Topic: Unity and Quantum leap
Text: Psalm 133
Speaker: Pst Soji Oni

There are two qualifying adjectives in verse 1 of our text “behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in harmony” that is important to understand. When we say something is good, it means it has a high quality or a high standard; something desirable or approved. When something is pleasant, it means it gives a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment. Brethren dwelling together in harmony is like ointment/anointing flowing down and where the anointing flows, there is one unique thing that happens, it is usually a time of blessing.

We know we can do things individually and the things we do individually can produce results for us but let us note something in Deuteronomy 32:30, that the scripture says one will CHASE a thousand but two will put to FLIGHT ten thousand. Wherever there is unity, God takes you from the natural to the supernatural.

Jesus and his father operated based on this principle as we see in Jn 10:30 “I and my father are one”. Then in Jn 5:30 Jesus said “I can on my own do nothing….” Jesus never did anything here on earth on His own, He was always looking up to His father and agreeing with what His father will want Him to do at any particular point in time and that is why He never got ‘no’ for an answer. The only time Jesus insisted with the father was with the Syrophoenician woman and that was because hers was a case based on faith.

Another definition of faith that dropped in my heart as I read that scripture is that faith is simply agreeing and uniting with what God is saying. That is, when you unite your heart with what God is saying, it will produce the kind of result that is expected to be produced.

John 17:11 tells us that it is very important that the church is united because unity in the church produces amazing testimonies. There is power in unity.. The early church succeeded because unity was their backbone.

Acts 2:46-47 tells us that there must not be any divide amongst the church. According to 1st Corinthians 12, God gives diverse gifts to each member of the church as He wills but most times we tend to look down or some gifts and exalt others more forgetting that nobody has anything of his/her own except he be given by God. What God expects from us is to combine these gifting for the furtherance of the kingdom and for the profit of the entire body of Christ. It is indeed amazing the harmony we will produce if we blend our gifting as a church.

Amos 3:3 makes us to understand that the church can’t move forward if they are not united. God made a choice of coming back to man when Jesus left, He didn’t choose any other time than the day they were together in one accord, on the day of Pentecost, then He sent the Holy Spirit into their midst.

THINGS WE NEED TO ELIMINATE TO UPHOLD UNITY.

• Pride: whatever you are or will ever become, God made you and so you need to stay humble (1 Jn 2:16)
• Tribalism and Sectionalism: this shoudn’t be heard amongst us because we are all one in Christ. (Col3:11)
• Carnality: it is what brings envy, strife and division (1 Corinthians 3:3-7)
• Selfishness: you should never be self- centred and care only about that which profits you (Rom 12:10)
• Disobedience to God’s word: we must follow and obey scriptures when dealing with one another.
• Violation of people’s roles: we must learn to respect and not encroach into people’s roles in our homes and even in the church.
• Incompatibility: we must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Doing that would be endangering the unity of our home.
• Lack of willingness to sacrifice: we must be willing to make sacrifices for the advancement of the gospel and for the unity of the home.