There are many things that affirm us in our faith. We are affirmed by the Spirit, we are affirmed by other believers, we are affirmed by our past experiences, and affirmed by our future hope. Invite God into your time and then read 1 John 5:6-12.
Unity Today
- Can you imagine what we could do if we all banded together? What if we seriously, got together on one project and took maybe two weeks to do something. Let’s say we were going to build something, maybe a tower, and we all pooled our money, someone donated some land and we just got to work. Habitat for Humanity does something like this in their program called Blitz Build and they can build five houses in five days! Could we build fourteen houses in fourteen days?
- As we can collectively create good, we can also collectively create evil. Can you imagine what harm we could do if we all banded together? Think back to what happened when two young men in the town of Littleton, CO came together for a united purpose in Columbine high school. Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold killed twelve students, injured many more and left scarred with these memories countless people for life.
- Unity in purpose and spirit isn’t always such a good thing.
Unity of Babel
- There was a group of people in Genesis 11 who said, “Let’s get together and make a name for ourselves.” And it was here that God scattered humanity in order to save humanity from itself. God was afraid of the great evil that would spread as a result of humanity banding together – their potential was exponential.
- Why is it that God didn’t permit this work?
- They united for the wrong purpose. God did not create us to make names for ourselves, that might happen in the course of our lives but our lives are to glorify him. Yet, even today many find themselves striving to make names for themselves and neglect God.
- They united with the wrong spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:12 draws a line of distinction between the spirit of this world and the Spirit that comes from God.
- Ephesians 2:1-2 talks about this Spirit, Paul says, “You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.”
The Unity of Acts 2
- Pentecost – a history
- Before we get to the story of Pentecost we need to know what it was first – before the Spirit came. It was instituted by God through Moses in the Torah, God calls his people to unite together for a feast. This feast was to celebrate the harvest, to celebrate their work. (see Deuteronomy 16:9-10)
- It was a reminder that our labor and our profit were gifts from God. It reminded the people to not be like the people at Babel who forgot the purpose of God and instead adopted a spirit of selfishness.
- And so it was on this feast day, 50 days (pente), after the Passover, and after the cross, and 7 days after Jesus’ ascension that the Spirit of God comes on all those who united in him.
- Tongues come on the faithful, why? So that they could reverse the centuries old curse of Babel. So that they could proclaim the message of Salvation.
- In Acts God blessed this group’s unity, why? Because they were united with the purpose of proclaiming Christ, they were united in the Spirit of God, and as they went on they passed the test of faithfulness.
Ephesians 4:4-5 reminds us, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
What is the one Spirit that you have? What is the one Spirit that we share?
Take the time to read 1 John 5:1-5. Read it slowly, read it more than once, and as you do listen in your mind to John’s voice as he writes this. John is describing you – which term do you identify with most? Read that phrase again and listen – allow God to tell you the truth about who you are.
What does the way that you treat people say about you? What do your attitudes and actions say about the God you worship? Keep these questions in mind as you read today’s text, 1 John 4:20-21.
