The Sacrifice of Unity

Well, as I'm sometimes accustomed to doing, I'd like to begin with a question today. And this should be an easy question for us. We've just recently observed the Passover season, spring holy days, and as Mr. Moody said earlier, we're in day 28 in our progress towards Pentecost. So the question is, how much does God the Father, how much does God the Father love you and me and every human being? Of course, there's John 3.16, but there's also a somewhat companion verse to that that the Apostle John also wrote. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4, 1 John 4, 9 through 10, and I'll read it to you if you prefer. 1 John 4, 9 through 10 echoes what we read in John 3.16, God's soul of the world. It says, And this was manifest the love of God toward us, that God has sent, and here God would be God, the Father, has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we loved God, but that he, the Father, loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means the atoning sacrifice. Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice, some translations read. Others say the satisfying offering for our sins.

And that's the Father's love. He sent his only begotten Son. The second question is, how much does Jesus Christ love you and me in all humanity? Well, Romans 8 provides the answer. Romans 8 says, But God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us.

And then, let's also turn to 1 Peter 1.18. 1 Peter 1.18. That's all turned there. This one's a little longer piece. In 1 Peter 1.18-21, we read that God, and here the reference is the Father and the Son, that they had planned since before the creation. And just stop and think about that. Since before the creation, founding of the world, it can mean the earth, the cosmos is the Greek word there, for world cosmos can also mean the universe. So before the creation, here's that everyone might be forgiven. And so verse 18 reads 1 Peter 1 verse 18, breaking into the thought, Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, cosmos, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, God the Father, who raised Him, Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. And so rather quickly, we see through these questions and scriptures that both the Father and His Son have proven, they have demonstrated through their sacrifice, I would say, through their sacrifice, their singular and amazing love for every one of us, for all humanity, a singular and amazing love.

And so, brethren, of course, we should never doubt God's love for us. Sometimes we may be in such a plight and troubles that come to us all. We may wander from time to time as God loved me, or we did something, and we're failing off as God loved me. And we need to go back to these scriptures and realize, absolutely, God loves every one of us. But now, how should we—let's reverse the questioning a little bit—but now, how should we demonstrate our love? How should we demonstrate our love and our gratitude to God our Father, to Christ, His Son? What sacrifice can we give? What sacrifice can we give? And that's the broad topic of today's sermon. What sacrifice can we give? And I will narrow the answer down to you in the title. The title of the message today is, The Sacrifice for Unity. The sacrifice for unity. And that's something we're to give, that sort of sacrifice. So, this sacrifice that we need to give, both individually and also collectively. Collectively speaking as a church, collectively speaking as a congregation. There's something we should be giving to demonstrate our love for God. In broadly speaking, the answer is that is what God tells us to do. We don't have to guess, well, what can we do to show our love for God? We don't have to come up with our traditions, our pageantry, our traditions. We saw some of that earlier this week. Of course, there's a new pope, and we saw that pageantry and all the glitter and and all the wrong direction that is, according to Scripture. We don't have to do that. God gives us the answers of what sort of sacrifice we're to give to him. In essence, God wants his faithful followers to be living sacrifices. He wants his faithful followers to be living sacrifices and loving service to him, and not just to him, but to the brethren. To the brethren. And such sacrifices we're about to read is holy and it's acceptable to God. It's what he wants. It's what he loves to see. And it is also reasonable service. Reasonable service. And so through humble, godly service, we are doing our part in maintaining a unity or a oneness with God and with one another, the church. Let's look at, let's turn as we will develop that statement I just gave you. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 5.15. 2 Corinthians 5.15. And here are some instructions that help guide us and shows you why the answer to how do we demonstrate our love through God has to do with sacrifice on our part. And we begin to piece that answer together with these two scriptures we're going to read next. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 15, and let me get there myself, 2 Corinthians 5.15, Paul writes these words. He says, and he, referring to Christ, and he died for all, that those who live, look at this, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. And there we already get a sense of direction. How are we to be living our lives and what's the purpose? And so here Paul reminds us or instructs us that because of Christ's sacrifice for you and for me, for us, we should no longer we should no longer be living a life of service to our own selfish desires, but a life of service to God and Christ. Let's also look at the next scripture that gives us a sense of how we're to be living. Let's look at 1 John 3 16. 1 John 3 16.

And here the Apostle John gives us the second aspect of the sacrifice we're to be living. 1 John 3 16. John writes, by this we know love, by this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, Christ laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Because Christ laid down his life for us, we should also be willing to lay down our lives, and what are our lives made of? Well, sometimes it means we actually do give our life for the life of another. Sometimes that does happen. We actually die to help someone else. That's what Christ did. But for a lot of us, to lay down our lives would be to lay down the things that make up our lives, like our own will, our own time, our own effort, perhaps our wealth and energy, whatever it might be. We should be willing to lay down our lives and service to our brethren. And so when we take these two scriptures, we begin to form an understanding of what is it God says we should be doing to demonstrate our love to him and to the brethren. And so to summarize, we demonstrate our love for God by sacrificing our self-centered attitudes and ways in order to serve God and our brethren.

