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Summary
The sermon is about Christian unity, focusing on the seven pillars of unity as mentioned in Ephesians 4:2-6. The pastor emphasizes the importance of unity among believers, stating that it is not about denominations or labels, but about being in Christ. The sermon highlights the need for humility, gentleness, and patience in bearing with one another in love, and encourages listeners to make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
Sermon transcription
As they said, brothers and sisters, there is power in unity. Amen. As a young pastor, when I started in the ministry, I was so very inexperienced and I was so nervous to take the role of pastoring our church when I was called to pastor our church in Dubai. And the one thing that was in my mind when accepting the responsibility was the unity of the church. I was careful and I was really praying intently to the Lord that if there is one thing that I want to pursue in pastoring, it is the unity of the body of Christ, and I said if ever the church will be divided, I would rather Lord that you take my life rather than seeing the church divided.
And the years I spent in the church in Dubai, with all the challenges that I have faced there from the year 2000 until we left Dubai for good in 2013, I was really blessed that the Lord heard my prayers and the church was intact. And so today, that I'm pastoring here in the Netherlands, is no different desire and prayer that I have, that the church will continue to be united, as a local church, but at the same time, God has called us to be united with all his children all over the world.
So this is really a very challenging task, not only for me as a pastor, but as a child of God, which is also your challenge as well, right, each one of us are called to the task to preserve this unity. It says there, right in verse 2 to 3, especially verse 3, make every effort to what? Yeah, it did not say make the effort to create unity, because it means that unity is already there. It means that, if you remember, the other Sunday, not last Sunday, the other Sunday, that I preach about unity, when Jesus prayed in John chapter 17 for the unity of the church.
So, in other words, brothers and sisters, Jesus, our Lord, had prayed for the unity of the church already, and He is at the right hand of the Father, since then, until now, to pray for His children. So He continues to pray for the unity of the church. The unity of the church is already there. So our task is not to begin, but to continue to preserve and keep the unity of the church. Amen.
So, as it is, it is not an easy task in itself. Um, it says make every effort. So it means that we have to really prioritize. We have to really bear in mind, we have to put in on top of anything. I call it unity in love, because the unity that is stated here is being one another to love each other as children of God. That is what the unity is all about.
And if you notice, in this verse 2, it starts with not with rules about how we can preserve or we can keep our unity, but it starts with our attitude. Amen. What did it say there? Be humble and gentle and patient. And then that really, that word bearing, really struck in my mind, because of their context, firstly of their context, because the context was that there were the Jews, believers, and the gentile believers, and whatever challenges that they face, together, that they have to be able to bear each other.
And it's no different challenge for us, right, we have to bear, I don't know, how you interpret bearing with one another, but I would think that it means that you be patient, right, you give margin for error, um, do not be easily annoyed or irritated, right, don't give up. A lot of things that come to mind, you know, don't just run away from relationships. The easiest option we can have is to say, "I don't like it anymore, ba-bye." But the Lord says, "Bear with one another," no matter what, because that is what unity is all about, to give love, not our brand of love, the love of Christ that is in us, amen.
So, these are the things that come to mind, before what I call the manifesto of church unity, the seven pillars of unity, that is mentioned here. I would think that this is an introductory message, if I'm not able to say all things I would I want to say today, because of time, um, I will have, in the coming Sundays, when I, when I, uh, I'm assigned to preach, I will continue, uh, with this message.
But right now, it's like an overview of Christian unity, and I will go through it, because there are a lot of, uh, verses that we will look into, but, uh, then we are called to be united in these seven pillars of unity. I, uh, I have a conviction in my heart, because we have new brothers and sisters who joined with us today, maybe this is a message for, for some of you, who, uh, and the challenge for you to acknowledge Jesus Christ in your life.
And I will give the invitation later, for you to, to accept the Lord in your life, and, and receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. But, uh, let us go to it, one by one, and, and let us see the beauty of, uh, the unity, that we have in the Lord, for each other.
So, there are seven pillars of unity here. I did not put it according to the flow of the verses. I, I put it in, in a certain order that I think would help us to understand. So, first of all, if you notice here, the first three are the trinity, the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and then all of the others are the expression of the unity in the godhead.
Okay, so first, we have one father, we have one God and father of all, can we go to the next slide, so in the verse 6 of our text here, it says, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all, so the emphasis is there, it's in verse 6, but I put it the first one, because I believe it's the overarching unity, the love of the father, that He has for us, that He sent Jesus Christ into the world, to save us from our sinfulness.
Link to the service video.