Unity

Many different people, but we can all stand together as one.

When these men & women stand together in harmony the sound is just awesome. But what if one person sung off key, or that musician kept hitting the wrong note. All we would have would be clamor instead of harmony. Who wants to listen to that noise! Not me.

There are times when we can look within the Christian family and instead of hearing the sweet sounds of unity & harmony, all we hear is clamour. Our Pastor demonstrated this in a message awhile back, by having our drummer just bang and clang on the drums. Yes, it was pure clamour, but the point was made in getting us to realize what we can sound like at times.

Ephesians 4:31-32 "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

When the World looks at us as Christians, what do they really see? Do they see anything different in us than that which is in the world? Or do we look so much like that world that the only way they know we're a Christian is because we tell them? What do we bring to the table that would make one want to step out of of the mire of the world and follow CHRIST? Would one look at our life and the things we do and walk away thinking to themselves, " Why on earth would I want to be a Christian when all they do is back bite each other? I can get that same environment at any family function, school ground or workplace. No thank you, I'll pass on that."

When others see us, we should stand out in the way that live 24/7, not just on Sunday and Wednesdays...but everyday. We need to stand apart from the things of the world in all we do. One area that we all can stand out in is in our "Koinonia."

What on earth is Koinonia? The word koinonia comes from the Greek. Christian fellowship is a key aspect of the Christian life. Believers in Christ are to come together in love, faith, and encouragement. That is the essence of koinonia. I realize there are many other ways to stand out from the world, but today I want to focus in on fellowship.

How many of us can say they have experienced great Christian fellowship with their fellow Church family? I certainly have. There is something powerful in healthy, godly fellowship among our Church family. But just as there are two sides to every coin, there are two sides to Christian fellowship as well.

What happens when one person, or a group of people get offended or don't see eye to eye with another in the Church? Tension and sometimes hostility can arise. Back bitting and discord can also occur. Is it just the individual(s) involved that are affected? No! This affects us all. When there are issues in the Church that affect one, it's like putting a bad apple in amongst good. Eventually that one bad apple or two will start try to rot others in the basket with them. The first way you can tell is by the appearance. What used to by shiny, healthy read skin on the apple is now browned, mushy and withered looking. There may still be pretty parts to the apple, but ultimately it's still turned. The same is true with people. They may put on the face they want you to see, but underneath is a sour, frowning interior. When left unattended to, the beginning stages of rot will start tyring to rear it's head on the outside. If this continues unchecked and unattended to, you'll start smelling the odor of bitter fruit.

Paul warns us of what types of fruit we are not to bear in Galatians 5:17-21 "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."

If were not careful the offenses of others can rub off on us and we can get caught in the trap of taking on others offenses as our own. This can quickly spread like cancer within the body of CHRIST, so we need to take charge and stand against that which tries to tear down. Now I'm not saying that the original person is Satan, but we do need to recognize in ourselves as well as others when Satan is trying to work through us or another and rebuke that spirit; not the person but the spirit. If not, this can cause division in the Church and in the family of GOD.

Mark 3:24-26 "And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end."

We won't always agree with the Pastor or others in the Church, but we must not allow this over shadow us. We are commanded by the word of GOD to demonstrate certain things concerning our Koinonia with others,

• Romans 12:10 "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;"
• Romans 12:16 "Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits;"
  
• I Peter 3:8 "Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:"
• Romans 15:7 "Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God."
• Galatians 5:13 "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."
• Ephesians 4:32 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
• Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
• I Thessalonians 5:11 "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."
• Hebrews 3:13 "But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."
• Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:"
• I Peter 1:22 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:"

Let us stand apart from the world in relationship to each other. We need to show the world how to treat each other instead of letting the world dictate to us. When we learn to walk in unity, others will then see us as set apart and begin to be drawn in to what we have that allows us to do so. That's how we can plant and water the seeds of ministry into others lives. Then GOD will cause them to grow and flourish & at one point, they will want to step out of the family of the world and into the family of GOD.