God sacrificed for us due to his love, and so should we make personal sacrifices for God and our brethren because of his love for us. And of course, it's our way of showing love back to God and our brethren. Now, is that fair? Is that fair? Is that equitable?

Well, is God's expectation of us reasonable? Well, I think you know I'm already seeing a lot of heads going, yes, yes, it is. It's absolutely reasonable. And if you don't believe me, let's turn to Romans 12, verse 1. Okay, let's turn to Romans 12, verse 1.

Romans 12, verse 1. Paul, inspired of God, speaking again here. Paul declares that such sacrifice, if we've just summarized and come to understand here, such sacrifice is reasonable. He writes, Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, I beg you, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Now, although our natural carnal nature doesn't like the idea of sacrificing its will and itself and its stuff, we naturally don't want to do that. But sacrificing ourself to serve and follow God is reasonable in the eyes of God. It's something we should be choosing and striving to do. And as we continue on, we also see that Paul also directs us that we should not imitate the world. We're not to imitate the world, but we need to be dogged. We need to be tenacious in imitating Jesus Christ. Let's continue verse 2. Paul adds, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You know, the world is all about the outside, aren't they? They're all about appearances, and that's where hypoxia gets us in trouble. What we are inside, we need to be on the outside, so to speak. Conformity is about looking good on the outside. The world's great at that. But we're not supposed to be like the world. We're to be transformed. This transformation begins on the inside. It's from the inside outward. It's a different way of doing things. And we can be transformed from the inside out with the help of God's Holy Spirit, with the help of His Word, and also with the help of our brethren. Now, as we continue reading, we come down to verse 3 through 6, and here Paul explains more about how our reasonable service, about our reasonable service in presenting our body, our very lives, as a living sacrifice to God, how that requires that we use whatever abilities, whatever capabilities we have in order to humbly serve the brethren. Over and over again, we see this emphasis on serving the brethren. And so, in verse 3, Paul continuing writes, he says, for I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you. Who did he leave out? Nobody. Everyone in the body of Christ is a somebody. There are nobody. There are no, I get that right, there are no nobodies. We're all somebodies. We're all everybody's. To everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. We each have something, we each have the ability to do something in service. For as we have many body, excuse me, for as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body, speaking about the body of Christ, the church, and individually members of one another. And having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, lettuce, what does that word say? lettuce, hide them? I speak as a fool. He says, lettuce, use them. Let us use whatever it is God has given us. Let us use them. We mustn't hold back, in other words. We must use whatever gift, or if you don't think it's a gift, don't call it a gift. Whatever you feel the need to do, and you can do, and are able to do, do it. Don't worry about if that's a gift or not. The fact is, you need to use it, whatever it is you have. And so the point Paul is making here, indeed, that he says we are living sacrifices. We're to be giving up of ourself to do good and righteous works of service, not just to God, but also to the brethren. And our brethren, who are our brethren? Our brethren are those with whom we share God's calling and His Holy Spirit, along with that shared commitment to always serve God. Together, we comprise the body of Christ, that spiritual organism, the church.

The church is much bigger than the building behind the marquee we meet in. It's much bigger than that.

Now, when we compare to what God is talking to us about unity and oneness with Him and one another, that sort of unity is truly rare today, isn't it? It's a rarity. And you don't have to watch the news or get on the internet very long to recognize there is not a whole lot of unity in the world.

And it's especially true, I think we could say it seems, during this present time. Of course, everybody's present age seems like the worst of times, not the best of times. The time we're in right now does seem to be especially at odds with each other. We know that our nation for some time and still is bitterly divided politically. And now, instead of saying politically divided, North versus South or communist versus capitalist, now it's pro-Maga and anti-Maga. Give it a little while, it'll be something else contrary to one another. That's the nature of human beings. Also, there's this great expectation of unity, the unity of globalism.

Now, in recent days, it's reported that all of that has been disrupted. And some claim globalism is destroyed. It's being destroyed. Now, politics and disunity in the world, because that's really what we're talking about, politics and disunity in the world can, of course, influence unity in the church and unity in our own congregations. But as we read earlier, we are not to conform with the world. We're to keep out such disunity that is obvious in the world. We're to be striving to keep that out of the church. We do not want disunity. God's will is that we be one with God and one with one another.

