by Randy Harp
Adapted from a sermon preached at the May 2010 Baptist Bible Fellowship International Meeting
Unity. Coaches need it on their sports teams. Parents desire it within their family. Pastors understand the importance of it in their church. In every area of life, unity is essential to reaching full potential.
I have experienced the need for unity in every ministry God has allowed me to be a part of. As a youth pastor, we had to unify the public school students with the Christian school students. In the church I helped start, we unified two congregations. In my most recent ministry, we had to rebuild unity after the church had gone through a difficult season of ministry.
UNITY IN THE BIBLE
The Bible speaks often on the subject of unity. In John 17, it states Jesus prayed for our unity. On the last night before Jesus went to the cross, he began to do what he now does eternally — intercede on our behalf. In verse 20, Jesus says, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” In those final moments of His earthly life, He could have prayed for strength. He could have prayed for support from others. But, what he felt was most important was to pray for unity. Jesus knew his followers could never make the impact on the world he intended unless the world saw the “oneness” in his followers.
Not only did Jesus pray for our unity, Paul also pleaded for our unity. In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul said, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Even with all the issues Paul addressed with the church in Corinth, he understood, just as Jesus did, that unity was essential for the early church to move forward.
Unity is important because anything with division cannot stand. Every good military strategist knows you divide and conquer. It was our enemy’s strategy in the Garden of Eden. It is still his strategy today in families. It is his strategy in churches. It is his strategy in networks of churches and fellowships. Jesus states in Luke 11:17, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”
WHAT UNITES US?
The psalmist wrote, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Does this mean we must always agree on everything? Does this mean every member of every church is going to look and act exactly alike? The obvious answer, “No!” So what is it that brings unity? For followers of Jesus Christ, it starts with the Gospel. At the foot of the cross, we are all on equal ground. Left to ourselves we are all helpless and hopeless. We must unify around the Gospel. Secondary to the Gospel, we must unify around sound biblical doctrine. For some, this may be the 20 Articles of Faith. For others it may be the Apostle’s Creed. Still others may limit their unity to the Baptist distinctives. Each person and each church must decide where they stand.
There is a third key component that brings unity that is oftentimes overlooked — one that applies to sports teams, families, churches, and even our Fellowship — unifying around a compelling vision. A compelling vision is knowing exactly what God wants, and aligning everything possible to see it accomplished. Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I understand vision here is referring to divine communication and not about setting individual or group goals. Divine communication is what brings unity. Unity comes from a vision received from God.
THE EXAMPLE OF NEHEMIAH
Have we received that kind of vision from God Himself? Yes. But before I share His vision that should ultimately bring unity, let’s look at a few biblical principles on vision. One of the best places to look is the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is, among other things, a great leadership manual. It teaches strategy, management, and people skills. It is a book on teamwork. Possibly most of all, it shows a compelling vision and a divine communication, coming to fruition.
The setting for the book of Nehemiah takes place roughly 500 years before the time of Christ, after the Babylonian captivity. As a result of the decree of Cyrus, the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland, only to find the city of Jerusalem in ruins. We are introduced to Nehemiah as the cupbearer to the king, a high position in the royal court. In the 20th year of the king’s reign, one of Nehemiah’s brothers who had been living in Judah visits him in Susa. Nehemiah asks about the surviving captive Jews and about Jerusalem. The answer, which bothered him greatly — survivors were in great distress and the wall of Jerusalem was broken down — birthed a passion for a compelling vision.
PRINCIPLES OF A COMPELLING VISION
The first biblical principle of a compelling vision — it starts with God and is received through prayer. The first thing Nehemiah did after hearing about the state of Jerusalem was fall on his face before God and pray. Nine times in the first chapter of Nehemiah the word pray or prayer is used. It has been said nothing significant for God ever happens apart from prayer. This must be where any vision begins.
God spoke to Nehemiah in that still, small voice and assured him of what could and should be done. He knew the walls needed rebuilding. This wasn’t just a dream Nehemiah dreamed up. It wasn’t even his idea. This was the vision given to him by God. Today, it is easy to dream up big plans for God and then ask Him to bless them. This is backwards. Our vision, whether for our family, our church, our Fellowship, or ourselves, must begin with a complete dependence on God and a commitment to listen to Him.
