Unity gets the Attention of Heaven

15 Dec 2013 by Natasha Kim CM-

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ²As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. ³They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” ⁸So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11: 1 – 9)

At the beginning of time, it was written in scripture that everyone on earth spoke one language until they were scattered all over. God’s plan was for His people to fill and subdue the earth but the people who spoke one language decided that they would disobey, that they would just stay where they are and be great! They were united, but they were united in disobedience and due to that, God personally scattered them all over the earth and He decided that He was going to win them back one nation at a time. Now, the challenge is for us to create that unity even in the midst of disunity.

Pastor Clarance Shashi preached this sermon at C3 Church Subang, on the 1^st of December and he said, “It is important that we understand the principle and the power of unity, as a Church and as God’s people. It is something that the devil understands very well, he understands the importance of it and that is why he has taken so much time and effort throughout these centuries to sow division, and create disunity. That is his number one weapon against God’s people and against the Church. As the devil sows, he watches ministries, families, marriages and even nations crumble simply by dissing unity.”

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is. For brothers to dwell together in unity! (Psalms 133:1)

As followers of Jesus we are to lead the way to unity and be a good example to the people. It was Jesus’s prayer in John 17: 20-23, for the people to be united just as He is united with God, that all of us may be one in the love of Christ our Lord. However, Clarance acknowledges the fact that the body of Christ is anything but united at this day and age. “You find Churches constantly attacking each other, and it is strange that the greatest attacks against Christians, come from other Christians. You can’t help but to think about what could happen if the people use that amount of time and resources and expertise into doing what Jesus asked us to do instead, which is to spread the good news and the kingdom,” he said. The nation can be transformed through the Gospel and power of Jesus Christ when we are united. “When we are united nothing we set out to do will be impossible! “There’s something powerful about people who come together united, of one heart and mind” he shared.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

(John 17:20-23)

1) Unity draws the attention of God and of Heaven

When people are united, God Himself is drawn to us as cited above in Genesis 11:5. Another example can be observed in Acts 2, when the people gathered together on Pentecost and the Holy Spirit came down and filled the room, and the result was, that all of them became transformed. Unity also draws the blessings of God to His people.

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)

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:20)

2) When United, nothing we set out to do will be impossible!

“As a Church, as husband and wife, as a family… if you are united, you can accomplish great and mighty things” shared Clarance. He also went on to add that there are certain principles that God wired into the makeup of life such as the principle of sowing and reaping, that those who live by them, regardless of whether they are conscious of God or not, will reap the benefits.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. (Galatians 6:7)

“Another principle that God wired into the makeup of life is, “if you are united, you can accomplish great things just like God mentioned in Genesis 11:6,” he said.

The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. (Genesis 11:6)

“Evil often tries to get you into a place where you know your heart should not go, and that is a place of offence,” he said. At that moment Clarance asked everyone to close their eyes and think of the people who have offended them and say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”.

“It is an exercise you should do every day and every night. The words of Jesus coming through your mouth has power!” he said. As you make it a routine to say that, the wounds that you carry will slowly begin to heal and those people will not have influence on you anymore.

“Another thing you need to understand is, that people aren’t perfect and Christians aren’t perfect, but neither are we. As Christians our response matters! This is where the rubber hits the road. It’s not how you respond when people are loving, it is how you respond when offences come your way. That is what sets you a part as a follower of Jesus,” he said.

Forgive and be gracious. Do not respond the way the world responds or the way your flesh is expecting you to respond, but respond in the way our Saviour has told us to respond. Display God’s grace every day, for all of us are a work in progress. Be united with each other!

Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you – ²²for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others. (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22)