And if you turn with me now to John 17, just how important was this unity, this sense of oneness in the mind of Christ? Well, we find out in John 17. John 17 records Jesus Christ's prayer on the night of this last Passover, the night he was arrested. And yes, we read this during the Passover service, and I just want to read some of the last verses in this chapter, verses 20 through 23, John 17, 2023. And what we see is that Jesus specifically prayed that the church would be one in God and be made perfect in one, even as God and Christ are one, even as God and Christ are one.

And so verse 20 reads, Jesus says, he's praying to the Father, of course, and he says, I do not pray for these alone. Once he has mentioned before, we're the 11 faithful disciples. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their, through his disciples' word. And of course, those he's referring to would be those who would later be known as the church, the body of Christ. For those who have believed in me through their word, that they, speaking of the church, and that includes us today, that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. And I love this next verse. It just shows that interconnectedness God wants among the Brethren and with him and his Son. I in them, Jesus says, you and me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me.

Now, Jesus prayed for oneness. Do you think that's what will happen? I don't see shaking heads now. Well, of course. Jesus spoke as a Father instructing there of one mind. Oneness is happening. It's already happened, and it's going to keep growing and developing and deepening. How will this oneness in God and the church be achieved? Well, one way we need to understand is that we must allow Jesus Christ and not sin. We must allow Jesus Christ and not sin to reign in our hearts, to reign in our hearts through God's Holy Spirit. A scriptural reference for that is Romans 6 verse 12. We're not to let sin reign in our hearts. Well, what should reign then? Jesus Christ. To be one in God, you and I and all followers of Jesus Christ will need to live a life, as we've already been hinting at. Maybe not hinting, but pointing out that all followers of Jesus Christ will need to live a life of sacrificing our self-centered attitudes and ways in order to serve God and our brethren. Does this sound repetitive? Yes. It's multi-layered. It's intricately connected. It's a tightly woven tapestry of oneness. However you might want to look at it. And so putting aside sin and selfishness, which is what we need to be doing and it's what we've been talking about in recent weeks and months, putting aside sin and selfishness is always a challenge. It always will be, as long as we're in this flesh. But of course, we know and understand and are faithful that we can do it with the help of God. The fact is, individually and collectively, we must continue in repentance. And while we continue in repentance, we also must be looking beyond ourselves to learn how to best serve God and our brethren. And always with that sense of what can we do to build, to tighten the bonds of unity among ourselves as brethren, as a congregation, with other congregations, other people that make up the body of Christ. We do that, of course, with the right mind and spirit, but more on that in a bit. And so Paul has already mentioned in Romans about this idea of being one body with many members. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where he elaborates a little bit more on that. 1 Corinthians 12 verses 12 through 27. I'm going to read some of the scriptures here. In 1 Corinthians 12, 12 through 27, Paul instructs us about unity in the church, about how we are already one as brethren in God and Christ. There's already a oneness. We might not always feel it, but maybe that's on us. Because God says there is a oneness. That's what Paul reveals here. And to explain this oneness as brethren and this oneness in God, Paul uses the analogy of the human body, the human body with its various members. Some translations talk about different parts of—there's even a more modern translation talks about organs instead of members, which is a little more picturesque, but it makes sense. It helps make sense of Paul's analogy. And so Paul talks about how the church is like the human body with various members, parts, or organs, and how each member organ is unique and yet also connected to every other part of the body. And that's the way it is in the church. Now the human body—I'm not—well, I remember a biology class from high school. What connects us is the human body, or parts in the body. Well, I guess you could say we got blood, we got all these different systems, we got all these things that make us what we are. Well, what is it that connects us as a body of Christ?

