Unity Is the Gospel

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[0:00] Hi Foothill. Hi everyone. This is Megan and Tom. We're so thankful that we get the opportunity to share with you guys today. We are going to be continuing in First Corinthians in First Corinthians 3 and the focus of today's talk is the Spirit brings unity through maturity and vision. And so we're going to be talking about unity and so we decided to show United Front by tag-teaming the the time of sharing today. And so Tom is going to start us out but I'll open us with prayer. Pray with me. Dear Lord we pray that your your Holy Spirit would be with us right now Lord. That you would be speaking through Tom and I and through your word. That we would have open hearts and ears to to hear what you would have us hear Lord. That we would be challenged and that we would grow and respond to your word this morning. We pray this in Jesus name Amen. Amen. Thanks Megan. So as many of you know Megan and I we've been working on some islands off the coast of Africa for about ten years now. We work in a nation that is Islamic, a Muslim nation and we we are hoping to see a church planted there one where many house churches will increase and grow and multiply and so before beginning I've talked about unity I you an example of how damaging it can be when we don't have unity now on our island there are two

[1:35] brothers we'll call them salim and ahmed they live down in a little village on the other side of the island and both of them started little house churches in their in their homes this should be a beautiful thing this should be a wonderful thing but instead there's division because one day one of the guys that ahmed brought to the lord he realized that salim uh his house salim was his neighbor and so he started going to the the church and learning from salim because it was more convenient for him that got ahmed really upset he felt like salim stole his his guy and uh there's probably other stuff going on but there is a great disconnect there's no unity there they're jealous of one another as i understand they barely talk to one another and instead of the gospel increasing and growing in this village where there are two small churches it has remained stunted and growth and i really believe that's because of disunity but we want to talk about unity today the spirit brings unity through maturity and vision and you know as i was thinking about this and preparing i was looking around for some great quotes about unity and there is tons of great quotes about unity on the internet of course here's two of my favorites it's a it's a very classic one united we

[2:54] stand divided we fall united we end united we end united united united united difficult unity is, that unity can be elusive, that it can be brittle, that it can, oftentimes it's temporary, and it's difficult to find, especially in this world. And also we need to make sure that we understand that unity is not the same as uniformity. It does not mean we're all doing the same things because we're afraid that if we do different, someone's going to hurt us, or if we do different, our so-called unity is going to fall apart. That's not real unity.

[3:58] And unity doesn't just mean coming together in the same place. You can be all together in the same place, but not have any sort of unity. You can also be going out to different places and have great unity. I look at this time of COVID, and I see, just like in Foothill, and we're getting to participate in your small groups and our kids doing youth group, and I see even though we are apart, there is a sense of unity and family that is happening here. And so praise God for that. So we're not talking about uniformity. We're not talking about just coming together. But the amazing thing that most people don't realize is the secret to unity, that when you're talking about real unity, you are talking about the gospel, that true unity can only be found through the Holy Spirit and through the gospel. It is in the kingdom of God that we find unity. True unity is a characteristic of God, and it's a characteristic of his kingdom.

[4:57] In fact, the fall of man, what happened on that day? We broke unity. We lost our unity with God. We lost our unity with one another. We lost our unity with the world around us. Everything was broken relationships, and it was all just falling apart, and it has been since that time. And so Jesus came to bring unity, to restore unity to us with our Father, with our families, with one another within the world. And so realizing this, we realize how important this subject is and why Paul would send a whole chapter talking about unity. Now, talking about unity in the church can be a tricky subject. I realize that there could be stuff going on, and maybe this is a good reason why that we are outsiders. Yeah, we've been joining you in your small groups and stuff, and that's been great, but we don't really know what's going on, what the inside scoop is at Foothill. And so if you guys are having a problem with unity, we're going to talk about unity in the church. And so, if you guys are having a problem with unity, we don't know about it. We're just talking about it. And so, if the Holy Spirit is touching your heart today, praise the Lord, but realize that we're not speaking about anything specific. Okay?

[6:09] And if unity is not a problem at Foothill, well, then praise the Lord, too. And we say, take this as an important message, because it is something that we need to continue to work towards and pursue. Because when things get hard, and when unity starts to break, you want to be prepared. You want to have thought through these things, because it's very hard to hear in the middle of a fight, hey, let's be united. So, wherever Foothill is at right now, I pray that the Holy Spirit would use this to speak to you. So, now let's get into the verses. We're going to look at the first four verses of 1 Corinthians chapter 3. This is what it says. It says, Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit, but as people who are still worldly, mere infants. In Christ, I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not mere human beings?

