Tell The World

All the believers were one in mind and heart. Selfishness was not a part of their community, for they shared everything they had with one another. The apostles gave powerful testimonies about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great measures of grace rested upon them all.  Acts 4:32-33 TPT 

We can easily get worked up by all that is going on around the world and especially the current scene playing out in North America. But what if all of that passion, indignation, and energy turned on the real problem facing us? It’s a way bigger issue that God’s children, the Church, is divided than it is for any particular nation or other group of people to be divided. 

Why? Because God created the Church to be one, Jesus prayed before going to the cross that we would be one, and Holy Spirit empowers us to be one.

John 13:34-35 TPT So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you’re My true followers.

Guess who has the most interest in the Church being at each other’s throats? Satan, the enemy. And that’s a singular enemy, not plural. The church down the road is not our enemy. That denomination that does things differently from us is not our enemy. The worship leader who plays songs we don’t like is not our enemy. 

We have one enemy, and it’s mission is the same as it always has been: to steal, kill, and destroy. To steal our unity, kill the power of our gathering whether in person, by telephone or online as we are here tonight, and destroy our credibility and influence with the world we’re called to reach.

With so many different kinds of churches around the world and even in our own communities, how do we become unified? We have to start focusing on who’s we are (God’s people) what we’re for (Salvation) and stop focusing on what we’re against. 

We’re for the lost finding Christ. We’re for the broken becoming whole. We’re for the hurting finding the healing that can only come from God. We’re for lifting the name of Jesus Christ higher than the name of our local church, denomination, or current ministry endeavours. 

Revelation 1:20 TPT The mystery of the lampstands and the seven stars is this: the seven lampstands are the seven churches, and the seven stars in My right hand are the seven messengers of the seven churches.

We the church also need to admit we need each other. We simply cannot significantly impact the world alone. We can’t even reach our own city alone—probably not even our own street. 

We need all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people because Unity is not uniformity! We have strength in our diversity!

Our style of doing church isn’t the best or only way. It’s an expression of how we worship. Jesus sent us all on one mission—The Great Commission. He told us where (the whole world), what (the Gospel), but He didn’t demand a “how” that is to be the only way. 

How is just a method. One message. Many methods. Apostle Paul laid this approach out clearly in all of his varied approaches to presenting the Gospel based on the diverse audiences he preached to. So my friends, Let’s not get hung up on the how.

The simplest way to show the world we are one boils down to one word: love. Jesus said this is what we should be known for. Not for our buildings. Not for the amount of people we reach in weekly. 

Not for our t-shirts. Not for our music style or our hairstyle. Not for the way we vote or the things we boycott. 

And for sure not the way we berate each other on social media. He said the world would know that we’re His followers by the way we love each other.