THE PRICE OF UNITY

When Solomon had ended his prayer
fire came down from heaven and consumed

the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the

glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the

priests could not enter the house of the Lord,

because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's

house.  When all the children of Israel saw the
fire come down and the glory of the
Lord upon the temple, they bowed
down with their faces to the earth
on the pavement, and worshiped and
gave thanks to the Lord.

Never have we been as conscious of the need for unity in
the Body of Christ as now. it's all very well for someone

to come along and say,

"But there is unity in the Body.

Scripture already says,

'We are all one body.'"

And we can sit around and spin little theories and tell
ourselves what wonderful things are happening. But the
truth is that the saints of God throughout the earth,
around this town, and in this flock, are in disarray.

That they may all be one; even as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be in us, so that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me.

We may be together - but are we one?

We may be in step - but are we really one?

We may have superficial agreement on many things - but unity?

The saints who are not one with each other in the Father

and the Son are going to wake up one day, very soon, and

find themselves outside the Kingdom with the door shut.

This is not the 16th century. This is the beginning of

the End. We are standing at the threshold of a time of

judgment this planet hasn't seen since its beginning.

Matthew 24 is unfolding before our eyes.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom

against kingdom. There will be famines and

earthquakes in various places: all this is

but the beginning of the sufferings.

We will be delivered to tribulation ... put to
death, hated... There will be false prophets...
Because wickedness is multiplied, the love

of many will grow cold. And the gospel of
the kingdom will be preached throughout the
whole world as a testimony to all nations.
Then the end will come.

What kind of church is going to walk through this tribulation?

What kind of church is going to preach the gospel of the
Kingdom throughout the whole world as a testimony to all
nations? Surely not this torn,

pride infested,
name lusting,
self-centered,

scattered, divided body. 

It will be a body of saints who are one.

Now granted only the Spirit of God can bring unity about.

We don't sit around and take a vote and decide that from

now on we're going to be one, and then have unity.

- God has to do it.

And notice the way God brings his people into unity:

- God brings his people into unity simply by

   causing his glory to come upon them.

When the glory of God is upon his church, his church is
one. When the glory departs from his church, its people
are scattered.

The glory which thou hast given me I have
given to them, that they may be one even
as we are one.

At the moment, we're only seeing flashes of this glory..

- Perhaps it comes to a handful of saints at
  prayer. You walk into the room and know there's
  a difference in the atmosphere.

- There's a knock on the door just at the
  moment when you're at your wits end. The
  visitor steps inside and the glory of God
  fills the place.

But soon it won't be just odd flashes. There will be
fellowships which will be absolutely drenched in God's
glory. Glory will follow these people wherever they go.

     - it will fill the rooms of their homes.

     - It will hover over their dinner tables.

     - It will be with them on their jobs.

     - It will breathe upon them as they sleep.

     - Welcome them to the new day.

And wherever you find this atmosphere of glory you will
find unity among the disciples.

The glory which thou hast given me I have
given to them, that they may be one even
as we are one.

But notice when Jesus prayed this prayer. He prayed it

as he was about to be offered up.

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be

 glorified."

The glory God has given his Son becomes visible only as
the Son is sacrificed. And the glory Jesus gives his
disciples becomes actual in their lives only when their lives

become one with his sacrifice on the cross

            When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came

down from heaven and consumed the burnt

offering and the sacrifices, and the glory

of the Lord filled the temple.

First, those offerings and sacrifices were slain, cut

and laid open on the altar.

            - Then the fire falls and consumes them.

            - Then the glory of God fills the temple.

Glory always follows the fire on the sacrifice.

I have a baptism to be baptized with, and

how I am constrained until it is accomplished.

The most important thing, the thing on which everything
else hinges, is this baptism of fire. Without the
baptism of fire there will be no baptism of glory on
God's people.

And this baptism of fire which came to the Son of God
is either going to touch you,

                         burn you,

                         consume you, change you, or you are

still dead in your sins.

I don't care who tells you that you can accept the cross
of Jesus on faith and then go on living your delicate,
                                                              safe,

                                                              sheltered,

                                                              smug,

                                                              pious little
life and consider yourself saved. That's a lie.

If you really take hold of the cross of Jesus by faith,

- you're never going to be the same,

- you're never going to walk straight again.

You're going to be like Jacob after the angel wounded his
thigh. You're going to limp. You're going to be spoiled
for the world. You're going to be broken, and broken,
and broken for the rest of your life. Your healing is in
that brokenness. God's strength is made perfect in your
weakness.

