United we stand

20 Jul 25 Sermon

   I don’t know if have ever visited our church on a Sunday and while you were in the garden or out in the street, you heard a low sounding rumble in the background. Maybe you assumed it was some sort of engine on the main road. Actually the sound you are hearing is the sound of an animal, it’s the sound of the lions roaring up on Corstorphine Hill in Edinburgh Zoo. What a powerful sound- it can be heard all over the area. The Asiatic lions in the Zoo, I’m glad they are safely behind high fences.

Aesop the 8^th Century BC Greek story teller tells a story about a lion. A lion used to prowl about a field in which four oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they started quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon finished off all four.

Its believed that from this fable by Aesop comes the English saying- 

‘United we stand, divided we fall’ . It means that if individuals work on their own instead of as a team, they are each doomed to fail and will all be defeated.

Working together as a team can be much more effective than separately.

Jesus said the same thing in Mark 3:24&25; ‘If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.’

Unity is powerful. Things happen when there is unity.

It is said that the British ruled the subcontinent of India by dividing and conquering. But when a national leader – Mahatma Ghandi emerged, and unified the country, British rule ended. 

And so we are coming together in unity. For the past 3.5 years we have had a system where we have had two congregations in one church. And that worked -up to a point. But the two halves of the church didn’t see much of each other and didn’t really get to know or co-operate with each other very closely. It sometimes felt like we had two churches in one building. 

Now we are coming together in a deeper way, joining our two church services, two congregations into one.

Because we will all see each other every week. It will make it easier for people from all parts of the church to get to know each other, build friendships with each other and work together. 

Last Autumn, elder Tom got three words just come into his mind- we believe it was a message from the Lord. The words were;

1. Communication

2. Integration 

3, Preservation

In other words if we as a church can communicate well with one another, and if we can integrate, then we will be preserved as a church. What we are building here will not fall, but will stand. 

Coming together every Sunday we will communicate and integrate and we will stand, we can much better face the lion together.

A lets not forget that the Bible talking about our enemy the devil being like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8).  

But unity takes effort and hard work. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4;’Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.’ We are going to have to work at keeping the bond of peace in our church, keeping the unity of the Spirit. Jealousy can creep in. Resentment at others can come in. Words can be said which sting and which divide. Pride can rise up and we can get feelings of competition towards one another because they are getting attention and we aren’t and so on. And so we will need to work against these attitudes. The way to keep unity is to follow Paul’s words also in Ephesians 4 ‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.’

Keeping church unity is a test of our character. Of how well our Christian character has developed, how well the character of Christ has been formed in us. The humility, the gentleness, the patience, the forbearance of Christ. 

The coming together of the two congregations is like a marriage. Two are becoming one. And in any marriage to work, there must be give and take, marriage is great, (so I am told) but it takes a bit of effort. Marriage takes humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance. 

Both parties have to compromise and change in a marriage. 

Let me remind you of this story, some of you may remember it, but it bears repeating. David Pawson the late Baptist Bible teacher was preaching in Islington, London and a young couple came up to him afterwards. They just said, “David, if you don’t help us we’re going to get divorced,” which is quite a challenge. 

He said, “Look, I’ve got to leave in five minutes.” Again they said, “You’ve got to help us or we’re going to get divorced.” “How long have you been married?” I asked “Three months!” “You’re getting divorced after three months?” “Yes.” “Do you love each other?” He asked. “We thought we did.” “Do you love the Lord?” “Yes, we both do.” “Well, how on earth did you meet?” 

Then it all came out—she was made a prison visitor and she went to a men’s prison. Now that was folly. She led this boy to the Lord, she really did, and she discipled him and he grew and matured, and after some time he came out of prison and he had no family, nowhere to go. She was a single girl living on her own; and she was thirty and wondering if she would ever be married. He said, “You know, as well as being grateful to you for all the spiritual help you’ve given me, I’ve got very fond of you. Are you fond of me?” “Yes,” she replied. He said, “Would you consider us getting together, and marrying and setting up home together?” “Oh,” she said, “Yes, love to.”

Then they moved into her flat and she found out he was a rough lad and he ate with his fingers, not knife and fork, and when he undressed at night he would jump out of his clothes and drop them on the floor. She had been brought up in a home with lace curtains and flowers and everything neat and put away in drawers. They were totally incompatible in everything except their faith, and they said, “We can’t—after three months we cannot stand each other. We’ve made the most terrible mistake.” 

