Welcome to the preaching ministry of Tri-City Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona. Our desire is that God would be magnified through the preaching of His Word, and that Christians would be challenged, strengthened, and edified in their personal walk with Christ. I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 4. the chapter from which the words of the song that we just sang come, that unity, the oneness that there is in Christ, that as we have been looking in Ephesians on the viewing the church through spiritual eyes, This morning we're looking at the area of unity. I think it's interesting on the weekend when our nation celebrates our independence and we speak of the unity that we have as the United States. And yet often if we look at what's actually going on in our country, there is certainly not unity. There are different agendas. There are different perspectives. There's being torn apart by those aspects. And yet this isn't new. Disunity comes when there is that pride, when there's a desire to promote one's agenda. Almost 90 years ago, Charles Leslie Thrasher painted a picture that appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. It's a picture of a woman and the butcher. Both are peering very intently at the scale to determine how much the poultry that she is purchasing weighs. And as their gaze is upward, if you look down, you notice that the butcher has his finger on the scale pushing down. The woman has her finger under the scale pushing up. The picture was entitled, Tipping the Scales. It's actually a very good negative illustration of the point that is brought out in this passage of what it means to walk worthy. Last week we looked at Ephesians 4 verse 1 and I mentioned to you that the idea of a worthy walk is the balanced scale. that it is equal, that it is fair. A worthy walk is that when a believer understands what God has done, that we walk in a way that accurately represents that. That the scale is balanced, not in earning or repaying what we have in Christ, but reflecting what we have received. We actually get our English word axiom from the Greek word that is used here in Ephesians 4.1 for walking worthy. It speaks of that which is self-evident. It's established proof. And what I want us to consider this morning is God's glory in the unity of the church. The first aspect that we see of our worthy walk is seen in that unity that we have in Christ. The shift is away from the doctrinal section of the letter to the application. The truth and practice go together. What we believe will determine what we behave, how we behave. And last week, we got an overview of really the last three chapters of this book, where chapters one through three of Ephesians describe the believer's wealth in Christ. Chapters four through six define the believer's walk in Christ. So we see what God has done for us in Christ, the wealth that we have because of that, and then it ought to impact how we walk. And the first aspect of our walk that is worthy is seen in the unity that we have with other believers, and very specifically in the local church. And the first 16 verses of chapter 4 are going to cover that. Now we're not going to look at all of those this morning, we're going to look at the first three, but I want us to read the first six because it provides a little bit more of the immediate context Not just the graces that we need for unity, but also the ground that we have for our unity. And that's what we see in verses 4 through 6. If you have your Bibles open, follow with me as I begin reading in verse 1, Ephesians 4. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. there is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all let's look to the lord in prayer as we look into this passage father as we look into your word We pray that our hearts would be receptive to the truth, that as we consider the unity that has been created by the Holy Spirit through Christ alone, that we would cultivate that in our own personal lives and in our ministry, that the love we have for one another would be a testimony that we are your disciples. We pray that we would apply your word personally. We thank you for giving us your word. In Christ's name, amen. What I want us to see in this passage this morning is that God is glorified in the church when we relate to one another in a spirit of unity. These verses are bringing that out, that a worthy walk, that of those who are in Christ will be seen in a local church. And it's more than just exposing it. The actual, the local church is the environment where we are equipped. I mentioned that when I read the first three chapters and it ends with God being glorified and I think about, okay, how should that apply to me? My first thought would be, okay, I need to really focus on my Bible study. I need to grow in my prayer life. I need to make sure I'm developing the fruit of the Spirit, and yet it's those fruit of the Spirit, those aspects of that Spirit's fruit that are uncovered in how we walk with one another. The first thing that is brought out when we get to the chapters that really give us the imperatives, the commands, the instruction, begins with our relationships with one another. Because it's in this environment with one another that we are equipped in this and that we come to spiritual maturity. And you'll see that in the later verses in this chapter. And again, I want to make it very clear, when we talk about our worthy walk, we're not talking about gaining acceptance with