MORE THAN JUST A NAME

Ephesians 4:11-13.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (CSB) - ¹¹ And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹² for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, [growing] into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

INTRO:  An old legend tells of a noisy carpenter's shop in which the tools of the trade were arguing among themselves. Brother Hammer was told by his fellow tools that he would have to leave because he was too noisy.  To which he replied, "If I am to leave this carpenter's shop, Brother Gimlet must go too; he is so insignificant that he makes very little impression."  Little Brother Gimlet arose and said, "All right, but Brother Screw must go also; you have to turn him around and around again and again to get him anywhere."  Brother Screw said, "If you wish, I will go. But Brother Plane must leave also; all his work is on the surface, there is no depth to it."  To this Brother Plane replied, "Well, Brother Rule will have to withdraw if I do, for he is always measuring others as though he were the only one who is right."  Brother Rule then complained against Brother Sandpaper and said, "I just do not care, he is rougher than he ought to be and he is always rubbing people the wrong way."  In the midst of the discussion, the Carpenter of Nazareth walked in.  He had come to perform His day's work. He put on His apron, and went to the bench to make a pulpit. He employed the screw, the gimlet, the sandpaper, the saw, the hammer and the plane and all the other tools.  After the day's work was over and the pulpit was finished, Brother Saw arose and said, "Brethren, I perceive that all of us are laborers together with God.  Is it not wonderful how God uses all of us and our unique gifts in the building of His pulpit!”

You will notice that in the name of our church, the middle name is United.  Sometimes we have a misunderstanding of what this word actually means.  You see, Unity does not mean uniformity.  Uniformity comes from without; but true unity comes from within.  Unity also is not unanimity, or agreeing on everything.  We will never agree on everything, even the New Testament Church itself didn’t agree on everything.  On the essentials yes, on the non-essentials, no.  In fact, in the late first century, the early church fathers had a saying: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials conformity, in all things, love.”  But even in our disagreements, we must not be disagreeable, but do it in love.

You see, Unity comes from within.  It is a matter of the heart.  In fact, keeping unity in the church is a lot like exercising the heart.  In order to exercise the heart, you must exercise all the other muscles, like the leg muscles, arm muscles, etc… Unity like the heart, is the most important thing we have to exercise within the body of Christ.  And to exercise it, we have to exercise all aspects of the body.

You see, United in our church title should be more than just a name, it should be our goal and philosophy.  It should be our determination to see it come about.  Cause let me tell you, it is the enemies determination to destroy the unity God wants us to have here.

Just a quick run through of our Scripture text we see a few things.

That Christ gave gifts and offices to train in and build up the church to do the work of ministry.  We are to work together with the goal in mind to reach unity in the faith.  What this means is that we won’t reach unity by arguing or pointing out faults and weaknesses, but in working together to build up the body of Christ.  As we work together to build up this body, we will begin to become mature believers. Why?  Because we are growing in the knowledge about God’s Son, touching others with the compassion that He touched others with, and by doing this, we will become filled with Him.  Not through head knowledge, but through experience.  And this experience doesn’t just come in coming to church and occupying a pew, or singing a few songs, but getting actively involved, using your gifts that God has given you.  Or as I like to say it, stepping out of your boat.

Remember it is about exercise like with the heart.  Here are a few exercises, or things that we can do that will help us when it comes to unity.  These are things that we can apply today.

1.      Live by vision and values.

Proverbs 28:18a (NASB) - Where there is no vision , the people are unrestrained,

A.     This passage lets us know that vision, or as in some translations, “revelation,” is important.

1.      It is important because of the fact that if we have no vision, we will live our lives unrestrained.

B.     You see, vision helps us keep our focus and our lives on the straight and narrow.

1.      It keeps our marriage relationships, church relationships, activities in proper focus.

C.     You see, vision is bigger than any one person, or group of people.  Why?  Because vision comes from God.

D.     Here is the vision statement and my mission statement that I have for Faith United Church:  Vision statement: “United in Faith…United in Love…United in Christ!”  Mission Statement: “The mission of Faith United Church is to be a church that is focused on Christ and pursuing His purposes for us.  We will be a church that touches the heart of our community, county, nation, and world with the Gospel and the love of Jesus Christ.

1.      I believe that all we do within this church, all our ministries, departments, and goals should have this vision and mission statement as its focus.  It is something and we all can rally behind and pursue.

2.  Focus outward not inward.

A.     One thing you can notice about our Scripture text, it isn’t focused on individuals, but on the body as a whole.  In fact, if you look at all of chapter 4 in Ephesians, it deals with the Unity and the Diversity within the body.  That everything should be done in the love of Christ, and not for our own personal pursuits.

B.     We should focus and lift up each other in prayer and not hurting each other with words or actions that are not Christ-like, but building up each other, giving biblical warnings in love, watching what we say to one another, being kind and compassionate to each other, and not jumping to conclusions concerning each other.

C.     Our focus should be as well the lost and dying in our communities.  What are we doing to reach them? 

3.  Look to the future more than the past.

Philippians 4:13b - But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,

A.     I know that a number of you have questions and hurts about things that have happen here at the church at the past.  Let’s be honest about that.

1.      But if all we do is focus on the past, we will never go beyond that.

B.     The fact of the matter is this, God wants us to move beyond our past and seek what His purpose for us is today.

1.      You will notice the verse says, “reaching forward.”

2.      Pursue what God wants for this church now, forget and forgive what has happened in the past.

C.     If you believe that God has a bright future for this church, then pursue it, don’t hold onto hurts and even the longings of the past.

CONCL:  God wants us truly to be united in Him, not just have that word, united, printed on a sign or just in our name.  It is only going to come if we all run with the vision that God has given this body, if we quit focusing on what is in it for you and focus on what God wants us to do to reach others, and then let go of the past and look reach forward to what God wants to do through us today as well as in the future.

Let’s truly be united in faith…united in love…united in Christ!