How to Stay Unified in Disagreement
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Summary
In Ephesians 4:4-6, we see the tension between the two brothers Paul and Barnabas, and how they handled their disagreements. They showed us how to handle disagreements with love, humility, and compassion.
Transcript
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Amen. Praise God for the worship that we've had, the fellowship that we've already had.
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I'm looking forward to more of it this morning.
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Last week, we began this two-part series talking about unity in the church
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and how vital unity is in preaching the gospel.
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We saw Jesus' four pillars of unity in the church from the passage that Joseph just read.
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Our church desperately needs to hear this message this morning.
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We need to hear the tender words of the Bible that show us the foundations of our unity.
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And we need to hear that while we can disagree, we can still call ourselves one.
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today we need to hear that when disagreements come and they will come
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it is far better to work through them with respect
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and love rather than cause pain and heartache in the bride of christ
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there's one disagreement that we find in the bible that i think is helpful to illustrate
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while Barnabas wanted to give Mark a second chance.
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Their disagreement had become so sharp that they parted ways.
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This very easily could have ended their relationship for good.
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who allowed such a sharp disagreement to form between him and his brother
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Paul's probably the most mature man I can think of outside of Christ.
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And yet, disagreement caused division with him.
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If it can happen with Paul, it could certainly happen with us.
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we could have seen what we often see in disagreements in the church
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we could have seen the slandering that comes the gossip the needless quarreling
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the besmirching of characters we could have seen that in the apostle paul and barnabas
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the church today has a big problem with knowing how to disagree without leaving
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despite their disagreements paul and barnabas eventually reconciled eventually they allowed
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time and charity to win in their relationship what paul and barnabas did by the way that they
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handled their disagreement, demonstrated the principles that are taught in our passage of
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Scripture this morning. Ephesians 4, 1 through 6, urges believers to walk in humility, gentleness,
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patience, bearing with one another in love, and maintaining the unity of the Spirit.
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For his usefulness in ministry in 2 Timothy 4.11
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We all have struggles in seeing the best in a person that we disagree with.
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The temptation towards division will always loom heavy over the church.
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Satan knows that if he can divide us, he can strip away our ability to share the unifying message of the gospel.
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A divided church will always result in a divided witness.
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A wounded church will always result in a wounded witness.
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There are painful consequences for disobeying God's command for unity.
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Every kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
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When we allow minor disagreements to break our covenant with one another,
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we show that we do not truly believe the words of Scripture.
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we undermine the truth that the bride of christ can be one just as jesus is one with the father
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and we strip the church of her effectiveness and preaching the message of salvation
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there is a time to separate there's a time where separation is absolutely justified
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but it's over primary issues not secondary what are some primary issues you may ask
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they are the message of the gospel the hypostatic union in christ
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the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ
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we're not distancing ourselves from people who are Christians.
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We're not distancing ourselves from those who belong to Jesus Christ
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If you deny these doctrines, you do not belong to Christ
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When we separate from those who preach truths against these doctrines
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Those who preach these things preach a false Christ
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And we ought not have fellowship with them.
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This is why we don't have fellowship with Mormons.
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This is why we don't have fellowship with Jehovah's Witnesses.
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This is why we don't have fellowship with Roman Catholics.
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because they present a distorted view of Jesus to the world.
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there are however certain doctrines of secondary importance and while they are important they are
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not important enough for us to call one another non-christian they're not important enough for
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us to excommunicate someone over them or to completely separate from them and no longer
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call them brother or sister. These are areas that we may have differing opinions,
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but they are not essential for salvation. Some of these issues are issues surrounding
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sacramentology, baptism in the Lord's Supper, differing views on what's happening in those
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sacraments. These are secondary doctrines. Some others would include church government.
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Should we be congregational? Should we be Presbyterian, elder-led? Should we be Episcopal,
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having bishops reign over the church? These questions are important,
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but they are not so important that you cannot be a Christian and believe differently from me.
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When congregations believe these things, they form what are known as denominations.
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These denominations separate over these secondary doctrines, but they are not divided.
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There's a misconception in the church that denominations are division.
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The OPC, the SPC, the CREC, PCA, the Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church.
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We may disagree over these secondary doctrines, but in the primary doctrines, we are one.
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We believe the same important foundational truths of the scriptures.
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Disconnection is not disunity when we agree on primary principles.
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Disconnection is not disunity when we agree on primary principles.
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Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Dutch Reformed,
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This doesn't mean that we throw out our convictions
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our goal for reformed catholicity is a good goal
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but a large reason why many of the families who left
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But they're even less crucial than these secondary doctrines I just mentioned.
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Unfortunately, what happens with the tertiary doctrines is that they are elevated to the place of primary doctrines.
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What happens is that we're more likely to divide over these issues than anything else.
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These issues include practices around raising children.
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about the most effective way to preach the gospel.
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Regrettably, these and many other reasons are why so many Christians leave solid, biblical, loving, gracious churches, though they had so much in common.
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Our culture has made people feel like everything should be customizable
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That everything should be tailor-made for you and your preferences
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When Christians demand that the church meets them on these issues
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we're demonstrating that we have no desire for unity
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your love for one another ought to go deeper than this
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In our passage this morning, I just want to make a few points that I think will be helpful for us, all of us, in maintaining the unity of the church.
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urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
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By displaying his authority here, his credentials for why he's giving the command for unity.
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It underscores his submission and his apostolic authority in being able to issue to us a call for unity.
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This title isn't just a statement about his physical imprisonment,
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But rather, it displays his total devotion to Christ.
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He's calling the church in Ephesus, by extension, all of us, to unity.
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You're not just suggested to be united here at Kingsway or at whatever other church you're at.