The second principle of a compelling vision — it goes through God’s appointed leader. Nehemiah completely accepted and believed in the vision given to Him by God, to the point he was willing to put his life on the line. In chapter two, Nehemiah is serving the king and the king notices he has a sad countenance and questions him. This terrified Nehemiah because it was a violation of the law to be sad in the king’s presence. Nehemiah confronts his fear and tells the king the vision God gave him.
God has always used His people to accomplish great things. One remarkable aspect of the book of Nehemiah is, there are no miracles involved. There are no angelic hosts coming down to help. It is just God’s man serving God’s people. A God-sized, compelling vision, however, is too great for just one person. There is no way Nehemiah could have accomplished it by himself.
A leader must be willing to stand alone, but he or she also realizes that a compelling vision gets others involved. After Nehemiah had been in Jerusalem for three days evaluating the situation, he gathered everyone together. He gave a stirring challenge to the citizens of Jerusalem sharing his vision. Immediately the people responded, “Let us rise up and build.” And they began the good work.
The entire third chapter gives a detailed work plan of where each family was involved in rebuilding the wall. Everyone was included: from the strongest to the weakest, from the richest to the poorest, from the most influential to the least influential. It is almost comical reading through verse eight where it states a man named Uzziel and a man named Hananiah were working beside each other. Uzziel was a rough and tough goldsmith. Hananiah’s occupation was a manufacturer of perfumes. Now that is a contrast. The similarity between these two men? Both were laborers. However, right next to them was a man named Rephaiah, which verse nine says was ruler over half of Jerusalem.
If you are going to cast a compelling vision, it must be one that gets everyone involved. The sports team has to go beyond the superstar. A church must include the older members and the younger members, the spiritually mature and the new Christians. In our Fellowship, this includes the large churches and the smaller churches, the older pastors and the younger pastors. And it must include both sides of the methodological spectrum.
A fourth principle of a compelling vision — it will face opposition. For Nehemiah, the opposition started even before work began. The verse following “let’s rise up and build” speaks of three local leaders who literally laughed at him and accused him of rebelling against the king.
So many visions have died before they even got started because of the opposition faced at the very beginning. Sometimes the opposition comes from the outside. Chapter four speaks of the Jews being mocked and ridiculed. Verses seven and eight speak of people from nearby areas coming against Jerusalem. They were literally surrounded. The vision seemed all but hopeless.
To make matters worse for Nehemiah, according to verse ten, people from within the camp were starting to bring opposition. Unfortunately, sometimes this is what kills a vision. A person can be convinced of God’s revelation and then allow someone close by to destroy that vision. Other times the opposition comes from distractions. One can know exactly what needs to be done but can easily lose focus.
When Nehemiah’s enemies realized they were not going to defeat him head-on, they tried a different approach. They tried to call him to a meeting. I am not opposed to meetings, but many compelling visions have died right on the conference room table. Nehemiah 6:3 gives Nehemiah’s reply, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” One other thought, seen through Nehemiah’s vision, opposition comes mostly right before and after great victories. If Nehemiah would have given up or given in, we likely would not even know his name today. When God gives a compelling vision, there is going to be opposition.
Just as a compelling vision must begin with God — a compelling vision ends with God and He gets the glory. My favorite part of the Nehemiah narrative is chapter six, verses 15-16, “So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.” God should be the one who ultimately gets the glory for what is accomplished in and through our lives. Our lives really are not about us at all. For we have been bought with a price and we must glorify God in all we say and in all we do.
So, now that we understand more about vision and how a compelling vision is what brings unity, the question we must ask ourselves is, “What is our vision?” What is the vision God has given to you, to me, to all of His followers? We know it as the Great Commission. Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” That is the foundational message Jesus gave us before His ascension. Your occupation does not matter — God’s vision for you is to help make disciples of Jesus Christ. This is the compelling vision that should unite us.
Does your family have that kind of a vision? Does your church have that kind of vision? Can our Fellowship of churches be described as having that kind of vision? The reality is, we cannot do it on our own. We need each other. We must unify together like never before to fulfill the vision Jesus left us. We say we believe the Great Commission. Let’s unify around it.