Unity in Christ
John 17:20-24
Introduction
1.
The plea:
“Can’t we all just get along”
2.
God has a plan for unity of the
whole human race
3.
Jesus is that plan! – a great
deal of the New Testament is devoted to God’s plan for unity
Discussion
1.
Unity in the faith (what we
believe)
a.
The various systems put together by
men – they call them creeds or confessions (Nicene Creed, Apostles Creed,
Westminster Confession, Augsburg Confession, etc)
b.
Watchtower Society, Book of Mormon,
Methodist Discipline, Canon Law
c.
Beginning and ending with the Bible
will not lead you to accept any of the above
d.
Jude 3; 2 John 9; Gal 1:8-9; John
2.
Unity in morals
a.
Churches today are voting on what
is acceptable and what is unacceptable
b.
But God has no vote in their
meetings
c.
When God gave the ten commandments,
six of them had to do with morals
d.
While the two great commandments
are both framed in the concept of love, that love is defined by scripture, not
by feelings
e.
Gal 5:19-21; 1 Cor 6:9-11; 1 Pet
4:3; Matt
3.
Unity in worship
a.
Worship involves something that we
offer to God
i.
this was apparent in the Old
Testament system of sacrifices
ii.
Worship is not for the purpose of
receiving, but of giving – Acts
b.
Worship involves something that we
offer that is acceptable to God
i.
The offering of Cain was rejected
– Gen 4:1-5
ii.
The offering of Nadab and Abihu was
rejected – Lev 10:1-3
c.
Worship is in spirit AND in truth
– John 4:24
Conclusion
1.
True unity must be based on God’s
infallible standard, the Bible
2.
True unity begins with a common
baptism – 1 Cor 12:13
3.
True unity continues with a shared
experience in worshipping the true God