Video Transcript: Unity Among God's People

We've been talking about issues that are particularly challenging to those who  wish to be good disciples of Christ. And today I want to speak with you about  one more challenge, maintaining unity among God's people. That biblical idea  that everyone agrees is so important to put which seems so difficult to achieve.  Everyday's News brings more stories about conflict between various groups of  people who have radically different ideas about such things as politics, religion,  culture, and personal and societal ethics. I guess that conflict is somewhat  understandable given the big differences in worldviews among the people in this planet. But what are less understandable and acceptable are the increasing rifts  among those who self identify as people saved by God through Jesus Christ.  disunity among the people of God is not new, of course, otherwise, there would  not be nearly so many denominations as are now are. But we will do well to take another look at how much God values unity among those with whom he has  entered into a special and saving relationship. One of the first things to  emphasize in this context is that God is after much more than the snatching of  individuals from their death dealing ways and making them fit for fellowship with  Him and for heaven. God is building a kingdom, and a community over whom he rules and whose members live and work together in service to Him. Therefore,  pity those Christians who think that the Christian life is only about a personal  and private relationship with God. And I suppose neither that they need  ministering to by God's family or, or that they have any duty to help form a  supportive community for their brothers and sisters in Christ. Every believer has  a has a responsibility to minister to and with other people of God, and to be  ministered to with support and correction by their brothers and sisters in Christ  whom the apostle Paul calls the Body of Christ. The body of Christ is an organic  community. And so the dysfunction of any part affects every other, the sin of one member pollutes everyone. So the people of God as a whole in every age, are  responsible to be a community united and working together under their  sovereign Lord. This perspective is very clear in the New Testament, but it is  also clear in the scriptures of the Old Testament. Let's talk about that a little bit.  Take for example, the story of Achan in Joshua 7. Prior to the taking of Jericho,  God had made it very clear that everything in the city was to be destroyed,  except for the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron which were to be  devoted to the Lord's treasury. Any deviation from this command would render  Israel itself liable to the destruction God intended for Israel. This emphasis on  the culpability of the whole of Israel is reinforced by what happened when one  Israelite Achan took some of the devoted things. Joshua 7:1 speaking of  Achan's, disobedience, attributes unfaithfulness, the unfaithfulness awakened to the whole community, and says, so the Lord's anger burned against Israel.  God's indictment is repeated. In verse 11. of this chapter, Israel has sinned, they have violated my covenant which I commanded them to keep. They've taken  some of the devoted things they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them

with their own possessions. And so you see the sin of one man or one family,  which may have been complicit in Achan's actions, affected the whole  community. And things were not right in that community until that sin was atoned for shortly after this incident to to re emphasize the importance of Israel's  mission from God and the agreement of the whole community in this all the  people gathered together for covenant renewal ceremony involving sacrifices, a  rereading of God's law, and presumably also the pledges of the community to  wholeheartedly obey God and His law. And so once again, for a while, at least,  there was unity among the people of God. Well, Israel when went on as  described in remainder of Joshua, to take the rest of the land to which God had  brought them. They were not entirely successful in vanquishing all their  enemies, but they established good footholds within the lands allotted to each of Israel's tribes. And God expected each tribe to continue to drive out the  Canaanites within his territory. But with that understanding, he considered that  his promise of a home for Abraham's descendants was now fulfilled. And that's  the meaning of these final words of Joshua 21:44-45, the Lord gave them rest  on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers, not one of their enemies withstood them, the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all  the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed, everyone was fulfilled.  These words are reminiscent of the verdict of God after he had finished creating  the universe in Genesis 1:21, where it says God saw all that he had made, and  it was very good. Here again, God saw all he had done in this new paradise.  And it was good. The enemies of God and Israel had been vanquished and all  God's promises fulfilled. But what about the future? How could Israel make sure  its future was as good as its present? The answer to this implicit question is  given an A famous and often quoted passage, Joshua 24:14-15, which records  among Joshua's last admonitions to Israel. Here's part of it, now fear the Lord,  and serve Him with all faithfulness. choose for yourselves this day, whom you  will serve whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me, in my household, we will serve the Lord. This is actually the conclusion of Joshua's speeches follow  the summary of what the Lord had done for Israel in the past 500 years, how  their fathers had prospered how it was that they themselves were here in the  Promised Land, the Lord had done it and what he had done in the past, he  would do in the future for those who remain faithful. Here's the bottom line. If  you want a future in this great land, you must always be loyal to the Lord and  serve him serve Him. That's what Joshua wanted Israel to memorize, to live by.  If the Israelites were to say yes to this, the people understood they would also  be saying yes to the Lord's will regarding their relationships with the surrounding nations with the people around them, including both the other Israelite tribes and the people outside of the community of Israel. In other words, they would be  recommitting themselves to unity within the family of God, and to guarding 