[7:22] The Spirit brings unity through maturity. Maturity means being a person who lives by the Spirit. Now, what does that mean? Living by the Spirit means seeing what the Spirit sees, thinking about things the way the Spirit thinks about them with the same heart. It's not, I follow this guy, or I follow this guy, Apollos, Paul. And Paul says, you are not spiritual people. You are worldly people. You're babies. You're not mature. You're not grown up, and you're not able to grow. Why? And this is important. He says, why? The evidence is, there is jealousy and quarreling and factions among you. So listen carefully. Where there are factions, where there's quarreling, there's immaturity there. And where there's immaturity, that means there are people who are not living in the Spirit. And when people are not living in the Spirit, then there cannot be unity. And if there is disunity, well, disunity is destructive. So it's a serious matter. We've been on the islands for about 10 years now, and we have seen the destructive nature of quarreling and factions. I've already told you one story. In fact, sometimes when we read 1 Corinthians, it feels like, man, this is our situation on the islands. It's a mess. And so we know about jealousy. For example, we have problems of jealousy. If someone

[8:45] gets an opportunity to go to a conference and learn something that they can bring back and use to the glory of God, instead of everybody appreciating that and saying, this is great, we're going to learn some new teaching and be able to spread the word better. Many times people come back and they say, why did that guy get to go? Why didn't I get to go? Why did he get to stay in a hotel and go on an airplane? And I had to stay here. And that jealousy just kills the work that you're hoping to do. It stunts the growth of the church. We've seen factions. You know, we were not the first workers to arrive on the islands. And so we've heard from people, oh, you know, so-and-so, they used to do it this way. You don't do it this way. Why don't you do it this way? Why don't you do it this way? Why don't you do it this way? And since you don't do it this way, I'm not going to be a part of what you're doing. And we're broken and there's not unity. And so the results of these things has been to stunt and sometimes even destroy the growth of the church. It can be a very serious thing. You know, as another example, look around at our nation right now. Look at the USA. We have become so factionalized and it is

[9:55] destroying us. We've got red state, blue state, pro-gun, anti-gun, pro-LGBTQ, pro-family, Fox News, MSNBC, put in social media and you have people that are immature, just no one is listening. No one cares about unity. It's all about getting that zinger, insulting, doing what we can to one-up the other person. And what we see in our nation is that it's destroying us. And the sad thing is the church should be standing against this. The church should be the one to do it. The church should be the one to define those factions. It should be saying, we don't take sides. We're on the Lord's side. But more often than not, the church doesn't look any different. And it's the church that has become just as factionalized as the world around us. I mean, let's face it, evangelical versus liberal, church versus non-church. And so we've lost our sense of unity. That's in our nation. Now let's get to home, right? Are there jealousies? Are there factions in our church? Yes, if we look at the American church at large, there are certainly jealousies and factions. But what about Foothill right here?

[11:08] If there are factions, if there's quarreling going on, this is the time, folks. Don't wait. This is the time to make a change. This is the time to address it. This is the time to go to the Spirit and ask the Spirit to help you. The Spirit wants us to be united. We want people. He wants people to be living with his heart. We want to be living by the Spirit. And so let's take this opportunity, if there's quarreling, if there's factions, take this opportunity to come before the Holy Spirit and ask him to change our hearts and to bring us into unity. The Spirit does bring unity through maturity and vision. Disunity leads to strife and destruction. I'm going to let Megan come up and talk about the vision part.

[11:57] Thanks, Tom. So as Tom was saying, when we are not united, we are not being mature. We're not being led, led by the Spirit and not resting in that wisdom that comes from the Spirit. So in this next section, we are going to be looking at the need for a unified vision, the need to see kind of the big picture of what God is doing, what God is calling us to. So read with me. I'm starting in verse five. I'm starting in verse five. I'm starting in verse five.