Okay, yeah, so you know. What we're going to see and what Paul's going to tell us, what connects us as a body of Christ is our baptism, our baptism which represents our repentance and our commitment to Christ, to God. And also what connects us is God's gift of His Holy Spirit in us, God's Spirit in us. Those are the—that's what connects us, that's what we share. And so beginning in verses 12 through 14, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 12, here Paul goes on. He tells us now, For as the body—and I'm going to include a few words here just a little bit—for as the human body is one and has many members or parts or organs, but all those members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ, so also is the body of Christ, the church. For by one Spirit, Paul says, we are all baptized into one body, that body of Christ, the body of the church. And so whether we're Jews or Greeks—sometimes translations say Jews or Gentiles—whether we're slaves or free—and other places in the Bible talks about male or female, and we could add all sorts of groups today, I suppose—but whether Jews or Greeks or slaves are free, and all have been made to drink into one Spirit. Doesn't matter how different we are, what labels we might put on people, we're all made one through God's Spirit and that shared commitment we've made to God. And then he adds verse 14, For in fact, the body is not one member but many. And so it's by his Spirit that God the Father has connected us to one another and to Christ and also to himself. We're interconnected. So we are brethren and family in a very real—very real—but spiritual way. That's how God organizes the church, or organizes the church, under Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And those who follow Christ are not disconnected or isolated. Now sometimes it's why you will— oftentimes you'll encourage us—will encourage one another, and it has to be encouraged that we gather together in the Sabbath, that you gather together as a body. We need to be around each other. And for those of you on the webcast, I know some of you want to be here and you can't be here, and I know you understand what I'm saying. When we're not here together, we feel that disconnected. We feel disconnected. But what God is telling us, the Scripture tells us, it may seem that way, but we're really not. If we take the effort—and if you're brethren, those of us here, make the effort in return to stay connected to you in that more physical, tangible way. And so we are not disconnected or isolated by distance or time, either. We may be too far away from a congregation. We have brethren on the other side of the world, but we're connected with them. They're part of the body. We have a distance of time. There have been members of the body of Christ that lived centuries ago. Maybe members of the body of Christ will never meet in this lifetime because they'll be born after us and live. But yet they too are connected and will be together at Christ's return when we're resurrected. And so in all these ways, we are fellow members, but it's because of God's Spirit, his gift of the Spirit in us. We're all fellow members in the body of Christ, the Church. We are at one. We're striving to be more and more at one with God and with each other. And let's continue on in verse 18. What we're going to see is Paul also talks about how God places each member in the Church as it pleases him. As it pleases him. Verse 18-19, Paul writes, but now God has set the members, each one of them.

Just some of them? No. Each one of them, including you, including me. And said, each one of them in the body, just as he pleased. For if they were all—and so what he's talking about now, he's taking us with our different talents or different skill sets or different personalities. He wants us in the body. If we'll let him place us in the body—and I guess we have, because here we are today—and he wants us to use whatever we are. And sometimes we don't know what we have to share. But the fact is, you start sharing whatever it is, and you find out God has placed you where he wants you to be. And he does this with the idea that he doesn't want us all to be the same sort of people, the same sort of talents and abilities. For he says, for if they were all member—in other words, if they're all the same part, if we're all a foot or a hand, if we're all an elbow, what would that be? That wouldn't be a body, would it? It'd just be a useless hunk of flesh, I guess. It doesn't serve a great purpose. It's not connected. If all were one member, where would the body be? Well, there would be no body. But now, indeed, there are many members suggesting—you've seen there are many parts, a variety of parts, a variety of people, and yet, one body. And it's beautiful how God knows who to call and where to place them. And I'm sure there's been a time in our life we've kind of stood maybe, bright-eyed, blinking, thinking, why did God call me? I've thought that many a time. And I've also learned it's probably best not to question God and just say, yes, yes, Lord. And we serve, especially we know. And so what Paul is doing is assuring us that God has called you and me and that we have our place in the church, in the body of Christ. And wherever it is we are, whoever we are, whatever we're capable of, whatever we're not capable of, we're capable of something. And we're to serve in those ways, in all the varieties we are able, we're to serve according to our different abilities and skills in order for the church to function according to God's will. It is God's church. It is God's church.

So just imagine what the chaos would be like if we all had our own ways. Because this is what happens in the world. Imagine if every member were a tongue. Yeah, I don't want that. That's a pretty image, isn't it? Imagine if every member were a tongue. In other words, if every member were an evangelist, a pastor, or a preacher, would that be a good thing?

Well, there's some congregation, some churches out there in the world, they think that's a good thing and that's what they try to do. But that is not what Scripture says. That is not what God wants for those in his body in the church. Some people might prefer that, but that's not God's preference. God places us in the body as it pleases him, and he does it for the benefit of the body. That's a lot to think about. And then as we continue on, just as God designed all the parts of the human body to function together in harmony to benefit the entire body, so should the members that comprise God's church serve together in harmony for the benefit of the entire church. Or we might make it a little more limited to the congregation perhaps we're in. So verses 25 to 27, Paul writes, breaking into thought again, this is so that there should be no schism in the body, no schism, no division. There should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. And look what he says, verse 27, now you are the body of Christ. We're part of a whole, but you're also members individually. We have responsibilities individually and collectively as congregation as part of the larger church of God. And so from Paul's instruction, we need to understand that unity in the church does not happen automatically. It takes work. Just as it takes work for us to cast out sin and put on Christ, it takes great work, conscientious effort on our part to be part of the body, to be an active part of the body, and to serve, to sacrifice, lay down our lives for one another. It doesn't happen automatically. I may be getting ahead of myself here, but it means maybe we shouldn't just, I don't know if anybody would do this, but it shouldn't mean that we just sit on the side and wait until somebody approaches us and asks us, hey, do you want to help? For conscientious, we should offer to help. And I think most of us, if I get an offer of help, I will find some way that you can help, because it is a good thing to help, and it is an encouraging thing to know that you're helping, even in some small way. And so we have to put aside. Each member shares, then, in the responsibility of maintaining unity. Each of us has our responsibility, because we're a member, we're a part in the body of Christ, and all parts have a purpose. You've been placed here by God. You have something to be doing, and we should be willing to sacrifice our own self-interest and concerns in order to serve the other members of the body with that love that is of God. Now here, I need to point out that it's much easier, and I hope you found this out. I think you probably have. If you know so much, it's much easier to serve others when we've taken the time—that is a sacrifice—when we've taken the time to get to know other members of the body. It's so much easier to serve people whom we've come to know, and sometimes we come to know people best when we work with people. Have you learned that too? When you serve together, you really get to know one another. This is God telling us, serve, do something, work with each other, interact with each other.

