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I remember an incident that happened to my father when I was a young boy which has stayed with me. My dad was a new pastor in a mainline denominational church.
On a particular Sunday, he noticed that the path up to where the choir stood was being obstructed on one side by the organ, making it an uncomfortable squeeze to get past.
My dad immediately took the initiative and shifted the organ about 30cm to open up the pathway a bit. Shortly thereafter, just before the service started, he was called to one side by the choir master, who gave my dad a humiliating berating, rebuking him firmly with, “How dare you move that organ! Do you know how long that organ has been standing there? Who gave you permission to move it? Who do you think you are?”
I only heard the whole story when I found my dad weeping in the car after the service. My dad had acted with the best intentions, but the choir master had reacted in a carnal way. He had been arrogant, rude and shown a complete disregard for spiritual authority, yet do you know what my dad did? He continued faithfully doing what he had always done – loving God and His church. Why would he do that?
Through our harmony, the church has been called to display the Godhead, dispel the darkness and dispense the kingdom of God.
My dad understood that there is something much bigger at stake here. It has to do with the very nature of the kingdom and what God has called us to demonstrate to the world.
It is the harmony, the heavenly love, the unity that is within the very Godhead itself. Through our harmony, the church has been called to display the Godhead, dispel the darkness and dispense the kingdom of God.
What Hinders Harmony?
The trouble is, unity doesn’t just happen, and when it happens, it doesn’t just remain. It is not only in mainline denominational churches where these kinds of things happen.
There will be occasions for each of us, whichever church we are in, when our best intentions are misunderstood or when we get over-looked in our roles of service.
We will be accused of things (rightly or wrongly) which will leave a sting. As the church grows, we may not receive as much attention from leaders or friends as we used to enjoy.
It may be something as small as not getting invited to a birthday party. The truth is, one of the biggest enemies to the church’s unity is the carnality that still lingers in our hearts.
When the church is united, it is like a God-orchestrated musical masterpiece. It is quite surreal. It speaks of another world – a world of total harmony, where all are together in one place. ‘Greek, Jew, slave and free’. Man, woman and child – even angelic hosts! All are united in a display of incredible oneness of heart and mind.
While it is difficult to describe how amazing it is, you intuitively know when it is not all there. It is incredible how our ears are tuned to hear imperfections – in a musical piece, we can hear when something is off-beat, a note is out or a key is off. It is exactly the same in God’s kingdom.
This is an urgent desire in God’s heart: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (1 Cor. 1:10)
How to Tune In to Unity
The burning question for us then is how? How can we achieve such unity? As we look to the Scriptures, we notice a pattern in the way God works and the kind of response required from His people:
Confessing Christ as Lord
By a sovereign work of His Spirit, God brings us into fellowship, love and unity with Himself, and with others! The Holy Spirit does what is only possible for God to do when we come under Christ’s lordship – He brings a supernatural unity of thoughts and opinions. We see an example of this early on in the story of the Church in Acts, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)
They no longer counted their lives as the most important, but rather they saw higher value in the lives of others. There was an overflowing of generosity and a giving of themselves as well as their possessions.
It comes as somewhat of a relief that the heavenly harmony we are aiming for is empowered by the orchestral finesse of the Holy Spirit.
It comes as somewhat of a relief that the heavenly harmony we are aiming for is empowered by the orchestral finesse of the Holy Spirit.
The thought of achieving this kind of unity by human ingenuity would be hugely daunting! So we find that as each individual comes under the power of the Holy Spirit, there is a wonderful knitting of hearts that happens at a deep level. (Cor 3:2). – sermonsfaithlife.com