God, but rather evidencing the change of life that came by the grace of God. Chapter 2 brought this out very clearly back in chapter 2 verse 8 It says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves It is the gift of God. It's not of works lest anyone should boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them and So we are simply walking worthy based on what God has prepared for us to do. What I want us to see first of all are the characteristics of a Christ-honoring unity. The opening verses speak of this, and it's based on what Christ has done that we walk in unity. Why? Because chapter two, verse 14 says, Christ himself is our peace. This peace isn't just with God, because as we considered back in chapter two, the context of that was peace with others, as Jews and Gentiles are brought together and placed into the same family. Well, that can be difficult. If we're honest, we'll say there are some people that tend to get on our nerves. And as I've said before, yes, and we tend to be that for somebody else. But I wonder if that's not why Paul, the Holy Spirit guides him to remind them that he is the prisoner of the Lord. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord. No one can say that Paul had it easy. He's not at the beach sipping lemonade and sending a postcard and saying, y'all play nice with each other. That's not what's taking place. He's not relaxing in the cabin in the woods. He's restrained under Roman incarceration. And so he knows what it is to face difficulty and he's reminding his readers there is a price to be paid for serving the Lord. We have been a blessed people in our country and still are that we can worship freely, that we can gather openly and not have to worry about the ramifications or repercussions of that. But that could change very quickly. as biblical thinking on positions like gender and marriage and things like that are no longer popular. And so Paul is saying, to live godly, there's gonna be a price to pay. The worthy walk of unity in Christ is going to be contrary to our fleshly impulses and instincts and our worldly ideology. Selfish people will struggle to cultivate spiritual unity. because our flesh rebels against that. So what is necessary for this unity? And we find in this passage three virtues that are mentioned that will facilitate unity, and these are indicated by two prepositional phrases in verse two. They begin with the word with. With all longsuffering and gentleness, with, or with lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering. And then that long-suffering is explained, bearing with one another in love. And so we see the immediate context is the local church, but the application of these virtues impacts every area of our lives and all of our relationships. It will impact our home, our marriage, our relationships, our work situations. And the lack of these virtues are gonna cause problems in all of these areas. So the first thing that we see, the first characteristic is we are to be humble. The word lowliness, the word is based on two Greek words that speak of having a low view of oneself. Philippians chapter 2 verse 3 says, let nothing be done through strife or through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Lowliness in that verse is contrasted to selfish ambition, self-seeking, demanding your own way, the conceited boasting. In 1 Peter 5.5, it calls us to be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So the lowliness of mind, and it's not necessarily thinking of ourselves as less, it's really the idea of thinking less of ourselves. is thinking of others. Because, let's face it, nobody thinks more about me than I do. And nobody thinks more about you than you do. And the idea of lowliness, or being humble, is thinking of others. Now, realize, in the first century, when Paul is writing this, in the Greek and Roman world, the idea of humility was not even considered a virtue, it was considered a vice. It was viewed as a weakness. It was a derogatory term. If you referred to somebody as being humble, it was speaking down on them. That was a term that would describe slaves. And now Paul is saying, the Holy Spirit is directing us, this is a characteristic that we're to have. See, the Greco-Roman world admired the person who was self-sufficient, self-confident, and self-assertive. And our culture is not much different than that. Look out for number one. Stand up for your rights. Don't let anybody push you around. You know, when we read through Ephesians and we come to things that we're to put off and the behaviors of the world, the immorality and the wickedness, and we get it as Christians, that's a lifestyle. Those actions are something we shouldn't be involved in. But sometimes it's easy to adopt the attitudes of our world. that we have to be exerting ourselves in everything. I mean, talk radio elevates every person's opinion and right to be heard. Social media urges you to share what's on your mind. Even supposed news articles quickly deteriorate into opinion pieces because they have their comment sections. And realize not all opinions are equal. You know, if you're looking at social media for medical help, you're probably going to be in trouble. Because the input of a trained doctor is going to be much more valuable than a freshman taking biology 101. But both are given equal access on social media, and truthfully, the doctor probably has less time to interact. And so thus, less presence. And so it's important for us to understand, just