God's Church is active. It's not the United Church of couch potatoes. It is an active—I shouldn't say that, probably—but anyway, it's an active organism. It's busy. It's motivated by God's Spirit. So when we take time to know each other and take time to develop a relationship or rapport with each other, it's so much easier to serve. It does take time, or sacrifice, or time. It does take effort to learn, to come to learn people and understand one another. But when we do that, don't you agree with me that it's so much easier than to empathize and sympathize with others once you come to know them more. And I'm going to say this, we have to come to know each other more in just the friendly coffee shop chit-chat fashion. We need to let people in, and don't go barging into people's lives, but we need to let people in. We need to share some of our life with one another and build that rapport, those bonds of unity. Now at this point, to help us gauge our own sense of oneness as a congregation, I'm going to meddle, okay, in a nice way. I'm going to, I'd like to ask us a few questions as a congregation. Now please, some congregations, I get answers thrown out at me. Please don't give me any answers of your own right now, that's okay sometimes. But answer to yourself, okay, don't embarrass me. So here's some questions. Again, we're going to gauge the sense of oneness. How well are we doing in serving one another as a congregation? Here's a question for you. When we receive a prayer request, and there's been a lot of them going out in recent weeks, when we receive a prayer request, do we pause to pray? Do we pause to pray? Or do we put aside, I'll get to that later. And do you understand the inherent danger of that? When you put a prayer request aside, what can happen? Life intervenes and you forget, and you forget. And so, do you, so I'll let you figure out what you need to do. Do we, when we receive a prayer request, do we pause to pray? How connected are we? When we hear word of a fellow member's achievement, do we make time, that's a sacrifice, do we make time to congratulate him or her?

Paul says when we suffer, we suffer together, and we rejoice together. Are we trying to live that?

Here's another question. When we've done something to offend our brother or sister, and we know it, do we humble ourselves and begin to make amends? Do we try to fix it? Do we try to fix it? Fixing it is not ignoring it. Fixing it is not just letting it go. That is not going to help build unity in the body of Christ among brothers and sisters of Christ. One more question. When we're able to help a brother or sister, notice how I said when we're able to help a brother or sister, because sometimes we want to, but we're just not able to. When we're able to help a brother and sister, do we truly, truly, do we truly try to help? Do we truly try to help? You know, sometimes people have approached me and they said, you know, say, look, I really want to help, I feel so bad, I want to help, but I just can't. And I'll say, well, go tell them that, because that is encouraging to know that someone is really feeling your, they sympathize with you, they empathize with you in your approach, and I want to help, but I'm just not able to. That statement alone, I think, is a help. That is an encouragement, because some of us just are not able to do as much as others of us might be able to. Now, with these four questions, if our heart told us no, deep in our heart, I don't want to see your answers, but deep in our heart, if we answered no to any of these questions, well, then I suggest that we perhaps have discovered something we need to work on with God's help. There's something there that maybe we need to awaken to in our lives that we can do better in serving our brethren, and as we're going to learn again, remember, in my mind, when we're serving our brethren, we are serving our great God. You see, to love and serve God means that we must also love and serve our brethren. You probably remember the Scripture. It's 1 John 4.20. I'll read it to you. 1 John 4.20. It's a question that worries me sometimes. Well, it should worry me all the time. It says, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? So again, when we make the effort to love our brother or sister, that is reflecting, demonstrating our love for God, who gave up his son and whose son lay down his life so that we might live.

Laying down our lives for one another is our part of having true unity and oneness in the body of Christ. Now, at this point, I want to shift gears a little bit. I really want to focus on what can we do? What are some things we could do?

I guess for those that organize material, this might be called the application. What are the to-dos? What things can I do? What can I take home to be working on? What can I judge and evaluate myself with? I'd like to share with us three keys. Keys to greater unity in the church, in our congregations, greater unity with God.

What can we do? So I'm going to offer three things we ought to be doing individually and collectively as a congregation. And key number one is keep keeping God's commandments. Keep keeping God's commandments. Why not just say keep God's commandments? Well, because I know we are. That's my belief. But we have to keep at it. Don't ever stop. God's Ten Commandments are vital to our unity.

