Hartland Winter Convocation 2019: That, Knowing the Time

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Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Phil Mills

Disunity in the Name of Unity

About 6 weeks ago, I received a message from my son-in-law, Eric.

He said, would you care to respond to a message on my Facebook page?

The message Eric wanted me to respond to was written by a good friend of mine.

And I haven't used Facebook for years, but the message from Eric made me curious.

I have a Facebook account, And so I had to look up what the password was, found the password, opened Facebook, sleuthed around until I found the Facebook discussion and read the statement that my friend had made on Eric's Facebook page.

When I read this statement and when I read it to you, please don't be critical of my friend.

And the Facebook entry I'm about to read simply reflects that confusion.

It is a statement in the middle of a vigorous discussion on a controversial topic.

And though the statement my friend made couldn't have been more wrong, it got me thinking about unity, and I hope it gets you thinking about unity as well.

I believe if you look at the doctrine, my friend is referring to our Seventh-day Adventist fundamental beliefs, They say that we do not discriminate according to gender.

My friend here is referring to fundamental Adventist belief number 14 on unity.

The problem many have, he continued, is that the policy of who can serve in certain positions, which the women's ordination issue is a policy in spite of those who want to make it a doctrinal issue, and that is not a statement to show a bias, but is the reality.

So the doctrine which has higher authority in our church says 1 thing, and policy says another.

Now, there are a lot of problems with my friend's statement, so I replied, in other words, our doctrine of unity justifies disunity.

Then since my friend was misinformed about Seventh-day Adventist doctrines, after waiting a few moments, I added another reply.

Our doctrines, particularly Fundamental Belief 14 on Unity, say nothing about discrimination according to gender.

It does not use the term discriminate or any of its cognates.

Such an argument would make the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of unity teach that it is fine for a male to marry another male if we don't discriminate according to gender." His response was quick.

That wouldn't be in harmony with number 23.

He was referring to Doctrine 23 about marriage and family.

I replied, but then you'd have doctrine against doctrine.

Would we choose which 1 of those 2 conflicting beliefs we accept?" To this statement, he made no reply.

It comes as a surprise to many to see our fundamental belief on unity being used as a basis for disunity.

But as you can see in this Facebook exchange, This argument is being made by some to justify the rejection of world church decisions.

And as irrational as this argument may be, it's being adopted and repeated.

Right at this time, God who foresaw all things had the church engaged worldwide in a study of unity last quarter.

Despite this study, it should be obvious that the biblical doctrine of unity is poorly understood by some.

Perhaps there is no more important or timely topic we could study together as a church family.

But before we examine God's instruction on the topic of unity, we should pray.

Father in heaven, I pray that your Holy Spirit will descend today.

You've said that at our convocations that's a time for your Holy Spirit to come.

You've said that It won't just come because we're assembled, but in response to a request.

And I believe every 1 of us here this morning wants the outpouring of the Spirit.

We pray that this morning that may happen.

We thank you for hearing and answering this prayer in Christ's name.

As a physician, I'm particularly interested in and impressed with how the Bible compares the church to a human body.

Paul says, For as the body is 1 and hath many members, and all the members of that 1 body, being many, are 1 body, so also is Christ.

The thumb is not the eye, the ear is not the nose.

I like how my favorite commentary on the book of Acts explains Christian unity.

Speaking of the disciples, the author says, in order successfully to carry forward the work to which they have been called, these men differing in natural characteristics and in habits of life.

Let's hit the pause button right there for a moment.

We need to analyze this statement a little bit.

Trees are naturally different than flowers.

Rocks are naturally different from water.

Is there a natural difference between a Labrador retriever and a Chihuahua?

But this quotation is referring to people.

What are differing natural characteristics of people?

Well, there's tall people, there's short people, there's quiet people, there's verbal people, Shy, extroverted, male, female, young, and old.

What is the difference between a natural characteristic and a habit of life?

We develop them from our parents, our environment, our choices.

And after mentioning the unique differences between individuals, the quote continues by showing the unity that God designed should exist.

In order successfully to carry forward the work to which they have been called, these men, differing in natural characteristics and in habits of life, needed to come into unity of Feeling, unity of thought, unity of action.

Let's repeat those 3 areas of unity together.

Is God satisfied with a near outward unity of action where there is disunity in feeling and thought I Remember going to church 1 Sabbath and seeing a couple that came to the church and they seemed very happy but later that week they announced a divorce.

Is that unity because they were together smiling in church?

Unity of feeling, thought, and action is an organic unity and it changes the individuals completely.

God desires church to be something different, far different, than separate people who come together 1 or more times a year.

In chemistry, we did experiments with oxygen, an element that is essential for life.

Hydrogen too is a gas around us that's odorless and invisible.

You can mix them together, but they still remain separate.

But when they are organically united, together they become something completely different than the 2 separate gases.

This organic unity requires an external power.

They cannot join together in this organic unity by themselves alone.

However, once united, They're bonded together by strong forces and it makes it very difficult to pull them apart.

And this is the organic unity that God desires for His people.

Something different than simply the separate groups, separate individuals mixing, but something that makes them into a different substance altogether in unity.

This unity, this organic unity of thought, feeling, thought, and action, It was, read it with me, Christ's object to secure.

To this end, he sought to bring them into unity with himself.

This is the catalyst that makes this organic unity happen.

And how does God bring this kind of unity into the church, bringing the individual members into harmony with himself, harmony with Christ.

Notice how this quote gives us an equation for a powerful church witness, a successful church witness, she says, in order for them to be successful.

Diversity in our individual God-given innate characteristics, diversity in our acquired habits, Combined with a unity of feeling, thought, and action, will bring a powerful church witness, explosive evangelistic growth.

Do we meet the first criteria here in this room?

Do we have a group of people with differing innate abilities and acquired habits?

We are halfway to a powerful, area-shaking, world-impacting success in carrying forward God's work.

But do we have a group here this morning that is completely united in feeling, thought, and action?

Generally, churches are a mixture of people.

Disunity in the Name of Unity

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