While there is only one sacrifice for sin - the death of
the Lamb - a sacrifice never to be repeated, yet, we
cannot come into unity with the Son of God, much less into
unity with each other, until we enter into that sacrifice.

The disunity among the people who say they love Jesus is
simply evidence that there are a lot of professing Christians

walking around who are refusing to put their lives on the altar

and let the fire fall.

- They want power.

- They want gifts of the Spirit.
- They want victory.

But they don't want to feel the fire.

- They don't want to share in the
  sufferings of their Lord.

  - They don't want to be reproached
  for the name of Christ.

"Isn't it enough that I reckon myself dead with
you, Lord?

Isn't it enough that I reckon myself crucified?
 

Why do I have to feel those flames?

Why do I have to actually have people dislike me,

        hurt me,
        slander me,
        reject me?

Look, Lord, I'm willing to present my body as a
living sacrifice to you by faith, but does this
mean I have to go through hunger, thirst, pain,
fatigue?"

Listen my friends, if we're going to be touched by real
glory then we're also going to be touched by a real
cross. We're going to offer ourselves, in deed and in
truth, to the fire of God to come down and lick up the
sacrifice in order that God's glory may fill the temple.

1. The fire of God means broken pride.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

A broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou

wilt not despise.

Some of us give the appearance of great humility, but

our pride is unbroken. We haven't shed one tear before

God for what we are. We go right on holding to our own

way, looking down on those around us, and never bending

an inch. No wonder we're so dead.

Would we be willing, today, to put our pride on the altar
and let it be broken open to the fire of God so that we
can begin to do those things that only broken men and
women can do? Like ask for forgiveness?

Like change our course when we know it's wrong?

2. The fire of God means spent bodies.

I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that

you present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

That's not a religious act. That's a way of life, a daily spending of

the body. Amazing how many people are trying to be
Christians with their spirits and pagans with their bodies.
Floating around on cloud nine with their spirits. while
their bodies rest at ease, or glut themselves,

 or endlessly gratify themselves.

Our Lord offered his body to the Father every day.

- That's why he was tired as he sat by the well.
- That's why he slept in the boat.

- That's why he was hungry in the wilderness.

- That's why he was thirsty as he hung on the cross.

Think of all the things you avoid because it might involve a little

fatigue.  Put your body on the altar and let the Spirit show you
how to spend it.

- You'll no longer be living for your table or your bed.

       - You'll be joyfully eating and resting so you can go

          out and spend your body some more.

Your meat and drink will be to do the will of him who sent you

and accomplish his work.

3. The fire of God means a forgotten name.

When the officials came to John the Baptist in the wilderness

and asked, "Who are you?", he didn't answer, "You mean you never

heard of me?   I'm John the Baptist!"

He simply said, "I am not the Christ."

"Are you Elijah?"    -"No."

"Are you that prophet?"    - "No."

"Well then, who are you?"

  "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'make
   straight the way of the Lord.'"

I have no name.
I am a voice."

The price of being a voice,

  of being able to point men to Jesus, is that we lose our name.

Our name becomes a forgotten thing to all but God. Ask yourself

honestly if you are willing to pay that price? If you're not, don't say

you are, because God might just take you at your word.

4. The fire of God means a transformed mind.

Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by

the renewing of your mind.  When the fire of God gets

through with your mind it's abnormal as far as the world

is concerned because it no longer conforms to the mind

of Channel 2, or the Detroit News, or William Buckley,

or Bill Bonds, or James Taylor.

It conforms to the mind of him who emptied himself and
became a servant. And so your days are spent living in
a world that thinks along other lines, causing you to be
wrenched and torn by people you work with and live with
who want you to come along with them while you follow a
Master they can't see. And you go on thinking with a
mind which has no choice but to see everything from God's
point of view.

And, by the way, when you see things from God's point of
view you don't run off and isolate yourself from the world by

surrounding yourself with nothing but Christians.

You stay in the world and sweat it out. Are you willing?

It's the saints who are willing to feel the fire - who, as the fire falls,

will also taste glory. And in that glory will have unity with each other.

Are we willing to be joined to the sacrifice on the altar
in order that, as the fire of God falls on the sacrifice,
the glory of God may fill the temple? Then let's do it.

Let's put our pride, our bodies,

      our names,

      our minds on the altar with the Lamb
and let the fire fall.