because somebody has an opinion doesn't make it as valuable, especially when it contradicts the Word of God. Our first question needs to be, what does God say? Why does the Holy Spirit begin with humility? Well, consider the audience that is receiving this letter. If you remember back when we read in chapter two, Paul is saying that there are Jews and Gentiles being brought together. The Gentiles who were far off and the Jews who are near are now put into one body, one family. How do you think that family reunion is gonna go? Without the Holy Spirit, it's not going well. I mean, that's not the basis for a peaceful family reunion. Even families that have very similar family trees and geographic locations sometimes struggle to get beyond the superficial. They get together for a family reunion and a couple of hours is about all they can handle. It's gone well, but we're at the end. See you next year or in 10 years or we'll send a Christmas card, maybe. It's very superficial. And in this context, the Jews would have considered themselves to be superior because they had the law. They had the covenant promises. They had the heritage. They had all of this going for them, and they were conscientious about things that Gentiles, it wouldn't even touch their radar. And so they would look down on them. And now you've got Gentiles who really didn't think a whole lot of the Jews. And in that day, as the Roman government is ruling, and so the Jews don't have that standing, and now they've been brought together in one family. They've been given equal access through Jesus Christ. That his blood paved the way. And so Paul is saying, it starts with humility. See, when we're born again, we're born into the family of God. We call Him Father. We are in Christ, and we're to display the love and the forgiveness that the Father, in His mercy and compassion, has showed to us. We're to show the humility of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. We're family. We're a spiritual family. And remember, folks, our spiritual family will outlast our physical family. So it's important we don't make our physical families our idol. And so it begins with humility. Proverbs speaks of the danger. Proverbs 13, 10 says, by pride comes nothing but strife. Pride breeds disunity. It breeds strife. It breeds problems. It expects to be heard. It expects to be heeded. It always has to have its voice heard. It's got its opinion. Pride is what demands the last word. You know, it's obvious in children. You know, the did not, did to, did not, did to. And it's like, just stop. But as adults, we do the same thing. We're just, we have more finesse and subtlety. And then pride likes to punish those who disagree. Pouting, sulking, griping, complaining, ignoring them. You know, the silent treatment. Refusing to look, refusing to speak. Where does that come from? Somebody has referred to the silent treatment as bloodless murder. I'll treat you like you don't exist. Show what it would be like if you were dead. You know, folks, we have to realize those types of reactions are more than just immature, they're ungodly. They fail to cultivate unity. Unity necessitates coming, keeping my feelings in check, and operating by biblical principle, the mind of Christ. And the truth is, what I find is too often hurt feelings are nothing more than injured pride. So be humble. To have unity, it's gonna be characterized by this, that we would strive to be that humble person. The second one is be gentle. And we see here, so, with all lowliness and gentleness, with humility and gentleness, it's the same Greek word that we read a few moments ago back in Colossians 3, verse 12, that is translated meekness. It's a word that speaks of an element of restraint, that it's not weakness, as often is thought, well, meekness is weakness. No, it's strength under control. I've shared the illustration before. It's like me wrestling with my grandkids. Right now, they're young enough that if I wrestle with them, I have to control. I remember doing it with my kids, and then they got older, and it's like, okay, they're getting stronger, they're getting bigger. But it's that strength under control. It carries the idea of keeping, again, our emotions in check, keeping ourselves in check. It doesn't mean that we can't get angry. In fact, a person who can never get angry is a person who's not meek. They're actually weak. That's not gentleness. That's passivity. But we have to be able to get angry in the right way at the right time and for the right reason. Think of a well-trained dog. a guard dog that is always angry at his master's enemies, but never angry with his master's friends. Well, what does God get angry at? Is that what angers us, or is it selfish? See, godly anger is motivated by what angers God. It's controlled by the Holy Spirit, and gentleness is an aspect of the Spirit's fruit. The idea of gentle is the opposite of harsh, or rude, or... And so how do we do in our conversation? Husbands, are we gentle in how we talk to our wives? Moms, are you gentle in how you talk to your children? And it doesn't mean you don't correct, and it doesn't mean we don't do it with firmness. But what's the characteristic of our life? And if we start in our home, then we can see how will we do in the church setting? And I think linking humble and gentle together, the humility and gentleness, provides that picture of control and strength. That we can allow somebody else to be wrong without always having to correct them. Can we overlook