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This command carries the full weight of apostolic authority.
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What follows in this passage isn't optional for believers.
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They are divine mandates that call the church to unity.
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disregarding this call to unity is not only disobedience
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but it's also failure to love the bride that christ died for
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seeking division or refusing to pursue unity within the church puts us in direct
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opposition to the will of god and into the realm of sin
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we not only harm the church but also undermine our total witness to the world
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we saw this in the high priestly prayer from Jesus last week
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Jesus ties the church's unity directly to our ability to faithfully preach the gospel.
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True love for God's church means doing everything in your power to pursue her unity and peace.
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if you truly love the church you will pursue unity and peace in the church
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he goes on and says walk in a manner worthy of our calling
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the question is what is this calling that he's he's telling us to walk in
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this is the effectual calling the calling that's issued by god by christ to his
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people to save them. It's the call to our souls that Christ is our Savior and that his perfect
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blood washes away our sins. I desired to go into a little bit of the doctrine of effectual calling,
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but I think it's important to stay on the point of unity.
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we have to remember that in this effectual calling
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he didn't just issue the call to you individually who's sitting in your seat
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he issued the call to your brother who's sitting next to you your sister right in front of you
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the personal loving call of Christ came to you and to them
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Christ wanted them just as much as he wanted you
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this should spur us to deep love for each other this should spur us on to the love that Christ
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has for the church remember the love that he has for the church John 13 verse 1
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When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of the world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
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Christ loved his bride all the way up to his death and beyond.
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We are called to display that same type of love for one another.
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Do you love the people in this church like Jesus does?
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The word worthy describes the way you're walking.
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He tells us five ways that we can actually live out this walking,
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this walking in love for unity for one another.
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With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
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eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
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Do you know why Paul commands humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance in this passage?
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We do all of these things because Christ did them to us.
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Do you know how absurd it is to not forgive someone when Christ has forgiven you?
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Do you know how absurd it is to not have patience with a brother and sister
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Do you know how absurd it is to not bear with one another in love
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when Christ lovingly, gently, carefully bore with you?
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We have a lot to learn from the example of Christ.
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We have a lot to learn and how to love one another better.
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1 Corinthians 13 tells us what Christian love is all about.
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instead of loving one another through our differences
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between the love that we should have with one another
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we are the closest theologically in reformed circles we are the closest out of all the other
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Christians we believe the same soteriology or message of salvation we believe that God
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is sovereign over all these things we are so close in fellowship yet we allow minor distinctions
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or are you quick to jump to a spirit of disunity
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have you dealt with disagreements in the church
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These are things that you really must check your heart with.
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just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
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One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
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How can anyone read these words and so quickly divide?
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How can anyone hear that we're called to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father, who loves all of his children, and say, I do not want to be near you?
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Paul gives this list of things that we are to be one in
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because he wants to show us the reasons for unity
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We are called to one Spirit, one Holy Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father.
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This overarching oneness are all the reasons why the apostles give that the church should be one.
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many of these reasons i gave in my previous sermon so i'm not going to rehash all of them
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what i do want to point out here is something very important that the apostle calls us one in
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if we can keep this one thing top of mind in the church i very seriously doubt
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that you're going to struggle to be united together as one
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what paul points to one crucial thing in this passage that we can be one in
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is that we are one in the hope that belongs to our calling
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what's he talking about what paul is saying is that we should be looking ahead to the future
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to the hope that's given to us because of the calling that was issued to us by Christ.
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In the words of Paul, or in other words, it's saying that we should be looking forward to eternity together
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this is often why disagreements come in the church
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we should remember that none of us are the same
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i used to be the lowest of the low ridden with drugs lost in the world i loved my sin
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and had no affection for christ or for the or for any of the things of heaven
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i had no love for god or for his church i had only love for me
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and not just saved me from my wretched life of sin
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It says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
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This is not to tell you that you should have some grand salvation story like mine.
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In fact, I'm jealous of all of you who don't have my testimony.
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Who have the quiet testimony of saying, I never know when I came to faith.
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But what we can't do is allow one another to be defined by our pasts.
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But instead, look ahead to the hope that Christ has given us.
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The pastor, Martin Lloyd-Jones, said in a sermon on this passage of scripture, he said,
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quote, it is because we fail to keep our eye on the hope of our calling
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that there are so many divisions and distinctions
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and misunderstandings in the church, end quote.
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will ensure that there are no divisions in the church.
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In heaven, we will be one with one voice crying aloud unto God,
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who loves us and who cares for us, who chose us,
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that divisions would happen in the bride of Christ
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by the works of love that you show one another.
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The church is being held together for one reason.
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The church is held together because Christ is with us now, today.
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We don't have to worry about the church falling apart.
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We don't have to worry about the church not seeing this blessed hope that I was just speaking of.
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we can rest knowing that Christ who is over all and through all and in all of you
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is holding the church together take comfort in this truth take comfort in the fact that
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no matter the disagreements no matter the quarrels no matter the hurts and pains that
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come with relationships. Christ is keeping his church one. He will not allow his bride
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to be divorced. We are in covenant with one another and with our God. This covenant is
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Christ is fighting for the unity of the church.
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to obey the scriptures and seek the same unity that Christ
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that the conviction of the Holy Spirit would lead us
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to deeper and deeper bonds of unity, love, and peace with one another.
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you are the great sovereign Lord over all things.
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You're the one who decided that it would be good.
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You are the one who has woven together this tapestry of people
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from all different backgrounds, denominations, ethnicities, cultures, ideologies, family histories,
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Lord, make our love grow deeper, our desires for unity stronger,
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our convictions to preach the gospel together as one be more firm.
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And may all these things glorify your Son, Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.