[13:36] I'm starting in verse six. I'm starting in verse six. God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. So we see, we saw in this passage, you probably picked it out, that there are kind of two central images. There is the image of the field, where there is planting and watering going on, and then there's the image of the building, where a foundation has been laid, and then people are building up on top of that. And so it's two images, but it's actually one idea. And in verse nine, Paul helps clarify that it's really just one idea. He says, we are co-workers in God's service, you are God's field, God's building. So whether it's a field or a building, it's the same idea. This is about the kingdom of God being built up. And with both of these ideas, there is a sense of people coming together and doing different parts of the work, but you realize that they really have to be on the same page. You know, if the person planting hasn't thought about watering, then it doesn't know that water is going to happen, their planting is not going to, not going to lead to much. If the person watering doesn't know where or what was planted, again, it's not, it's not going to be, it's not going to be fruitful. With a building, if the person who

[15:13] did the foundation, the person building on the foundation, aren't on the same page, if they don't have the same vision, then there's going to be problems with that. With this construction. And so we need, we need a single vision. We need to understand what the big, the big picture is. And that comes from God. And again, and again, you might have heard as I was reading it, you know, it's about God. This is God's work. It is God, the one that is, is growing. It's ultimately, ultimately this is God's. And I, I, for one, I always like when Paul and Jesus slip into these real life images. For some reason, it makes it more concrete. It allows me to kind of enter into the world and understand what God is, is saying. And I think if you ask, ask your kids, they can probably come up with other examples where we've seen building, maybe a wise man and a foolish man building or, uh, uh, people working in the field. So, you know, Jesus, Jesus loves, loves this imagery because it helps us to see part of what it means to, to be working in the kingdom of God. You know, the idea of many people, different stages, different ways of living, different ways of living. And so, you know, we see these images needing to work together towards one purpose, towards one ultimate goal. And in these images,

[16:28] we see two things. We see reassurances and warnings. And so the reassurance that we see is again, that it's, it's really God's. It's not on us. If we are following God's plan or if we're building on the right foundation with the, the, the, um, right things in mind, then it's going to last. It's going to survive. You know, it will be tested with fire, but it will stand and it will end up leading towards to glory and leading to, to reward. But then, then there's the warning, right? The warning is that we all need to be on the same page. We all need to be working with the same vision. We need that unity.

[17:09] Um, in both in verse nine, and then again, in verses 16 and 17, we see, we see Paul using the word, you. And it's important to note here that this is not a singular you, but a plural you. In the West, we like to think you and I, oh me, you know, we're individuals, but in the biblical Greek and in a lot of languages in the world, there's, there's two you's right? There's the plural you, the collective you. And that is the, what is what Paul is using here. You know, you, all of us are being brought together for a singular purpose. So it's you plural, but it is one field. It is one building in verses 16 and 17. It's the plural you, but we are one temple. And so there's this idea that we need to work together. We need to be unified towards one purpose. And so if we don't agree or what that purpose is, if we don't agree or what the vision is, the ultimate vision is how, how can we succeed? And so looking at the, the building metaphor, cause Paul kind of rests on that longer. We see again, two parts. There's the foundation and the building. And so thankfully for the Corinthians, Paul, assures them that the temple that, you know, the, sorry, the foundation has been laid and it is, it is the solid foundation of Christ. Paul's the one that laid it. Now it's a matter of building,

[18:36] but in, in the rest of the world, you know, we don't necessarily always know if the foundation is sure here, Paul is assuring the Corinthians that it is, but I think it's always a valid point. And so it's a question for us to, to look at, you know, is the foundation, are we founded in Christ? Are we founded on the gospel or are we not? Because if we aren't on the right foundation, then there's really no point in building, building up from there. It's, it's only going to lead, lead to problems. On the islands, we've seen this, you know, as Tom was pointing out, there have been workers that have come before us. There's also, you know, temporary organizations that come in. There's TV preachers that they, they have access to. There's the internet. There's influences of Jehovah's witness and Mormons. And obviously Islam is this huge influence that can seep into the foundational understanding of who is Christ and what is the gospel. And sometimes we don't necessarily realize at first that the, the, these, that this has been issued, that the foundation has not been laid correctly until we start to see cracks. A couple examples are, you know, there was a brother, a long-term brother, so we weren't really involved in, in his foundation lane, but it found out he

[19:54] believed that he still needed to pray five times a day if he was going to get God's forgiveness. Or another who, he still believed that the holy, the book that the book of Islam and the prophet of Islam were holy and on, on par with, with Jesus. And so we were kind of stunned, you know, these are people who've been believers for years, but these, these are foundational problems. And so that, that's something that's important, you know, is a foundation secure? But then after that, it's what are we building on? Obviously we want to, we have to build on this foundation, but the foundation was built for a purpose and it was built with an end vision in mind. And that is the kingdom of God and bringing glory, being, bringing glory to the triune God.

