Unity

[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the weekday podcast of Sugar Hill Church, where we desire to help you know God and discover your purpose, whether you're exercising, driving, meditating, or just hanging out while you tune in with us today. Thanks. We hope these next five minutes help you feel encouraged and inspired for your day. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Pastor Chuck Allen here with another weekday podcast where I want to talk about why the church is designed to be unified, why it's supposed to be a place of unity. You know, when we talk about something that's been dividing people for centuries, differences, difference of thought, difference of ideology, difference of theology, all the many ologies. We can see divisions in everything, politics, families, churches. We see it in local government, we see it in education. We see it everywhere. I mean, we are unique and different people. God did not create us where we would just all easily just get along. That's why Jesus came and said, hey, I want to give you a whole new commandment. Love one another. Because he knew how difficult this was. Jesus, when he establishes his church, had something so radically in mind that was different. It was fresh. It was something that wasn't built around rules and laws, but built around love and grace. It wasn't built around denominations and labels. It was simply built around him. He then gave us his gospels and the word of God to give us direction on what that church was supposed to be. Somehow, some way, we just lost sight of that. Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10:16, when he says, when we bless the cup at the Lord's table, he's speaking about communion here. Aren't we sharing in the blood of Christ. Now, remember, metaphorical teaching, right? This picture of the wine or juice is a picture of Christ's blood shed for us. He goes on and says, and when we break the bread, aren't we sharing the body of Christ? Again, metaphorical teaching. The juice or wine being the shed blood of Christ, the crackers or bread being the picture of Jesus broken body, blessed and broken for our sake. And then he goes on and says, and though we are many now, that phrase is not just about more people. It's about more uniquely different people. It almost could say, and though we're all just a little bit weird, we'll all eat from one loaf of bread, meaning Christ the center, showing that we are one body. And yet here in America, we tend to fight more with people who disagree on such little things. But we can't seem to come together and agree on the one big thing which is Jesus. One body, one loaf, one savior. But you look around today and we see so much division. Communion ought to remind us that we are united in Christ Jesus. The same grace that saved you, saved me. The same sacrifice that redeemed me, redeemed you. And that ought to bring us together, not pull us apart. If anything, it ought to help us keep the main thing. The main thing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way. The more genuine and deeper our community becomes, the more everything else between between us should recede, the more clearly and purely Jesus the Christ and his work will become. The one and only thing that is vital between us is Him. My friend, listen. Don't allow Satan to speak division into your soul today. Make sure you're sitting on the solid rock of Jesus and His words. So today let's lay aside our preferences and differences, and let's remember that we're bound together by something far greater than anything that could divide us. And let's come to the Lord's table with hearts full of unity, hearts full of grace, and hearts that are bound by love. God bless you, friend. Thanks so much for joining me on today's Weekday podcast. [00:04:11] Speaker A: Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. Our prayer is that the encouragement you just heard would help you live more like Jesus today. Today we would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday at 9, 15 and 11. And we're always streaming live at Live Sugarhill Church. Thanks again for joining us today. As always, if today's message encouraged you share it with friends and family by tapping the share button. Have an awesome day.