“And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved.” Acts 2:46-47
God hates division within His Kingdom and He loves unity among His people. The most casual reader of the Bible can plainly observe that God deals quickly with any incident that jeopardizes the unity of His Kingdom. ( Num.16 and II Sam.18) In Proverbs 6:16-19 the writer states “six things that God hates…” . The seventh thing that is listed that God hates goes even farther and calls it an abomination which means it is disgusting to God and that is someone who causes division among the brethren. Unity has great impact on any organization. Where would the military be without unity? Would the football team win without unity and teamwork? Can a business progress when there is no unity among the partners? Can a marriage be happy if the husband and wife fail to work together? Unity gets the job done! The Early Church was together and in one accord; their motives were sincere. God brings unity while the devil wants to bring disunity and strife.
Unity is the mark of a true Christian. This type of unity existed in the Early Church. In fact, the Church came into existence when the people had one mind. “And when the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1). The Bible says in Acts 2:42, 44-47 that they broke bread together, with the spirit of love being strong. They sold all they had to meet the needs of each person. This true unity prevailed. The world took note and the Christians had favour with all the people. Jesus proclaimed the world would know we are His disciples when we have love one for another (John 13:35)
Unity is not only desirable, it is delightful to the Lord. Psalm 133 says “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.” Not only does unity please God, it is what is best for us as well. When we as a church stand together, we will reach the ultimate goals that God has set for us in His Kingdom, in our families and in our lives. As long as a church is divided nothing of any lasting value can be accomplished. We who have been called to be saints must give our best effort to promote unity within our church and in every situation.
It is amazing what happens when people get together in unity of purpose. The Lord had to come down one time to check out a tower of Babel – Gen 11:5) because they were getting the job done. We may not agree with that, but they were getting the job done with the wrong motive. Their method was to build a tower that would reach into the heavens and be ruled by the heavens. This was masterminded by a rebel named Nimrod! Their motive was to build a name for themselves – and not a name for God! But God had to come down and check it out, and in verse 6 He said they’re going to do whatever they imagine in their minds to do. They’re not going to be stopped and the reason is because the people are one. So it took God’s intervention to confuse them because of their wrong motive. Otherwise, they would have been successful in their evil way. Every exploit done in unity but against God’s purpose will end in confusion.
Beloved, how many times have you set out to get something done only to find out that there was no way you could do it by yourself? No matter how much you struggled or worked the task was impossible for one to accomplish. Then a friend stops by and before he leaves you say “Give me a hand with this, would you, friend?” and the task that was impossible for one to accomplish becomes not only doable, but many times easy. Nehemiah 3 records the wonderful story of what can happen when people with the same purpose will pull together and do their part to get an impossible task accomplished. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Then make me truly happy by loving each other and agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, working together with one heart and mind and purpose” (Philippians 2:2, The Living Bible). In unity our hearts beat with the heartbeat of Jesus. Our minds become set on one purpose, that is, to become labourers together in building the Church. Each person brings his energy, efforts and all that God has blessed him with, into a common purpose. Jesus stated His purpose was to build the Church (Matthew 16:18). That same goal and no other should be our passion.
Have a blessed week as you gladden God’s heart by dwelling in unity with your brethren in this church!
Your brother, Vicar & Archdeacon
Igein Isemede