inconsequential mistakes without shining the light on those? And please understand, I'm not saying that accuracy isn't important, but I'm saying attitude is more important. And I appreciate God's patience with me, that I'm not getting smacked every misstep, every misword, every idle thought. But as you look at this passage, notice the little word that precedes these. It says, with all lowliness and gentleness. You know, wouldn't it be easier if it just said with some? You know, sometimes show humility, hey, you know, I remember I marked it on my calendar, it was a year ago. No, it's all humble, all humility, all gentleness. And it's important because these are the attributes that ought to be evident in our daily walk, that we're growing in Christlikeness. Because harsh people don't bring unity. Proud people don't bring unity. And then the third aspect that we see is we're to be patient with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love. The idea of long-suffering is rather than short in our suffering. Rather than being short-tempered, we're long-tempered, willing to suffer longer. It means not giving up. even when there's no immediate results. And again, this is a characteristic of God. Romans 2, verse 4 speaks of God's patience and longsuffering, saying, don't you know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? God's patience is for the purpose of repentance. Now, it's interesting, in reading the Psalms, it says, God tells Israel, you thought because I didn't respond that I was like you. He said, no, I was being patient, and you're going to be judged because you presumed on God's patience. But patience is carried out in the spirit of bearing with one another in love, as it says here. And I think that's an important aspect, because sometimes they say, okay, I can put up with this for a while. I'll grit my teeth until I can get away, or until circumstances change. I'll tolerate. No, it means I'm doing it in love. the disagreements, the peculiarities, the idiosyncrasies, that the Spirit is put up with that because of the love for that person, because of the love of Christ. I think for our college students, this is where dorm life is a great learning environment. Because you don't always get to pick your roommates, and some of them come with some strange ideas. And don't look at them right now. But do we put up with them in love? Do we respond in love? Do we treat annoying people like God in Christ treated us? We're doing a study in our evening service on the 12 apostles, the call, and then we're gonna look at their call this evening. But as I've looked at that, as I've been studying, and reading their responses, sometimes I think, I wonder how many of those facepalm moments Jesus had with them. How many eye rolls, like, seriously? And yet His patience. And that's what we're to show. Well, how can you have unity when you see things differently? How can you have unity when you have different personalities? And we have that unity by having one purpose, one passion, one commitment, and that's really what verses four through six are gonna develop further. But we also see then that there's a commitment to Christ honoring unity, and that's the second thing that I want us to see this morning. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The first thing that we see here is that we have to be diligent. Unity needs cultivation. We don't create it. It's the unity of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit creates the unity. But we have to cultivate it. We have to protect it. We have to strive to keep it. We're to make every effort, be diligent, endeavoring. The word that's used here in verse 3 is the same word that's used in 2 Timothy 2.15, a very familiar verse for those who work in Awana. Be diligent, to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing or accurately handling the word of truth. So show diligence as a worker, okay? It means work hard. That's what diligence means. It means exert an effort to show an intense motivation to keep that unity. You know, that's often not the tendency in our culture. Our culture has the tendency, if we have a problem, walk away. Just leave it. And often that's the case in churches. But to me, unity is the spiritual commitment to spiritual issues. It's the realization we're a spiritual family, we're one body, we're one temple in Christ. And the peace is that clasp, that hook, that the Spirit has created to bring us together. And Satan is gonna work to undo it. And so we have to be diligent. And I would say the second thing we have to do is we have to be prudent. That unity needs care. It means that we have to walk, as we'll see later, walk in wisdom. But there are several aspects of this that I think take place that show that prudence, that carefulness. The first one is we need to be characterized by honesty. Ephesians 4, verse 15 speaks of this. Speaking the truth in love. We may grow up in all things into him who is the head, even Christ. So we're growing together, how? By speaking the truth, but in the spirit of love. And we've already seen that, that bearing with one another in love. So it means that we're going to show that. There's the warning given in the Old Testament. Ezekiel gives a warning about those who would say, and they were actually the prophets, that would say everything was all right when it wasn't. In Ezekiel 13, verse 10, it says, they have seduced my people, saying, peace, and there is no peace. See, they pretended everything was fine. That superficial