God's Ten Commandments define God's righteousness, not our self-righteousness. They define God's character and mindset. They define God's way of love. And all of which God, His commandments, His ways, all of which God is riding on our hearts through His Holy Spirit, if we allow Him to, if we get out of His way and let God work in us and through us. Christ's teaching and His example of how to keep and live God's law through their fuller spiritual intent, that means we should never stop learning.

We should never stop learning how to better understand and live God's way of life, which is love, or agape, that agape love. Of course, remember 1 John 4-8, he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. If we want to know God better, we have to keep keeping His commandments, and ever deeper, more profound, into their more full spiritual attendance Christ taught and as He exemplified. In Matthew 22, 36, please turn there with me just a few places here in Matthew you'd like to share. Matthew 22, 36-40. God's love and righteousness is revealed through His Ten Commandments.

That's how we know what love is, that's how we know who and what God is, and how He wants us to be. The Ten Commandments, as Jesus says, stresses love to God and love to neighbor. And by the way, who is our neighbor? Everyone! Everyone is our neighbor. And who's our brethren? Everyone! We are if we have God's Spirit. Neighbor is neighbor, but brethren, it's a special group of people that we must especially love and take care of.

In verse 36-40, Christ's consistent message, and the consistent message of the apostles, is we must keep God's commandments. Verse 36, Jesus answered, this man asked which is the greatest commandment, and Christ answered with His timeless answer, and He reaffirms those two foundational principles of God's commandments. Verse 36, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus said to him, and since there's two parts that are inextricably connected, and Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and that means life.

It's suke, p-s-y-c-h-e, it means breath, life. We do not have an immortal soul. You love God with all your heart, with all your breath, all your life, and with all your mind. This, Jesus said, is the first and great commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law in the prophets. Law of the prophets is shorthand for the Bible at that time, which was the Old Testament. We shouldn't understand that to mean the whole Bible.

This instruction book is based on God's Ten Commandments. Jesus did not do away with any part of God's law. In fact, he expanded the meaning and spiritual meaning of it that also must be kept. This expansion of the meaning, we can find how this was done, how Jesus teaches us to look beyond just a literal application, letter of the law, application of law. Let's look at Matthew 19, a few pages back, Matthew 19, 16 through 20. And here we can remember it's a familiar account. Here we remember the account of the young ruler who hoped for eternal life.

He wanted to know, what do I need to do so I can have everlasting life? That's the same question we've asked. Matthew 19, 16. Now behold, one came to him and said, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?

Jesus said to him, and I'm going to skip, Jesus said to him, if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. And then he said to him, well, which ones? I really would like to know why he asked them, which ones? Should it matter? It must have mattered to this young man. Maybe that's indicative of something. And he said, well, which ones? And then Jesus answered, and he's focusing on the ones that has to do with love to neighbor. Maybe Jesus understood that there is something this young man needed to be working on. He said, which ones? And Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and the summary statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the young man said to him, all these things I've kept from my youth. I got this. I've done this. What do I still lack? That was a very good question. That's a very good question for us to ask from time to time, isn't it? What do I still lack? And Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And that's where our treasure needs to be. And then Jesus said, and then you come and follow me. There's a calling. There's a calling to be one with Christ and God.

But when the young man heard what that's saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. You know, it's really a sad story, isn't it? It's really a sad story. He just couldn't do it at that time. And so when we look at this and think about it, it seems that this young man was very confident that he was truly keeping God's law. He was keeping God's law. He knew it. He had it. He had it.