Pawson remembers praying quickly, “Lord, I’ve got three or four minutes left. Please, you gave Solomon wisdom—give me some,” and God did. 

Pawson said, “Now you two listen very carefully. This is what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to take ‘week on, week off’. The first week you’re both to do everything his way, and you—the bride, you’re to throw your clothes on the floor and you’re to eat with your fingers, but the next week it’s his turn and he’s got to learn to put his clothes in the drawer, and he’s got to learn to use a knife and fork. You’re to do that week on, week off.” 

She looked at me, and she said, “That’s so weird it’s got to be of the Lord.” Anyway, they said, “Is there anything else?” Pawson said, “That’s all I can hear. Goodbye, God bless you.” And off he went.

He never saw them again, but six months later he got a letter from them. He could have wept over that letter. “Dear David, we never thought marriage could be so wonderful,” and they just went on and on about how happy they were, but they never told him the most important thing he wanted to know: were they still doing “week on, week off”? 

I love that testimony because it shows that the wisdom of God is available to solve difficult problems. If we ask for wisdom in the midst of problems, he gives it. 

I like how both of the couple were willing to change their lifestyle for the sake of the marriage. They each, for 50% of the time, made a big lifestyle change. It was a two way process. They both compromised. They both were willing to give something up.

And it worked and they fell in love all over again! 

Same for us. It’s a two way process, we must be willing to give up our preferences for the sake of unity, for the greater good, we must be willing to compromise. [Not that I’m saying week on, week off for us☺] 

The marriage of our two services is an arranged marriage. God arranged it! It was his wisdom, his idea. And because it was God’s idea, I am confident it will work. If it was my idea, I would not be so confident about it. But because I firmly believe its God’s plan, I am confident its going to work out very well. But we will have to do our part and be accommodating of one another.

There is a verse in the book of 1 Peter that kept coming to me. It is 1 Peter 4:8 which says; Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Love, in the normal Bible sense of the word, is a choice. Its not just an emotion, its not just a feeling- it’s a decision. It’s a decision to seek the wellbeing of others. It’s a decision to care about and care for others. We can choose to care for and care about each other. That is why love is commanded, it’s a command that we can choose to obey or not. If love was an emotion then Jesus could never have commanded us to love God and love others. But love in this sense is an act of will.  

Jesus wants us to care for others. 

Above all Peter tells us, above all the other things we should do as followers of Jesus. Above all, love each other deeply. 

Jesus said the greatest thing is love. 

Lets keep the main thing, the main thing. What is the main thing? Its to love. 

A church is a school for love. If love is the thing Jesus wants to teach us most, then surely we should be learning to love in church. How are we doing at learning to love in church? 

A church can have a great building, great preaching, great music, lots of energy and enthusiasm, but if that church hasn’t got much love, then its not really doing very well. In Revelation 2, the church in Ephesus was a hard working, Bible believing church, but it had forgotten to love. And Jesus called it to change.

Above all Peter tells us, love each other deeply. 

The word deeply in the NIV is the word ‘ektenes’ The Greek word used is ektenés, meaning stretched, zealous, earnest. 

If you imagine the 100metres Olympic final and the runners are stretching for the finish line line. That is what ektenes looks like. Let us exert ourselves to the limit in love. Let us love one another earnestly.

That kind of love, covers for one another. 

This week in the UK news we have heard a lot about a serious data breach where the names of thousands of Afghans who had helped the British Army in Afghanistan had been made public on the internet. And because the names of all these Afghans who had fought with the British were on the web, they suddenly were in danger of being tortured or executed by the Taliban. They were in serious trouble, because they had been exposed. Some things should be covered. Some things should be covered up and kept secret not exposed.

Love covers for the other person. In Matthew 1:19 we read that when Joseph heard about Mary being pregnant, and not knowing that this was a supernatural work of God in her womb, it says that since he was a righteous man, he did not want to disgrace her but wanted to cover what he thought was her sin. 

In Genesis 9: 20-27 we read that Noah got drunk one day and lay naked in his tent. His son Ham saw him and reported this to his brothers- he exposed his father’s foolishness. Shem and Japheth however walked backwards and covered their father's nakedness. 

