. God wants us one in mind, spirit, action and the words we speak, because you can say you are in unity while your heart is out.

   Illustration: Some couples still live under the same roof, but their hearts are already divorced.

   “They might be saying that they're together, but their hearts are already divorced.”

   • Amos 3:3

2. Key one: unity is essential to advance the vision

   All the believers were of one heart and one mind, and God's grace was powerfully at work in all of them, not in one of them. No one can make you be united; it is a decision each person and family must make. If you have been two-minded, on the fence or sitting at the back wondering what is happening, come into one with the body, because each person has an integral part and none of it can be done alone.

   “No one can make you be united. We can encourage you to be united.”

   • Acts 4:32-33

3. Key two: unity attracts God's power and blessing

   Grace flows where there is unity. A double-minded man receives nothing from the Lord, so what might a single-minded church receive? How good and pleasant it is when God's people live in unity: it is like precious oil running from the head down the beard to the collar, linked to Pastor Wesley's teaching on the pressing of the oil, so that the whole body is anointed and nobody misses out.

   “A double-minded man shall not receive anything from the Lord. Now, what about a single-minded man? What about a single-minded church?”

   • James 1:7-8
   • Psalm 133:1-3

4. Key three: selflessness builds unity

   Sin is selfish. Unity is more than agreeing with something; it is a partnership and a covenant that says "I belong here, this is mine, we work as a team". Be like-minded, do nothing out of selfish ambition, and in humility value others above yourself. Love is sacrificial and does not demand its own way, and demanding your own way is a work of the flesh. When something is said that you do not understand, shelve it and let the Holy Spirit reveal it in due time.

   “Unity is much more than just we agreeing with something. But it's an agreement, it's a partnership. It's a covenant.”

   • Philippians 2:1-4

5. Key four: division hinders progress

   One of the key things Satan puts in a church's path is distraction and division among its members. Every kingdom, city or household divided against itself cannot stand. So the church will stand together, support the vision, get involved and not sit at the back watching things happen.

   “A church divided cannot move forward.”

   • Matthew 12:25

6. God will never stop doing good to us

   Praying that their unity would be a testimony that draws people to Christ, since the world knows His disciples by their love, he reads God's promise to give His people singleness of heart and action, an everlasting covenant in which He will never stop doing good to them and will rejoice in doing it.

   “God says he will never stop doing good for us.”

   • John 12:32
   • John 13:35
   • Jeremiah 32:38-41

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