And sometimes we may feel that way, too. But Jesus was asking him, Jesus was asking him to love God and his neighbor in a far greater way than he had ever done before. He is asking this young man to make a far greater sacrifice of himself than he had ever been asked to do before. And he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it at that time. And he turned away. Now why? Well, perhaps, I don't know, but perhaps he had made an idol out of his riches. Perhaps he had loved, he realized he loved his possessions, or at least it's possible he loved his possessions more than he did God. In any case, the young man was unwilling to make so great a change in his life. So great a change in keeping with the spiritual intent of God's commandments of love toward neighbor. He wasn't ready or willing to sacrifice all his riches. He wasn't willing to take what we would call that leap of faith. A leap of faith, by the way, which many of us have taken and we have committed to taking. And again, it's very difficult to sacrifice things of this world to follow Christ, but we can do it when we remember the sacrifice God the Father and Jesus Christ made for us. And also, if we remember that treasure in heaven, we have a waiting, we might say, that promises salvation, which will be very much manifested and real at Christ's return. And it's for those who willingly choose to sacrifice themselves and to choose to love and obey God. And so God's law, we have to keep keeping the commandments. God's law, if the helpful Holy Spirit, his law must be written in our hearts, and deeply so. There should not be a moment when we are not trying to let God write those commandments even more deeply into our hearts. His commandments must become the very essence of our character. His commandments must be the bedrock. We might say the bedrock of everything we think and say and do. I'm not there yet, but I'm going to keep at it. And we're all going to keep at it. And as we do that, we build the bonds of unity. We're building that connection in a far more deeper and harmonious way as a congregation. Now, key number two. Key number two is to be of one mind. We must be of one mind. Early in the sermon, we talked about what Paul was saying about God's church and the body. Well, just as there is a greater unity when we keep God's commandments, so is our greater unity when we are of the same mind. We are of one mind. To be of one mind, there are synonyms. To be of one mind means to be like-minded. It means to share a similar disposition or approach to things. And, of course, be of one mind. Obviously, keeping the commandments, that's going to help us to be of that one mind. Being of one mind can even mean to share similar opinions and goals, and that certainly would seem to be true of those in the body of Christ. And we can just imagine the unity of people among people who are of one mind. Peter talks about being of one mind in 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter 3, 8 through 9. 1 Peter 3, verses 8 through 9. And here Peter is encouraging the brethren, and his brethren were being persecuted if we understand what was going on. They were facing persecution in tough times. It was definitely a time of great disunity and upheaval in their world, but yet Peter is saying, stay together. Stay united in one mind. And so he encourages the brethren here to share those godly attitudes and dispositions of God's love and righteousness. And he says in verse 8, 1 Peter 3, 8, Finally, all of you, every one of you, be of one mind. Having, and what does that mean for him? It meant having compassion for one another.

Love as brothers. Some translations say, love like loving brothers. You know, sometimes when we're kids, our brothers pick on us and all that. But I hope, I hope as you've grown older, you and your brother, kid brother, used to pick on you. You've grown to have a far deeper love and respect for one another. And I think that's what it's talking about. So love as brothers should love. Let's throw that in there. Be tender-hearted. Be courteous. Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, returning blessing. Knowing that you were called to this. This is part of our calling to be of one mind. And why? That you may inherit a blessing.

So this one mind means having this quality of brotherliness, having courtesy towards one another, humility. All this is part of what God expects of those whom he is called, who he's placed in the body. And God will surely help all of us if we find ourselves coming short in this kind of mindset. Let's also look at Philippians 2, verses 1 through 2. Philippians 2, 1 through 2. And Paul here conveys a similar message of encouragement. Different men, different apostles, but they all had the same teacher. They had the same spirit. And so Paul, again, is encouraging us to have a loving and godly mindset. Philippians 2, verse 1. And he says, therefore if there's any consolation in Christ, if there's any comfort in God's love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy will fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. That's that unity of God. And so the shared attitude of godly love and friendliness should be something we have to choose to practice. It's not going to happen automatically. Our carnal nature doesn't want that sharing. We have to, with God's love, to train ourselves in the ways of God, and God helps us. And if we continue reading down down to verse 3 and 5, we see how Paul gives us a picture. He just doesn't tell us. He's a great teacher. He just doesn't tell us what to do. He then paints a picture. He shows us. It's show and tell. In verse 3 through 5, Paul gives us some contrast to illustrate what the mindset of love is compared, and unity compared, to the mindset of selfishness, which we want to be rid of. And so in verse 3, he says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit or pride, but instead, do this, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. And we love that. What a wonderful attitude. What a wonderful attitude. In verse 4, he says, let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others. So here he's contrasting selfishness.

