Be of the Same Mind With One Another

Title:  BE OF THE SAME MIND WITH ONE ANOTHER

Text:  Rom. 15:5

Introduction:

            I’ve got a command for all of you to follow from now on.  “I want you all to do everything that I say, and only what I say to you; don’t follow anyone else’s directions.”                     What do you think of that?  You don’t like it?!  Well how else are we going to be of the same mind with one another?!!

            That would all be just find and dandy if I had the mind of Christ on every matter.  But I don’t always.  And I recon you don’t have his mind on matters 100% of the time either.  But, you know, sometimes we think we do, and so we push our position the point our unity is destroyed.  To illustrate my point, recall this.  There is only one Body of Christ, right?  But how many different churches do we have today as a result of not finding the mind of Christ in all things?!

            Folks, Satan’s primary strategy involves destroying unity among Christians!  He is the author of confusion, insensitivity, false doctrine, and church splits!                 His strategy can be defeated though.  He’s defeated by the power of “one-mindedness” in the Body of Christ  with the mind of Christ!  Read Text!

            John chapter 17 records one prayers of Christ.  Very few of His prayers were ever recorded for us.  But this is a significant prayer.  And the major thrust of the prayer is a request…that His disciples experience the same unity and oneness that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have.  Jesus knew in advance that Satan’s tactic would be to try to destroy unity in the Body of Christ.  John 17:20-21  Did you catch the thrust of that last phrase…so that the world may believe that You sent me.  If Satan can destroy our unity, he has destroyed the powerful witness to a lost world that Jesus is alive in the hearts of man!

            So, I’ve got some questions for us to bounce around, and some scriptures to look at.

1.      What was the testimony of the early church?  Acts 2:46-47;  4:32

2.      What is necessary in order to maintain unity?  Rom. 15:5-6  Have you ever thought that encouragement and perseverance as being critical ingredients to unity?

3.      Does unity come naturally?  Rom. 14:19;  Eph. 4:1-3

4.      Unity needs a focal point…something to which we are all striving to be one about.  What is it according to Phil. 1:27?

5.      Can a church function without unity?  Why not?

6.      What kind of witness does disunity say to the world?     What does the contrast of unity say to the world?

7.      Who has to work at unity if it is to exist in the church?

8.      What human factors are involved when there is no unity?

9.      What atmosphere is necessary for unity to exist in the Body of Christ?

10.  What do irritations and misunderstandings do to unity?

Over

Conclusion:    Let me draw some conclusions about our discussion.

1.      You and I can’t be one with the Father unless we have the mind of Christ through the help of the Holy Spirit!

2.      Our “selfish will” will destroy unity every time!

3.      You will never promote unity in the Body of Christ if you carelessly display immaturity!

4.      Unity will only prosper when we promote the mind of Christ, the Head of the Church…only when we agree on the will of God, not our own!

5.      We have an obligation to one another to help each other find the mind of Christ…even if it means laying aside our own pre-conceived opinions about things!

6.      Satan will test the chords of unity enough without our help.  We must fight HIM not EACH OTHER!

7.      The chords of unity will deteriorate without a healthy dose of LOVE spread all over them!

8.      Unity will never survive if we don’t have a lot of patience with one another…especially those who are new in the Lord…or are having a bad hair day!