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Unity Sermon Illustrations

unity sermon illustrations

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Unity Sermon Illustrations

[1] [2] Mr. J. A. Abbott, Vice-Pres ident of the L.A.D. Motors Corporation of Brooklyn, spoke to the em ployees of his organization on the subjec t of Loyalty and Cooperation. He closed his address with this ringing vers e from Kipling's Sec ond Jungle Book: `Now this is the Law of the Jungleas old and as true as the s ky; And the W olf that shall keep it m ay pros per, but the W olf that s hall break it m us t die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and bac k For the strength of the Pac k is the W olf, and the s trength of the W olf is the Pack.' Dale Carnegie (Ps. 133. 1-3; Acts 1. 14; 4. 31, 32; Phil. 1. 27)

Dw e lling Toge the r in Unity

E'en as the ointm ent whos e s weet odours blended From Aaron's head upon his beard des cended, And, falling thenc e, with ric h perfum e ran o'er The holy garb the High Pries t wore: So doth the unity that lives with brothers Share its bes t bles s ings and its joys with others . Rum phuyzen (Ps. 133; Gal. 3. 28; Eph. 4. 3)

Unity in Face of Ene m y

If there is one thing m ore than another required in the Church of God to-day, it is that we present a united front to the enem y. There is a great need of aggres sive unity. Just before the battle of Trafalgar, Nels on inquired of Adm iral Collingwood where his c aptain was , and learned that he and Captain Rotherham were not on good term s with eac h other. Sending a boat for the c aptain, he plac ed the hands of Collingwood and Rotherham together, pointed to the enem y's s hips, and earnes tly looking them both in the fac e, he uttered the s im ple words : 'Look, yonder is the enem y.' It was enough; dis agreem ents were forgotten, and victory was gained. Hy Pic kering (Phil. 1. 27; 4. 2) Ac hilles and Agam em non were fighting in the Trojan W ar agains t the Trojans. At the siege of Troy, Achilles, in a fit of jealous y, s at s ullen in his tent and refus ed to cooperate. This nearly lost the Greeks their vic tory over the Trojans . (1 Cor. 1. 10; Phil. 4. 2) On a hot s ultry night a s m all c om pany of Christians was vainly trying to be c om fortable on the front steps of a dwelling in a c ertain c ity in one of the W estern States of Am erica. Suddenly one of the party propos ed that they all go to the prayer m eeting at the `Firs t Church'. 'W hat put that notion into your head?' queried one of the party. 'Oh, it's so hot here, I can't stand it any longer. I thought if we went down there we would get cooled off. It is the coolest place I know.' A m em ber of an Eas t London c hurc h was as ked how they were getting on at the c hurc h of
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Unity Sermon Illustrations

whic h he was a m em ber. 'W e are quite united,' he replied, 'for we are all froz en together.' Alas! there are perhaps m any prayer m eetings c harac terized by this type of unity. (Acts 1. 14; 4. 31, 32; Jude 20)

Fam ily Unity

There is in South India a s tory of a wealthy landowner who had s om e very quarrelsom e s ons , always jealous of one another and always at s trife am ong them s elves. On his deathbed he c alled them and divided his property am ong them . Then he called for s om e s tic ks to be brought, nic ely tied into a bundle, and as ked them one by one, beginning at the eldes t, to break the bundle. So long as they were thus closely bound together, they c ould not break any of the s tic ks. Now,' he s aid to the eldest, 'untie the bundle, and try to break the s tic ks s ingly.' This was not difficult, and s oon eac h of the stic ks , broken one by one, lay before them in two piec es . The father thus taught them thatunited they stood: divided they fell. (Acts 2. 1, 2; 4. 31, 32; Phil. 1. 27; 2. 2) Com ing together is a beginning: keeping together is progres s: working together is succ es s in the Chris tian as s em bly for: As As As As As As As One One One One One One One Flock, we are gathered togetherJohn 10. 16 Fam ily, we dwell togetherPs . 133. 1 Body, we are joined togetherEph. 4. 16 Tem ple, we are fram ed togetherEph. 2. 21 Household, we are built together E ph. 2. 19, 20 Kingdom , we are to s trive togetherPhil. 1.27 Hierarc hy, we are rais ed up together Eph. 2. 6.

Maintaining Unity
In 1747 there aros e differenc es and dis unity am ong the Moravian brethren, a group of local c hurches whos e influenc e and m is s ionary effort were wides pread. Count Zinzendorf, with representative elders , arranged to hold a Conference at which the differing views on the subjec t of their controvers y m ight be aired and dis cus sed am icably am ong them s elves . The leaders c am esom e from long dis tanc es to the plac e at whic h the Conferenc e was to be held, arriving on the appointed day, eac h prepared to contest the view he supported and c onfident that it would receive the ac c eptanc e of the m ajority. They arrived about the m iddle of a week. In his wisdom Count Zinz endorf propos ed that they should s pend som e tim e over the W ord and in prayer, and s ugges ted a Bible Reading. The book c hosen was the first Epis tle of John, and they spent the rem aining days till the end of the week becom ing fam iliar with the teachings of that letter, and learning that one of its m ain less ons was 'love for all the brethren'. They agreed that on the firs t day of the week, like the disc iples in the early Churc h, they should c om e together to break bread, and in s o doing were rem inded that they, being m any, were 'one Body! ' The reading and s tudy of God's W ord and the fellows hip at the Lord's Supper had a very s alutary effect on all, and the res ult was that when, on Monday m orning, they c om m enc ed to exam ine the m atters on whic h they differed, their differences and disputes were quic kly s ettled, each bowing to the W ord of God and thus helping to 'keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace'. (1 Cor. 10. 16-17; Eph. 4. 3; Phil. 1. 10) [1] [2]
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Unity Sermon Illustrations

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