peace, you know, everything's fine, there's no problem. And the illustration that follows in Ezekiel is about fixing a building. There are building problems, but instead of actually dealing with the structural issues, they just plaster over it, they just hide them. They just put a new coat of paint on it. And this is what Ezekiel 13 is discussing and says that they've covered up the problems and then the storm comes and the building collapses. Jeremiah 6.14 uses a similar statement but a different picture. The superficiality that is mentioned in Jeremiah is dressing a wound. saying peace, peace, and pretending everything is okay when it's not. It's like just putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Like, no, there's a much greater problem here. That needs to be cleaned out. It needs to be addressed and not just covered up. It's like, well, what's wrong? Well, nothing. Well, it seems like something's wrong. Well, you should know. Okay, but I don't. Well, I'm not telling you. Okay, speak the truth in love. We have to be honest because we're seeking to guard that unity. The second is we have to be willing to risk pain. Not only do we have to be characterized by honesty, we have to realize that sometimes this is hard. And we don't like conflict. And frankly, if you do like conflict, that's another problem. And we don't enjoy that. And so often we try to avoid it. But James talks about the difference between a biblical attitude of wisdom and a fleshly attitude of wisdom. It says, who is wise and understanding among you, let him show by good conduct his works that are done in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. Wisdom does not descend from above. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. And then it goes on and says, for where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Proverbs, only by pride comes contention. Verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. It's the contrast to what Ezekiel and Jeremiah were saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. When they're saying peace, but they're ignoring the problems, the wisdom from above is seeking to get true peace. And in the short term, it's easier to ignore problems. But when the real storms come, that's when the damage is done. And recognizing that this is the job of every one of us, to be diligent. that we would strive to reap the fruit of righteousness that is sown in godly wisdom and peace. That's our goal. Why? Because Christ will be honored. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples, because we love one another. The third thing, though, is we're to be invested personally. Romans 12, 18 says, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. We're to do our part personally, as far as it lies within my responsibility and ability to do that. Now, there are some people, it's really impossible to be at peace with. Because they're not at peace with God, they're not at peace with themselves, they're not gonna be at peace with anybody else. But don't let it be our fault that we're striving to be personally invested. The fourth one is discerning of those who are contentious. In Romans 16, 17, it says, now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, obstacles and hindrances, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them. And understand, this is being written to a local church in Rome. So how do you spot them? Well, often they're the ones who go to people that aren't part of the problem or the solution. They're more than willing to share information, but not with the ones who can actually do something about it. Sometimes it's asking for opinion. Well, did you hear what she said? Do you agree with how he handled this? Do you think, well, have they gone to them? They fail to go to the person, or if they do, then they just present their side of the story. Folks, realize there's always at least two sides to every story. And Proverbs says that the person who makes their decision by only hearing one side, one party, is not wise. Don't get suckered into the sphere of stupidity. It's not wise. So how do we respond to somebody like that? Well, I just need to let them vent, be that sympathetic ear that says, no, actually, avoid them. Well, that doesn't sound very nice. That's not very loving. Well, it depends on whether we love the body and the unity created by the Holy Spirit more than a personal relationship. with someone who's walking contrary to what the Bible says. And part of it is that correcting so that they'll come back to the right place. That's our desire. But we have to have a biblical definition of unity and understand that Satan wants to divide. And please understand, this is where we are in the book. I don't know of problems. I would much rather be proactive in preaching than reactive. But we always have to be on guard because Satan would like nothing better than to destroy the unity of Christ's body. And that's why we always have to be on guard. And we can't be naive. I used to think, well, people who know me won't believe the false statements. You know, Proverbs 18.8 says the words of a tale bearer, a gossip, are tasty trifles. There's something delicious to our flesh about hearing of somebody else's problems or faults or shortcomings. In fact, Proverbs 26.20 says where there is no wood, the fire goes out. and where there is no tailbearer, the strife ceases. So we have to be discerning of those who would be contentious, and then we have to strive to solve problems in a way that