themselves against anything that threaten their ability to be the community God  wanted them to be. The events of chapter 22 of Joshua will give an example of  the kind of commitment that God wanted from his people. If you notice, this  chapter begins with Joshua calling three tribes together the Reubenites, the  Gadites, and the half tribe Manasseh. To send them on their way to their families and settlements. Previously, the fighting man of these tribes had left their  families and possessions back on the east side of the Jordan, so that they could help the rest of Israel gain their inheritance on the west side of the Jordan. Now  that this work had progressed far enough so that all the tribes could continue on  their own, the men of Reuben Gad and Manasseh, could return home. And this  they proceeded to do. But on the way, they stopped to build an imposing altar on the west bank of the Jordan. But when the other tribes heard about this altar,  and they were so provoked, if you notice, Joshua 22:12, that the whole  assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them. What's this  about? It seems such a little thing. The joyful Transjordan tribes take time to  build an imposing altar before they cross the Jordan to rejoin their families. But  this makes the rest of Israel so upset that they prepare to go to war against their kinsmen. The reason becomes clear in the question that Israel sent delegation  to ask these trans Jordan tribes. Chapter 22:16-18. How could you break faith  with the God of Israel? Like that, how could you turn away from the Lord and  build yourselves an altar and rebellion against Him now, was not the sin of Peor. Enough for us. Up till this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that  sin, even though a plague fell in the community of the Lord, and are you now  turning away from the Lord, if you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will  be angry with the whole community of Israel. If the land you possess is defiled,  come over to the Lord's land where the Lord's tabernacle stands to share the  land with us, but do not rebel against the LORD, or against us by building an  altar for yourselves other than the altar of the Lord our God. When Achan son of  Zerah, was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things did not wrath come on the  whole community of Israel, he was not the only one who died for his sin. You  see, the rest of Israel clearly regarded the building of this, this altar as outright  rebellion against the Lord. And that's because the Lord's altar was in Shiloh. And the only reason they could think of for, for building an additional altar in another  place was for the purpose of worshiping false gods and the Canaanites. Now,  the nine and a half tribes west of the Jordan might have said, well, let the others  go their own way, if they want to serve other gods. That's their problem, not  ours. But they didn't say that. And they couldn't say that, because as had been  drummed into them, there were 12 tribes of Israel, that constituted the  community of God's people in the whole community had to stand together, or  they would fall together. Israel's past history had made that clear. In fact,  references made in these in these verses to two particular occasions, on which  the Lord had made clear that the sin of one part of Israel had drastic effects on 

the whole community. The first occasion was the sin of Peor. Now that is  described in Numbers 25. At that time, Balaam, and the false prophet and the  Moabites had enticed some of the Israelites into worshiping the Baal of Peor  that had caused the Lord's anger to burn against Israel, and the follow in what  followed, a plague broke out and the Lord's anger was not averted until a man  named Phinahas acting as the Lord's righteous servant, brought the Lord's  judgment on two of the offenders. It was the same Phinahas now 4-5 years older who headed a current delegation of Israel. Well, the other occasion was referred to in what we read was The sin of Achan, that it also caused the Lord's anger to  burn against Israel. Until Achan's sin was routed out and atoned for by the death of himself and his family. Achan's sin and the sin of Peor were both sins of  rebellion against the Lord God. They were both the sins of just a few people. In  one case, in Achan just him or his fam, him and his family, and another case of  part of Israel. But in both cases, the Lord's anger burned against all of Israel, in  the faithful Israelites did not want the Lord's anger to burn again. And that's why  all of Israel assembled for war at Shiloh and waited for the report of this  delegation they sent. But war was averted by the response of the trans Jordan  tribes who were aghast at how the rest of Israel had misinterpreted their  intentions. Oh, no. They reassured the delegation. Rebellion was the last thing  on our minds. We were afraid that because the Jordan forms a boundary  between us and the rest of Israel that your descendants might someday forbid  ours from worshiping the Lord. And so we built this altar as a witness to future  generations that we also love and serve the Lord and we will always worship  Him in a sanctuary. Well, the delegation from Israel breathed a collective sigh of  relief when they returned to report to the other tribes, and then the whole  community joined together in praising God. So then, do you see that Joshua's  sermon on loyalty to God assumes that all of Israel must be together on this  very issue. The tribes of Israel were accountable to each other for their loyalty to the Lord. If one failed, they all would suffer. It wasn't a case of do your own  thing. And don't worry about those around you. It was rather, you are in this  together as servants of the Lord. And you must keep the whole community of  Israel pure. As you can see, then Joshua's exhortation that the Israelites choose for themselves whom they would serve, did not expect an individualistic  response, some choosing to serve the Lord and others choosing not to. It was  all or nothing for Israel. God expected a unified response from his people and a  commitment to do whatever it took to preserve their identity as the people of  God. Perhaps you remember how all of Israel responded to Joshua's end of life  question. All of them, the whole community stepped forward together to please  pledge allegiance to the Lord. Realizing that even a partial Failure to do so  would subject them to the burning anger of God and His discipline to make them faithful again. There were many other events in Israel's later history that also  testified to the importance of their unity as a people of God. I'll mention just a 

