.  Living Hope Fellowship Church....Sermons by the Pastor 

STRENGTH IN THE UNITY

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

For this illustrated sermon I chose a large size man (Mike) and a small girl (Angela).  The man’s arms are bigger than the girl’s legs.  I took a 2’ x 6’ board and cut it up into thin strips.  Then I bound the bundle of wood strips together tightly with tape.  Mike decided he would not even try to break the bundle of wood, because he was sure that he could not do it. 

In woodworking pieces of wood can be laminated, stuck together.  Laminated timber is stronger than the original piece.  It won’t warp or twist like a single piece of wood.  It is made of smaller parts closely adhered together by glue, nails, etc. 

One stick by itself is easy to break.  Angela can eventually break the whole pile of sticks one by one that big Mike couldn’t phase when they are all together.  They had to be separated.  One of the sticks stuck its head up a little higher than the rest.  It was the first one to work on, but the backside was a little shorter than every other one, making it not on its foundation any more.  When you get to the end of the bundle, you can just slip the tape off.  It was the binding that held them all together. 

How long do you think you will last by yourself?  With all due respect to Mike and Angela, in this illustration they represent two devils that work in your life and in the church! 

There is one stick she couldn’t break, so she gave it to the big guy, and he broke it.  There is a pile of broken sticks.  The stoutest form of building material is a laminated beam, but if it is ever pulled apart, it falls all to pieces.  One at a time the devil will try to pull you apart from your binding together in Christ.  The enemy comes in to break down your ability to cooperate and work together.  Pretty soon he will get you away from the rest of the body.  Proverbs 24:6 says, “. . . in multitude of counsellors there is safety.”  The Lord binds us together in unity.   Together, it is amazing the kind of pressure we can take. 

Not all of the boards were the same thickness.  Some were harder to break.  However, individually, they broke.  The body and the mind should work together.  There has to be a unity in order for things to function.  Colossians 1:18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the church. . . .” 

The Bible says to separate yourselves from all form of sin.  John 17:15 says, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”  When I am out doing carpentry and other things, I work around sinners.  Somewhere along the line we have to meet with each other and talk and reason with each other.  God has placed us as salt in the earth and light for a reason.  Folks, it is all about souls.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:47, “And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others. . . .”

I know some of these sticks (persons) I can’t stand, but I have to live with them, so I have to come to an understanding.  Ephesians 4:3 says, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”  You keep unity by being peaceable.  Ephesians 4:13 says, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”

Not everybody believes alike, but you can be willing to come together to seek the Lord.  We all need to learn more.  How can we grow and win sinners to the Lord, if we have trouble with one another?  The devil is doing his work.  He is coming to divide and conquer.  That is what the bundle of sticks being separated and broken one at a time represented. 

I looked over the twelve disciples of Jesus, and I wondered about some of them.  Judas betrayed him.  He was the church treasurer, and he was a thief.  James and John wanted to burn up one crowd, because they wouldn’t have Jesus come to them.  Jesus told James and John that they did not know what spirit they were of.  Peter repeatedly denied Him, and they ALL forsook Him.  Jesus picked out His disciples.  What was wrong?  If God only picked out perfect people, He would still be looking. 

When you sow discord it is like the sticks that were all corded up together, and you separate them.  Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us some of the things the Lord hates!  Verse 19 says, “A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

There are few places in the Bible where God says He hated anybody.  He said he hated Esau and loved Jacob.  When God has passed wrath and got into hate, He is waiting for judgment.  I don’t want to be in that place.  I want to do everything I can, without compromise, to keep people together.  The devil hates unity, because there is strength in numbers, and in the unity of marriage, families, and churches. 

The Bible says charity covers the multitude of sins.  You find out all about the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 12, but Verse 31 says, “. . . covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”  Then he said in Chapter 13 that if you could do all this and still don’t have charity, you are nothing! 

Psalm 133:1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  A fabulous moment in human endeavor is when the battle is in array and opposing sides are about to meet each other.  Moments before the charge to attack everyone stands there deciding, Live or die, we have to win.  You can see it in their faces.  They look to the right and to the left.  All are different sizes and shapes, but for this one time, You and me are tight!  If we don’t stand together, defeat is guaranteed. 

Know who your real enemy is.  Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

No matter how much we disdain somebody, the enemy is not them.  It is the devil using them and hammering them.  We ought to have more compassion for them, but we get mad.  We do and say stuff, and distance ourselves in such a way that we isolate ourselves.  Don’t do that.

Ministers that I trust agreed that the one thing that gets you before the devil nails you is that you feel isolated and all alone.  Nobody knows and nobody cares.  From that point on how you react determines whether or not the devil picks you off or you are bound back up in God.

The Word says we have to work at keeping the unity of the spirit.  I have noticed something in my years as a pastor.  When people see someone who deserves it - get nailed, they get a rush.  Yes, finally, justice.  However, if your child did the wrong, you look everywhere for mercy.  James 2:13 says, “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”  Keep your perspective, saints of God, lest we fall into condemnation. 

Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Every time God sends judgment I see mercy.  Mercy just follows Him around.  About the time I’m done, God tells me to pray another time. 

John 13:35 says, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  God is love (see 1 John 4:8).  Colossians 3:14 says, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”  Let’s ask God to forgive us for grieving Him in any way. I pray that God binds up broken hearts as we walk forward in Him.