will honor the Lord. So the fifth one is be biblical in your approach to situations. And we see this in Matthew chapter 18. We're given the layout, the context in Matthew 18. The first five verses talk about the attitude of humility. And then there's a warning against causing others to sin and sinning yourself in verses six through 10. And then it's followed by the attitude of restoration, of seeking the lost in verses 10 through 14. And then it moves to dealing with someone who sins against you. Notice what it says in verse 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if you will refuse to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses to hear the church, let him be unto you like a heathen and a tax collector." So what are we to do? Well, it says, go to him alone. Well, there's lots of exceptions to that, right? You know, if a teacher offends a college student, then the student should go to other students. If a teacher does something against my child in school, then I should go to other parents, right? No, I really ought to just go to social media and put up some passive-aggressive post and get lots of people to like it when they don't actually know what's going on. Maybe I should just share it as a prayer request with my 25 closest friends. No, it says go to him alone. Yeah, but pastor, you don't understand. They won't listen to me. You know, that's a good point. I wonder if Jesus thought of that. Oh, verse 16. But if he will not hear. What if he won't listen? Well, then we take somebody else. And now you've got an objective person to hear both sides. Maybe our side isn't quite as accurate as we thought. Maybe there really is a problem. So they can establish that, but now we've got others involved. Why? Because we're seeking to solve things in a way that will bring glory to God and protect the unity. And if we don't do that, either we don't trust God or his word, or we don't think he's gonna give us the strength to do something this difficult. And that's why it's so important that we do, that we follow these steps, these five things, that we be characterized by honesty. that we'd be seeking to recognize that and showing these, and if you could put that list up, so we've just got the full list right there, so you can see these again, that in our relationships, this is what we're seeking to do. Now, you know, we've covered this in other contexts, but when there are difficult situations, when we're dealing with, there are good questions to ask, and I'm not gonna develop these this morning, but I've given them to you before. We need to ask, do I have the facts right? You know, and Proverbs talks about this. Should love hide it? Is this really sin? Or is it just something that irks me? Well, that's when the spirit of love that I'm long-suffering, is my timing right? Is my attitude right? Well, you know, I'm gonna speak the truth, yes, but is it gonna be in the spirit of love? Are my words loving? And sometimes, well, I told them what they needed to hear. Yes, but was my spirit. Because both of those speak the truth in love. It's not pick one or the other. We have to do it together. And then we really need to ask, have I asked the Lord for help? Sometimes it's easier to go to others and ask for their help and their input. Have I prayed about it? And the goal of all of this is that unity. Because God is glorified in the unity of our church. We have great unit here at Tri-City Baptist Church. And I hear from guests, they talk about how welcoming and how encouraged they are when they come. Folks, that's why we have to guard this, because Satan would love to break it up. And it can happen over the smallest things. Dr. Dwight Pentecost, who is pastor, professor, author, he wrote the book, Things to Come, I mentioned during our study of end times, he told of a church split that was so serious that both sides filed lawsuits against the others. And as the court case developed, as the proceedings unfolded, it was learned that the conflict in the church began at a church dinner, when one of the church leaders received a smaller slice of ham than the child sitting next to him. Like, seriously? Bacon, I might understand, but no. I'm thinking, how foolish. A church split over the size of a piece of ham. I mean, talk about a direct violation of Romans 14, verse 20. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. But I suspect that the roots went much deeper. That was simply the thing that brought it to a head. The real issue was there was a lack of humility, a lack of gentleness, a lack of patience. There certainly wasn't a commitment endeavoring to guard the unity of the Spirit. So what about us? As I said, I think this is the testimony of Tri-City. I think we have that. Can there be problems? Absolutely. But what about us individually? Are we characterized by humility and gentleness? By patience? And if we think we've got it down, would our spouse, our children, our co-workers agree with our opinion of ourselves? Are you characterized by guarding the unity of the church? Because God is glorified in the church when we relate in such a way that he is honored through our unity. It's not a unity that we create, it's created by the Spirit, but each one of us has a responsibility to cultivate it. If you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you're in that body. And if you haven't, you can have peace with God through Jesus Christ. If you will turn from your sin and trust in the finished work of Christ alone. Let's pray together.