[20:40] And so we have here in, in the passage, he talks, Paul talks about the different materials. And you might've noticed this list, gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, straw, and you, you might be puzzled by this list because it doesn't seem like all of these materials are necessarily suited to the same project. And, but then we keep reading and we realize that some of the work is going to be burned up and destroyed. It's actually not going to be lasting, that some people are building even on the correct foundation, but they're not building within the foundation. And so then we get to the next chapter, which is the chapter 4, the united vision that the Spirit is giving them. And ultimately, what they build will not last. And so we have to be on the same page. We have to have this unified vision if we want what we are working towards to survive and to not be destroyed. On the islands, we are team leaders. And we are, we're champions of teams. We love teams. We really feel like that's the best way to do ministry. And so even as we are champions of team, I think we sometimes find ourselves tempted to not work as a team, to not be working in unity. I mean, not that we're necessarily fighting, but sometimes it's just a temptation to just let each person do their own thing.

[22:06] You know, maybe the logistics are too difficult, or maybe we're having a hard time. We're having a hard time. We're having a hard time. We're having a hard time. We're having a hard time. We're having trouble agreeing exactly how we want to go about it. Or we can't really agree what the end vision, the end goal of our project is. And so we say, okay, well, let's all just do our own things. And, you know, we'll check back next week.

[22:27] And I, you know, we've been, we're tempted to do that. And every time we give into that temptation, I feel like we're missing out. And we are missing out. Because God, whenever we do work together, and we struggle, and we pray, and we fast, and we come to united vision, and find a way to work together, it's always so much better. And I think we see that here. You know, the things that are going to last are, are the things that are harder, you know, that it takes, it takes more time, it takes more effort. But if we work together, if we get that unity that comes from, from God, then we're going to build something that lasts. And so unity builds things that last. Unity builds things that last. Unity builds things that last. And so unity holds us back, or leads us to build things that are just going to be destroyed, that aren't going to amount to much. And so I want to, I want to challenge us, you know, we, I gave some examples from the islands, but how, how are we doing here at Foothill? I think we see here on the nation, you know, Tom talked about the factions, but we also see some foundational issues in our nation, you know, ingrained racism that started at the very, very foundational level. And so I think we need to challenge ourselves to be able to

[23:40] end them. So if we end up end up end for what you're moving towards? Is it a God-given vision? Have you, have you called on the Holy Spirit and asked him, you know, we, we want to be on the final day for our, the work that we've done to be revealed as lasting and good and worthy of, worthy of glory. But in the process, we need to, we need to seek the spirit because we need unity and we need maturity and we need that vision.

[24:36] All right. So I get to finish up here and finish the passage. And it's exciting because Paul brings kind of everything that he's been talking about in the first two chapters and he's, he's rounding it all out here. And so as we look at these last verses in chapter three, he says, do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the Lord is good and the Lord is good. The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written, he catches the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile. So then no more boasting about human leaders. And this is really this again, he said what he's been talking about in chapter one, chapter two, it's exactly what Ryan was talking about last week in the sermon for those of you that were here. And if I was to summarize what Ryan was trying to say, I would say, wisdom comes from the spirit, not from the world. And that wisdom of the spirit is humble. If you think you are wise, think again, Ryan said, Paul said, no more boasting, right? The Holy Spirit brings unity through maturity. The Holy Spirit brings unity through vision. People with maturity

[25:56] and vision are humble. Seek the wisdom of God and humility. And then Paul comes and he really, he really rounds it out in a wonderful ways in that he brings it back to Jesus. And so he says, no more boasting about human leaders. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours. And you are of Christ and Christ is of God. So you see that all this stuff he's been saying about unity is actually a picture of the gospel. And he wants to say, you know, I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm going to be able to do it. I'm going to be able to do it. I'm going to be able to do it. I'm going to be able to do it. And he wants to remind us of that. And it's a picture of the Trinity as well. So these, these final verses, they, they bring it all together and they call us back to, to the gospel, to Christ and to the Trinity. And so if the world broke our unity with the father, then Jesus came to restore that unity and, and the Holy Spirit guides us in that unity. If the world divided us into factions and encourages us to divide into factions, then we are divided into factions. Jesus defied all that when he lived his life, you see the people

[27:07] around him. They are zealots. They are tax collectors. They are Pharisees. They are scribes. They are prostitutes. They are Samaritans. And they all come together and they become one. Why? Because of Jesus. He doesn't, he doesn't fit into anybody's side into anybody's faction. But they become one. And then as we hear later in Galatians and Jesus, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, all are one in Christ. If the world wants to skew our vision and cause us to wander around and have lots of different visions in Jesus, there is one vision. He laid a foundation. He died and rose again. And then he gave us a vision. He said, therefore go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded. And surely I am with you always. And so we are in the very end of the age. He gave us a clear vision. In the world, we quickly give up on unity when it becomes too tough. But Jesus prayed in the spirit and he prayed for the spirit to make his church unified. That's what he says in John 17. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one.

