“HOW TO” SERIES

#9: “How to Have Unity in the Church”

TEXT: Philippians 2:1-11

INTRO:

Let’s read this passage together…

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

“Your attitude should be that same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

God has willed that there be unity in the church. Can we all agree on that?

God has made each of us uniquely; we are a very diversified species. Can we all agree on that?

Then how can we all be parts of the same church and have the unity and harmony that God wants?

Most congregations today are made up of people from several generations. Churches here in the Village are not so typical, but the congregation I established and served for twenty years in Texas was. The adults in that church were from three different generational groups. There were the Builders, the Boomers, and the Busters.

Those who have studied this have discovered the basic uniqueness of each group.

Those born before 1945 are the Builders. We’re products of historic traditional American society. We and/or our parents experienced and survived “The Great Depression.” Our war, so to speak, is World War II, the greatest war America ever fought and won. Our values are, by and large, traditional and rural-flavored. While we’ve become accustomed to “buffets,” we’re basically “plate lunch” folks. We don’t necessarily need a lot of choices; we’re pretty easily satisfied; change is okay, but we don’t really need it. The priority of our Christian faith tends to be “doctrine,” and we like simply structured churches and worship services. We’ve been very loyal to our jobs and our faith. We’re pretty much a part of the financial backbone of the church we attend.

Those born from 1945 through 1964 have been labeled Baby Boomers, because they were born during the “baby boom” that followed World War II.

According to the so-called experts, there’s a considerable gap between your generation and your parents’. Because of your traditional, hard-working parents, you have been relatively affluent, and you’ve come to be called the “me” generation – you tend to want things your way, and you’re surprisingly inflexible.

Your war is Viet Nam. Your issues are rights, the environment, and other social issues.

You’re a lot more in need of experiences than your parents – their lifestyle is boring in your eyes. You tend to want your Christianity functional rather than doctrinal.

Your priorities are different from your parents’. Making money and having financial “freedom” are very important. You’re not as loyal to jobs, churches, and institutions as your parents. It takes you longer to decide what you want to do with your life; you marry later than most other generations.

Your generation has a high “burn-out” rate and the highest suicide rate of any generation, due in large part to your stress, anxiety, depression and emptiness, all brought on by your rather constant discontent and dissatisfaction.

You are a major challenge in the workplace, in the church, and most everywhere you function – you are, by and large, the hardest generation to please. You have given rise to “boomer churches” that target people of your generation.

But, I like your desire for excellence, your emphasis on family values, and your practical approach to life. Being born in 1943, I am extremely close to you.

Children of Boomers are called “Busters” or “Generation X.”

You were born from 1965 to the mid 1980s. There are about 68 million of you in the USA; you are the second largest segment of the American population. We Builders still outnumber you.

Generation X is the first generation of Americans to grow up with an electronic “baby-sitter” – a TV, VCR, or PC. You’ve already seen more sex and violence than my generation will see in our entire lifetime!

Xers are prone to have a problem with absolute truth. They tend to believe that truth is whatever the individual thinks it is. 70% of you don’t think that absolute truth even exists.

They’re easily bored, and tend to judge the value of anything on the basis of its entertainment value. Commitment is a foreign concept, their attention span is about ten minutes, and doctrinal teaching is boring.

Six of ten Xers live at home until they’re twenty to twenty-four years old. They don’t like responsibility. More than 40% of Generation X come from broken homes. Many were abused. 55% have used drugs.

George Barna, the pollster, assesses GenXers this way:

“More than any other generation, they feel estranged from God, separated from each other, lacking meaning in life, void of roots and a societal connection. . . . They are skeptical because they have experienced deception and rampant superficiality” (Baby Busters, the Disillusioned Generation, p. 72).

However, GenXers are very “service” oriented, doing more volunteer work than their parents or grandparents. And they want “real” relationships and something worthy of their trust and commitment. Their war is Iraq.

Now, I know that none of us are the epitome of any of these three groups, yet I’m sure that you identified yourself or your children or grandchildren in one of them. Never have the various generations been so distinctively different. Does this mean that the church needs to have separate congregations for each of the generations? This is what is happening in some instances. Some congregations are targeting a particular generation, almost to the exclusion of all others. Is that the answer? I think not.

It’s not our generational diversity that causes disharmony and disunity in the church. Neither is it that fact that a congregation is often made up of people from various denominational backgrounds. Like our generational differences, our theological and doctrinal differences can present quite a challenge. However, it’s our selfishness and our attitude toward one another that prevents us from overcoming these differences and disrupts our unity in Christ!

Notice what Paul tells us here in Philippians:

FIRST, TO HAVE UNITY IN THE CHURCH, WE NEED TO BE

“LIKE-MINDED.”

He told the Christians there in Philippi to “think the same thing.” Now, what is that?

He goes on to explain: “…having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.”

When Christian people, regardless of their generational, cultural, or experiential differences, love with godly love and live with a godly spirit and purpose, there will be unity.

SECOND, TO HAVE UNITY IN THE CHURCH, WE NEED TO PUT THE NEEDS OF OTHERS BEFORE OUR OWN.

Note what he wrote to the Philippians:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

The Contemporary English Version has these two verses:

“Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves.”

Now, does this mean that your needs aren’t important? No, it doesn’t. Your needs are very important. It just means that we should consider the needs and interests of others as well.

If I put your needs before mine, and if you put my needs before yours, we’ll all have our needs met, won’t we? Sure, we will.

THIRD, TO HAVE UNITY IN THE CHURCH, WE NEED TO IMITATE THE ATTITUDE OF CHRIST.

Paul describes Christ’s “humility” and “selflessness” in verses 6 through 8…

I believe that what we need to do regularly is some-thing I would call an “attitude check.” Actually, God has provided a regular time for it: we call it “Communion.” Communion time ought to be “attitude adjustment” time.

CONCLUSION:

Stephen Hawkings occupies one of the most famous and prestigious chairs of education in Great Britain, and he is considered one of the great thinkers of this century. He inherited the modern mantle of Albert Einstein. Yet he can't even tie his own shoes, brush his teeth or comb his hair, although these are simple tasks that millions of youngsters proudly master every year. Mr. Hawkings' body has been twisted and crippled by an affliction commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
This disease essentially causes Mr. Hawkings' nerves to "disconnect" from each other so that the messages from his incredible brain cannot pass through the nerve pathways to his body. There is nothing wrong with Mr. Hawkings' mind. He is able to hold and handle huge mathematical equations in his mind. He can do all of his thinking without the aid of notes and/or the convenience of penning things down. Typing is laboriously done through methods only a handicapped person could appreciate. He cannot use his fingers; he cannot even use an apparatus to be held in his teeth. All Mr. Haw kings can do is blow into a tube. What strikes me about this picture is that there is nothing wrong with Mr. Hawkings' head. It is his body that is dysfunctional. According to Ephesians, Christ is the head and we are the body. Now recall my original thought: I wonder how long God has struggled with a crippled Body. How long has He been troubled by cells wanting to disconnect from each other or refusing to connect in the first place?

A paralysis of purpose has invaded the Body of Christ, yet our Head still thinks with divine clarity. He wants His hand to move, but it will not obey. He bids His feet to walk, but they will not go. He sends signals for His tongue to speak but it refuses to act. Can you believe it? This is a picture of the great mind of Christ captured within the crippled body of a divisive Church.

This is our great dilemma: we stand at a point where a remnant in Christ's Body is struggling to heed the signals of our Head. This must be our chief aim, as Paul challenged the Philippian believers: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

-- Tenney, Tommy. God's Dream Team. Ventura,

CA: Regal Books, 1999, p. 102-103.