Lets cover for one another. Lets not dishonour one another by our deeds and words. But in love cover one another’s mistakes and sins. Lets be very slow to talk about others mistakes and sins behind their back. 

Yes there is a place for exposing sin. But its always in love with the aim of repentance and restoration.

We will annoy each other, there are two different cultures coming together, there are different church traditions uniting, there are different age groups mixing. We might well irritate one another at times and be insensitive. And we are going to have difficult moments probably. When these difficult moments come, remember love for love covers all these problems. It makes them disappear.

In our coming together, oth the Scots and the Hong Kongers bring different things to the table. 

Scottish people bring the knowledge of the culture, local knowledge of Edinburgh and Scotland, language and history. Having Scottish people in the church makes it easier for our church to reach out to Scottish people and to influence Scottish people. The Scots in this congregation bring certain gifts and certain experience – we have several experienced business people for example. The Scottish congregation has provided the building for us to meet in.

The Hong Kongers bring many skills and gifts, energy, youth- there were two generations missing in this church- we had no children or teenagers or those in their 20s or 30s. We had very few in middle age. Now we are a multigenerational church. That is something we Scottish people had prayed for, for a long time. 

Hong Kongers bring a ‘positive can do attitude,’ a work ethic, an ability to build. You are builders. If you look at a photo of Hong Kong in the 1960s compared to Hong Kong today, you see how quickly the city has been built up.

Eddie brought a word last week from Isaiah 61 where he talked about God’s people rebuilding the ancient ruins. 

Isaiah says: ‘They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations.’

And the church in Scotland lies in ruins. There are so many empty church buildings and there are going to be more over the next few years. The numbers who go to church have rapidly fallen away and the Christian foundations of the land are crumbling. Society has lost its unity, there so much loneliness and isolation and such a lack of hope. Family life has crumbled in our land. As the church has become broken down, so has society. 

And this church has declined- our membership was once something like 200, but it has crumbled away over the years.

But we can rebuild. And I believe our visiting speaker Lora Beth was right when she said back in April to Hong Kong Circle, that God has brought the Hong Kongers to Scotland, to the UK to help rebuild the church. 

The Scottish people cannot build what God wants built on our own. We don’t have the people. We can’t rebuild the ruins on our own, rebuild a strong and vibrant church. But the Hong Kongers can’t build what God wants on their own either. Because what we are building is a church that is not just for Hong Kongers. Its for Scots and Hong Kongers and I believe we are going to have people joining us from other nations joining us also. We will be international. A church that is a house of prayer for all nations. 

What we are doing is important. Its bigger than just having a church that will survive, although yes us coming together will allow us to survive. Its about building a church that will engage in mission and impact the city, change people’s lives in Edinburgh. Reaching a new generation who don’t know the Lord. 

Elder Tom said to me that this is an opportunity for doing something new. This is an opportunity to experiment a bit and try and get a better style of church service. Something that is different to what either congregation had before.

We want to build a new church service that yes works for us, but also appeals to visitors and works for those who have never been to church. We want to reach the wider community. And we want a way of doing church that works for God. Because God is the most important person in this church! The Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit is the key person in the building. He is here, we don’t see him, but we hopefully are feeling his presence at least from time to time. He has a way of doing church that he wants. And it might be a bit different to the church tradition that any of us are used to.

Isaiah 43:18-19

. “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

God is doing a new thing here. And he has not finished! Lets not dwell on what we had in the past, forget the past, the services of the past, God is doing something new. Lets perceive it as it springs up.

There is a song from Bethel Music which summarises much of what I want to say this morning. 

Its called simply, ‘The Church’ and the words are: 

‘For the different ways we see You, for all the ways You move
All the colours and expressions, oh, the beauty of Your Church
What a masterful reflection when we are unified
Truly celebrate each other and let go of our pride
That You would have a spotless bride

Oh, praise the Father and praise the Son
Holy Spirit, make us one
Every nation, tribe, and tongue
This is our cry, Your kingdom come, yeah

We surrender our agendas, our preferences, our plans
Would You help us work together to be Your feet and hands
Our heart is just to know You, to show them who You are
That the gospel's still the answer for every searching heart’

I like that bit ‘truly celebrate each other’. That goes beyond just covering for each other, its enjoying and praising each other. A unified church is ‘a masterful reflection’ of the Lord God, Father Son and Holy Spirit an expression of love which reflects our God. Lets be that masterful reflection. Amen.