[28:27] Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, for if you give them the great gifts you gave them for them to remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. May they remember them for them. life the emperor the gospel teaches us god's wisdom and humility and jesus himself he humbled himself being obedient to the point of death even death on the cross unity is is it's something nice it's something good we all like unity but it's more than just a good moral behavior it is the gospel it is what christ came to do and it is what it is a it is a witness to his kingdom when we are united so the spirit brings unity through maturity and vision so see spirit will push us toward maturity the spirit will charge us and change us and drive us into maturity in the spirit and in him alone we will find the power to put away our factions and repent of that and stop our quarreling and jealousies the spirit can do that we can work

[30:00] miracles in our life around that the spirit will give us a clear vision and will bring us all together to have one clear vision all together of what he wants us to do what he wants foothill to do the spirit will give us the desire and the the strength to strive for being united that this is something important and that's something that he wants and it will become part of our hearts that we want it to be and not individually but communally and the spirit is the one who will help us to be humble in our thoughts and in our words towards one another about nine years ago right around when we were first starting on the island where we serve i was invited to a meeting called a stakeholders meeting this is a meeting where they get all the leaders everybody involved in the church on that island to come together and inspire unity and shared vision right and so at this meeting we're going to be talking about the spirit of unity and how we get united for our for for for for for for for for for for and you could see that they were angry about something, and you could see that they were hurt.

[31:30] And in a moment of immaturity, they started to list their grievances. You guys have wronged us. You did this to us, and you didn't do this, and you forgot this, and just laid out a whole bunch of jealousies and problems and things that have been stewing in their hearts for a long time.

[31:48] And then in another sign of immaturity, they made this power play, and they said, So from now on, we think that anybody coming to the islands has to report to us. If you've got friends coming from another place, they need to report to us first. And also, all your contacts out there, we want their numbers. We want to speak to them directly. And it was just like, whoa, where is this coming from? It was like they just put a big old bomb, like in the cartoons, you know, the big bomb, and then the long fuse, and they've just lit that fuse, and now it's coming. And you just see every, like the air in the room is sucked out, and everybody's getting uncomfortable. And then the whole room, we just start, we all start getting immature, and we all start getting defensive. And, well, you guys didn't do this, and hey, we didn't do that. No, no, no, that's somebody else. And everybody's getting defensive, and it's just getting uglier and uglier, and you see that fuse burning down, and you know, oh, this meeting is going to end in complete and utter chaos.

[32:45] And it was scary. But someone stood up, and I believe they were led by the Spirit. And in love and humility, they said to those island brothers, you know what? We're sorry. We're sorry for the things that we've done. We're sorry for the mistakes we've made. We're sorry for the ways we've wronged you. We're sorry for the ways other people have wronged you. We want to be one. We want to be together with you, not apart. Please help us. Help us to be one. And the Holy Spirit was in that moment, you know, because the Holy Spirit wants us to be one. And so the Holy Spirit used that to bring us back together, to bind us. It was like the Holy Spirit just licked his fingers and put that fuse right out, and this thing that was going to explode in our faces was suddenly diffused. The brothers were taken aback by such a confession, and, you know, they came back, and we found unity again. Why? Because the Spirit wants that. He wants us to be unity. This is a sign of the Gospel. This is what the Kingdom of God looks like. So the Spirit longs for us to be united. He's going to help us if we seek him. So let us seek the Spirit together. If we do, we will find maturity. If we do, we will find a shared vision. The Spirit will unite us, and he will make us strong.

[34:03] You pray with me. Lord, Father God, I thank you for this time together, and I pray that you would help us to be united. I pray where there are factions among us, where there are jealousies, you would show them to us, and we might turn to the Spirit. Holy Spirit, please guide us. Make us one.

[34:22] Lord, so that your name would be glorified, so that your Kingdom will come, and that the name of Jesus would be known throughout this area, whether it's in the islands or here in California. May it bring glory to your name. In all this, I pray in Jesus' name.