Get away, get away, get away. He's saying, no, it needs to be selfless. Share. Try to see what you can do to help somebody. If you've got three of something, maybe somebody else can use one of them. Do you really need three? I don't know. No? You think for yourself, I'm just saying. Verse 5, he says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so in this line, Paul is urging us to have the same mindset, that very same mindset, of Jesus Christ. And so just imagine, this is what God wants us to keep working at. We have already experienced this to a good degree. We have to keep at it. As long as we have breath, we have to keep at it. Now, are there sacrifices involved in putting on this mindset? Well, absolutely. Absolutely. Because each person must continue to sacrifice his or her own willfulness, his or her own pride and self-importance. We have to get rid of that junk and let God's mindset be in us so that harmony can prevail in the body of Christ, in our congregation. And key number three, key number three is be steadfast in faithfulness. Be steadfast in faithfulness. Again, we must have this resolute, tenacious, dogged, stubborn commitment to believe and follow Jesus Christ no matter what happens. There's nothing wrong with being stubborn. I know Mom got us all in trouble because we are stubborn, right? And Happy Mother's Day and thank you, Mom, for reminding me not to be so stubborn. But there is a time to be stubborn in the right place. We need to be stubborn in being steadfast in faithfulness. Let's turn once more back to John 17. Jesus' Prayer, once more. Jesus says something here that is interesting. Sometimes we might even read over it, but it's something to think about. Something he says in John 17, this time, verse 6, he's praying to the Father the only part of his prayer, and he's saying, Father, glorify me together with yourself the glory which I had with you for the world was. And that's verse 5. But then in verse 6, Jesus says this. He says, I have manifested, I have revealed your name, Father, to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. They have kept your word. Well, what does Jesus mean they have kept your word? Because if you pause a little bit and you think about the disciples, well, the disciples, were they perfect? Were they flawless? Or did they keep every aspect of God's law and commandments perfectly? Well, what does the record show? No. They're very much like us. They had their ups and downs. Now, why would I say something like that? Well, because it's what Scripture says. Remember, among these disciples were those who wanted to call down fire and consume a village. Remember that? Just like Elijah did in James and John. It's in Luke 9.54. Among these were the disciples whom Jesus said multiple times, oh you of little faith. He told them that four times in the book of Matthew. They were not perfect people. These are the disciples who argued several times, even on the night of Christ's last Passover, about who would be considered the greatest in the kingdom. Right? Luke 22-24. These were not perfect people. They were not keeping the way of God perfectly. They were sinners. They were human. So, is Jesus referring to how they were diligent and obeying every detail of his instruction? They got it all right, exactly. They kept God's Word. Is that what he's talking about? It doesn't seem so. Jesus seems to be referring to how they were steadfast in faithfulness. Steadfast in their faithfulness to the message the Father had given Jesus Christ, and that message was the gospel of the kingdom of God, of salvation.

Look at what he says. Jesus says in verse 8, he says, For I have given to them, Jesus said to the Father, I have given to the disciples, and of course this would exclude Judas Iscariot. This is the 11 disciples who were still with him that night. For I have given to them, the disciples, the words which you have given me, and they have received those words, and have known surely that I came forth from you, and they have believed that you sent me. He's talking about the message the Father sent through Christ. And if we turn back now to John 6, 55-57, we begin to see evidence of how though they were not perfect, and no, they still had squabbles and issues, but they were working on being more united and cohesive as one. And we see that steadfastness and faithfulness to God in John 6. In this narrative, Jesus had been preaching some things, teaching some things that were difficult and hard to understand. Like what? Well, let's read verses 55.

Jesus said, For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. And as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.

Now, the people did not understand what he was talking about. They thought, is he telling us to drink his blood and eat his body? Today we call that cannibalism. They wouldn't have had that word back then. Cannibalism? Is that what he's talking about? Well, verse 66, they didn't get it. And what happened? Verse 66 tells us, From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. They gave up on this man, Jesus of Nazareth. But what's important to us right now is, what did his disciples do? How did they respond? Verse 67 continues, and it says, And then Jesus said to the twelve, Do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You see? You have the words of eternal life. And also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. And so their lives were kind of messy. They were not perfect in doing everything. They were learning their works in progress like you and me. But they remained faithful. They remained resolute in their commitment to believe and follow Jesus Christ. And so Jesus said to the Father, They have kept your word.

They are an example for us to follow with regards to being steadfast and faithfulness.

Although we are growing in grace and knowledge of God's ways, we continue to sin and make mistakes. We know we're not perfect. We know we have to keep repenting and keep seeking God's forgiveness. We have to keep forgiving one another, or God will not forgive us, it says. Now we might not always treat one another as kindly or thoughtfully as we should. But we must keep moving forward in faith and following Christ. And faith in Christ will help us to improve. We have to be steadfast. We have to help one another remain steadfast as well in faithfulness to God and Christ. How do we help one another remain steadfast? By keeping God's commandments, by being of one mind, by thinking beyond our own self-interest. We do that through loving encouragement, through good godly fellowship, through prayer. In any other of the many ways, God has specifically called you and me for our unique qualities that he knows we can use to edify one another, to help one another, to encourage one another so that we are laying down our lives for one another, just like Christ did for us.

And so those are three keys. Three keys to building greater unity individually and collectively as a congregation. And so today I felt I needed to remind us of God's sacrifice so that we could be more conscientious and more aware of the unity that we have with God and the entity we're to be building with one another. We've considered the sacrifices that we each should be making in order to do our part, the sacrifice we're to do for unity in the church and among our brethren. It's a great responsibility and it's also a wonderful thing to lay down our lives for one another. And we can do it. We can do our part to achieve and maintain that unity when we sacrifice our normal carnal ways and self-will and choose instead to submit to God and to love Him and to love our brethren. And so we should always do. And so when we do make personal sacrifices for unity, we can, brethren, we can and we will remain as one in God and united in the body of Christ.