few examples from the book of Judges. In chapter 8:1 one, the Ephraimites  criticized Gideon for not calling them to participate in the fight against our  enemies. In effect, they were saying is God's people were supposed to be in this together? Why didn't you ask us to help you. And later on in chapter eight, the  towns of Succoth and Peniel paid a big price for not assisting Gideon's fighting  men when they needed food and water. You see, as part of God's people, they  had a duty to help their brothers in need. In chapters 19-21, the town of Gibeah,  of the tribe of Benjamin refused hospitality to to a Levite, a member of another  another tribe who was traveling and what's worse, the men of Gibeah abused  the concubine of the Levites so much that she died from it. In response the  Levites sent a strong message to the rest of Israel's tribes asking for their help  and disciplining the tribe of Benjamin for their sin. And the other tribes  responded by uniting to fight it against Benjamin they killed in which all but 600  Men of Benjamin were killed. That raised another concern for Israel, who then  became so worried about the tribe of Benjamin dying off and so they agreed on  some unique provisions whereby the tribe of Benjamin and thereby the unity of  Israel could be preserved. In other words, Benjamin was severely disciplined for  their sin, the tribe, but then readmitted into the fellowship of the family of God.  All of this emphasis on unity among the members of God's Old Covenant family  still has implications for God's new covenant family, the church, and for its  commitment to unity. We have pledged loyalty to the Lord God are accountable  to each other. We owe each other the kind of support and loving discipline that  will help us remain the faithful people of God. It's not that our discipline will look  the same as that that God's people exercised under the old covenant we live in  a different age and not in a theocracy as they did. And furthermore, we take our  cue from Christ's unveiling of the spirits of God's rules for living. still  remembering that God does not take rebellion lightly. I'm speaking here of  unholiness and disobedience within the family of God. The church of Christ is  also bound not to take unholiness and disobedience lightly for we are bound  together in common cause for the Lord. Yes, our discipline must always be  tempered and motivated by love. When such a loving discipline works, it's time  for rejoicing for through it God's Kingdom moves forward. This call to unity  among God's people among his church doesn't mean that were to avoid contact  with the world. No, we believe that God has given us a mandate to take the  good news to our neighbors so that we may win to Christ those who have not  yet submitted to His authority. And yet the principles of Joshua's guidelines  apply primarily to God's people must be very careful that we are not seduced by  the ways and things of the world. The Church must go into the world. We don't  let the world into the church. Do not misunderstand. We must do what we can to welcome all who are in need of Jesus Christ. But we must not accept the worldly ways we must not let the world transform the church. By the power of the Holy  Spirit, let the church do what it can to transform the world. This is not merely a 

matter of what happens in church buildings, but what is done in the rest of the  week. And then the other places Christians spend their time and energy for we  are to be the church 24 hours a day and seven days a week and everywhere we go. The pressure is on us to conform to our culture, and to agree with a majority  in our culture, who think that religions differences are merely a matter of  personal opinion and choice for saying that your religion shouldn't really have  much to do with life. But the truth is that Christians ought never to fit in too well  in such sinful cultures as we live in. Because a God who gives us life is jealous  of anything that would rob us of that life. He is exclusive and demanding for our  good for apart from him, we returned to the death from which he rescued us.  And so he tolerates no other gods, he tolerates nothing less than complete  loyalty. And that's something we can't offer. If we undervalue God's called the  unity among his people. United we stand divided we fall is a biblical truth. If we  would serve the Lord, well, we must stand together against anything that would  dilute our witness and loyalty. We must do it personally, and we must do it  together. That's one of the biggest challenges for all of us who wish to be  Christ's disciples